Rolex Miami OCR - Brits dominate

Olympic classes back on schedule in Miami

Today’s 8-11 knot breeze on Biscayne Bay allowed three of the Rolex Miami OCR’s ten Olympic classes to catch up on the races they lost due to dying winds yesterday afternoon.

“It was way better than yesterday, and the Finns got the best of it because the wind was building all day,” said Zach Railey, adding that his class started racing an hour earlier (at 12:30) than scheduled to add three races to yesterday’s single race. The leader going into today, Railey could do nothing wrong as he methodically picked off his competition - notably team mate Caleb Paine and Dane Jonas Hogh Christensen - to quadruple the victories in his score line today.

“In the first race, I was in a great battle with Caleb,” said Railey. “We were two boat lengths apart from each other and on the last leg back and forth the whole time. In the second race, it was a battle up the second windward leg with Jonas, but he got separated by two boats that were on his heels--he had to concentrate on them.”

Railey has already been selected to go to London 2012, but a bonus will be trying to win his second Olympic medal (after his Finn silver in Beijing) alongside his sister, Paige Railey, who has the US Sailing ticket to Weymouth in the Laser Radial. “It has been a dream of ours to go together since I started sailing at age eight and she started shortly after me. We fell in love with the idea of walking into Opening Ceremonies together; I don’t know if it really will sink in until we look over at each other and say, ‘we did it!’”

470 Men’s and Women’s classes swapped their afternoon race schedule (2:15 and 2:00, respectively) with the Lasers’ morning slot (10:30 and 10:45 for blue and yellow fleets) to ensure they also would be able to fit in three races. Consequently, it allowed Australian World Championship Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page to knock Dutch brothers Sven and Kalle Coster out of first place.

“It’s too early in the regatta to tell, and a lot can happen, so we’re just focusing on ourselves, but it was nice to come away with three good races today,” said Belcher. “Our stronger wind performance is certainly much better than our lighter wind, so these conditions are perfect for us, and exactly why we’re here.”

Development squad duo Ben Saxton and Richard Mason are fourth overall in the 470 Men, with Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell currently 11th.

British duo Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark continue to lead the Women’s 470 with three bullets and a seventh in today’s final race.
“It was a pretty long day – we did three races today and had to get up pretty early for a 1015 start, which is not ideal for me and Sas to be honest!” Mills explained. “But we got through it and got two bullets in the first two races and unfortunately got a bit stuck in the middle on the last race.

“It’s definitely an outcome regatta for us – we want to do as well as possible to start the year on a high and get the momentum going for the rest of the year. We think that’s pretty important, so we’re definitely looking to do well here, but we’ve also got a few equipment goals that we’re testing out as well.

“There are maybe five of the top boats here, and then there’s not the sort of depth that you’d expect at most Grade 1’s but it still makes for interesting racing – there are only 16 boats so it’s quite similar to the Olympics in that respect so it’s definitely good practice.”

Mills and Clark’s Skandia Team GBR teammates Sophie Weguelin and Sophie Ainsworth are currently third overall with Germany’s Kathrin Kadelbach and Friederike Belcher up to second, after former World Champions Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout were OCS in the final race.

In the 49er Class, the USA’s Erik Storck and Trevor Moore are still holding on to first place. “We were in first going into today and put up three solid races, so we’re still standing in first,” said Storck who added that within the 23-boat fleet, there are a handful of competitors who will be joining them at the summer Olympics, including the Austrian team of Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch, who are currently five points behind them overall. “We’ll keep an eye on them going forward in the regatta, but it is still early. Our goal is to keep going out and putting up top-threes and going to the medal race with a little gap.”

The Laser fleet saw Paul Goodison post three bullets today, although he is only a point ahead of Canada’s David Wright, who is duelling with his teammate Chris Dold for a London 2012 berth. However in the Radial World Champion Marit Bouwmeester from the Netherlands is showing the way on nine points with Britain’s Charlotte Dobson second on 26 with some big names such as Belgium’s Evi van Acker and China’s Lijia Xu posting high scores today.

