MIAMI, FLA. USA-(28-1-2005) Champions were crowned today in nine
Olympic and two Paralympic classes at US SAILING's 16th annual Rolex Miami
OCR. The last of five racing days concluded with all but one of
yesterday's leaders at the top of the scoreboard. Laser Radial sailor
Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.), one of over 320 sailors from 26 countries
competing on Biscayne Bay for the regatta's 16th edition, had some
business to settle on the water today with Anna Tunnicliffe (Norfolk,
Va.), and a good breeze interspersed with squalls helped her do it.
`The storms would leave, and it would get light,` said Railey, a 2003
World Youth Champion who is now age 17, `and then you'd see them come
again and you'd have to get over to the wind.` By the third of three
races, Railey had put four points on Tunnicliffe, who was then tied in
points with 2004 Europe dinghy Olympic Medallist Lenka Smidova (CZE). `I
just had to play it calm,` said Railey. ` It was a lot nicer than the last
few days when I made too many mistakes.`
The Laser Radial is a class newly added to the Olympics for 2008 and
Railey is one of many rising U.S. stars who have flocked to it. `It's so
exciting to win,` she said, `because it's my first Olympic ranking regatta
ever.`
Yngling skipper Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) finished off her closest
competition in two races. In the first race, she passed Canada's Felicity
Clark on the last downwind leg to win. With a second-place finish in the
second race, her accomplishments fell comfortably in line with her goals.
`It was a good day for us,` said Barkow. `We didn't put pressure on
ourselves and stuck with a solid conservative game plan. Winning means we
show everyone we're serious about the Olympics, and it's a good jumpstart
for the next four years.`
The Rolex Miami OCR is the only qualifying event used for determining US
Sailing Team members in the 470 (Men and Women), 49er, Tornado and Yngling
classes; therefore, Barkow has met this goal as well. Making the team with
her are crewmembers Deborah Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) and Carrie Howe
(Grosse Pointe, Mich.).
In the Star class, Andrew Horton (Newport, R.I.) and Brad Nichol (Hanover,
N.H.) successfully fended off a pack of aggressors that included Sweden's
Fredrik Loof, the class's 2004 World Champion who finished second overall
with crew Anders Ekstrom. Although Horton and Nichol led the regatta from
the beginning, the two had predicted any of the five teams immediately
behind could take them on the last day. Loof pounced but fell short,
posting finishing scores of 5-1 to Horton/Nichol's 8-3 to go from fifth
overall yesterday to second overall today.
Final scores were too close for comfort for Brad Funk (Belleair Bluffs,
Fla.), but with one point over Andrew Campbell in the end, he snagged not
only victory in the Laser class but also the Golden Torch Award, given to
the American sailor deemed to have the best overall performance among all
classes. `Andrew was winning the last race until the last leg. I had said
to myself I was going to finish that race exhausted, and that's what I
did.` Funk, who had rounded the weather mark in sixth, didn't catch
Campbell, but Campbell fell to second on that last leg while Funk caught
three boats to finish third. `I was able to get a nice lead in the light
breeze (earlier in the week) and hold it. I'm feeling I was prepared for
this event. I kept my head out of the boat and was told I sailed pretty
smart.`
Other Action
Tornado sailors John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree
(Kemah, Texas), the USA's 2004 Tornado Olympic Silver Medallists, made it
look easy once again today, winning both races and adding the victories to
three previous ones in their six-race lineup. `It's never easy,` laughed
Lovell about today's performance. `We've been sailing for the last couple
of years and at the Olympics while everyone else took a year off, so that
made a difference.`
49er sailors Morgan Larson (Capitola, Calif.) and Pete Spaulding (Miami
Beach, Fla.) won their class, while the teams of Sven Coster/Kalle Coster
(NED) and Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler (Shelter Island, N.Y./Matawan,
N.J.) won the 470 Men's and Women's classes, respectively. Christopher
Cook from Canada won in the Finn class.
In Paralympic sailing, Sweden's Stellan Berlin took the 2.4 Metre class,
while Great Britain's John Robertson and crew Hannah Stodel and Steve
Thomas topped the Sonar fleet..
In addition to Rolex, other sponsors of the event are Nautica, Sperry
Top-Sider, Team McLube and Zodiac. Regatta Headquarters for the 2005 Rolex
Miami OCR are at the US Sailing Center, with classes hosted by the US
Sailing Center; Coral Reef, Key Biscayne and Miami Yacht Clubs; the
Coconut Grove Sailing Club; and Shake-A-Leg-Miami.
For more information, including the latest results and photos, visit the
event web site at www.ussailing.org/Olympics/RolexMiamiOCR. Video of the
last three days of racing, produced by T2P TV, can be viewed at
www.t2p.tv.
