Florida yesterday as Mark Reynolds and crew Magnus Liljedahl successfully defended their title by the narrowest of margins.

Bromby and crew, Kai Bjorn of Canada, finished the six-race regatta with a 13th on Thursday and an eighth yesterday for 38 points, 13 points behind Reynolds who won by just one point over Alexander Hagen and Thorsten Helmert of Germany.

Reynolds had a premature start in the fifth race, which he used as his throw-out, before finishing with a second on the last day. Hagen kept the pressure on with a second on the fifth day before slumping to a 26th yesterday which he threw out.

Going into the last race Reynolds needed to finish in the top three and place at least three points ahead of two-time Star World champion Hagen to stand any chance of winning.

If Hagen and Helmert had won they would have become the first Europeans to capture the 72-year-old Bacardi Cup.

Instead it was Reynolds' sixth Bacardi Cup victory and ties him for the second most Bacardi Cup wins with Vince Brun, also of San Diego, who is the 1998 Bacardi Cup Masters champion.