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2011, 5th ANNUAL CORAL REEF CUP IN MIAMI

After three days of Etchells racing and seven races, Miami's Coral Reef Yacht Club (CRYC) had another great Coral Reef Cup with 27 boats competing.

This year's winner was Ft. Lauderdale's Leading Edge skippered by Jeff Dever with Ched Proctor and Dave Lutian crewing. They won with 20 points and three bullets.

They were followed by Texan Marvin Beckman on Keep Smiling with crew Jack Franko and Walt Duffy. In 3rd place was Chicago's Bryon Ehrhart's Lucky sailing with Rodney Hagebols and Chris Lefferdink.

In 4th and 5th place were previous Coral Reef Cup winners CRYC's Buddy Cribb and NYYC's Senet Bischoff. Their crews were Eamonn DeLisser/Frank Atkinson on Cribb's Victory and John Edenbach and Stu Saffer on Bischoff's KGB.

Like the Etchells Jaguar Cup Series run by CRYC's neighbor BBYC, sailors got to enjoy sailing in the sun on Biscayne Bay with great race management. According to Bischoff, "the difference is that because it is a smaller fleet, you get to sail next to someone and see how you are doing. The small fleet at the Coral Reef Cup is better for tuning and testing boat speed...this is super as we look forward to the Worlds in June in San Diego."

The winner had a huge lead early with two bullets and held it. The competition was right behind. There were only 5 points between 2nd place and 5th place. According to the spectator fleet, the last race was spectacular with leaders covering each other. The name of the winning boat, Leading Edge, was fitting, as it was impossible to catch her. Although, she finished 4th in the final race, her overall winning margin was eight points...a sweet victory