Rolex Miami OCR 2010- Sailors hit their stride at halfway mark

by Media Pro Int'l on 28 Jan 2010 More than 600 athletes representing 45 nations have hit their regatta halfway mark after today's racing at US Sailing's 2010 Rolex Miami OCR, the second of seven stops of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Cup 2009-2010 . The event, the only of its kind in this country, started Monday and continues through Friday for three Paralympic classes and Saturday for ten Olympic classes, which will have been pared down to the top ten in each for medal races that day.

Today was a picturesque light-air day on Biscayne Bay, but many sailors worked the conditions to their advantage. The unstoppable SKUD-18 team of Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Julie Dorsett (West Chester, Pa./Boca Raton, Fla.), who hope to have a repeat gold medal performance of last year's Rolex Miami OCR, added two more bullets to their collection today in the talented seven-boat fleet.

'Our speed was great, and we were really in sync,' said Dorsett, who noted they were happy with their starts, on which they've been focusing. 'In these conditions you don't want to make too many tacks, so we were really trying to consolidate our tacks and make each one count.'

Great Britain's Alexander Rickham and Niki Birrell finished the day in second place with a 3-2 today, tied with Canada's John McRoberts and Brenda Hopkin, who swapped scores with a 2-3. One point behind is USA's Jennifer French (St Petersburg, Fla.) and JP Creignou (St Petersburg, Fla.), a new SKUD-18 team that has made an impression in the fleet despite sailing for only three months together.

Norway's Aleksander Wang-Hansen and crew Per Eugen Kristiansen and Marie Solberg led the nine-boat Sonar fleet after five races, with a 1-3 today. 'We've been trying to sail conservatively and consistently, and it has paid off so far,' said Wang-Hansen. 'It's been very shifty, and we've been trying to tack on the shifts and stay on the right side of the fleet. We had fantastic down wind legs, and I think that helped a lot.'

A relatively new team - this is their fourth event together - the trio happily traded Norway's seasonal icy waters for training on Biscayne Bay for the past two weeks to get ready for the tough competition. 'The wind is steady in Miami: There is almost always some wind and very rarely too much. It's shifty, but at least the wind is strong enough to sail in,' said Wang-Hansen, who is new to the helm but not to the Sonar. As a crew, he finished fourth at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Qingdao, China.

'The Paralympic class fleets may be small, but they are very deep, so I think the competition will be fierce,' said US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics coach Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.). 'Places could change in any one of the fleets.'

After dropping his lowest score today, 2.4 mR World Champion and 2008 Paralympic Bronze Medalist John Ruf (Pewaukee, Wis.) continues to lead his 27-boat fleet. He is followed by 2009 IFDS Disabled Sailing World Champion Thierry Schmitter (NED) and 2008 Paralympic Gold Medalist Paul Tingley (CAN). Ruf made a remarkable comeback today in his first race after starting prematurely and having to restart. He swiftly recovered to finish tenth, which ended up being his throw-out.

'The Rolex Miami OCR is a good regatta to see how you're doing vs. the rest of the world,' said Ruf, who won the open (able-bodied and disabled) World Championship this year a day early and with one race to spare. 'I love big fleets,' he added.

Biscayne Bay's flat conditions pleased Spain's Marina Alabau, who posted finish positions of 4-2 in today's two Women's RS:X (board sailing) races. The 'shifty and gusty' 8-12 knot winds, however, made it necessary to pump the sails, adding greatly to the physical demands for both men's and women's divisions. 'It is important to be in the gust; if you pump really hard you stay in it, if you don't pump you fall back in the fleet.'

Alabau, the 2009 RS:X World and European Champion and also the defending champion here, replaced yesterday's leader and Spanish teammate Blanca Mancon at the top of the scoreboard while Mancon fell to fourth, allowing France (Charline Picon) and Italy (Laura Linares) the luxury of second- and third-place positions, respectively.

'I am watching nobody special, just trying to do my best,' said Alabau. 'For sure I can win, but maybe there are five others who can win, too. It's not going to be easy.'

According to John Craig (San Francisco, Calif.), principal race officer for the RS:X race course, both men's and women's fleets have been aggressive on the line. Three of the last two days' four starts carried the burden of a 'black flag,' flown by the race committee after recalling too many starts due to premature starters. The penalty for jumping the start on a black flag means disqualification from that race - end of story.

'Racing among the top 10 in each class is very close,' said Craig. 'The physical fitness of these top athletes is a big part of what's making the difference.'

In Men's RS:X, Dorian Rijsselberghe (NED), who won both races yesterday, maintained his lead today with finish positions of 2-7 worth a five-point lead over Ivan Pastor (ESP).

