The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event due to be celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games, as governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The host city of the Games will be Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They are scheduled to be held from August 5 to 21, 2016, making these the first Summer Olympics to be held during the host city's winter. There will be 30 competition venues mainly in Barra da Tijuca, but also in three other zones: Copacabana, Deodoro, and Maracanã. It will mark the first time a South American city hosts the event, the first to host the hemisphere's winter, and also the first time a Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country hosts the event.

#annalisemurphy – Annalise Murphy has extended her lead at the ISAF Sailing World Cup series yesterday, winnning two of the last three races in medium to fresh conditions.

Murphy now has a three point lead over America's Paige Railey, a former world champion, both sailors won a race in the 29-boat Laser Radial class but the Dun Laoghaire sailor took a third in the last race to extend an overall lead she established on Tuesday.

Once again, Biscayne Bay was graced with strong winds that reached 20 knots by the afternoon and significant chop. The weather included mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s.

The Laser Radials are using experimental scoring this week. Sailors will receive a bonus point for each race they win, another boost for the sole Irish competitor. Their first fleet series standings will translate into a single race score for each competitor. Five more races will be sailed in a new series starting today (Thursday) through Friday. Following the five races and six total scores, the top ten will advance to medal race on Saturday. There will be one discard after the second race.  Top three results overall are below.

In a further boost for the Irish team John Twomey/Ian Costelloe/Bradley Johnson lie six points off the lead in second place overall in the Paralympic Sonar keelboat.

The stage is set for mixed multihull racing at Rio 2016. As one of two new Olympic events, the Nacra 17 is making its first appearance in the ISAF Sailing World Cup series this week in Miami.

These doublehanded teams are sorting out new strategies and techniques as they become more comfortable with this fast, light catamaran and its featured curved dagger boards. Many of the sailors competing in the Nacra 17 are making the adjustment from another boat or class. In some cases, sailors are getting acquainted with new teammates as well.

Perhaps no team has made a smoother transition than Sarah Newberry and John Casey (USA). The duo has been dominant through three days of racing on Biscayne Bay. They have won five of the six races, including the last five. Sarah Streater and Matthew Whitehead (USA) have four second-place finishes and trail by four points.

"We've done a lot of training in the F16 and F18, and we're finding the Nacra 17 to fit in terms of power, but not in terms of how the boat actually sails," explained Newberry. "It's a whole new game with the curved foils."

"We worked really hard to find good settings for the breeze. The real challenge for the whole fleet has been dealing with the boats in bigger chop, which is more than what we see when training in the inner bay. When going downwind, the lift in the boat with the chop has made it challenging," she added.

Newberry and Casey have their sights set on the 2013 Nacra 17 World Championship this July in The Netherlands, which will serve as the selection event for US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider.

Puerto Rico's three-time Olympian, Enrique Figueroa, is ecstatic about the fact that multihull racing is back as an Olympic event. "I think it is one of the most exciting events in the Olympics, so having the catamaran come back was good for everybody especially as the sailing world nowadays has a big focus on catamarans," he said.

Figueroa is planning an Olympic campaign with wife Carla Malatrasi. He is making the switch from the Tornado to the Nacra 17. "Getting back into a spinnaker boat was a challenge, especially with a new crew and she's not used to the spinnaker and all it entails. It's been a learning experience for both of us. The Nacra is very physical. The curved boards and the way the boat is going to be sailed eventually is going to require a lot of balance and strength, so of course you've got to hit the gym hard," explained Figueroa.

Fred Strammer and Zach Brown (USA) extended their lead on Wednesday. A DNF in race nine halted their win streak at four. They lead the 49er fleet by nine points over Sweden's Sebastian Oestling and Kalle Torlen and American's Ryan Pesch and Trevor Burd.

Strammer commented on how please he is at the progress the team is making so far in their training. "Our big goal for 2013 was to focus on improving our speed and we've seen already, that our four months of hard work towards that goal has paid off this week. We had more speed yesterday than we really knew what to do with, so it was fantastic," explained Strammer.

"We are planning on racing the other World Cup events his year. Our training includes the World Championships in September and some training in San Francisco with the America's Cup.  We're just trying to work on our fitness and gain some weight. One of the other goals is to do some other sailing, like team racing in the summer and other dinghy sailing," he said.

Brazil's Kahena Kunze and Martine Grael surged into the lead with a tremendous afternoon of racing in the 49er FX event. They finished second in race seven and won races eight and nine to take a four point lead. Anna Tunnicliffe and Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer (USA) also made a run today with third- and second-place finishes. Tunnicliffe, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the Laser is also one of the top Women's Match Racers in the world. Tunnicliffe and Vandemoer are in second place.

The World #7 Stuart McNay and his crew David Hughes continue to challenge in the Men's 470. The Americans hold an edge over World #13 Matthias Schmid and Floran Reichstaedter (AUS). McNay and Hughes won the second of two races to take the lead. These two teams are pulling away from the rest of the fleet.

