After last week’s racing was abandoned due to high winds, a soggy Dun Laoghaire saw the restart of the Frostbite racing yesterday. It rained the entire day and initially there didn’t seem to be enough breeze to warrant a race, despite a forecast that suggested there would be lots of wind.

Twelve Fireball started the race, with one boat recording a DNF, and the wind filled in sufficiently to give a steady breeze though there was very little trapezing and downwind sailing was quite benign!

Messrs Butler/Oram and Rumball/Moran did their usual thing of leading the fleet off the start line with both boats fancying the LHS of the course. Those who went right found themselves off the pace though subsequent beats saw a wider corridor of favourable wind to work one’s way upwind. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey and John Chambers & Hugh Butler were two combinations who didn’t have the best of starts but worked their way left-wards and came into the first weather mark along the port lay-line in “very good nick” to secure places behind the front two. Behind these four there was a chasing group who kept close company with each other – Louise McKenna & Conor Kinsella, Andy Boyle & Conor Clancy, Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly, Gavin Doyle & Richard Franck, Owen Laverty & Ed Butler and the all ladies team of Cariosa Power & Marie Barry.

This was the running order until the end of the second beat, when the Power & Barry combination dropped a place to Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley. The latter combination had a poor first beat, even though they had gone left and spent the balance of the race playing “catch-up”.

Doyle/Franck & McKenna/Kinsella were the competing combinations for the day’s mugs, all those ahead of them having won one already and they were in close company for most of the race. Doyle/Frank got ahead during round three and held onto this “mug-winning” slot to the end of the race, shortened to 4 laps. At the front of the fleet it was a bit processional with Butler/Oram winning again from Rumball/Moran. After pulling the iron out of the fire at the end of the first beat, Colin/Casey finished third, while Doyle/Franck climbed to a lofty 4^th and were followed home by Boyle/Clancy.

 

  

In terms of the overall situation in Series 2, the leading two are separated by a point and have a comfortable advantage over the next placed boat.

 

 

#CARIBBEAN 600 – A plan to secure line honours at the Caribbean 600 race on the world's largest carbon composite sailing yacht includes four Irish sailors on the 29–man crew. The Royal Ocean Racing Club race route circumnavigates 11 Carribbean islands and begins on February 20th.

The crew on the 200 foot long yacht is composed of many Volvo ocean race and Americas cup veterans and also includes Irish sailors James Caroll, Johnny Mordant, Aaron O'Grady and Mark O'Reilly.

The 67–metre yacht Hetairos was launched on June 2011 in Finland and last year the massive entry won line honours and finished second overall in the IMA Superyacht transatlantic race between Tenerife and the BVIs.

Hetairos is 200 feet long and carries up to 4400 Square metres of sail area.

With less than one month to go, to the fourth edition of the RORC Caribbean 600, the Royal Ocean Racing Club's 2012 programme kicks off with a sensational cast in Antigua.

The RORC Caribbean 600 is a truly international affair, with well over 500 hundred competitors from at least 24 different nations taking part. More than 30 impressive yachts are expected to take part in a high-speed, action-packed yacht race around 11 Caribbean islands. There can be few sporting events that can boast such a worldwide appeal with sailors taking part from all over the world including: Antigua, Australia, Austria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Croatia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey and the United States of America.

The largest yacht in the Caribbean 600 fleet will have four Irish sailors onboard: The magnificent 67m Hetairos. Credit:Hetairos/Baltic Yachts

This astounding diversity of nationalities is matched only by the astonishing array of yachts and personalities. The largest yacht competing this year is the magnificent Hetairos with a waterline length of 200'. Hetairos is the world's largest carbon composite sailing yacht. The 29 crew on board is composed of many Volvo Ocean Race, America's Cup and Jules Verne around the world veterans. Hetairos is among the favourites to take line honours, but there are several other yachts more than capable of finishing in front.

In 2011 American George David skippered Rambler 100 to smash the monohull course record, taking line honours and overall victory. David's team is back, this time with the Reichel Pugh 90, Rambler and they are unlikely to give up the title without a fight. The Spanish Volvo 70, Gran Jotti will be dwarfed by Hetairos, but the former Telefonica Black has a venomous turn of speed and is quite capable of out pacing the entire fleet. On board there is a huge wealth of talent in the form of Spanish America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race sailors. These three are likely to be contenders for line honours, but overall victory under IRC is far more difficult to predict. A hot contender is Niklas Zennstrom's Judel/Vrolijk 72 Rán, which will be making its debut in the RORC Caribbean 600.

"For me it's very refreshing to tackle a new race and the Caribbean 600 is a real fascination," explained Hayles. "It's unlike any other offshore race in that the average leg is only about 40 miles and for a navigator there is a lot to consider. Normally, a race is all about the weather and strategy but in addition to all that, this race takes you back to the basic problem of navigating around so many rocks and islands. Looking through all the legs, there is a broad mixture of sailing angles; there is a fair bit of reaching, but it is wrong to think that is not a challenge, especially with the speed sensitivity of modern high-performance boats. The course is more like a whole stream of complex coastal races. I have to say that it is a pretty unique race."

A dazzling variety of yachts crewed by some of the world's finest will be racing this year. However, not all of the competitors are seasoned professionals. One of the smallest yachts competing this year is J/39 Sleeper, which will be raced two-handed by a father and son team. Jonty Layfield and son Jack are both RORC members and hale from Brighton, UK. Last year with a full crew, Jonty's won class at Antigua Sailing Week:

"Sailing Two-Handed with my son, I don't expect to be very competitive, we are not going to go flat out but treat the race more like a delivery trip," admitted Jonty. "I have raced double-handed with my son back in England and I have been sailing with Jack since he was about five years old, we are more like friends than father and son. The great thing about sailing is that you have to get on with it; you can't have any histrionics. Jack is working in Brazil at the moment and the RORC Caribbean 600 is a great way to spend a few days together."

Close duels are expected right through the fleet, none more so than in the Class 40s where a hard fought and close encounter is expected. Tradewind sailing provides perfect conditions for Class 40s, with long reaches and downwind legs, these pocket rockets are capable of surfing at speeds of up to 25 knots. Peter Harding's 40 Degrees has Hannah Jenner as skipper, the only female to skipper the Clipper Round the World Race. Hannah was in fine form last year, gaining a podium position in the Class 40 Transat Jacques Vabre:

"Antigua is a beautiful place to start the season with some winter sunshine and I have heard that Antigua Yacht Club provides a great party!" smiled Hannah. " The race course has plenty of activity with sail changes and the competition should be really close. Making the right tactical decisions will also be very important if we are to be the fastest Class 40 around the track. I am really looking forward to the race."

Hannah Jenner on Peter Harding's 40 Degrees in the 2011 Transat Jacque Vabre/ Credit: Alexis Courcoux

RORC Chief Executive Eddie Warden Owen believes that the RORC Caribbean 600 is especially attractive to larger yachts, however the ethos of the club maintains equal status to every participant.

"A wide spectrum of yachts and competitors has decided that this is an event that is not to be missed. The club is delighted that people from all over the world want to take part. There is a mixture of world class sailors and corinthian enthusiasts, but they all have one thing in common, a passion for offshore racing."

"This average length of yacht for this year's entry is over 70'. When the Royal Ocean Racing Club started this race in 2009, we felt it would appeal to larger yachts and that has proved to be the case. This year we have a significant number of Racing Maxis, Super Yachts and Spirit of Tradition yachts. However, every yacht competing in the RORC Caribbean 600 is governed by the same set of rules. All of the competitors receive a warm welcome from the Antigua Yacht Club, regardless of their finish time or place. Since 1925, The Royal Ocean Racing Club has promoted offshore racing for all and in many ways the RORC Caribbean 600 typifies that cause."