US Sailing's 2010 Rolex Miami OCR top-three finishes day three

49er (36 boats) - 9 races
1. Manu Dyen/Stephane Christidis (FRA), 2-6-3-7-9-1-(15)-6-1, 35
2. Nico LM Delle Karth/Nikolaus Leopold Resch (AUT), 3-5-4-(15)-11-8-3-5-7, 46
3. Will Phillips/ Sam Phillips (AUS), 1-1-1-2-13-12-13-7-(25), 50

Laser Radial (57 boats) - 5 races
1. Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fl., USA), 1-1-4-(10)-3, 9
2. Alison Young (GBR), 3-11-(16)-1-8, 23
3. Cecilia Carranza Saroli (ARG), 10-9-2-(58/BFD)-4, 25

Laser (104 boats)-6 races
1. Bruno Fontes (BRA), 5-1-4-3-(15)-2, 15
2. Nick Thompson (GBR), 1-6-1-1-(23)-13, 22
3. Andreas Geritzer (AUT), 8-5-7-(16)-1-1, 22

Elliott 6m (24 boats)- Ties Unresolved
Gold
1. Lucy Macgregor (GBR), 3
2T. Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.,USA), 2
2T. Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fl., USA), 2
4T. Claire Leroy (FRA), 1
4T. Nicky Souter (AUS), 1
6. Samantha Osborne (NZL), 0

Repechage
7. Lotte Meldgaard (DEN), 3
8T. Lucinda Whitty (AUS), 2
8T. Silke Hahlbrock (GER), 2
8T. Genny Tulloch (San Francisco, Ca., USA), 2
11T. Renee Groeneveld (NED), 0
11T. Anna Kjellberg (SWE), 0

Silver
13. Ulrike Schuemann (GER), 3
14T. Susanne Ward (DEN), 2

14T. Mandy Mulder (NED), 2
14T. Jen Provan (CAN), 1
14T. Katie Archer (GBR), 1
18. Linur Kliger (ISR), 0

Bronze
19. Ekaterina Skudina (RUS), 4
20. Juliana Senfft (BRA), 3
21T. Margarita Cameselle (ESP), 1
21T. Tania Zimmermann (PER), 1
23T. Katy Lovell (New Orleans, La., USA), 0
23T. Chita Wahlroos (FIN), 0

Finn (37 boats) - 5 races
1. Edward Wright (GBR), 1-2-(19)-1-4, 8
2. Giles Scott (GBR), 2-(7)-1-3-3, 9
3. Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fl., USA), 4-(5)-4-4-1, 13

470 Men (34 boats) - 6 races
1. Nic Asher/Elliot Willis (GBR), 8-9-(14)-1-4-1, 23
2. Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis (GRE), (35/OCS)-14-1-3-3-6, 27
3. Gideon Kliger/Eran Sela (ISR), 2-6-4-6-(13)-13, 31

470 Women (26 boats) - 6 races
1. Amanda Clark/Sarah Chin (Shelter Island Heights, Ny.,USA/Hoboken Nj., USA), (7)-6-2-1-3-1, 13
2. Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Geron (FRA), 1-(8)-6-2-2-3, 14
3. Ingrid Petitjean/Nadege Douroux (FRA), 10-2-1-(12)-5-2, 20

Star (26 boats) - 6 races
1. Andy Horton/James Lyne (Burlington, Vt., USA/Granville, Vt., USA), 2-1-3-1-4-(5), 11
2. Eivind Melleby/Petter Morland Pederson (NOR), 1-11-2-(20)-1-1, 16
3. Andrew Macdonald/Austin Sperry (Laguna Beach, Ca., USA/Gulfport, Al.,USA), 3-5-12-(16)-5-3, 28

RS:X Men (37 boats) - 4 races
1. Dorian Rijsselberghe (NED), 1-1-2-7, 11
2. Ivan Pastor (ESP), 6-5-4-1, 16
3. Kevin Stittle (CAN), 2-3-7-12, 24

RS:X Women (25 boats) - 4 races
1. Marina Alabau (ESP), 2-2-4-2, 10
2. Charline Picon (FRA), 3-3-1-5, 12
3. Laura Linares (ITA), 6-4-2-1, 13

2.4mR (28 boats) - 5 races
1. John Ruf (Pewaukee, Wis.,USA), 2-1-2-(10)-3, 8
2. Thierry Schmitter (NED), 1-3-(6)-3-2, 9
3. Paul Tingley (CAN), 5-5-(7)-2-1, 13

Sonar (9 boats) - 5 races
1. Aleksander Wang-Hansen/Per Eugen Kristiansen/Marie Solberg (NOR), 1-(4)-1-1-3, 6
2. Bruno Jourdren/Eric Flageul/Nicolas Vimont-Vicary (FRA), (7)-1-3-2-2, 8
3. John Robertson/Hannah Stodel/Steve Thomas (GBR), 4-3-2-(6)-1, 10

SKUD-18 (7 boats)-5 races
1. Scott Whitman/Julia Dorsett (Brick, N.J., USA/Boca Raton, Fl., USA), 1-(3)-1-1-1, 4
2. Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell (GBR), (4)-1-4-3-2, 10
3. John McRoberts/Brenda Hopkin (CAN), 3-(4)-2-2-3, 10

Event site: http://rmocr.ussailing.org/