Rolex Miami OCR Day 5 (Jan. 28, 2005) Final Results Position, Skipper/Crew, Hometowns, Finishes, Total Points
Finn (26 boats) 1. Christopher Cook, CAN, 2-1-[4]-2-1-4-3-1-3-2-2-2, 23.00 2. Kevin Hall, Bowie, Md., USA, 1-4-6-1-2-8-1-5-1-3-1-[10], 33.00 3. Edward Wright, GBR, 6-6-5-6-3-3-7-2-7-7-4-[8], 56.00
470 Men (11 boats) 1. Sven Coster/Kalle Coster, NED, 1-2-1-2-[5]-1-2-1-4-2-4-1, 21.00 2. Mike Anderson-Mitterling/David Hughes, San Diego/San Diego, Calif., USA, 2-3-2-[7]-1-4-3-2-5-3-5-2, 32.00 3. Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl, Chestnut Hill, Mass./San Diego, Calif., USA, 3-5-3-9-4-6-4-[14]-6-9-8-4, 61.00
470 Women (9 boats) 1. Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler, Shelter Island, N.Y./Matawan, N.J., USA, 5-1-4-1-2-3-[6]-5-1-1-2-3, 28.00 2. Erin Maxwell/Alice Manard, Stamford, Conn./Evanston, Ill., USA, [21/OCS]-7-8-12-3-9-1-6-2-6-1-8, 63.00 3. Henriette Koch/Lene Sommer, DEN, 4-4-5-6-7-5-10-4-[14]-13-7-6, 71.00
49er (17 boats) 1. Morgan Larson/Pete Spaulding, Capitola, Calif./Miami Beach, Fla., USA, 1-1-1-3-1-2-2-[4]-2-3, 16.00 2. Rodion Luka/George Leonchuk, UKR, 2-3-4-1-[6]-3-3-1-1-1, 19.00 3. Dalton Bergan/Zack Maxam, Seattle, Wash./Coronado, Calif., USA, 4-2-2-2-5-1-1-3-[7]-2, 22.00
Laser Full (46 boats) 1. Brad Funk, Belleair Bluffs, Florida, USA , 2-1-2-[3]-3-2-1-3-3-3, 20.00 2. Andrew Campbell, San Diego, Calif., USA, [4]-4-4-2-1-3-2-2-1-2, 21.00 3. John Pearce, Ithaca, N.Y., USA, [10]-2-1-4-10-1-7-9-5-7, 46.00
Laser Radial (24 boats) 1. Paige Railey, Clearwater, Fla., USA, 1-3-2-4-[8]-3-1-1-3, 18.00 2. Anna Tunnicliffe, Norfolk, Va., USA 3-[6]-1-5-1-2-4-3-1, 20.00 3. Lenka Smidova, CZE, 2-[7]-3-3-5-1-3-2-2, 21.00
Star (40 boats) 1. Andrew Horton/Brad Nichol, Newport, R.I./Hanover, N.H., USA, 3-1-8-3-9-11-[41/OCS]-1-8-3, 47.00 2. Fredrik Loof/Anders Ekstrom, SWE, 7-6-5-4-5-8-13-[14]-5-1, 54.00 3. Vincent Brun/Douglas Brophy, San Diego, Calif./Rowley, Mass., USA, 10-4-3-11-[41/OCS]-2-1-17-11-2, 61.00
Tornado (11 boats) 1. John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree, New Orleans, La./Kemah, Texas, USA, [2]-1-1-1-1-1, 5.00 2. Roland Gabler/Gunnar Strukmann, DEN, 1-2-[5]-3-2-3, 11.00 3. Oskar Johansson/Kevin Stittle, CAN, 4-4-4-[6]-3-2, 17.00
Yngling (8 boats) 1. Sally Barkow/Deborah Capozzi/Carrie Howe, Nashotah, Wis./Bayport, N.Y./Grosse Pointe, Mich., USA, 1-1-[6]-1-4-6-1-5-1-2, 22.00 2. Felicity Clark/Kari MacKay/Joanne Abbott, CAN, 4-[8]-2-3-5-5-2-4-2-3, 30.00 3. Carol Cronin/Kate Fears/Jamie Haines, Jamestown, R.I./Washington, D.C./Newport, R.I., USA, 5-2-1-2-2-2-[7]-7-6-4, 31.00 4. JJ Isler/Pease Glaser/Laura Schmidt, La Jolla, Calif./Long Beach, Calif./Chicago, Ill., USA, 3-3-5-5-3-3-4-[6]-4-1, 31.00
2.4 Metre (18 boats) 1. Stellan Berlin, SWE, 2-1-1-[4]-4-1-1-3-1-1-3-4, 22.00 2. Marko Dahlberg, FIN, 1-4-7-5-2-3-[10]-4-3-6-2-1, 38.00 3. Nick Scandone, Fountain Valley, Calif., USA, [12]-2-10-1-3-2-7-2-4-2-8-7, 48.00
Sonar (7 boats) 1. John Robertson/Hannah Stodel/Steve Thomas, GBR, 1-1-1-2-[3]-1-2-1-2-3, 14.00 2. Ken Kelly/Robert Jones/Andre Belcourt, CAN/Issaquah, Wash., USA/CAN, [4]-3-4-4-2-2-1-3-4-2, 25.00 3. David Schroeder/Keith Burhans/Bradley Johnson, Miami, Fla./Rochester, N.Y./Hollywood, Fla., USA, 3-2-2-[8/DSQ]-1-5-3-2-6-8/DNF, 32.00
|