PORTSMOUTH, R.I-(2-2-2005) It was one of the first large ISAF
Grade 1 ranking events for the new Olympic/Paralympic Quadrennium, and
gauging by the quality of sailors who flocked to compete there, the timing
was none-too-early and the location never better. The 2005 Rolex Miami
OCR, held for its 16th time from January 24-28, hosted over 320 sailors
from 26 countries and served up impressive performances by both
up-and-coming and veteran stars on its global stage. With wind conditions
for the five days of racing running the gamut from moderate to heavy on
opening and closing days to light and shifty for the three days in
between, the script did not include a thread for winning on a fluke or by
good luck. Each of the champions named in the nine Olympic and two
Paralympic classes was solid in his or her talent.
`We tried some new things this year that worked well,` said Gary Bodie
(Hampton, Va.), US Sailing Team Head Coach and Event Co-Director. `We
expanded to five days from four, falling more in line with the large
European Grade 1 events. We moved the Tornados to an ocean course, and we
staggered starting times for classes each day to better utilize the room
we have on Biscayne Bay for running five circles of racing.`
Established in 1990, the Rolex Miami OCR is important not only as a world
ranking regatta but also as a qualifier for the US Sailing Team and the US
Disabled Sailing Team, which annually distinguish, respectively, the
top-five and top-three sailors in each class. The event established the
members of the 2005 US Sailing Team in the 470 Men and Women, 49er,
Tornado and Yngling classes.
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 were 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.
Laser
Launching his Olympic campaign with a major victory was Brad Funk
(Belleair Bluffs, Fla.), who sailed in the regatta's largest fleet of 46
Lasers and received the Golden Torch Award for turning in the best overall
performance by an American sailor among all classes. Funk, who finished
third at his class's U.S. Olympic Team Trials last year, led his fleet
early and held off advances by San Diego's Andrew Campbell, a fellow
two-time College All-American, even in the last race of the series.
`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. Only one point separated the two in final overall
scoring. `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.`
Laser Radial
Reflecting changes in the equipment for the 2008 Olympics, the Rolex Miami
OCR replaced the Europe dinghy with the Laser Radial in the Women's
Singlehanded discipline. The result was attendance by a plethora of young,
impressive talent from the U.S., where the Laser Radial is used in many
yacht club junior programs. Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.), already a
star at age 17 as the 2003 Youth World Champion and the 2004 U.S. Junior
Women's Singlehanded Champion, claimed victory after coming to experience
her `first-ever Olympic ranking regatta.` She was up against, among
others, Olympic Silver Medallist (in the Europe class) Lenka Smidova of
the Czech Republic, a two-time Europe class winner at this event who
finished third overall in the Laser Radials and gave Railey the nod as one
of the class's top players.
Railey was the only regatta winner who had not been leading going into the
last day. The business she had on the water with Anna Tunnicliffe
(Norfolk, Va.), a 2004 College All-American who had been leading and
eventually finished second overall, was settled in a good breeze
interspersed with squalls.
`The storms would leave, and it would get light,` said Railey, `and then
you'd see them come again and you'd have to get over to the wind.` By the
third of three races on the final day, Railey had put four points on
Tunnicliffe, who was then tied in points with Smidova. `I just had to
play it calm,` said an ecstatic Railey at regatta's end.
Star
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 sailed 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 them could
take the lead on the last day. Loof's team was the farthest away on the
scoreboard, in fifth but with the same number of points as the two teams
ahead. Loof pounced but fell short, posting finishing scores of 5-1 in
two races to Horton/Nichol's 8-3 to take second overall for the regatta.
For Horton, a winning member of the 2004 ISAF Match Racing World
Championship team, and Nichol, this was only their fourth Star regatta
together. `It was awesome to be here with all the old-school greats,`
said Horton, referring to the class's history of attracting incredible
sailors and making them lifelong converts.
49er
After several years of sailing in a variety of classes, Morgan Larson
(Capitola, Calif.) returned to the 49ers in a big way: winning this class
with crew Pete Spaulding (Miami Beach, Fla.). Spaulding finished fifth in
the 2004 Olympic 49er event with skipper Tim Wadlow and won the Rolex
Miami OCR last year with Wadlow. The duo's toughest competition came from
2004 Olympic Silver Medallists Rodion Luka/George Leonchuk (UKR) who, like
Larson/Spaulding, had four first-place finishes in their ten-race series.