The 2012 edition of the RORC Caribbean 600, organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club and hosted by the Antigua Yacht Club, will start on Monday 20th February 2012.

Past Results:

RORC CARIBBEAN 600 TROPHY - IRC OVERALL

2011 - George David, Rambler 100, JK 100 (USA)

2010 - Karl C L Kwok, Beau Geste, Farr 80 (HKG)

2009 - Adrian Lee, Lee Overlay Partners, Cookson 50 (IRL)

Records:

Multihull record holder - Region Guadeloupe in 40 hours 11 mins 5 secs (2009)

Monohull record held by Rambler 100 in 40 hours 20 mins 02 secs (2011)

#MOCR – A fourth place finish in light winds in the double points medal race saw Peter O'Leary and David Burrows move up one place to fifth overall at the Miami Olympic classes regatta in Florida yesterday. Single-hander Annalise Murphy who qualified for the medal race in the Laser Radial finished ninth overall when she placed tenth in her medal race.

The Miami results show an improvement in consistency for both members of the Irish Olympic team, O'Leary and Burrows scoring nine top ten results from 11 races. Annalise's scoresheet included two race wins and three other top ten results.

In the lightest breezes yet over six days of sailing on Biscayne Bay, ten Olympic classes racing in US Sailing's Rolex Miami OCR still managed to put on quite a show as they competed in their final medal races to determine gold, silver and bronze winners.  Following the same format as the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics, the event also hosted three Paralympic classes (which determined medal winners yesterday) and a total of 529 sailors from 41 countries.

In Star class, Brazil's two-time Olympic medalists and that country's most successful and celebrated sailors, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada, won the gold after finishing third in today's medal race.  "When you go into the medal race, many guys can win," said Scheidt.  "You cannot focus only on one guy, so our strategy was to try to make a clean start, especially with speed, because the wind was very light; that was more important than getting to the favored end."

Sneaking into the top-three overall, where they had not been all week, was France's Xavier Rohart/Pierre Alexis Ponso, who finished second today.  The performance secured them the silver medal with just the edge they needed over the bronze medalists Eivind Melleby/ Petter Moerland Pedersen (NOR), who finished sixth today and also had been in third at racing's end yesterday. Losing what seemed to be a sure podium position going into today was Fredrik Loof/Max Salminen's (SWE), who finished eighth in the medal race and fell to fourth overall from second yesterday, only one point out of medal reach.

"The wind made a big shift to the left on the first beat," said Scheidt, "but we weren't there. We were trying to cover the Swedish, and then we were able to tack on them two times and bounce them to the right.  Then the left paid big, and we managed to round sixth at the top mark. From then on our race was a little more comfortable, but we were still afraid of the French who were doing really well. We climbed to fourth, and they were in third; in the end, we nailed a third and the French got second."

Scheidt added that all of the top four teams plus more here will be competing at the Olympics, "and they will be stronger, so I think it was very nice for us to win the first regatta of the year. It gives us confidence but we know we have a long way to go until Weymouth."

For Paul Goodison (GBR) and Bruno Fontes (BRA), it was all equal (point scores of 20 each) going into the Laser race today, so it was literally who-beat-whom that would determine gold.

"I decided to engage a little before the start but nothing too much," said Goodison, the 2008 Laser Olympic Gold Medalist and 2009 World Champion, who finished second to Fontes's fifth.  "I won the right hand side of my competition and just pulled away from there. Once I was in front, it was just about extending the lead." With Fontes not able to sail away with anything less than a silver medal, it was David Wright's (CAN) focus to win the bronze, which he did by finishing fourth.

"All week the racing has been glamour--really good breeze, but today was quite tricky with it being much lighter and quite patchy," said Goodison.  " Out of the first six races I won four of them, so I was really happy with that, and then going into the gold fleet (mid-week ), it was all about consolidating that lead."

Favored going into today's 49er race, Nico Karth/Nikolaus Resch (AUT) finished second to secure the gold, while Erik Storck/Trevor Moore (USA) won the race to maintain their second-place position from yesterday and take home silver.

"This week has been perfect for us," said Karth, who with Resch is a two-time Olympian and has qualified his country for the Olympics but has yet to be named to the Olympic Team.  "We were struggling in the first few races, but by the end of the week we made it hard for them (Storck/Moore) to catch up."  (The Austrians had a 19-point lead going into the medal race.)  Winning the bronze was Lauri Lehtinen/Kalle Bask (FIN), who had been in third overall yesterday.

Lijia Xu, China's Laser Radial Olympic Bronze Medalist from 2008 and a 2006 World Champion, won the gold here after finishing eighth today to Marit Bouwmeester's (NED) ninth, which was good for silver.

"It was very competitive," said Xu, who positioned herself as close as possible to Bouwmeester today in order to control her. "We have the medalists from the 2011 World Championships in Perth and many other good sailors from all around the world."  The Perth champions are Bouwmeester, Belgium's Evi Van Acker, and the USA's Paige Railey, and while Van Acker finished fourth today to take the bronze medal, Railey won the race.  "Weymouth (where the Olympic Sailing Regatta will take place) could be light to medium breeze, so it is good practice," added Xu.

In 470 Men's, Australia's Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page held the lead the entire week, and in today's medal race finished tenth to clinch the gold.  Ahead of them in eighth place were Sven Coster/Kalle Coster (NED), who took the silver, with fourth-place finishers Panagoitis Kampouridis/Efstathios (GRE) taking the bronze.

To secure the gold in 470 Women's, Lisa Westerhof/Lobke Berkhout (NED), who are two-time World Champions and heading to the Olympic Games, had to make top-six in today's medal race and ended up taking third. "It was very tricky and very light," said Westerhof, adding that waves from spectator boats sometimes stopped them in their tracks.  After day two, Westerhof/Berkhout had jumped ahead of Great Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clarke, who took the silver today after finishing fourth.  "The British spilled some points on one day, and we kept sailing very strong," said Westerhof.  The bronze was won by Sophie Weguelin/Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) after they won today's race.

Lucy Macgregor/Annie Lush/ Kate Macgregor (GBR) won the gold medal in Women's Match Racing with a 3-1 win over Olivia Price/Nina Curtis/Lucinda Whitty (AUS), who had to settle for silver after their fates were sealed in the final match of their first-to-three flight.   The race looked to be going the Aussies' way when GBR lagged as much as 12 boat lengths behind during the first lap of the twice-around course.  Their momentum was halted, however, on the second upwind leg when they hit some major waves and tried to tack with too little speed while GBR closed the gap.  Back in the game, GBR sailed to a lead that exchanged mouse for cat, and with plenty of further batting around, proved that match racing is one of the most exciting Olympic disciplines to watch.

Taking bronze in the Petit Finals after battling with Australia's Olivia Price/Nina Curtis/Lucinda Whitty was the USA's Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.)/Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham (Miami, Fla.)/Alana O'Reilly (Charleston, S.C.).

Demita Vega De Lille (MEX) considers her gold medal here in RS:X Women's another notch in the harness she wears while pursuing her Olympic dreams."This event will not give me any points for the Olympic Games, but it is very good for me for the training," said Vega De Lille, who has not yet made her country's Olympic Team.  "I am very happy to be here, and I hope to qualify in Spain at the World Championships."

Taking the silver was Farrah Hall (USA), who has won the right among fellow teammates to go to the Olympic Games but has yet to qualify her country, while winning bronze was Dominique Vallee (CAN).

Nick Dempsey (GBR), who will represent his country at the Olympic Games, was rehearsing all week for his victory today in the RS:X Men's windsurfing race.  In fact, this was his 11th straight win in as many races here. Fellow teammate Elliot Carney clinched the silver with 31 overall points to Dempsey's 11, while Sebastian Wang-Hansen (NOR) took the bronze with 38 points overall.

