Slater hits front of Finns in Rolex Miami OCR

by Jodie Perkins, Yachting NZ on 24 Jan 2007 Day two of racing at the 2007 Rolex Miami Olympic Classes regatta has just finished on Biscayne Bay, Miami.

A record number of 855 sailors from 49 nations are at the annual event including eleven New Zealanders, four of which are YNZ Olympic Squad members. Fleets are big and competition is tough at this ISAF Grade 1 event.

Dan Slater is the top placed kiwi at this stage leading the Finn fleet over Daniel Birgmark of Sweden. Slater placed 3rd and 2nd in today’s two races enabling him to climb into the top spot having started the day in fifth place overall.

'Today started with an on shore postponement due to a lack of wind. After about an hour of waiting in the Miami heat all classes were sent out onto a glassy Biscayne Bay,' says Slater. 'We then waited for the wind to fill in, which it did… but to only 5 knots when racing got underway.'

'Race 1… I had a good start, got a couple of good shifts on the first beat to finish the race in 3rd.'

'I ended up finishing 2nd in the second race today, winning the day and taking the overall lead in the regatta.'

Both the kiwi Laser Radial sailors also improved their overall standings today, after sailing just one race. Jo Aleh was pleased with her performance.

'Day two of OCR brought some lovely light wind, but it was a little too light for racing at times, so we only got one of our three scheduled races in,' says Aleh.

'In the one race of the day, I won the blue fleet, and Miranda [Powrie] won the yellow fleet… so it was a clean sweep for team kiwi. Very fun!'

'I was pretty happy with the race, I hung between 2nd and 7th for the race, moving up to 2nd at the last top mark, and had a great last downwind to take the lead, and carried it to the finish. It was nice to see that I can still race a Laser pretty well, even after such a break from the class.'

Hamish Pepper and David Giles were 2nd overall at the outset of racing, and like the Radial fleet, they only managed one race in the Star. Unfortunately day two wasn’t as successful as day one and the pair placed 27th in race three to slip back to 16th overall.

Andrew Murdoch’s position in the 109 boat Laser fleet improved after he placed 10th and 7th in today’s two races. Still carrying an OCS on his scorecard he has 29th place overall.

Current Kiwi Standings

Hamish Pepper & David Giles (Star) – 16th
Dan Slater (Finn) – 1st
Andrew Murdoch (Laser) – 29th
Jo Aleh (Laser Radial) – 6th
Miranda Powrie (Laser Radial) – 8th
Sharon Ferris, Raynor Smeal & Shandy Buckley (Yngling) – 13th
Stephen Keen & Phillip Keen (470 Mens) – 17th