News

December 4, 2006

Erik Maris and his crew on Twins crowned new World Champions.

December 2, 2006 ( Miami Beach , FL) It was a picture perfect day for sailboat racing off South Beach for the final race of the Mumm 30 World Championship. Erik Maris and his crew on Twins are the new World Champions, won in convincing style. It is his first ever World Championship title, and the team “convinced” him to take the obligatory victory swim in the harbor after getting doused with Champagne Mumm on the dock. His strategy going into the day was to, “do what we know how to do, and we’ll be ok. The race that won it for us was yesterday when we were OCS and came back to 11th. Our tactician was awesome, he’s a 470 sailor, and the whole crew did a great job, they deserve this.”

A gentle easterly breeze rolled across the course at 8-10 knots and filled in by the last leg of the race to 10-12 knots. A four leg course with 1.75 mile legs was set. Twins had a clean, conservative start mid line, and was off, reaching the top mark in first place and extending their lead for their victory laps around the course and across the finish line. Seven boats pushed the envelope and were called over the line early, including podium contenders Groovederci and Mean Machine. A collision between Groovederci and Glory at the first leeward mark forced both boats to retire from the race, moving Groovederci into sixth overall. Mean Machine sailed their way to a 12th place finish, for a fourth overall in the series.

Second placed boat Foreign Affair sailed a clean last race as well. Owner Richard Perini said, “The French guys sailed a good series. We just sailed our own race today, and protected our second place.” Newcomer to the fleet Tom Lihan moved into third place on the podium, “We really had a good time. We love the boat. It’s like sailing a big dinghy. We’ll be in Miami for the North American Championship in March.”

Final Results
1. Twins Erik Maris 5, 2, 3, 7, 9, 1, 2, 9, 11, 1 – 50 pts
2. Foreign Affair Richard Perini 4, 12, 9, 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 7, 7- 61 pts
3. Sixx Tom Lihan 2, 4, 6, 23, 1, 15, 4, 1, 1, 8 – 65 pts
4. Mean Machine Peter de Ridder 1, 3, 10, 11, 6, 10, 8, 12, 2,12 – 75 pts
5. Cheyenne Frederico Strocchi 3, 10, 8.5(avg), 14, 11, 6, 17, 3, 4, 4 – 80.5 pts