If anyone else's performance here could be called decisive for the gold it would have to be Zach Railey's (Clearwater, Fla., USA) in the 25-boat Finn class. With a 12-point lead over Denmark's Jonas Hogh Christensen going into today and nothing worse than a third-place finish in his 10-race lead-up series, Railey won today's race for good measure, leaving Hogh Christensen to take fourth for silver.  With 18 points separating those two in the final standings, Canada's Greg Douglas finished third today to add six points to his score line (another 12 points behind Hogh Christensen) and post a final 45 points for bronze.

"Miami is where I went to college and it all started here, training full time and wanting to make the push towards the Olympic Games," said Railey, who graduated in 2006 and won an Olympic Silver Medal at the 2008 Games, "and now I'm going back to the Games in 2012, and to have my first World Cup victory here in Miami makes it sweeter."

About today's race, Railey said, "I definitely knew that there was going to be some pressure from the Danish sailor.  We were locked in a pretty tight match race there before the start, but I was able to break away from him and sail my own race. The goal going in was to capitalize on my performance this week and go out in a good dominating fashion."

US Sailing's Golden Torch Award

US Sailing's Golden Torch Trophy, awarded to the U.S. sailor with the best overall performance at US Sailing's Rolex Miami OCR, this year went to Finn Gold Medalist Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.).  The torch, from the 1980 Moscow Olympics, was presented by the Russian Olympic Committee to Andrew Kostanecki – United States Olympic Sailing Committee from 1985 to 1988.  Mr. Kostanecki gave the torch to US Sailing as an award for aspiring Olympians and Paralympians.  This is the first time that Railey has received this award.

US Sailing's Rolex Miami OCR, established in 1990, is open to boats competing in events chosen for the Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Competitions. The event is significant as the second of seven stops on ISAF's Sailing World Cup circuit and is the only of those to be hosted in North America. The USA was represented with the largest contingent of teams (135), followed by Canada (85), Sweden and The Netherlands (25 each), Great Britain (22), then Argentina and Norway (both 14).  Fifteen nations were represented in Saturday night's Medal Ceremony. Taking away the most medals was Great Britain with eight (3 golds, 4 silvers, 1 bronze), followed by the USA and The Netherlands with five each (respectively, 3 silvers, 2 bronze, and 2 golds, 2 silvers, one bronze). Canada claimed four medals, while Norway and Australia each came away with three; Brazil and France with two, and Austria, Finland, China, Belgium, Greece, Denmark and Mexico each with one apiece.

(top-three finishes follow)

Sonar (10 boats) – 10 races

Gold: Udo Hessels/ Marcel van de Veen/ Mischa Rossen (NED) 3, [6], 4, 3,

5, 3, 1, 1, 1, 2 (23)

Silver: John Robertson/ Hannah Stodel/ Steve Thomas (GBR) 4, 2, 3, [6], 3,

4, 2, 4, 3, 3 (28)

Bronze: Aleksander Wang-Hansen/ Marie Solberg/Per Eugen Kristiansen (NOR)

[7], 7, 2, 5, 1, 5, 3, 2, 2, 4 (31)

Skud-18 (6 boats) – 10 races

Gold: Daniel Fitzgibbon/Liesl Tesch (AUS) [5], 1, 1, 1, 4, 4, 1, 1, 4, 1

(18)

Silver: Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell (GBR) 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, [3], 2, 2, 3,

3 (19)

Bronze: Jennifer French (St. Petersburg, Fla.)/Jean-Paul Creignou

(St.Petersburg, Fla.,USA) 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 1, 3, [OCS], 1, 2 (23)

2.4mR (25 boats) – 10 races

Gold: Damien Seguin (FRA) 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 3, 1, [9], 3, 1 (17)

Silver: Paul Tingley (CAN) 6, 7, 2, [9], 7, 5, 2, 4, 2, 7 (42)

Bronze: Barend Kol (NED) 5, 16, 4, 5, 3, 2, [DNF], 5, 4, 4 (48)

49er (23 boats) – 15 races + Medal Race

Gold: Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth/Nikolaus Resch (AUT) 5, 4, 5, 1, 4, 7, 1,

1, 1, 2, 4, 1, 1, 1, [9], 4 (42)

Silver: Erik Storck(Huntington,N.Y.)/Trevor Moore(Naples, Fla., USA) 1, 2,

6, 2, 3, [OCS], 4, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3, 8, 14, 2 (59)

Bronze: Lauri Lehtinen/Kalle Bask (FIN), 2, [BFD], 7, 13, 2, 3, 2, 5, 7,

10, 9, 7, 2, 3, 1, 6 (79)

Star (29 boats) – 10 races + Medal Race

Gold: Robert Scheidt/ Bruno Prada (BRA) 1, [8], 7, 5, 2, 1, 3, 7, 4, 1, 6

(37)

Silver: Xavier Rohart/Pierre Alexis Ponsot (FRA) 4, 9, 9, 8, 5, [12], 1,

1, 5, 2, 4 (48)

Bronze: Eivind Melleby/ Petter Moerland Pedersen (NOR) 8, 2, 4, 3, 8, 4,

5, 3, 1, [13], 12 (50)

Laser Radial (60 boats) – 10 races + Medal Race

Gold: Lijia Xu (CHN) 5, [35], 2, 1, 6, 2, 1, 2, 5, 2, 16 (42)

Silver: Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 1, 2, 1, 5, [9], 6, 7, 3, 2, 5, 18 (50)

Bronze: Evi Van Acker (BEL) 4, [18], 10, 2, 10, 9, 2, 1, 1, 6, 8 (53)

470 Men (22 boats) – 10 races + Medal Race

Gold: Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) 3, 2, 1, 6, [7], 1, 6, 1, 1, 1, 20

(42)

Silver: Sven Coster/Kalle Coster (NED) 1, 3, 3, [7], 5, 6, 3, 3, 2, 6, 16

(48)

Bronze: Panagoitis Kampouridis/Efstathios (GRE) 9, 6, 8, 2, 4, 3, 1, [12],

5, 5, 8 (51)

470 Women (15 boats) – 10 races + Medal Race

Gold:Lisa Westerhof/Lobke Berkhout (NED) 2, 3, 5, [OCS], 2, 1, 5, 4, 1, 1,

6 (30)

Silver:Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR) 1, 1, 1, 7, 4, 7, [OCS], 2, 6, 7, 8

(44)

Bronze:Sophie Weguelin/Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) 4, 10, 2, 4, 3, 6, [OCS], 9,

7, 6, 2 (53)

Laser (Gold) (37 boats)-10 races + Medal Race

Gold:Paul Goodison (GBR) 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, [11], 5, 2, 3, 4 (24)

Silver:Bruno Fontes (BRA) [7], 2, 4, 5, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 10 (30)

Bronze:David Wright (CAN) 1, 1, 1, 4, 1, 2, 5, 15, 8, [16], 8 (48)

Finn (25 boats) – 10 races + Medal Race

Gold:Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla., USA) 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, [3], 3, 1, 2

(15)

Silver:Jonas Hogh Christensen (DEN) 3, 4, 2, 3, 2, 1, 4, 4, 2, [5], 8 (33)

Bronze:Greg Douglas (CAN) [26/BFD], 3, 10, 7, 3, 3, 5, 1, 5, 2, 6 (45)

RS: X Men (14 boats) –  10 races + Medal Race

Gold:Nick Dempsey (GBR) 1, 1, [OCS], 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 (11)

Silver:Elliot Carney (GBR) 2, 3, [OCS], 3, 2, 2, 5, 2, 3, 5, 4 (31)

