Rolex Miami OCR on Biscayne Bay, Miami - Day 1
by Rolex Media Centre 23 Jan 2007 06:30 GMT
22-27 January 2007
Sailors breeze through first day
Perfect conditions welcomed more than 855 elite sailors from 49 countries on the first day of racing at US SAILING's 2007 Rolex Miami OCR. A steady southeasterly breeze and blue skies offered competitors a taste of what makes Biscayne Bay an ideal venue for this world-class event in its 18th year. The regatta is the only International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade-One regatta in the United States for Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls.
A number of American sailors enjoyed peak performances today, including Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wisc.) and her crew, Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), the number-one ranked Yngling team on the US Sailing Team, who tied in points with Great Britain's team of Sarah Ayton/Sarah Webb/Pippa Wilson and Finland's team of Silja Lehtinen/Maria Klemetz/Livia Varesmaa but topped the scoreboard after tie-breaker rules were applied. Barkow and her crew swapped first- and third-place finishes in today's two races, while Lehtinen's team came in second place in both races.
"We stuck to our game plan and didn't make it too complicated," said Barkow. "We felt good to be in that position at the end of the day." As for today's neck-and-neck competition, Barkow expects it to "be tight all the way to the end."
Among the classes that were large enough to warrant splitting into two racing fleets was the 49er. US Sailing Team member Tim Wadlow (Beverly, Mass.) and his crew Chris Rast (Wake Forest, N.C.) topped their fleet by posting two bullets after a fourth-place finish and went on to post a second-place overall after scoring from the two groups was merged. Edging out the U.S. team by one point in overall scoring was the Japanese team of Akira Ishibashi and Yuko Makino, sailing in the second fleet.
More good fortune came to U.S. sailors in the 470 Women's racing, where American sailors Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.) and Sarah Mergenthaler (Aberdeen, N.J.) secured a third-place finish with 13 points in three races, behind The Netherlands' Marcelien de Konig and Lobke Berkhout with three bullets and Italy's Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol with 10 points. In the second of two races, the American team struck an object with their rudder on the downwind leg and lost some distance they needed to recover.
"We never gave up," said Clark. "We concentrated on the small gains, and finished with some good results." Clark added: "We're lucky to have such tight competition on home waters."
In the men's 470 class, Portugal's Alvaro Marinho and Miguel Nunes came out swinging early with a victory in the first of that fleet's three races. "The wind was a bit tricky," said Marinho, "but even with that it was an awesome day of 470 sailing." Marinho acknowledged the presence of world champions and other top players in his fleet, including Great Britain's Olympic silver medalist Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, who finished 2-1-4 to post seven points and take the overall lead for the day. Marinho and Nunes finished their day with a 7-7 and settled for second place with 15 points. "This will be a tough week to get good results but we are fighting," said Marinho.
More Information: