Following a successful inaugural year, BACARDI® Miami Sailing Week (BMSW) will return to Coconut Grove in Miami, Fla., for its second annual running from March 6-12, 2011. In addition, the organizing committee has announced the creation of BACARDI Newport Sailing Week, which will be held in Newport, R.I., from June 23-26, 2011. Both events will be presented by EFG Bank with Bacardi U.S.A., Inc. reconfirmed as the title sponsor.
Featured at the week-long regatta in Miami will be the 84th running of the historic BACARDI® Cup for the Star Class. The BACARDI Cup was conceived in 1927 as a three-day event with less than ten boats competing for the Trofeo BACARDI as part of Cuba’s Mid-Winter Championship. The regatta continued for 30 years until political unrest forced the BACARDI Cup to move in 1962 from Havana to the Coral Reef Yacht Club in Coconut Grove. Since continuing ever since in Miami, the BACARDI Cup has grown into an internationally renowned sailing spectacle with as many as 200 world-class sailors representing 23 different countries, all channeling the grand tradition of camaraderie that has made the event so cherished by its participants.
The Viper 640, along with the Melges 20, Melges 24 and the J/24 classes, will join the competition at BMSW. The event will be a six-day experience that will gather national and international sailing classes together in a fun-filled week of regattas, awards ceremonies, parties, and cultural exhibits. The racing begins on March 7, with events scheduled daily through March 12. The prestigious Coral Reef Yacht Club will coordinate on-water activities in collaboration with Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and Coconut Grove Sailing Club. The U.S. Sailing Center and Shake-A-Leg Miami will also support the event. Racing will be held on three separate courses approximately two miles out on Biscayne Bay. Event registration is online at www.MiamiSailingWeek.com
“We are pleased to be working again with our title sponsor Bacardi U.S.A., Inc. and EFG Bank, which has become the new presenting sponsor of the BACARDI Miami/Newport Sailing Weeks,” said Gabriele Pedone, President of STUDIOMILANO, which organizes both regattas. “The fact that we will start a second event in Newport, Rhode Island, at Sail Newport next June, is confirmation that both our sponsors and participants enjoy the multi-class formula in a European-style regatta.”
Sponsorship opportunities are still available, including corporate and individual sponsor programs, as well as official supplier opportunities. Interested parties should contact info@studiomilano.com.
More information on the BACARDI Miami Sailing Week and the 84th BACARDI Cup is available at www.MiamiSailingWeek.com and www.BacardiCup.com.