Bronze:Sebastian Wang-Hansen (NOR) 5, 2, 3, 4, 3, 4, 2, 4, [6], 3, 8 (38)

RS: X Women (12 boats) – 10 races + Medal Race

Gold:Demita Vega De Lille (MEX)  1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, [3], 1, 1, 4 (16)

Silver:Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md., USA) 2, 1, 6, 6, [OCS], 2, 1, 4, 2, 3,

10 (37)

Bronze:Dominique Vallee (CAN) 5, 5, 2, 3, 2, 5, 6, [7], 5, 5, 2 (40)

Women's Match Racing

Gold:Lucy Macgregor/Annie Lush/ Kate Macgregor (GBR)

Silver:Olivia Price/Nina Curtis/Lucinda Whitty (AUS)

Bronze:Sally Barkow (Nashotah, WI., USA)/ Alana O'Reilly (Charleston SC,

USA)/ Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham (Miami Beach FL, USA) (USA)

#MOCR – Two top ten results overall at the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta means medal race participation is guaranteed for Ireland's Star and Laser Radial tomorrow even though medals are most likely just out of reach for both Peter O'Leary/David Burrows in the Star or Laser sailor Annalise Murphy.

With nine of the top 15 from December's Star World championships in Perth racing this week in Miami, including the world champions Robert Sheidt and Bruno Prada from Brazil, just getting into the medal race has been a tough job this week. It is something O'Leary and Burrows failed to achieve in Australia but have done so today and shown some consistent form too as the week progressed. An understated entry on the team facebook page simply says: '2 & 3 today. Medal race tomorrow'.

Today was the last day of fleet racing and conditions were not as favourable on Biscayne Bay as previous days with moderate winds of 9 to 12 knots in the morning, dropping to six knots this afternoon. The Cork-Dublin pair had a superb performance though coming home second and third in today's two races. They round up the fleet racing in sixth overall, poised for tomorrow's final race.

Annalise Murphy finished her final fleet race today with a race win, her second of the regatta. It's a result that moves her right up to seventh overall in the fleet of 60 Laser Radials and earns her a place in the Medal Race tomorrow.

Belfast's James Espey finished his racing in the regatta today. He was competing in the 78 boat Laser feet, the largest in the championship. Espey scored a 26th and a 20th which left him 24th overall.

At the front of the Star class, the neck-and-neck race between Brazil's Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada and Sweden's Fredrik Loof/Max Salminen was further complicated by Norway's Eivind Melleby/ Petter Moerland Pedersen when that team won the first of two races today.  With the Brazilians taking fourth and the Swedes taking third, the performance tied Melleby/Pedersen with Scheidt/Prada going into the second race, while Loof/Salminen had a one-point edge on their closest competitors.  The nod went to Scheidt/Prada in the end, however, when the Brazilians, who are the current World champions, won the second race, putting Loof/Salminen two points behind them in fourth (with 33 points) and Melleby/Pedersen in third (38 points).

Melleby had said earlier in the week that the top ten here are so good that getting to the medal race would be tough. "We have here nine of the top 15 teams from Perth (where the most recent World Championships were held), so the fleet is quite strong."  With five of those now off the final-race roster, Melleby's goal tomorrow will be to power through for a podium position.

#MOCR – A place in this weekend's medal race is the likley prize for Olympic Star keelboat pair Peter O'Leary and David Burrows who have scored top ten results for the third day in a row at the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. The Cork–Dublin duo, now in seventh overall after a seventh and a sixth scored yesterday, need to continue the consistent performance into today's final round of fleet racing to secure a top ten placing overall.

Dun Laoghaire's single-hander Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial now in ninth overall is also set for a place in Saturday's medal race having discarded her worst result of  27th, scored yesterday afternoon on Biscayne Bay.

The Irish Paralympic team in the Sonar class had their best day so far of the championship with two fifth places. A protest yesterday evening resulted in their disqualifcation from yesterday's final race but that didn't prevent them from moving up one place on the leader board to seventh overall.

Laser sailor James Espey from Belfast Lough slipped to 22nd overall following two 35th places.

Additional reporting by organisers:

Miami, Florida, USA: A final showdown awaits three Paralympic classes tomorrow and ten Olympic classes on Saturday at US Sailing's Rolex Miami OCR, which has, thus far, gifted sailors with four days of sublime sunshine and satisfying winds. The event is the only one of seven ISAF Sailing World Cup events to grace a shore on this continent and has attracted 529 sailors from 41 countries from as close as Canada and as far away as New Zealand and China.
"It's looking pretty exciting," said Brazil's Star sailor Robert Scheidt, who with crew Bruno Prada has perhaps one of the most impressive sailing records here. (Together, they are two-time Olympic medalists and just off their second straight title win at the Star World Championships). "Some of the guys who have already got a spot in the Olympics are here and they are really sailing well."
No one has been proving that theory better than Sweden's Fredrik Loof/Max Salminen who yesterday trailed Scheidt/Prada by two points and today tied on points with the Brazilians after finishing 6-2 to their 3-7. With both teams posting 26 points, Norway's Eivind Melleby/ Petter Moerland Pedersen are nipping at their heels with only 29 points.
As will happen at the Olympics, only the top-ten boats after tomorrow's racing will be allowed to progress to Saturday's single medal race, which will determine gold, silver and bronze medals.
For the Paralympic sailors here, tomorrow will be the final day of racing (two races each scheduled for Skud-18, Sonar and 2.4mR classes) and determine who takes home medals. (This is the same format that will be followed at their Games.)
Top three podium positions:
Sonar, 10 boats, - 8 races
1. Jourden Bruno / Vimont Vicary Nicolas / Flageul Eric, FRA, 19 points
2. Udo Hessels / Marcel van de Veen / Mischa Rossen, NED, 20
2. John Robertson / Hannah Stodel / Steve Thomas, GBR, 22
Star, 29 boats, - 8 races
1. Robert Scheidt / Bruno Prada, BRA, 26
2. Fredrik Loof / Max Salminen, SWE, 26
3. Eivind Melleby / Petter Moerland Pedersen, NOR, 29
49er, 23 boats, - 12 races
1. Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth / Nikolaus Resch, AUT, 29
2. Erik Storck / Trevor Moore, USA, 33
3. Allan Norregaard / Peter Lang, DEN, 61
Skud-18, 6 boats, - 8 races
1. Daniel Fitzgibbon / Liesl Tesch, AUS, 13
2. Alexandra Rickham / Niki Birrell, GBR, 13
3. Jennifer French / Jean-Paul Creignou, USA, 20
2.4mR, 25 boats, - 8 races
1. Damien Seguin, FRA, 13
2. Paul Tingley, CAN, 33
3. Megan Pascoe, GBR, 39
Laser Radial, 60 boats, - 8 races
1. Lijia Xu, CHN, 19
2. Marit Bouwmeester, NED, 25
3. Evi Van Acker, BEL, 38
470 Men, 22 boats, - 8 races
1. Mathew Belcher / Malcolm Page, AUS, 20
2. Sven Coster / Kalle Coster, NED, 24
3. Lucas Calabrese / Juan Maria de la Fuente, ARG, 32
470 Women, 15 boats, - 8 races
1. Lisa Westerhof / Lobke Berkhout, NED, 22
2. Hannah Mills / Saskia Clark, GBR, 23
3. Maria Fernanda Sesto / Consuelo Monsegur, ARG, 31
Laser, Gold,, 37 boats,- 8 races
1. Paul Goodison, GBR, 15
2. David Wright, CAN, 17
3. Bruno Fontes, BRA, 18
Laser, Silver,, 37 boats,- 8 races
1. Marcin Rudawski, POL, 100
2. Ricardo Montemayor, MEX, 103
3. Matthew Ryder, CAN, 114
Finn, 25 boats, - 8 races
1. Zach Railey, USA, 9
2. Jonas Hogh Christensen, DEN, 19
3. Brendan Casey, AUS, 25
RS: X Men, 14 boats, - 8 races
1. Nick Dempsey, GBR, 7
2. Elliot Carney, GBR, 19
3. Mariano Reutemann, ARG, 20
RS: X Women, 12 boats, - 6 races
1. Demita Vega De Lille, MEX, 10
2. Carolina Mendelblatt, POR, 21
3. Farrah Hall, Annapolis, Md., USA, 22
Women's Match Racing
TOP FOUR ADVANCING TO SEMIFINALS
Sally Barkow / Alana O'Reilly / Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham, USA, 3 wins- 0 losses
Silja Lehtinen / Silja Kanerva / Mikaela Wulff, FIN, 3 wins- 0 losses
Olivia Price / Nina Curtis / Lucinda Whitty, AUS, 3 wins- 0 losses
Lucy Macgregor / Annie Lush / Kate Macgregor, GBR, 3 wins- 2 losses