In the Women's 470, Brazil's Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Luiza Barbachan hold a seven point lead over China's Xiaomei Xu and Chunyan Yu.

The 2012 Olympic gold medalist Dorian Van Rijssbelberghe of The Netherlands continued his dominant ways today in the Men's RS:X. He captured first place in both races and has tallied four consecutive wins to take a seven point lead over Brazil's Ricardo Santos.

Defending champion Demita Vega of Mexico held on to the lead with her third place finishes. Today's top women's board sailor was Great Britain's Bryony Shaw. The 2012 Olympian won race five and trails Vega by a point.

Sweden's Jesper Stalheim pulled into the lead with a pair of wins in the Laser event. He took the lead over World #3 Bruno Fontes (BRA). Both Stalheim and Fontes have three wins in six races this week. Stalheim holds a close tie-breaker edge over Fontes. Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (FRA) is just one point behind the leaders. He won race five today.

Caleb Paine (USA) has maintained his lead in the Finn event by six points. He was fourth and second today. Paine has won three of the six races. World #1 Brendan Casey (AUS) is in second place.

The 2012 Paralympic bronze medalists Aleksander Wang-Hansen, Marie Solberg and Per Eugen Kristiansen of Norway expanded their lead from two to four points on Wednesday in the Sonar event. Their day featured a win in race five.

Canadian Bruce Millar won race six to cap another strong performance in the 2.4 mR event. He leads fellow countryman Alan Leibel (CAN) by four.

For the most updated standings, visit the results section of the event website at http://mocr.ussailing.org/index.php/results/.

Regatta Headquarters is 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, 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.

Overall after day 3

Radial Top 3:

1. Annalise Murphy (IRL), 5-[6]-2-0-0-3:10

2. Paige Railey (USA), 4-3-[5]-3-3-0:13

3. Tuula Tenkanen (FIN), 2-2-3-[6]-2-5:14

Sonar Top 3:

1. Aleksander Wang-Hansen/Marie Solberg/Per Eugen Kristiansen (NOR), 1-1-[4]-3-1-2:8

2. John Twomey/Ian Costelloe/Bradley Johnson (IRL), 3-5-2-2-2-[6]:14

3. Rick Doerr/Brad Kendell/Hugh Feierd (USA), 4-3-5-1-[6]-3:16

49er Top 3:

1. Frederick Strammer/Zach Brown (USA), 2-5-4-2-1-1-1-1-[17/DNF]:17

2. Sebastian Oestling/Kalle Torlen (SWE), 1-3-2-3-3-2-8-4-[9]:26

3. Ryan Pesch/Trevor Burd (USA), 3-4-5-1-2-[6]-5-2-4:26

470 Men Top 3:

1. Stuart McNay/David Hughes (USA), 3-1-[4]-2-3-1:10

2. Matthias Schmid/Florian Reichstaedter (AUT), 2-[4]-3-1-2-2: 10

3. David Bargehr/Lukas Mähr (AUT), 4-5-2-[20/BFD]-5-4: 20

470 Women Top 3:

1. Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luiza Barbachan (BRA), 5-2-1-[20/BFD]-7-7: 22

2. Xiaomei Xu/Chunyan Yu (CHN), 1-11-6-2-[20/DNF]-8: 29

3. Renata Decnop/Isabel Swan (BRA), 12-3-7-8-4-[13]: 34

Laser Top 3:

1.Jesper Stalheim (SWE), 0-[6]-2-3-0-0:5

2. Bruno Fontes (BRA), 3-[4]-0-0-2-0:5

3. Jean-Baptiste Bernaz (FRA), 2-2-0-[4]-0-2:6

Nacra17 Top 3:

1. Sarah Newberry/John Casey (USA), [3]-1-1-1-1-1:5

2. Sarah Streater/Matthew Whitehead (USA), 1-[3]-2-2-2-2:9

3. Taylor Reiss/Sarah Lihan (USA), 2-[6]-3-3-6-3:17

RS:X Men Top 3:

1. Dorian van Rijssbelberghe (NED), [3]-2-1-1-1-1:6

2. Ricardo Santos (BRA), 1-3-3-2-[8]-4:13

3.Nick Dempsey (GBR), 2-1-4-[8]-5-5:17

RS:X Women Top 3:

1. Demita Vega (MEX), 3-[7]-2-1-3-3:12

2. Bryony Shaw (GBR), 2-[5]-5-3-1-2:13

3. Maayan Davidovich (ISR), 6-4-4-2-2-[7]:18

 

2.4mR Top 3:

1. Bruce Millar (CAN), 2-3-1-1-[5]-1:8

2. Allan Leibel (CAN), 1-4-[5]-3-1-3:12

3. Megan Pascoe (GBR), [18/BFD]-2-2-4-2-2:12

Finn Top 3:

