A review

Barby MacGowan looks back at the Rolex Maimi OCR

It was one of the first large ISAF Grade 1 ranking events for the new Olympic /Paralympic Quadrennium, and gauging by the quality of sailors who flocked to compete there, the timing was none-too-early and the location never better. The 2005 Rolex Miami OCR, held for its 16th time from January 24-28, hosted over 320 sailors
from 26 countries and served up impressive performances by both up-and-coming and veteran stars on its global stage. With wind conditions for the five days of racing running the gamut from moderate to heavy on opening and closing days to light and shifty for the three days in between, the script did not include a thread for winning on a fluke or by good luck. Each of the champions named in the nine Olympic and two paralympic classes was solid in his or her talent.

"We tried some new things this year that worked well," said Gary Bodie US Sailing Team Head Coach and Event Co-Director. "We expanded to five days from four, falling more in line with the large European Grade 1 events. We moved the Tornados to an ocean course, and we staggered starting times for classes each day to better utilize the room we have on Biscayne Bay for running five circles of racing."

Established in 1990, the Rolex Miami OCR is important not only as a world ranking regatta but also as a qualifier for the US Sailing Team and the US Disabled Sailing Team, which annually distinguish, respectively, the top-five and top-three sailors in each class. The event established the members of the 2005 US Sailing Team in the 470 Men and Women, 49er, Tornado and Yngling classes.

In addition to Rolex, other sponsors of the event are Nautica, Sperry Top-Sider, Team McLube and Zodiac. Regatta Headquarters for the 2005 Rolex Miami OCR were at the US Sailing Center, with classes hosted by the US Sailing Center; Coral Reef, Key Biscayne and Miami Yacht Clubs; the Coconut Grove Sailing Club; and Shake-A-Leg-Miami.

Laser
Launching his Olympic campaign with a major victory was Brad Funk, who sailed in the regatta's largest fleet of 46 Lasers and received the Golden Torch Award for turning in the best overall performance by an American sailor among all classes. Funk, who finished third at his class's U.S. Olympic Team Trials last year, led his fleet early and held off advances by San Diego's Andrew Campbell, a fellow two-time College All-American, even in the last race of the series.

"Andrew was winning the last race until the last leg. I had said to myself I was going to finish that race exhausted, and that's what I did." Funk, who had rounded the weather mark in sixth, didn't catch Campbell, but Campbell fell to second on that last leg while Funk caught three boats to finish third. Only one point separated the two in final overal scoring. "I was able to get a nice lead in the light breeze (earlier in the week) and hold it. I'm feeling I was prepared for this event. I kept my head out of the boat and was told I sailed pretty smart."

Laser Radial
Reflecting changes in the equipment for the 2008 Olympics, the Rolex Miami OCR replaced the Europe dinghy with the Laser Radial in the Women's Singlehanded discipline. The result was attendance by a plethora of young, impressive talent from the U.S., where the Laser Radial is used in many yacht club junior programs. Paige Railey already a star at age 17 as the 2003 Youth World Champion and the 2004 U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Champion, claimed victory after coming to experience her "first-ever Olympic ranking regatta." She was up against, among others, Olympic Silver Medallist (in the Europe class) Lenka Smidova of the Czech Republic, a two-time Europe class winner at this event who finished third overall in the Laser Radials and gave Railey the nod as one of the class's top players.

Railey was the only regatta winner who had not been leading going into the last day. The business she had on the water with Anna Tunnicliffe, a 2004 College All-American who had been leading and eventually finished second overall, was settled in a good breeze interspersed with squalls.

"The storms would leave, and it would get light," said Railey, "and then you'd see them come again and you'd have to get over to the wind." By the third of three races on the final day, Railey had put four points on Tunnicliffe, who was then tied in points with Smidova. "I just had to play it calm," said an ecstatic Railey at regatta's end.

Star
In the Star class, Andrew Horton and Brad Nichol successfully fended off a pack of aggressors that included Sweden's Fredrik Loof, the class's 2004 World Champion who sailed with crew Anders Ekstrom. Although Horton and Nichol led the regatta from the beginning, the two had predicted any of the five teams immediately behind them could take the lead on the last day. Loof's team was the farthest away on the scoreboard, in fifth but with the same number of points as the two teams ahead. Loof pounced but fell short, posting finishing scores of 5-1 in two races to Horton/Nichol's 8-3 to take second overall for the regatta.

For Horton, a winning member of the 2004 ISAF Match Racing World Championship team, and Nichol, this was only their fourth Star regatta together. "It was awesome to be here with all the old-school greats," said Horton, referring to the class's history of attracting incredible sailors and making them lifelong converts.