#CORK WEEK – South Africa's Tokoloshe, Holland's Tonnerre de Breskens, Hong Kong's Signal 8 and Ireland's own Ker 39 Antix will make up one of the most competitive class zero divisions for Cork Week in many years and the early news such an international line up is bound for Cork Harbour is a major advance for Crosshaven organisers, Royal Cork Yacht Club.

From Cape Town, South Africa Mike Bartholomew will be racing at Cork Week with his Mills 40, Tokoloshe. The sleek blue hull has been tremendously successful and was in fine form last year, winning the prestigious Britannia Cup at Cowes week. A previous winner of at the Scottish Series and RORC Easter Challenge, Tokoloshe has a fine racing pedigree and represented South Africa in the 2010 Rolex Commodores' Cup.

South Africa's Tokoloshe is heading for Cork Week in July

Mike Bartholomew explains why he is returning to Cork Week having missed the 2010 edition.

"At the start of the year, we planned out our season and Cork Week wasn't going to feature. However, we have changed our plans and will be in Crosshaven in July. The reason behind it is the relaxation of the rules about sailors classed as professionals. Tokoloshe is based in Hamble and most of the crew live in the village and work in the marine industry. None of them are paid to sail on Tokoloshe but because they are classed by ISAF as pros, this caused a major problem when entering Cork Week. I am delighted that the rules have been relaxed because we love coming to Cork Week, fantastic racing and a great atmosphere ashore, it really does tick all the boxes."

From Breskens, Holland Piet Vroon will be racing his Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens. 2010 RORC Yacht of the Year and Overall Round Ireland winner, Tonnerre has been one of the most successful yachts on the international racing circuit. Piet is now in his 80s and knows a thing or two about yacht racing. He has competed in 26 Fastnet Races, as skipper including last year's record-breaking race. Whilst Piet may well be one of the oldest competitors at Cork Week, his crew is composes of young aspiring sailors but none of them are paid to sail, that is Piet's way.

"I don't care much for the huge parties in the event village after racing but the boys love it. I prefer to relax in the evenings and get recharged for the next day's racing. The race management at Cork Week is first class and the variety of courses is excellent, one big advantage at Cork Week is that, besides the Harbour Course, there is very little tide, which means far better courses than say Cowes Week. I was introduced to Crosshaven by Dennis Doyle many years ago and I have been coming ever since."

Jamie McWilliam returns from hong Kong with Signal 8

From Hong Kong, Cork Week will be welcoming back one of their son's Jamie McWilliam with his brand new Ker 40, Signal 8. The McWilliam family needs no introduction to Cork Week regulars. However, Jamie has lived in Hong Kong for many years and missed out in 2010.

"We plan to bring Signal 8 over to compete in the RORC IRC Nationals in June and we have an extensive programme throughout July with our sights firmly set on the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup but Cork Week is most definitely a must.

The key ingredients to a successful regatta are great courses and excellent race management. There are other regattas that can match the superb range of courses at Cork Week but in my opinion, nobody does it better than Cork Week. If I was going to give competitors one good tip, it would be get some local knowledge on board. Back in 2000 on Swan 48 Jacobite, we were sailing towards the finish, rock hopping under Weaver's Point. Keith MacKeown was on board and his house was just yards from the finish line. Keith was lying on the foredeck with his head over the bow as we went in ducking the bricks, it made one hell of a difference to our result."

From Cape Town, South Africa Mike Bartholomew will be racing at Cork Week with his Mills 40, Tokoloshe. The sleek blue hull has been tremendously successful and was in fine form last year, winning the prestigious Britannia Cup at Cowes week. A previous winner of at the Scottish Series and RORC Easter Challenge, Tokoloshe has a fine racing pedigree and represented South Africa in the 2010 Rolex Commodores' Cup.

From Crosshaven, Ireland's Anthony O'Leary from the host club is delighted to be renewing old rivalries at the helm of his Ker 39, Antix.

"It is fantastic to hear that the South African King 40 Tokoloshe is coming to Cork Week and now that Jamie McWilliam will be bringing Signal 8 all the way from Hong Kong as well, it will make for a very competitive division. We three have been both sides of very close results in recent years and it is bound to be a real struggle on the water. Knowing Mike and Jamie, I am sure there will also be plenty of banter at the yacht club after racing!

To win at Cork Week, you have to race consistently well every day; the variety of courses evens out the design differences between the boats. I have no illusions, winning against good opposition is never easy but it makes racing at Cork Week all the more rewarding."

Following its support of the highly successful J/24 Europeans last year, BMW Ireland is continuing its association with Howth Yacht Club by sponsoring the ICRA National Championships in May, making it the outstanding event in the Club's 2012 calendar of 26 national, regional and local regattas.

The BMW Cruiser Nationals, as the event will be known, will be one of the biggest keelboat racing regatta in Ireland this year. It is expected to attract over 100 entries across Classes 0, 1, 2, 3 and White Sail Division for a 7-race series over three days (Friday 25-Sunday 27 May), with over 700 sailors competing.

A number of Irish Sea offshore races are being planned as 'feeder races' from other sailing centres in Ireland and the UK to further enhance the fleet numbers. It will be the third time Howth has hosted the event, having handled the inaugural ICRA Nationals in 2004 and again in 2008.

Commenting on the sponsorship announcement, Championship Chairman Chris Howard said: "We are naturally delighted that a company of the stature of BMW has seen fit to come on board with Howth Yacht Club again to support this highly prestigious championship and we look forward to welcoming some of Ireland's top sailing talent next May."

John Ives, Managing Director of BMW Ireland, commented: "Our experiences in the sailing world have always been positive and our association with the J/24 Europeans was very worthwhile so we are pleased to maintain our relationship with Howth Yacht Club who we know will provide an event of the highest calibre – afloat and ashore – that reflects well on our brand."

In addition to the BMW Cruiser Nationals, HYC’s calendar of events during 2012 will also include:

• Fingal International Family Cruising Festival – July 7^th–15^th

• The annual Lambay Races – June

• Spring Warmers series - April

• J/24 Eastern Championships – May

• Corby Cup - May

• Puppeteer National Championships – August

• Fireball National Championships – June

• Laser Leinster Championships - June

• Match Racing Nationals – July

• Dinghy Regatta - July

• Topper Leinster Championships – March

• 420/470 Nationals – August

• Feva/RS200 & 400 Nationals – August

• Howth 17s’ Nationals – August

• Shipman Nationals – August

• Etchells Nationals – September

• Autumn League – September-October

The schedule effectively means Howth YC is hosting an event almost every weekend from April to October.

