US Sailing Team at the Rolex Miami OCR - Day 2
by Dana Paxton 26 Jan 2011 08:48 GMT
24-29 January 2011
Another day of solid results was turned in by US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) on day two of the ISAF Sailing World Cup event in Miami, Fla. Clay Johnson (Toms River, N.J.) is in first in the Laser class; Jen French (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Jean-Paul Creignou (St. Petersburg, Fla.) are second in the SKUD18; Albert Foster (Wayzata, Minn.), Michael Hersey (Hyannis, Mass.) and David Burdette (Lutherville, Md.) are second in Sonar; Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) is third in the Finn; and Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), Molly Vandemoer (Redwood City, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) top the Elliott 6 (women’s match racing) with six wins, one loss.
Clay Johnson (Toms River, N.J.) scored two thirds to extend his overall lead in the 105-boat Laser class (Men's One Person Dinghy). Each day the fleet is divided, randomly, into two fleets and scored as one entire group. In addition to making the start line more manageable – for competitors and race management – it also gives sailors a chance to race in a different dynamic every day as the fleets randomly mixed every day. Rob Crane (Darien, Conn.) moved up in the standings, to 9th, while Kyle Rogachenko (Collegeville, Pa.) finished improved his score line as well to end the day in 23rd.
Sarah Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) had a great day, with 14-5 to move up to 13th overall in the 58-boat Laser Radial (Women's One Person Dinghy) class. 2010 Laser Radial Youth World champion Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) improved her overall result to a 15th, while Claire Dennis (Saratoga, Calif.) is in 16th. Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) had a 4th and 6th to improve her standing to 18th.
In the 40-boat Finn class (Men's One Person Dinghy Heavy) Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) had a great day and is in third overall in the Finn class. “I’m very happy with my overall performance,” said Railey. “A 4, 6 for the day is good given that I was having trouble all around, especially upwind. My downwind speed is good. Fortunately we had good wind.” With the wind over 10 knots, the pumping flag went up today, meaning that Finn sailors could use their physical mass to move the boat effectively. I was able to get some pretty big gains on the downwinds. We worked on that really hard this winter and it’s good to see the improvement, even from the World Cup event in Melbourne. It’s a huge improvement for us. If we can get the upwind going we’ll be good to go.”
Bryan Boyd (Annapolis, Md.) finished the day in 18th, while US Sailing Development Team (USSDT) athlete Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.) finished in 8th, and USSDT athlete Luke Lawrence (Palm City, Fla.) moved up to 14th overall.
McNay (Boston, Mass) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) moved up to 6th overall in the Men's 470 (Men's Two Person Dinghy) with two top-10 results (3, 9), while Keith Davids (Coronado, Calif.) and David Hughes (San Diego, Calif.) are in 26th overall in the 41-boat fleet.
In the Women's 470 (Women's Two Person Dinghy), Erin Maxwell (Stonington, Conn.) and Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar (New York, N.Y.) scored 14, 11 for 11th overall. Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.) and Sarah Chin (Hoboken, N.J.) collected another 12th to go with their pair of 12s from day 1, which moved them down the standings into 15th overall.
US Sailing Development Team’s Anne Haeger (Lake Forest, Oll.) and Briana Provancha (San Diego, Calif.) are now in 12th overall, followed by USSDT’s Marlena Fauer (New York, N.Y.) and Carly Shevitz (Santa Barbara, Calif.), in 20th, and Sydney Bolger (Long Beach, Calif.) and Leah Volk (Lexington, Ky.) in 22nd.
Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Brian Fatih (Miami, Fla.) are in 5th overall in the 56-boat Star (Men's Keelboat) class, followed by Andy Horton (S. Burlington, Vt.) and James Lyne (Granville, Vt.) in 6th. George Szabo (San Diego, Calif.) and substitute crew Frithjof Kleen (Berlin, GER) put in a great day with a 4th and 17th for 9th overall. Andrew MacDonald (Laguna Beach, Calif.) and Brad Nichol (North Miami Beach, Fla.) are in 6th, while are in 15th. 2008 Olympian Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) and new crew Ian Coleman (Annapolis, Md.) are now in 22nd after a black flag penalty in the last race of the day.
Six races, to date, have been held in the 49er (Men's Two Person Dinghy High Performance) class and Erik Storck (Huntington, N.Y.) and Trevor Moore (North Pomfret, Vt.) are in 6th overall. Top USSDT team of the day was Alex Bishop (Baltimore, Md.) and Val Smith (Wilmette, Ill.), who finished in 7th after dropping their throwout (worse score) 11th.
In the Men's RS:X (Men's Windsurfing), Ben Barger (St. Petersburg, Fla.) moved up to 19th overall, while Jimi Sobeck (East Quogue, N.Y.) is in 22nd. On the Women's RS:X (Women’s Windsurfing) course Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) is in 12th and Solvig Sayre (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) is in 20th.
Two races were held in the Sonar class (Open Three Person Keelboat). Albert Foster (Wayzata, Minn.), Michael Hersey (Hyannis, Mass.) and David Burdette (Lutherville, Md.) are in second overall in the today’s 5-2 results. Paul Callahan (Cape Coral, Fla./Newport R.I.), Tom Brown (Castine, Me.) and Bradley Johnson (Pompano Beach, Fla.) slipped to 6th overall, while Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.), Brad Kendell (Tampa, Fla.) and Hugh Freund (South Freeport, Me.) turned in 3-4 results to finish in 5th overall.
Great results from Jen French (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Jean-Paul Creignou (St. Petersburg, Fla.) in the SKUD-18 (Mixed Two Person Keelboat).They won the day’s first race and came second in the last to hold the second overall behind Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS). Sarah Everhart Skeels (Tiverton, R.I.) and Bob Jones (Issaquah, Wash.) traded places with Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Julia Dorsett (Westchester, Pa./Boca Raton, Fla.), 4th and 5th, respectively.
John Ruf (Pewaukee, Wis.) moved up to 5th overall in the 2.4mR (Open One Person Keelboat), while Mark LeBlanc (New Orleans, La.) is in 14th and Charles Rosenfield (Woodstock, Conn.) is in 24th.
In the Elliott 6m (Women's Match Racing), the top two scoring teams in each of three groups advances to the Gold Round to determine the seeding (1-6) in the Quarter Finals. Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), Molly Vandemoer (Redwood City, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) topped her group to advance, while GennyTulloch (San Francisco, Calif.), Alice Manard Leonard (New Orleans, La.) and Jennifer Chamberlin (Washington, D.C.) will sail in the Silver group. Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Alanna O’Reilly (Charleston, S.C.) and Elizabeth Kratzig (Miami, Fla.) go into the repechage group.
Racing in 10 Olympic and three Paralympic classes continues tomorrow, Wednesday, January 26. Competition is scheduled this week in the 10 Olympic and three Paralympic sailing classes in advance of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to be held in Weymouth, U.K. Over 700 of the world’s top athletes from 53 countries are competing.
Following the Rolex Miami OCR, the 2011 US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics will officially be named.
A complete roster of competitors can be viewed at the event website, RMOCR.ussailing.org, where real-time racecourse blogging, commentary and fan interaction, regatta results, photos and news updates will be integrated into a live coverage platform once racing begins. Video highlights produced by Gary Jobson and presented by Rolex air daily and are available on-demand on the event website. Fans can also follow the event on Facebook/RMOCR and Twitter/RMOCR.