49er
After several years of sailing in a variety of classes, Morgan Larson returned to the 49ers in a big way: winning this class with crew Pete Spaulding. Spaulding finished fifth in the 2004 Olympic 49er event with skipper Tim Wadlow and won the Rolex Miami OCR last year with Wadlow. The duo's toughest competition came from 2004 Olympic Silver Medallists Rodion Luka/George Leonchuk (UKR) who, like Larson/Spaulding, had four first-place finishes in their ten-race series. "I haven't been in these boats for a long time," said Larson, "so our strategy was to keep it simple and sail our own races."

470 Men
Brothers Sven and Kalle Coster (NED) had no problem holding on to their first-day lead to win the 470 Men's class at the regatta. "It's okay that it was light air for a few days," said Coster, who finished sixth with his brother at the 2004 Olympics, "because we need to focus on that for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. We are actually more expert in strong air, so we were not too concerned about the last day. We were right up there and being smart." Mike Anderson-Mitterling, the class's defending champion, finished second overall with crew David Hughes.

470 Women
Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler also topped the scoreboard early and held on in the 470 Women's class to win, posting an impressive second overall in combined men's and women's scoring.

"That's a significant accomplishment for us," said Clark. "The first part of the regatta, we focused on securing our lead in the women's division. A secondary outcome was that we did pretty well overall, too."

Clark, a two-time College All-American, and Mergenthaler had a whopping 35-point lead over their closest competitors, second-place finishers Erin Maxwell and Alice Manard.

Finn
Canada's Christopher Cook established himself as an Olympic player by leading the 26-boat Finn class from the start. He was surprised that the Race Committee managed as many races as they did on the light-air days. "I prefer a breeze because you don't have to worry as much about other competitors, but any wind is good," he said. Cook, a three-time North American and Canadian National Champion who finished second at his country's 2004 Olympic Finn Trials, mostly watched runner-up Kevin Hall, who represented the USA in Athens in this class and finished second overall.

Tornado
The Tornado class lost two consecutive days of racing due to light air but got a boost with the heavier breezes on the final day. Victory was all but assured for consistent regatta leaders John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree, the USA's 2004 Olympic Silver Medallists in this class. They made it look easy by winning both of their final races and adding the victories to three previous ones in their six-race lineup. "It's never easy," laughed Lovell about his victory. "We've been sailing for the last couple of years and at the Olympics while everyone else took a year off, so that made a difference."

Yngling
The young but longtime team of Sally Barkow, Deborah Capozzi and Carrie Howe, lost its lead only once in the Yngling class. The lead was quickly re-established, however, when the three pushed their threat - 2004 Olympian Carol Cronin, sailing with Jamie Haines and Kate Fears - to third in overall scoring on the last day. Finishing second was Canada's Felicity Clark/Kari MacKay/Joanne Abbott, who made a strong play on the last day but conceded to Barkow both on the race course and in overall scoring. For Barkow, her accomplishments fell comfortably in line with her goals. "It was a good regatta for us," said Barkow. "We didn't put pressure on ourselves and stuck with a solid conservative game plan. Winning means we show everyone we're serious about the Olympics, and it's a good jumpstart for the next four years."

Paralympic Classes - 2.4 Metre and Sonar
Paralympic sailing was represented with the two classes that have been selected for the 2008 Paralympics: 2.4 Metre and Sonar. The events were open, however, to both able-bodied and disabled sailors.

Sweden's Stellan Berlin, an able-bodied multiple world champion, dominated the 2.4 Metre class, winning half of his 12 races, while Great Britain's John Robertson and crew Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas, who represented their country in the 2004 Paralympics, nearly replicated that performance in the Sonar class, winning five of ten races. Neither team ever let go of its first-day lead over the five days of competition.

Americans David Schroeder, Keith Burhans and Bradley Johnson, who on the last day slipped to third from second overall in the Sonar, welcomed the chance to sail against the British team. "They've worked together five years and are well-oiled," said Burhans. "All of us others are just putting together our teams." Burhans, a Paralympian from 2000 who calls tactics on the boat, explained that he and Schroeder have sailed only two other times together and Johnson, who won a bronze medal for the USA in 2004 as crew in the Sonar, was a new teammate for them both. "All things considered," said Burhans, "we're highly pleased with the level of our sailing."

Disabled sailors are given a classification rating--from 1 to 7, most to least disabled--based on their stability, strength and functionality in the boat. A Sonar team can share no more than 14 points in total.