The Star is much closer at the top with three boats within a point of the lead and, surprisingly, World Champions Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada in fourth. Leading are Norways’ Eivind Melleby and Peter Moerland Pedersen, tied on points with the USA’s Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih with Freddie Loof and Max Salminen third. Switzerland’s Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria were doing well until they were OCS in today’s final race.

RS:X windsurfer Nick Dempsey blotted an otherwise perfect scoresheet with a premature start in his first race of the day, but bounced straight back with a race win in the second to ensure he’s the man to beat when the discard comes in after the first race tomorrow. Dempsey currently lies third astern of Argentina’s Mariano Reutemann and Norway’s Sebastian Wang-Hansen. Dempsey’s Team GBR teammate Elliot Carney was also too quick out of the blocks in the first race, but picked up a third in the second race and is currently fifth overall.

The Women’s sailboards are being dominated by Mexico’s Demita Vega de Lille.

In the Women’s Match Racing today, Group B completed 11 flights, a full round robin, and though all of the teams were extremely close in scores, the Dutch team of Mandy Mulder/Annemiek Bekkering/Merel Witteveen prevailed with 6 wins and 1 loss. Yesterday, Group A also completed 11 flights, with the Finnish team of Silja Lehtinen/Siljan Kanerva/Mikaela Wulff on 8 wins and 1 loss.

Team GBR’s Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor started their women’s match racing campaign with four wins and two losses.
Four-time World Champions Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell hold on to the lead in the Paralympic Skud class with two second places in Tuesday’s races. Sonar trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas are third behind the French and US teams – the same position occupied by Megan Pascoe in the 2.4mR event after four races, with teammate Helena Lucas in sixth, the run away lead in the class currently France’s Damien Seguin.

Rolex Miami OCR - Top-three per class

470 Men (23 boats) – 4 race
1. Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) 3, 2, 1, 6 (12)
2. Sven Coster/Kalle Coster (NED) 1, 3, 3, 7 (14)
3. Lucas Calabrese/ Juan Maria de la Fuente (ARG) 5, 8, 2, 4 (19)

470 Women (16 boats) – 4 race
1. Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR) 1, 1, 1, 7 (10)
2. Kathrin Kadelbach/ Friederike Belcher (GER) 9, 4, 4, 1 (18)
3. Sophie Weguelin/ Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) 4, 10, 2, 4 (20)

49er (23 boats) – 6 races
1. Erik Storck (Huntington, N.Y.)/Trevor Moore (Naples, Fla., USA) 1, 2, 6, 2, 3, [24/OCS] (14)
2. Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth/Nikolaus Resch (AUT) 5,4,5,1,4,[7] (19)
3. Lauri Lehtinen/Kalle Bask (FIN) 2, [24/BFD], 7, 13, 2, 3 (27)

Laser (74 boats) – 4 races
1. Paul Goodison (GBR) 3, 1, 1, 1 (6)
2. David Wright (CAN) 1, 1, 1, 4 (7)
3. Chris Dold (CAN) 2, 3, 3, 2 (10)

Laser Radial (60 boats) – 4 races
1. Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 1, 2, 1, 5 (9)
2. Charlotte Dobson (GBR) 3, 8, 11, 4 (26)
3. Tania Elias Calles (MEX) 13, 4, 5, 7 (29)

Finn (27 boats) – 3 races
1. Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla., USA) 1, 1, 1 (3)
2. Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif., USA) 2, 2, 4 (8)
3. Jonas Hogh Christensen (DEN) 3, 4, 2, (9)

RS: X Men (14 boats) – 4 races
1. Mariano Reutemann (ARG) 3, 4, 1, 2 (10)
2. Sebastian Wang- Hansen (NOR) 5, 2, 3, 4 (14)
3. Nick Dempsey (GBR) 1, 1, 15/OCS, 1 (18)

RS: X Women (12 boats) – 4 races
1. Demita Vega De Lille (MEX) 1, 2, 1, 2 (6)
2. Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md., USA) 2, 1, 6, 6 (15)
3. Dominique Vallee (CAN) 5, 5, 2, 3 (15)