 

#MOCR – Consistent sailing in the third day of the Miami Olympic classes regatta moves Peter O'Leary and David Burrows right up the leader board in the Star keelboat. Currently sitting in sixth overall, up three places from yesterday, O'Leary and Burrows finished third in both races today, a fine performance from the Cork-Dublin duo that puts them two points off third place and 7 points off the lead. First place though is occupied by Brazilian's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada, the current world champions who have dominated this ISAF World Cup series.

Single–hander Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial took her first race win of the regatta and followed  it with an 11th in race six. Discard applied, Murphy moves up two positions to ninth overall.

Belfast Laser sailor James Espey had two top 10 results from the 78 boat fleet. He maintains his position at 19th overall following a sixth and a ninth in his two races.

The Irish Paralympic trio John Twomey, Anthony Hegarty and Ian Costello in the Sonar class unfortunately slipped one place to 8th overall following a 6th and a 7th in their two races, identical to yesterday's results.

 

 Top Stars: Brazilian pair Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (above) are in the lead in Miami, Irish duo Peter O'Leary and David Burrows are 7 points adrift in sixth. Photo: Daniel Forster/Rolex

 

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Additional reporting from regatta organisers:

The weather has been "stuck on beautiful" at the Rolex Miami OCR, but more important to the 529 sailors competing here from 41 countries has been the wind on Biscayne Bay, which today strengthened in knots to reach low double digits and helped re-ignite several key performances of sailors turning the corner to enter the regatta's home stretch. Six days of racing, which count toward standings in the ISAF Sailing World Cup Series, began on Monday for 354 boats sailing in the same 13 classes that will be featured at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Making the most out of the zippy conditions were the 24 teams split into Groups A and B in the Women's Match Racing discipline.  Today's goal was to complete the second of two round-robin series in each group.  This was realized in Group A but not Group B, which will finish up tomorrow and add its top four finishers to the top four from Group A that have won the honor of proceeding to the quarter finals, a single elimination "knock-out" round.

Group A's top finisher Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), who sails with Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham (Miami, Fla.) and Alana O'Reilly (Charleston, S.C.), was especially exhilarated by her 10-1 win-loss record, which was helped by a victory in today's closely watched match-up with fellow US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), who sails with Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer (Stanford, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) and has a 7-4 record. "I don't think we were ever more than a length apart the entire way around the course, so that was pretty cool," said Barkow.  "There were probably about four lead changes; nobody got penalties but everything was really close."

Match Racing courses are two laps around (windward/leeward), with a five-minute pre-start sequence, where boats are allowed to enter the starting area at four minutes.  Then it is a full battle from there until the finish line.

Said Barkow, who won bronze here last year to Tunnicliffe's silver:  "Sometimes when you get a two-length lead, then it's not so much of a big battle, and you don't have to defend things so hard. But you can imagine when it's really close that upwind it's kind of good for the boat ahead, but as soon as you go downwind, it's good for the boat behind. So, if you only have a length between the boats, it's really hard to be the boat ahead and stay ahead.  That was what it was with Anna."

Also moving on to the quarter finals are  Silja Lehtinen/Silja Kanerva/Mikaela Wulff (FIN), with an 8-1 record, and Ekaterina Skudina/Elena Siuzeva/Irina Lotsmanova (RUS) with a 5-2.

"We made one or two mistakes out there," said Tunnicliffe, the four-time (consecutive and current) Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and two-time ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year (also current), "but we still made the quarter finals." As for her match with Barkow, she said, "It was full on, lots of fun.  It shows that team USA has what it takes, and we will all be pushing hard leading up to the Olympics." Tunnicliffe, who also has an Olympic gold medal in Laser Radial class, explained that the Women's Match Racing U.S. Trials are in May in Weymouth where the "winner takes all" and goes on to compete in the Olympics.

Conditions were prime for the RS:X Men's windsurfing fleet, and Nick Dempsey (GBR), who was sitting in third in the Men's class coming into today, moved to first, with fellow teammate Elliot Carney moving up right behind him. "Elliot and I had a good couple of races today – kind of like training races for the two of us in a way – and it was great to get the conditions we did," said Dempsey. "It was the first time we've got to planing since we got here, so it gave the body a bit of a rest from the pumping, and it was nice to be going well in those conditions."

Although some big names are missing in the RS:X fleet, which is relatively small this year compared to others, there is still stiff competition.  "You have to work just as hard to get the results," said Dempsey.  "It's never as easy as the score line might look, so it's definitely been worthwhile coming here, and I'll be pushing hard for the rest of the week."

In RS:X Women's, Demita Vega De Lille (MEX) maintained her lead from yesterday and added two more victories to the two already existing in her six-race scoreline.  Like most of the classes here, the RS:X Women were allowed to discard their worst score after six races, which came today and also helped shuffle many scores.

Another sailor who did not change positions on the scoreboard was Marit Bouwmeester (NED), the World Champion in Laser Radial class who has held on to first place overall all three days. "Today I was struggling a bit because the wind pressure kept going up and down, and in the first race I got a yellow flag (a penalty for unallowed kinetics), but it's good to get out and experience the Miami weather,"  said Bouwmeester.  "This regatta has been great practice. I've been sailing against all these girls in many previous regattas and they are all major competition. It's great that so many of them took the time to come here after the Worlds in Perth."

US Sailing's Rolex Miami OCR, established in 1990, is open to boats competing in events chosen for the Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Competitions. The 10 Olympic classes for 2012 are: Laser Radial (women), Laser (men), Finn (men), Men's RS:X, Women's RS:X, 49er (men), Men's 470, Women's 470, Star (men) and Elliot 6m (women). The three Paralympic classes are: 2.4mR (open), SKUD (mixed) and Sonar (mixed).

For fleet racing in the Olympic classes, the Rolex Miami OCR consists of a five-day opening series (Monday - Friday) and a double-point medal race (Saturday). The top 10 finishers in the opening series of each class will advance to the medal race. For match racing (Elliott 6m), which makes its debut in the 2012 Olympic Games, the regatta will consist of an opening series, a knockout series, and a sail-off for boats not advancing to the knockout series.  Competitors in the Paralympic classes have five days of fleet racing (Monday-Friday) and no medal race.

Medals will be awarded to the top three boats in each Olympic and Paralympic class on Saturday, January 28.

Regatta Headquarters are located at the US Sailing Center Miami, an official Olympic training center, in the Coconut Grove section of Miami, Fla. Event organizers have partnered with the city of Miami to provide world-class venues for competition. Additional hosts for the event include Coral Reef Yacht Club, Key Biscayne Yacht Club, Coconut Grove Sailing Club, Miami Rowing Club and Shake-a-Leg Miami. These sailing organizations host classes onshore, as well as help run the on-the-water racing. The Coral Reef Yacht Club also hosts the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

In addition to title sponsor Rolex Watch U.S.A., the 2012 Rolex Miami OCR is also sponsored by AlphaGraphics, Sperry Top-Sider, Harken McLube, Kattack, Gowrie-Chubb, Trinity Yachts and the University of Miami Hospital.

