All star line up

Rolex Miami OCR sees the big guns roll into town for the end of January

A quick glance at the list of early entries for the upcoming US Sailing's Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta provides valuable insight as to which sailors are eyeing an opportunity to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. With more than 260 boats already registered, including the reigning world champions in six classes, the entry list already looks very impressive while registrations are still being accepted through January 22 (discounted fees until January 16).

Organized by US Sailing to prepare sailors in the classes chosen for the Olympic and Paralympic Regattas, the Rolex Miami OCR kicks off with opening ceremonies on Sunday, January 22, followed by five days of racing through to January 27.

For the competitors exciting opportunities await: Grade 1 ranking points for the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) world rankings; a potential spot on the 2006 US Sailing Team; and, for sailors from Pan-American countries, a chance to qualify their country for the 2007 Pan American Games.

Filled with many well-known names and faces from the Olympic sailing scene, the current list of entries sets the tone for 2006 and includes several reigning world champions:

In the 49er: 2005 World Champions Rodion Luka & George Leonchuk (Ukraine), as well as the current number one team on ISAF's World Rankings Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks of Great Britain.

The number one team for ISAF's World Rankings in the Men's 470 class - Alvaro Marinho and Miguel Nunes from Portugal, and in the women's class ISAF World Rankings number one team Ingrid Petitjean and Nadege Douroux from France.

On 'homewaters' will be the rising star Paige Railey of Clearwater, Florida. The 2005 Laser Radial World Champion and number one in the ISAF World Rankings.

In the Star, ISAF World Rankings number one Laser sailor Robert Scheidt fom Brazil and in the Tornado, Spain's reigning world champions and the 2005 ISAF Sailors of the Year Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz. Yngling: 2005 World Champions are also entered: Sally Barkow, Debbie Capozzi, and Carrie Howe.

For windsurfers competing on the new Neil Pryde RS:X class, US Sailing's Rolex Miami OCR will be one of the first International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 1 events since the board was selected for the 2008 Olympic Games. Competitors from more than ten different countries have already registered in that class. While the class may be new, some familiar faces will be on the race course, including Brazil's Ricardo Santos. Santos is a seasoned Mistral sailor when that class was still an Olympic class and, more recently, finished second at the 2005 Mistral World Championships.

In the Finn and Laser classes, last year's winners Chris Cook of Canada and the US's Brad Funk are returning to defend their titles.

In addition to title sponsor Rolex Watch U.S.A., the 2006 Rolex Miami OCR features Nautica as a presenting sponsor. The event also receives sponsorship from all the partners that support the US Sailing Teams: Extrasport, Gill, Harken, McLube, New England Ropes, Nikon, Sperry Top-Sider, Vanguard Sailboats, Vineyard Vines, and Zodiac. Rolex and Nautica are also sponsors of the US Sailing Teams.