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A challenging cold front coming across Biscayne Bay gave Bacardi Cup veterans skipper Mark Reynolds and his crew Magnus Liljedahl a chance to show off their sailing abilities on the second day of racing. The pair blew past the finish line with a substantial lead over Great Britain's Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell in a day that saw only 60 of the 96 boats complete the regatta.

Reynolds and Liljedhal, who won the 2000 Olympic gold medal for the U.S. in the Star Class, took Monday's race in winds of 20 knots and gusts of 22. The two placed 23rd in the opening day race and are in seventh place overall. "We feel we're in good company because there are a lot of new people in this class and today's second place winners won gold at Sydney in 2000. Competition gets more difficult every year," said Liljedahl.

England's Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell came in a distant second to Reynolds and Liljedhal. Percy and Mitchell were the gold medal winners in the Fin Class in the 2000 Olympics. "The course is a lot longer than the Fin's we are used to, so we were happy to hold on to second," said Percy.

Jose Van Der Ploeg and his crew Diego Fructuoso of Spain finished a strong third place today and are in second overall. "The Bacardi Cup is a high class competition and I consider it to be a second world championship because of the Star Class boats and the talent in the event."

"It is no surprise that the 75th Bacardi Cup is shifting right before our eyes," said Jose Argamasilla Bacardi, Bacardi USA's vice president of public relations. "With such skilled teams in this year's competition, you can never predict who'll be in the lead from one day to the next."

The Bacardi Cup runs through Friday, March 8, with competitors sailing one race per day. All participants sail aboard 22-foot Olympic-Class Star sloops, each carrying two sailors - a skipper and a crew. Established in Havana, Cuba, in 1927 and held at the Coral Reef Yacht Club since 1962, the Bacardi Cup is the only Cuban-born sporting event that survives today in the United States.

Place	Skipper & Crew	From	Race 1	Race 2	Total
1	John A. MacCausland & Sean Delaney	USA	7	4	11
2	Jose Van Der Ploeg & Diego Fructuoso	ESP	9	3	12
3	Alfonso Domingos & Bernardo Santos	POR	3	9	12
4	Ian Barker & Edmund Peel	GBR	8	7	15
5	Jock Kohlhas & Richard Peters	USA	6	10	16
6	Rod Hagebols & Paul Erickson	USA	2	16	18
7	Mark Reynolds & Magnus Liljedahl	USA	23	1	24
8	Riccardo Simoneschi & Ferninando Colaninno	ITA	12	12	24
9	Andy Lovell & Prieur Leary	USA	5	20	25
10	Augie Diaz & Christian Finnsgard	USA	16	14	30