Miami heat is on for British sailors

by Lindsey Bell, RYA 23 Jan 2015 21:24 GMT 26-31 January 2015

Bryony Shaw set for ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami © Ocean Images / British Sailing Team

Miami's Biscayne Bay will next week play host to the first ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta of 2015, with a strong British cast set to do battle across the 13 Olympic and Paralympic events.

More than 800 sailors from 63 nations will contest the regatta (26-31 January) as 2015 sharpens the focus towards Olympic and Paralympic qualification for Rio 2016.

The 64-strong British line-up can therefore expect to some tough competition at the six-day Miami regatta, where they claimed five titles at the last edition 12 months ago.

World and European Champion Giles Scott remains the man to beat in the heavyweight Finn class with his winning run now stretching to 15 months and seven world-ranked regattas.

"It [the unbeaten run] is absolutely something I'd like to continue," explained Scott, who's joined in the Finn fleet by Melbourne World Cup winner Ed Wright and Ben Cornish.

"Every regatta I do is incredibly important, but that being said I do really try and focus on each event as it comes so we'll have to see what Miami brings, I'm sure it will be great racing.

"I think the fleet will be very strong this year with only a handful of the top guys missing. Last year we were plagued by lack of wind so hopefully this year we get good Miami conditions!"

Giles Scott set for ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami - photo © Ocean Images / British Sailing Team

The 27-year-old Scott will aim to defend his 2014 Miami crown while windsurfer Bryony Shaw, who also kicked off her season with Miami World Cup gold last year, will also be hoping her current golden streak continues.

The 31-year-old has won three regattas over the past three months – the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, the Copa Brasil de Vela on the Rio 2016 waters in December, and the RS:X Midwinter Championships – a warm-up event to the World Cup held in Miami last weekend and where teammate Izzy Hamilton also claimed silver.

British Sailing Team 49er crews John Pink-Stuart Bithell and Dylan Fletcher also head into World Cup action of the back of a 1-2 at the North American Championships last week, while in the Nacra 17 class, John Gimson-Hannah Diamond will head into the first World Cup regatta together off the back of a North American Championship silver. They'll be joined in the multihull event by Podium squad sailors Lucy Macgregor-Andrew Walsh and Ben Saxton-Nicola Groves, and Podium Potential teams Rupert White-Nicola Boniface and Tom Phipps-Mary Rook.

World bronze medallists Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark and 2014 Miami World Cup winners Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre will look to challenge in the 470 Women's event, with Luke Patience-Elliot Willis the sole British entry in the 470 Men's division.

Melbourne World Cup gold medallist Alison Young features in the 80-boat Laser Radial event, with world bronze Nick Thompson gunning for a podium finish to add to his 2014 bronze in the Laser fleet.

In the Paralympic Classes, 2.4mR sailor Megan Pascoe and the SKUD duo of Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell come into the event as defending champions, with Paralympic gold medallist Helena Lucas also among the ones to watch in the 29-boat 2.4mR event.

They honeymoon is over for newlywed Steve Thomas, who rejoins his Sonar teammates John Robertson and Hannah Stodel for a shot at the podium in the three-person Paralympic class, having claimed silver at last year's edition. Podium Potential sailors Craig Wood-Steve Palmer-Liam Cattermole will also

Tom Squires will fly the flag in the RS:X Men's event with Olympic silver medallist Nick Dempsey failing to secure an entry in the over-subscribed men's windsurfing event, while Charlotte Dobson-Sophie Ainsworth and Kate Macgregor-Kirstie Urwin set to race in the 49erFX women's skiff event.

"Miami typically provides some great winter racing, and there's a strong entry across the classes this year as nations start to increase their focus on which sailors might represent them at the Rio Games next year," explained RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park.

"There's a larger entry than we're used to seeing here which, in addition to the continually increasing quality of competition, sees many nations trying to take advantage of Miami as the final 200 point ranking event prior to the new sailing World Cup format being introduced for Hyeres in April with a limited entry of 40 boats per class.

"For the first time ever it appears that the world ranking system is going to have a true purpose for Olympic Classes sailing.

"It's ironic that this event has such large fleet numbers and a system where some top sailors from around the world have fallen foul of an entry system based on 'first come first served' rather than quality on the ranking list or MNA nomination," Park concluded.