Pepper second overall after Day 1 - Rolex Miami OCR

by Annabel Jeaffreson on 23 Jan 2007

Perfect weather conditions in Biscayne Bay, Miami kicked off a solid start to the Olympic Classes Regatta, 2007 for skipper Hamish Pepper and stand-in crew David Giles.

In a consistent 10-14 knot breeze the duo placed 4th in the first race and 1st in the second, and are listed in second position overall on the points table. Ahead is John Dane from the USA and behind, Freddie Loof from Sweden.

Hamish Pepper said, 'It was a great start to the regatta as it’s the first real sailing I have been able to do in the Star since the North American Championships in November 06.'

'It was good to be back in the boat with David Giles who always brings his expertise and experience to the campaign. We have not sailed together since Kiel Week, Germany in June last year.'

'OCR is an interesting regatta to be apart of, there are 851 athletes participating so it is huge! It’s the first major regatta for the year and many use it for training and testing purposes leading up to the games.'

Due to the unprecedented numbers, the Star fleet has been broken into two divisions: thirty four boats in one and thirty three in the other. The racing will go over six days with the first five days involving two races per day for each division. The racing will conclude on day six with the medal race. The medal race is comprised of the top 10 teams from each division and points are worth double.

Racing will resume tomorrow with similar weather conditions predicted.