US SAILING's 2012 Rolex Miami OCR

Top-three Finishes

Day 3

Sonar (11 boats) – 6 races

1.Jourden Bruno/ Vimont Vicary Nicolas/ Flageul Eric (FRA) 1, 5, 1, 1, 2,

[8] (10)

2.John Robertson/ Hannah Stodel/ Steve Thomas (GBR) 4, 2, 3, [6], 3, 3 (15)

3.Paul Callahan(Newport,R.I.)/Tom Brown(Castine,Maine)/Bradley

Johnson(Pompano Beach,Fla.,USA) 1, 3, 5, 2, [7], 5 (17)

Star (30 boats) – 6 races

1.Robert Scheidt/ Bruno Prada (BRA) 1, [8], 7, 5, 2, 1 (16)

2.Fredrik Loof/ Max Salminen (SWE) 2, 5, 2, [9], 7, 2 (18)

3.Eivind Melleby/ Petter Moerland Pedersen (NOR) [8], 2, 4, 3, 8, 4 (21)

49er (23 boats) – 9 races

1.Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth/Nikolaus Resch (AUT) 5, 4, 5, 1, 4, [7], 1,

1, 1 (22)

2.Erik Storck(Huntington,N.Y.)/Trevor Moore(Naples, Fla., USA) 1, 2, 6, 2,

3, [24/OCS], 4, 2, 3 (23)

3.Lauri Lehtinen/Kalle Bask (FIN) 2, [24/BFD], 7, 13, 2, 3, 2, 5, 7 (41)

Skud-18 (6 boats) – 6 races

1.Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell (GBR) 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, [3] (9)

2.Daniel Fitzgibbon/Liesl Tesch (AUS) [5], 1, 1, 1, 4, 4 (11)

3.Jennifer French (St. Petersburg, Fla.)/Jean-Paul Creignou (St.

Petersburg, Fla.,USA) 2, 3, 3, 3, [5], 1 (12)

2.4mR (25 boats) – 6 races

1.Damien Seguin (FRA) 2, 1, [3], 2, 1, 3 (9)

2.Mark Le Blanc (New Orleans, La., USA) 1, [26/OCS], 5, 1, 6, 1 (14)

3.Barend Kol (NED) 5, [16], 4, 5, 3, 2 (19)

Laser Radial (60 boats) – 6 races

1.Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 1, 2, 1, 5, [9], 6 (15)

2.Lijia Xu (CHN) 5, [35], 2, 1, 6, 2 (16)

3.Evi Van Acker (BEL) 4, [18], 10, 2, 10, 9 (35)

470 Men (23 boats) – 6 races

1.Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) 3, 2, 1, 6, [7], 1 (13)

2.Sven Coster/Kalle Coster (NED) 1, 3, 3, [7], 5, 6 (18)

3.Panagoitis Kampouridis/Efstathios Papadopoulos (GRE) [9], 6, 8, 2, 4, 3

(23)

470 Women (15 boats) – 6 races

1.Lisa Westerhof/Lobke Berkhout (NED) 2, 3, 4, [16/OCS], 2, 1 (13)

2.Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR) 1, 1, 1, [7], 4, 7 (14)

3.Sophie Weguelin/ Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) 4, [10], 2, 4, 3, 6 (19)

Laser (74 boats)-6 races

1.David Wright (CAN) 1, 1, 1, [4], 1, 2 (6)

2.Paul Goodison (GBR) [3], 1, 1, 1, 3 (7)

3.Chris Dold (CAN) 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, [4] (12)

Finn (25 boats) – 6 races

1.Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla., USA) 1, 1, 1, [2], 1, 2 (6)

2.Jonas Hogh Christensen (DEN) 3, [4], 2, 3, 2, 1 (11)

3.Brendan Casey (AUS) 4, [5], 3, 1, 4, 5 (17)

RS: X Men (14 boats) –  6 races

1.Nick Dempsey (GBR) 1, 1, [15/OCS], 1, 1, 1 (5)

2.Elliot Carney (GBR) 2, 3, [15/OCS], 3, 2, 2 (12)

3.Mariano Reutemann (ARG) 3, [4], 1, 2, 4, 3 (13)

RS: X Women (12 boats) – 6 races

1. Demita Vega De Lille (MEX)  1, [2], 1, 2, 1, 1 (6)

2. Carolina Mendelblatt (POR) 3, 3, [13/OCS], 4, 3, 3 (16)

3. Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md., USA) 2, 1, 6, 6, [13/OCS], 2 (17)

Women's Match Racing

Group A

Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.)/Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham (Miami,

Fla.),/Alana O'Reilly (Charleston, SC) (USA) 10 wins-1 loss

Silja Lehtinen/Silja Kanerva/Mikaela Wulff (FIN) 9 wins-2 loss

Ekaterina Skudina/Elena Siuzeva/Irina Lotsmanova (RUS) 8 wins- 3 loss

Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.)/Molly O'Bryan (Stanford,

Calif.)/Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.)  (USA) 7 wins-4 loss

Renata Decnop/Gabriela Nicolino/Larissa Juk (BRA) 6 wins- 5 loss

Nicky Souter/Jessica Eastwell/Katie Spithill (AUS) 6 wins- 5 loss

Juliana Senfft/Fernanda Decnop/Luciana Kopschitz (BRA) 5 wins- 6 loss

Silke Hahlbrock/Maren Hahlbrock/Anlee Lukosch (GER) 5 wins- 6 loss

Rita Goncalves/Mariana Lobato/Diana Neves (POR) 4 win- 7 loss

Vesna Dekleva Paoli/Katarina Kersevan/Lena Koter (SLO) 3 wins-8 loss

Ru Wang/Pan Ting Ting/Li Xiaoni (CHN) 3 wins- 8 loss

Jinnie Gordon/Laurel Gordon-Taylor/Catherine Belange (CAN) 0 win- 0 loss

Group B (Continue racing tomorrrow)

Mandy Mulder/Merel Witteveen/Annemiek Bekkering (NED) 7wins- 2 loss

Olivia Price/Nina Curtis/Lucinda Whitty (AUS) 7 win- 3 loss

Claire Leroy/Elodie Bertrand/Marie Riou (FRA) 6 win- 3 loss

Tamara Echegoyen/Angela Pumariega/Sofia Toro (ESP) 6 wins- 3 loss

Lucy Macgregor/Annie Lush/Kate Macgregor (GBR) 5 wins- 3 loss

Renee Groeneveld/Annemiek Bes/Marcelien de Koning (NED) 5 wins- 3 loss

Julie Bossard/Pauline Chalaux/Pauline Courtois (FRA) 5 wins- 4 loss

Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wisc.)/Maggie Shea(Wilmette, Ill.)/Darby Smith

(Marblehead, Mass.)(USA) 4 wins- 6 loss

Genevieve Tulloch (Sausalito, Calif.)/Alice Manard Leonard (East Haven,

Conn.)/Jennifer Chamberlin (Washington,D.C.)(USA) 4 wins - 7 loss

Anna Kjellberg/Malin Kallstrom/Lotta Harrysson (SWE) 3 wins- 7 loss

Sharon Ferris-Choat/Barbara Kaars Sijpesteijn/Joanne Prokop (CAN) 2 win- 8

loss

Martina Silva/ Ana LucA-a Silva/ MarA-a Trinidad Silva (ARG) 1 win- 8 loss

#MOCR –A second scored in yesterday afternoon's light conditions puts Peter O'Leary and David Burrows into the top ten after four races of the 33-boat mens keelboat fleet racing at the Rolex Miami Olympic classes Regatta. 'We got the finger out' the duo declared last night in a post on Facebook, a reference no doubt of the desire to move their campaign up a gear as the Weymouth Olympic regatta looms. The pair lie ninth overall with Norway's Eivind Melleby/Petter Moerland Pedersen taking an early lead in the regatta that ends on Sunday.

Dun Laoghaire's Annalise Murphy also moved up in her 60-boat Laser Radial fleet from 13th to 11th overall, having finished 8th and 19th respectively in her two races.

Yesterday's 8-11 knot breeze on Biscayne Bay allowed three of the Rolex Miami OCR’s 10 Olympic classes to catch up on the races they lost due to dying winds yesterday afternoon, and 529 sailors from 41 countries now have two days behind them in this important ISAF Sailing World Cup event. Three Paralympic classes also are competing here, adding to a total of 354 boats scattered across four racing circles plus a separate arena for women’s match racing.

