Miami OCR - Bronze medal for French and Creignou in Skud 18 class

by Dana Paxton on 28 Jan 2012 US Sailing’s Rolex Miami OCR 2012, the second stop on the International Sailing Federation’s Sailing World Cup circuit, fifth day of racing kicked off today on the waters of Biscayne Bay.

In the US Paralympic Team Trials, it was a day of exciting racing in all three classes selected for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Jen French and JP Creignou (both St. Petersburg, Fla.) secured the bronze in the SKUD-18 and with it the Team Trials. They’ll be joined by Mark LeBlanc (New Orleans, La.) in the 2.4mR, and Paul Callahan (Cape Coral, Fla./Newport R.I.), Tom Brown (Castine, Me.) and Bradley Johnson (Pompano Beach, Fla.) in the Sonar. A full announcement on the US Paralympic Team will be made in the next few days.

'The racing this week at Rolex Miami OCR has been beautiful,' said French dockside after racing. 'We’ve had a tough week. Most of the boats have been close together, and all of the boats here will give us an idea of what the Paralympics will be like.'

To listen to the full audio interview with Jen French, click here.

Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) added another win and a third to his impressive score line to hold a comfortable lead in the Finn, and to earn a cumulative 13 points, a full 12 points ahead of second place Jonas Hogh Christensen (DEN). Railey will advance into the medal race along with USSTAG’s Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.), in fourth.

Erik Storck (Huntington, N.Y.) and Trevor Moore (Pomfret, Vt./Naples, Fla.) may not have had the day that they had planned – they added an eighth and 14th – but they are booked into the 49er medal race after ending the opening 15-race series in second.

Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) goes into the medal race in second overall in the 12-boat Women’s RS:X windsurfing class, her best performance to date in an ISAF Sailing World Cup event. 'I’ve been working really hard on my technique and it’s starting to pay off,' she said after racing. 'I’ve been able to use the other things I’ve done well in the past to a better extent, such as good starts and mark roundings.'

For tomorrow’s medal race, which is forecast to be in light wind, she said: 'I’m expecting a really good finish. There should be some match racing going on. It will be about tactics and pumping, and good maneuvers rather than straight out speed. The medal race is all about positioning. You have to position yourself to have a really good start and be aware of the other competitors you need to beat. You have to sail close to them and sail conservatively; not make any mistakes and you should be ok.'

To listen to the full audio interview with Farrah Hall, click here.

In Women’s Match Racing, Anna Tunnicliffe’s (Plantation, Fla.) Team Maclaren of Molly Vandemoer (Redwood City, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) won their match against Tamara Echegoyen (ESP) to finish fifth overall.

Paralympic Team Selection Members of USSTAG who are vying for a spot on the 2012 U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team will compete in the three Paralympic classes. Track American athletes as they qualify for the 2012 Games in the US Olympic and Paralympic Trials Tracker here.

http://rmocr.ussailing.org/index.php/multimedia/live/" target="_blank">Live coverage of all medal races and women’s match racing begins at 9am local USSTAG website