Miami OCR - Belcher and Page take 470 lead

by Craig Heydon on 25 Jan 2012 Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page have taken the lead in the 470 class on the second day of the ISAF Sailing World Cup round in Miami, Florida.

The 2011 World Champions and current world number ones, started the day third overall and moved into the lead after a second, first and a sixth in the three races sailed on Tuesday.

Conditions were light again on Miami’s Biscayne Bay with the race committees working hard to try and bring racing back onto schedule after a lack of breeze limited racing on day one.

'Today was a good, respectable day,' said Page. 'We had the best day of all the boats which allowed us to take the lead with two really solid races to start the day with a second and a first. 'In the third race we were in the pack and heading into the top mark on starboard when we had a collision with two boats coming in on port,' he said. 'There was no damage but we managed to get tangled up which cost us a bit of time, we went from full speed to just sitting in the boat, once we got ourselves sorted out we fought back well and ended up with a sixth.'

The Australians have a two point lead over Dutch sailors Sven and Kalle Coster with their Argentinean competitors five points further back. 'Someone said to me today that we’ve only 40 per cent of the racing so far so there’s a long way to go in this one,' said Page. 'We’re racing alright, a little shaky here and there but we’re having fun and enjoying ourselves out there.'

Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch had a great day on the water with two wins from two races lifting them to second overall. The Bronze medalists from last week’s IFDS World Championships are now just a point behind the regatta leaders, Great Britain’s Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell.

Fitzgibbon and Tesch have now won three of the four races so far this regatta. 'Today was a really solid day for us, we won both races which was really good,' said Fitzgibbon. 'They were both really solid wins in a perfect 10 knot of breeze and warm conditions.

'Tomorrow we’re going to keep remembering what we continue to learn and continue to perform on the water,' he said.

The Australian Women’s Match Racing Team crew of Olivia Price, Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty had a solid start to their regatta with five wins and two losses leaving them tied for second in Group B.

'We really enjoyed racing today in Miami with five wins and two losses,' said Whitty. 'We ticked a number of boxes today so we’re looking forward to going racing again tomorrow, we’re scheduled to be out there at midday and it’s looking windier than today which should be good.

'We had strong wins against Claire Leroy of France and Rene Groeneveld of the Netherlands today, both those crews are ranked above us, it's always fun to get one over the higher ranked teams,' she said.

Finn sailor Brendan Casey continues to hold down fourth overall following two races on Tuesday. Casey finished with a fifth and a third to be just three points off third and nine off the lead.

'It was another light day, under about eight knots for both races,' said Casey. 'It was also a pretty challenging day, in race one I was up there and then got a yellow flag and finished up fifth and then in race two picked up a third.

'I’ve been consistently up there but couldn’t quite get to the pinnacle of the fleet today, Zach Railey had that covered with two wins,' he said. 'I’m improving everyday and it’s been good training in the light conditions here in Miami which will set a good platform for later in the year.'

Matt Bugg is ninth overall in the 2.4mR fleet after the opening four races, with the Tasmanian sailor finishing the day with a 13th and an 11th. Racing was again incredibly tight in the 2.4mR fleet with just seconds separating the top 13 in both races.

'Day two was a tough one for me,' said Bugg. 'I got one very bad start in the first race and got spat out the back of the fleet and played catch up for the rest of the race finishing in 13th.

'The second race I started well but it was at the wrong end of the line and once again I played catch up for the rest of the race ending up 11th,' he said. 'So after two days I've left myself with a lot of work to do and no more margin for error, this 2.4mR fleet is one of the closest fleets I've raced in.'

Women’s Match Racers Nicky Souter, Jessica Eastwell and Katie Spithill return to action on Wednesday.

Full results can be found at: http://rmocr.ussailing.org

Australian Sailing Team website