Belfast Lough's James Espey remains in the top 20 in what is the largest of the classes, the 78–boat Laser fleet. He is currently 19th overall having secured a sixth followed by a 14th.

The Irish Paralympic trio John Twomey, Anthony Hegarty and Ian Costello in the Sonar class slipped one place from sixth to seventh overall following a sixth and a seventh in their two races.

US SAILING’s 2012 Rolex Miami OCR

Top-three Finishes
Day 2
Sonar (11 boats) – 4 races
1. Jourden Bruno/ Vimont Vicary Nicolas/ Flageul Eric (FRA) 1,5,1,1 (8)
2. Paul Callahan (Newport, R.I.)/ Tom Brown (Castine, Maine)/ Bradley Johnson (Pompano Beach, Fla., USA) 1,3,5,2 (12)
3. John Robertson/ Hannah Stodel/ Steve Thomas (GBR) 4, 2, 3, 6 (15)

Star (30 boats) – 4 races
1. Eivind Melleby/ Petter Moerland Pedersen (NOR) 8, 2, 4, 3 (17)
2. Mark Mendelblatt (Miami, Fla.)/ Brian Fatih (Miami, Fla., USA) 3,4,6,4 (17)
3. Fredrik Loof/ Max Salminen (SWE) 2, 5, 2, 9 (18)

49er (23 boats) – 6 races
1. Erik Storck (Huntington, N.Y.)/Trevor Moore (Naples, Fla., USA) 1, 2, 6, 2, 3, [24/OCS] (14)
2. Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth/Nikolaus Resch (AUT) 5,4,5,1,4,[7] (19)
3. Lauri Lehtinen/Kalle Bask (FIN) 2, [24/BFD], 7, 13, 2, 3 (27)

Skud-18 (6 boats) – 4 races
1. Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell (GBR) 1, 2, 2, 2 (7)
2. Daniel Fitzgibbon/Liesl Tesch (AUS) 5, 1, 1, 1 (8)
3. Jennifer French (St. Petersburg, Fla.)/Jean-Paul Creignou (St. Petersburg, Fla.,USA) 2, 3, 3, 3 (11)

2.4mR (29 boats) – 4 races
1. Damien Seguin (FRA) 2, 1, 3, 2 (8)
2. Paul Tingley (CAN) 6, 7, 2, 9 (24)
3. Megan Pascoe (GBR) 7, 4, 10, 3 (24)

Laser Radial (60 boats) – 4 races
1. Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 1, 2, 1, 5 (9)
2. Charlotte Dobson (GBR) 3, 8, 11, 4 (26)
3. Tania Elias Calles (MEX) 13, 4, 5, 7 (29)

470 Men (23 boats) – 4 race
1. Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) 3, 2, 1, 6 (12)
2. Sven Coster/Kalle Coster (NED) 1, 3, 3, 7 (14)
3. Lucas Calabrese/ Juan Maria de la Fuente (ARG) 5, 8, 2, 4 (19)

470 Women (16 boats) – 4 race
1. Hannah Mills/Saskia Clark (GBR) 1, 1, 1, 7 (10)
2. Kathrin Kadelbach/ Friederike Belcher (GER) 9, 4, 4, 1 (18)
3. Sophie Weguelin/ Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) 4, 10, 2, 4 (20)

Laser (74 boats) – 4 races
1. Paul Goodison (GBR) 3, 1, 1, 1 (6)
2. David Wright (CAN) 1, 1, 1, 4 (7)
3. Chris Dold (CAN) 2, 3, 3, 2 (10)

Finn (27 boats) – 3 races
1. Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla., USA) 1, 1, 1 (3)
2. Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif., USA) 2, 2, 4 (8)
3. Jonas Hogh Christensen (DEN) 3, 4, 2, (9)

RS: X Men (14 boats) – 4 races
1. Mariano Reutemann (ARG) 3, 4, 1, 2 (10)
2. Sebastian Wang- Hansen (NOR) 5, 2, 3, 4 (14)
3. Nick Dempsey (GBR) 1, 1, 15/OCS, 1 (18)

RS: X Women (12 boats) – 4 races
1. Demita Vega De Lille (MEX) 1, 2, 1, 2 (6)
2. Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md., USA) 2, 1, 6, 6 (15)
3. Dominique Vallee (CAN) 5, 5, 2, 3 (15)

Last month AIB pulled the plug on sailing club fees for staff. Next month the Irish Sailing Association aims to rejig the annual fee it charges to clubs at an egm. They are signs that the necklace of over 70 yacht clubs around the coast and on inland waters are under financial pressure. No wonder as the cost of going sailing, as well as many other sports in Ireland, proves too much to bear for many families.

In his recent column (below) in the Evening Echo Marine Correspondent Tom MacSweeney highlighted the need for Sailing Clubs around the coast to do all they can to help struggling memberships. 

Membership is becoming an issue for sailing clubs to judge from what club officers around the coast have been telling me. It is a sign of the economic times. Families and individuals have to examine closely what to do with the money they have left after the government has raided their incomes.

I have been told that club members and particularly those holding family memberships are looking at how much they pay for an inclusive membership and reducing it to just one individual membership. Others have told me that they are faced with deferring payments or foregoing membership altogether.

Clubs are responding to the situation in different ways.

While the more realistic are taking steps to deal with the issue, there are indications that others are ignoring a situation that, it appears, could affect the popularity of the sport. This may be from an entrenched position or snobbish attitude where they don't want to admit difficulties in public. An inadvisable situation when income is being squeezed and the future challenged.

Payment systems such as monthly standing orders, direct debits, concessions for early payments, have been introduced by those clubs realistically dealing with the situation. Sailing is not the only sporting activity being affected, I hear of golf, rugby, soccer and other clubs feeling the pinch of reduced incomes, soaring taxes and charges levied on household incomes by the government. Something has to give because there is a limit to the amount of money people have. Government politicians seem incapable of understanding that people have not got enough money or sufficient disposable incomes because of the State raping their salaries.

Another aspect of the impact of deteriorating income levels appears to be the demand for marina spaces, with boat owners not as active as they had been in seeking berths and telling me frankly they cannot stretch incomes to afford prices during high season. Some boatyards are feeling the effects also around the country, as are yacht sales. A lot of boats are for sale and replacement plans by sailors who had planned to upgrade have been put on hold.

The oldest yacht club in the world, the Royal Cork at Crosshaven, has been responding to the challenging times. Last season it introduced a monthly membership scheme and a crew membership system as an innovative response to the challenge which the sport faces.

When he took over as the club's new Admiral at its annual general meeting last Monday night in the Crosshaven clubhouse, Peter Deasy acted immediately, announcing that the club would take further steps to address the issue.

He has taken office for a two-year period in succession to Paddy McGlade, a post which follows his successful leadership of the last Cork Week two years ago when he was Chairman. Cork Week will be held again this year, from July 7 to 13.

"There is a membership challenge, it is one facing all clubs in these times and it will be addressed by this club," he said. He stressed the importance of encouraging more people into sailing. The club is to carry out a review of its membership system, amongst other steps. On Monday night members approved an increase in subscription levels for those over 65, who pay a reduced rate as 'seniors,' as is the situation in many clubs.

The RCYC is taking a realistic, determined approach toward what is an issue born of these difficult national economic times. Peter Deasy also emphasised the importance of encouraging young sailors and keeping them within the sport.

This is a topic I have addressed before. Not every young sailor will reach the top competitively, but all are needed to remain in the sport in this island nation. When they emerge from dinghies there is a difficulty, experienced in many clubs around the coast, of maintaining their involvement.