At the end of the day there was no question who won the Bacardi Cup for the Bermuda National Match Race Championship, or which teams would be representing Bermuda in the Investor’s Guaranty presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup on 16-24 October in Bermuda. Adam Barboza sailed a near perfect series of matches to sweep his team of Garry Roman, Somers Kempe and Jesse DeCouto to a decisive first place victory for the 2004 Bacardi Cup.

Barboza had only two lapses to spoil a perfect day. In an early round robin match, he and Paula Lewin got into a luffing dual that took them above the weather mark. Barboza was able to back his sails and duck Lewin’s transom and reach down to approach the mark for a port tack rounding. Lewin bore away, but went above the mark, jibed around it and crashed into Barboza. Both were assessed a 1/2 point penalty for failing to avoid the collision and Adam ultimately got the victory for the race.

Barboza’s only loss of the day came in the first match of the finals. Blythe Walker, 2003 defending champion, took the early lead and protected it all the way. The committee had shortened the length of the legs for that race because the wind had dropped below 8 knots. The breeze came back up to about 12 knots, making the short course a fast one.

Barboza came back in the final two races to get near prefect starts that placed him on the inside of lifts on the first leg of each race. The legs had been lengthened again and Walker did everything he could to recover, but was outpaced and could not find any passing lanes in either match.

In the Petite Finals, defending Bermuda Women’s Match Race champion Paula Lewin swept two races from Pete Ramesdale.

Alvin Harvey of Bacardi and Commodore Jane Correia of RBYC presented trophies, bags, t-shirts, hats and plenty of Bacardi products to the winners and the other three teams.

Barboza, in winning the 2004 Bacardi Cup, is now the Bermuda National Champion of Match Race Sailing. He and runner-up Blythe Walker not only took the top Bacardi Cup prizes but they will also now sail as “Team Bacardi” in the Investor’s Guaranty presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup. Their entries in the qualifying round of the Gold Cup are paid by Bacardi, allowing them to race against the best match race skippers and teams in the world.

Bacardi International, known for its 140-year tradition of distilling the world-famous rum, has their world headquarters in the Bacardi Building on Pitt’s Bay Road in Hamilton. In addition to sponsoring the Bacardi Cup’s winner and runner-up in the King Edward VII Gold Cup, Bacardi will also host several parties during the King Edward VII Gold Cup for competitors, families and spectators.