1. Caleb Paine (USA), [7]-1-1-1-4-2:9

2. Brendan Casey (AUS), 2-[14]-4-2-2-5:15

3. Jorge Zarif (BRA), 6-[8]-3-3-1-3:16

49erFX Top 3:

1. Martine Soffiatti/Kahena Kunze (BRA), 2-1-3-3-2-[4]-2-1-1:15

2. Anna Tunnicliffe/Molly Vandemoer (USA), 3-2-5-[6]-1-2-1-3-2:19

3. Giulia Conti/Francesca Clapcich (ITA), 1-[5]-2-1-5-1-3-5-3:21

#olypmicsailingivefeed – If you have been amazed this week by the live feed of helicopter, onboard and other cool Olympic sailing TV coverage direct to your computer the bad news for followers of Annalise Murphy's exploits, we're reliably informed, is that there won't be any further live coverage of the Womens Laser Radial racing until next Monday's final.

The BBC covers only one race at any given time and the cameras are scheduled to be elsewhere.  Of course this means coverage for our other sailing team members including the Star, 49er, Laser and 470. Click for Olympic sailing live feed here and type sailing in the search box.

Even if it could afford to, our own RTE can't just turn up on the water with it's own cameras. Of course the Afloat team will be following Annalise's exploits regardless and we will feature regular updates today via twitter and here on the Afloat website. Stay tuned!

#olympicsailing – Fancy betting on sailing at the 2012 Olympics? There's some fantastic odds on sailors to win medals as well as a few short ones if you factor in the vagaries of weather and a week long series. We've taken a quick eyeball and here's a selection from Paddy Power Bookmakers.

Star class supremo Robert Scheidt at 6/5 is not a great bet but there are fantastic odds on the defending champion Iain Percy at 5/1. Ireland 's Peter O'Leary at 7/2 is also definitely worth a punt.

In the Laser Radial class Annalise Murphy at 10/1 who goes into action today is worth a ton of money as the forecast is definitely on her side. We all know she is a formdidable force in big winds so the forecast is good for an each way bet. And Gintare Scheidt is excellent odds at 5/1 especially as she is the reigning world champion.

In the 470 the Australian champions are poor odds at 1/12 given there are so many opportunities for screw ups in a week long event. Ireland's Ger Owens is a very long shot at 25/1.

In the 49er the Irish are 25/1 and possibly a good each way bet as they have a superb coach in Ian Barker, 2000 silver medalist and have been on upward trajectory for the last year.

The Australians at 11/10 look like a sure fire thing so not worth a bet, but the British at 8/1 and the Spanish at 13/1 are both amazing odds.

In the Finn Ben Ainslie 8/15 would be your banker with the Danish at 8/5 very short odds but the Dutch 25/1 and the Croatian 11/2 are both good each way bets.

Paddy Power sailing here

#OLYMPIC – In spite of a broken forestay that cost Peter O'Leary and David Burrows a 'Did Not Finish' result (DNF) in yesterday's race eight of Semaine Olympique Française, the Cork-Dublin duo are set for a Star keelboat medal race fight this morning on the French riviera.

The medal race line-up does not include the World Champions and Double Olympic medallist Robert Sheidt who only sailed three of a possible eight races this week.

Gear failure also beset this week's overall leaders Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson of Britain yesterday who broke a mast when mistral winds touched 40-knots. Only 12 of the 25 boat Star fleet managed to finish the race in the notoriously high wind venue.

O'Leary and Burrows, who are tipped for Olympic medal success later this Summer, will take consolation that it was their only rigging that broke and not their fragile mast. In the overall standings the Irish duo lie sixth in their 25-boat fleet, one place down from their mid-regatta position on Tuesday.

The Cork-Dublin pairing were expected to make this morning's medal race as a sign that they are on track to deliver in Weymouth.

More in the Irish Times Sailing Column this morning

 

Ireland's top Laser Radial sailors will head to Scotland starting from today to prepare for the World Championships at Largs. Largs is the home of the RYA's Scottish Sailing Institute, one of the top sailing locations in the British Isles.

The Irish Radial trio of Debbie Hanna, Annalise Murphy and Tiffany Brien will be representing the country at the event, with 119 sailors in the ladies fleet.

An extended youth squad will take part in the Youth World Championships, a 320-boat fleet split into under-19 boys and girls.

The squad consists of: William Byrne, Peter Cameron, Philip Doran, Robbie Gilmore, Ruth Harrington, Luke Hevers, Eoin Keller, Rory Lynch, Henry Mclaughlin, Michael Molloy, Sean Murphy, Matthew O'Dowd, Alan Ruigrok, Saskia Tidey and Ross Vaughan

Ronan Cull, Simon Doran, Aidan McLaverty and Ciaran Hurney will represent Ireland in the men's fleet, with 108 entries. 

McLaverty will also race in the Junior World Championships in the full rig fleet in Hayling Island in August, along with Chris Penney.

 

Details available HERE.