Skandia Team GBR at the Rolex Miami OCR - Day 3

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark on day 3 of the Rolex Miami OCR

Skandia Team GBR at the Rolex Miami OCR - Day 3

By Lindsey Bell, RYA on 26 Jan22-28 January 2012Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark on day 3 of the Rolex Miami OCR

Paul Goodison on day 3 of the Rolex Miami OCR

All photos © Daniel Forster / Rolex

Dempsey in control at Miami World Cup

The Miami World Cup regatta reached its halfway stage on Wednesday (25 January) with Britain’s sailors poised in seven podium positions after the three days of racing.

Nick Dempsey looks firmly in control in the RS:X men’s windsurfing fleet, counting all race wins so far, while Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell retain the yellow leader’s jerseys heading into the final two days of racing for the SKUD Paralympic class.

The Athens bronze medallist Dempsey made amends for jumping the gun in the second of his two races on Tuesday by winning both races today – he now discards his penalty and is counting the best possible scoreline of five points from the six races held to extend his lead over Skandia Team GBR teammate and training partner Elliot Carney, who’s in second overall.

“Elliot and I had a good couple of races today – kind of like training races for the two of us in a way – and it was great to get the conditions we did today,” Dempsey explained.

“It was the first time we’ve got planing since we got here, so it gave the body a bit of a rest from the pumping, and it was nice to be going well in those conditions.

Dempsey is treating this Rolex Miami OCR, held on the waters of Biscayne Bay, as a “training regatta”, and although many of his typically strong international rivals have opted not to race at this event, the British sailor is by no means resting on his laurels.

“The RS:X fleet is pretty small here, but although some of the big names are missing there are still some good guys in there, and you have to work just as hard to get the results,” the 31-year-old explained.

“It’s never as easy as the scoreline might look, so it’s definitely been worthwhile coming here and I’ll be pushing hard for the rest of the week.”

Rickham and Birrell, the four-time World Champions, continued their bid for a first Miami title with 2,3 from their two races today edging them into a two point lead after their nearest rivals, Australia’s Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch, could only manage two fourth places.

Elsewhere in the Paralympic classes, John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas improved one place to second overall in the Sonar class, while Megan Pascoe is poised in fourth in the 2.4mR class with teammate Helena Lucas dropping to 11th after she was adjudged to have crossed the startline early in her second race of the day.

Paul Goodison is just one point off of the lead in the Laser class following another steady day of 1,3 from his two races, while Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark will be looking to reclaim the top spot in the 470 women’s event after a couple of tactical errors saw them lose ground to the Dutch pairing of Westerhof and Berkhout on Wednesday. The Skandia Team GBR duo are in second overall, just one point from the overall lead, with development squad duo Sophie Weguelin and Sophie Ainsworth in third.

Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor will look to come through their closely-fought women’s match racing round-robin group in their remaining three matches on Thursday in order to book their berth in the quarter-finals.

They opened their day with a win over the Australian team, helmed by Olivia Price, but conceded their second match to France’s Julie Bossard after a “stupid mistake” at the start.

Helm Lucy Macgregor explained: “We were pretty disappointed with the loss really, it was a stupid mistake by me early on. We were both over the line and I took the most ridiculous way to get back behind the line and we then ended up with quite an unattainable distance to try and catch up.

“We nearly got in there at times, but the right was so strong and they were able to just dictate the race, so Julie Bossard won that, but it was good to have got the first win of the day in before that.”

“We’ve had a really good couple of weeks training here and the goal is to win a medal,” Macgregor continued. “We’re struggling a little bit at the moment with a couple of things in the boat but nothing that can’t be fixed – it’s just trying to get your head around the racing here.

“Hopefully we’ll have a good day tomorrow and get into the quarters and be able to start again.”

Charlotte Dobson is fifth and Alison Young seventh in the Laser Radial event, while Ben Saxton-Richard Mason are eighth and Luke Patience-Stuart Bithell 14th in the 470 men’s event.

The Rolex Miami OCR – the second leg of the 2011-12 ISAF Sailing World Cup series – runs until Saturday 28 January.

For the latest news and information from the Skandia Team GBR British Sailing Team visit www.skandiateamgbr.com or follow us on Twitter (@SkandiaTeamGBR).