Coming into the weekend four teams were in with a chance of claiming championship glory, with Team Brady, Team Rafa, Team Blue Rising and Aoki Racing, all vying for the top spot.
But all through the Group Races and Finals, Team Brady were in imperious form, winning all of their races and ensuring they took the title for a second consecutive year for team owner and American football legend Tom Brady.
Coming into the final weekend of the season, Team Brady held a slender lead over Team Rafa. That margin got even narrower after qualifying with, tennis ace Rafael Nadal’s team finishing on top in the Qualifying races to reduce Team Brady’s championship lead to two points.
In the opening Group Race in Miami, it was Westbrook Racing that took a convincing win for their team owner, Hollywood legend Will Smith, ahead of Team Rafa in second.
But in Group B, Sam Coleman dominated for Team Brady, winning his race by 38 seconds, and team-mate Emma Kimilainen repeated his effort in her Group Race, by emerging victorious once again.
However, the Group Races suggested the battle for the title would be tight, with Team Rafa putting up a great fight in their Group Races. Team Rafa secured their place in the final with a phenomenal win, beating Blue Rising by over a minute.
Going into the final it was clear the battle for the championship was going to be between Team Brady and Team Rafa, and in the first Final, it was Team Brady that got the initial advantage, lying in second at the end of the first lap.
It was a disaster of a start for Team Rafa though as Cris Lazarraga crossed the line in last. She took to the short lap on her second tour of the circuit to regain some time and to help her find some calmer water and that decision paid off well. It allowed Lazarraga to get into the lead, having not taken her long lap and she took advantage of the smooth water to make progress up the order.
That was until the fourth lap when Team Rafa lost a lot time to their rivals, with Team Brady’s Sam Coleman and Blue Rising’s John Peeters closing the gap. Lazarraga wasn’t ready to give up though. While she couldn’t do anything about eventual victor Coleman, Lazarraga was able to fend off Peeters, crossing the line in second position.
“I would be lying if I said I didn’t have pressure now,” said Team Rafa’s Tom Chiappe before his Final race. “It’s full of pressure until the end. Team Brady made a good result, we did also. So now it’s the final race. We will try to make it a fair race and to be as competitive as we can.”
Despite the pressure, Chiappe had a strong start to his Final, but it wasn’t as good as Kimilainen. She flew off the line, storming into the lead and from there she never looked back.
Kimilainen was in total control for the entire race, and crossed the line 15s ahead of Team Rafa’s Chiappe to secure her team’s second championship title.
“I’m so proud of the team. The calls, the strategies, everything went super-well today and not to say, Sam, you crushed it. Absolutely crushed it,” said Kimilainen immediately after getting out of her race bird.
“It was great to show that we’ve learned from our mistakes earlier in the season and we’ve been able to apply it as we’ve gone forwards,” added Coleman. “Every time we’ve gone on the water we’ve learned something and we get better. So look out Season 3.”
Second place for Team Rafa meant they secured second in the championship for their owner Rafael Nadal, while Blue Rising ended third in the standings ahead of Aoki Racing. Will Smith’s Westbrook racing rounded out the top five.
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