ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami - Victories for Canadian sailors

by Canadian Sailing Team on 3 Feb 2013 The ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami delivered good breeze in the high teens and tested the sailors on this fifth and final day of racing for 2.4mR, Sonar and RSX fleets. Canadian sailors across varying fleets passed the test today securing medals and race wins in the challenging conditions.

Bruce Millar put up a pair of 4's today which moved him back behind Pascoe (GBR) and Leibel (CAN), yet Millar's stellar performances throughout the week added up to a bronze medal at his first World Cup event since the 2012 Paralympic Games. National team member Jackie Gay moved up to 10th overall after an unfortunate start to her regatta. 2.4mR class proves once again to be a very competitive fleet with close points and elite level sailing.

Paul Tingley, crew Logan Campbell and Scott Lutes worked hard today to move into medal contention yet fell one point shy of the podium. Despite the outcome, this newly formed team sailed a very impressive regatta and is certainly a force to be reckoned with this coming year and beyond.

David Wright, clawing his way back up the Laser leaderboard on the final day of fleet racing, pulls out two impressive races 1, 2 to move up to bronze medal position. David will be looking to repeat and improve on his podium performance from 2012 Miami OCR. Robert Davis also deserves a nod for his 3,6 on the day, moving into fifth and medal race status.

Radial sailor Isabella Bertold put in another consistent performance at the top of the fleet today with a 2, 5, moving up to podium position, third place heading into the final round. Ireland's Annalise Murphy was in top form in the big breeze today scoring two bullets. Canadians Ingrid Merry, Brenda Bowskill and Erin Rafuse finish up their day in 13, 14 and 15th.

The experimental formats continue tomorrow as the Laser and Radials final day of racing will include a carry-over of race series points along with three medal races worth double points. There will be a lot of action, don't miss it!

Greg Douglas earns second place position going into the medal race with 28 points and Martin Robitaille also moves onto medal racing in fourth place with 43 points. Caleb Paine from the USA holds down the lead with 18 points. It will be a Finn style showdown in Miami, FL.

Not advancing to the finals in the RSX today was Olympian Zac Plavsic. There were a series of semi-final rounds before the medal race unfortunately Zac did not finish his semi-final heat due to equipment issues thus cutting his event one race too short. Ivan Pastor (ESP) captured the 'winner takes all' final race to secure gold. Nick Dempsey (GBR) and Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) round out the podium.

470 Saunders team pulled off another good race today scoring their best result of the event in third place behind McNay/Hughes (USA). They hang onto fourth place heading into medal racing tomorrow.

Nacra team Luke Ramsay and Nikola Girke are also heading to medal racing nine points out of podium position and only four points out of fourth place

49er FX team Berry/Boyd continue to impress in this debut event with top three results including a race win and a second place. They head into the final day in fourth place looking to snag a spot on the podium.

Ladha/Inkpen, sailing very consistent in this 49er event, hang onto fourth moving into medal racing on Saturday. Mori/Barnes and Brodeur/Stranix will also compete in the spectator friendly finals!

The skiff medal racing the 49er class are using the 'Big Sixy' format to determine the winner. The first team to win two races wins the regatta. Second place through sixth is determined based on low point scoring, with your fleet finish counting as one score and the rest of your scores in the theatre. This format has been developed by the 49er class to increase the spectator experience and showcase the dynamic element of skiff Canadian Sailing Team website