`I haven't been in these boats for a long time,` said Larson, `so our
strategy was to keep it simple and sail our own races.`
470 Men
Brothers Sven and Kalle Coster (NED) had no problem holding on to their
first-day lead to win the 470 Men's class at the regatta. `It's okay that
it was light air for a few days,` said Coster, who finished sixth with his
brother at the 2004 Olympics, `because we need to focus on that for the
2008 Olympics in Beijing. We are actually more expert in strong air, so
we were not too concerned about the last day. We were right up there and
being smart.` Mike Anderson-Mitterling (San Diego, Calif.), the class's
defending champion, finished second overall with crew David Hughes (San
Diego).
470 Women
Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler (Shelter Island, N.Y./Matawan, N.J.)
also topped the scoreboard early and held on in the 470 Women's class to
win, posting an impressive second overall in combined men's and women's
scoring.
`That's a significant accomplishment for us,` said Clark. `The first part
of the regatta, we focused on securing our lead in the women's division.
A secondary outcome was that we did pretty well overall, too.`
Clark, a two-time College All-American, and Mergenthaler had a whopping
35-point lead over their closest competitors, second-place finishers Erin
Maxwell (Stamford, Conn.) and Alice Manard (Evanston, Ill.)
Finn
Canada's Christopher Cook established himself as an Olympic player by
leading the 26-boat Finn class from the start. He was surprised that the
Race Committee managed as many races as they did on the light-air days. `I
prefer a breeze because you don't have to worry as much about other
competitors, but any wind is good,` he said. Cook, a three-time North
American and Canadian National Champion who finished second at his
country's 2004 Olympic Finn Trials, mostly watched runner-up Kevin Hall
(Bowie, Md.), who represented the USA in Athens in this class and finished
second overall.
Tornado
The Tornado class lost two consecutive days of racing due to light air but
got a boost with the heavier breezes on the final day. Victory was all
but assured for consistent regatta leaders John Lovell (New Orleans, La.)
and Charlie Ogletree (Kemah, Texas), the USA's 2004 Olympic Silver
Medallists in this class. They made it look easy by winning both of their
final races and adding the victories to three previous ones in their
six-race lineup. `It's never easy,` laughed Lovell about his victory.
`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.`
Yngling
The young but longtime team of Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Deborah
Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) and Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), lost its
lead only once in the Yngling class. The lead was quickly re-established,
however, when the three pushed their threat--2004 Olympian Carol Cronin
(Jamestown, R.I.), sailing with Jamie Haines (Newport, R.I.) and Kate
Fears (Washington, D.C.)--to third in overall scoring on the last day.
Finishing second was Canada's Felicity Clark/Kari MacKay/Joanne Abbott,
who made a strong play on the last day but conceded to Barkow both on the
race course and in overall scoring. For Barkow, her accomplishments fell
comfortably in line with her goals. `It was a good regatta 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.`
Paralympic Classes - 2.4 Metre and Sonar
Paralympic sailing was represented with the two classes that have been
selected for the 2008 Paralympics: 2.4 Metre and Sonar. The events were
open, however, to both able-bodied and disabled sailors.
Sweden's Stellan Berlin, an able-bodied multiple world champion, dominated
the 2.4 Metre class, winning half of his 12 races, while Great Britain's
John Robertson and crew Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas, who represented
their country in the 2004 Paralympics, nearly replicated that performance
in the Sonar class, winning five of ten races. Neither team ever let go
of its first-day lead over the five days of competition.
Americans David Schroeder, Keith Burhans and Bradley Johnson (Miami,
Fla./Rochester, N.Y./ Hollywood, Fla.), who on the last day slipped to
third from second overall in the Sonar, welcomed the chance to sail
against the British team. `They've worked together five years and are
well-oiled,` said Burhans. `All of us others are just putting together
our teams.` Burhans, a Paralympian from 2000 who calls tactics on the
boat, explained that he and Schroeder have sailed only two other times
together and Johnson, who won a bronze medal for the USA in 2004 as crew
in the Sonar, was a new teammate for them both. `All things considered,`
said Burhans, `we're highly pleased with the level of our sailing.`
Disabled sailors are given a classification rating--from 1 to 7, most to
least disabled--based on their stability, strength and functionality in
the boat. A Sonar team can share no more than 14 points in total.
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.
About Rolex Watch U.S.A.
Since Rolex Watch U.S.A. first presented timepieces to America's Cup
defenders in 1958, the company has consistently recognized and encouraged
excellence in every important arena of competitive sailing, including
Olympic Games preparation, US SAILING championships, disabled sailing, and
offshore, one-design and women's events.
About US SAILING
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national
governing body for sailing and sailboat racing. Headquartered in
Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization's mission is to encourage
participation and promote excellence in sailing and racing in the U.S. US
SAILING offers training and education programs, supports a wide range of
sailing organizations and communities, and provides administration and
oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including the US
Sailing Teams and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more
information, please visit www.ussailing.org.
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