Star (30 boats) – 4 races
1. Eivind Melleby/ Petter Moerland Pedersen (NOR) 8, 2, 4, 3 (17)
2. Mark Mendelblatt (Miami, Fla.)/ Brian Fatih (Miami, Fla., USA) 3,4,6,4 (17)
3. Fredrik Loof/ Max Salminen (SWE) 2, 5, 2, 9 (18)

Women’s Match Racing
Group A (sailed yesterday win-loss)
Silja Lehtinen/Silja Kanerva/Mikaela Wulff (FIN) 8-1
Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.)/Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham (Miami, Fla.),/Alana O'Reilly (Charleston, SC) (USA) 6-0
Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.)/Molly O'Bryan (Stanford, Calif.)/Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) (USA) 6-1
Ekaterina Skudina/Elena Siuzeva/Irina Lotsmanova (RUS) 5-2
Juliana Senfft/Fernanda Decnop/Luciana Kopschitz (BRA) 4-3
Renata Decnop/Gabriela Nicolino/Larissa Juk (BRA) 3-3
Silke Hahlbrock/Maren Hahlbrock/Anlee Lukosch, (GER) 3-4
Nicky Souter/Jessica Eastwell/Katie Spithill (AUS) 3-4
Ru Wang/Pan Ting Ting/Li Xiaoni (CHN) 3-5
Vesna Dekleva Paoli/Katarina Kersevan/Lena Koter (SLO) 2-7
Rita Goncalves/Mariana Lobato/Diana Neves (POR) 1- 6
Jinnie Gordon/Laurel Gordon-Taylor/Catherine Belange (CAN) 0-8

Group B (sailed today win-loss)
Mandy Mulder/Merel Witteveen/Annemiek Bekkering (NED) 6-1
Tamara Echegoyen/Angela Pumariega/Sofia Toro (ESP) 5-2
Olivia Price/Nina Curtis/Lucinda Whitty (AUS) 5-2
Lucy Macgregor/Annie Lush/Kate Macgregor (GBR) 4-2
Leroy Claire/Elodie Bertrand/Marie Riou (FRA) 4-3
Renee Groeneveld/Annemiek Bes/Marcelien de Koning (NED) 4-5
Julie Bossard/Pauline Chalaux/Pauline Courtois (FRA) 4-3
Genevieve Tulloch (Sausalito, Calif.)/Alice Manard Leonard (East Haven, Conn.)/Jennifer Chamberlin (Washington, D.C.) (USA) 4-5
Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wisc.)/Maggie Shea(Wilmette, Ill.)/Darby Smith (Marblehead, Mass.) (USA) 3-5
Anna Kjellberg/Malin Kallstrom/Lotta Harrysson (SWE) 3-6
Martina Silva/ Ana LucA-a Silva/ MarA-a Trinidad Silva (ARG) 1-5
Sharon Ferris-Choat/Barbara Kaars Sijpesteijn/Joanne Prokop (CAN) 1-7

2.4mR (29 boats) – 4 races
1. Damien Seguin (FRA) 2, 1, 3, 2 (8)
2. Paul Tingley (CAN) 6, 7, 2, 9 (24)
3. Megan Pascoe (GBR) 7, 4, 10, 3 (24)

Skud-18 (6 boats) – 4 races
1. Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell (GBR) 1, 2, 2, 2 (7)
2. Daniel Fitzgibbon/Liesl Tesch (AUS) 5, 1, 1, 1 (8)
3. Jennifer French (St. Petersburg, Fla.)/Jean-Paul Creignou (St. Petersburg, Fla.,USA) 2, 3, 3, 3 (11)

Sonar (11 boats) – 4 races
1. Jourden Bruno/ Vimont Vicary Nicolas/ Flageul Eric (FRA) 1,5,1,1 (8)
2. Paul Callahan (Newport, R.I.)/ Tom Brown (Castine, Maine)/ Bradley Johnson (Pompano Beach, Fla., USA) 1,3,5,2 (12)
3. John Robertson/ Hannah Stodel/ Steve Thomas (GBR) 4, 2, 3, 6 (15)