#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

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)

#RMOCR – Ireland's Star and Laser Radial sailing teams stay in the top third of their respective fleets after the first day of racing at the 2012 Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta but only just. After a mixed opening day's performance from Peter O'Leary and David Burrows the keelboat pair are 11th from 33. Annalise Murphy fares better in13th after two races from a fleet of 60 boats competing on Biscayne Bay.

The sailors are Ireland's best hopes for a sailing medal at the London Olympics and are funded by the Irish Sports Council.

Conditions on the blustery Florida race courses, often judged to be one of the best race tracks in the world, blew from the north east and 12-20 knots in strength across the five courses. Over 700 sailors are competing, drawn from over 50 countries and ten Olympic classes.

It's the second round of ISAF's Sailing World Cup Regatta and as such represents one of the most important build up regattas of the year in advance of the Olynpic Games in less than 200 days time. Both Irish crews, who qualified for London in Perth last December, are fighting hard to post consistent results but yesterday's opening two rounds, although solid performances, wil not be the post Christmas boost they were looking for.

The Irish keelboat took a yellow flag Yellow flag penalty in the first race and did well to get back to tenth  O'Leary and Burrows scores of 10th and a 12th place them 11th overall.

Annalise Murphy concluded the day in 13th overall having secured a 17th and a 19th in her two races of the day.

Independent non-carded sailor James Espey got off to a consistent start in the largest of the classes, the 78 boat Laser fleet. He sits just outside the top 10 at 11th overall having finished 12th in both of his races of the day.

Also competing are the Irish Paralympic sailors John Twomey, Anthony Hegarty and Ian Costello in the Sonar class. The trio lie in the middle of the 11 boat fleet at 6th overall following a 9th and a 4th in their two races.

#US SAILING – This weekend the Irish Olympic Star sailing team aka Peter O'Leary and David Burrows along with Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial is back in action in Miami at the first ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta of 2012. US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR will kick the 2012 calendar off following a busy 2011 that saw ten World Champions crowned at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships.

Running from 22-28 January at Biscayne Bay, Florida, USA, the Rolex Miami OCR will feature all of the Olympic events as teams ramp up preparations for the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.

Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) will be the pair to beat in the Star class following their gold medal performance in Perth 2011. The pair also dominated the 2010-2011 ISAF Sailing World Cup winning four of the five regattas they sailed in and are reigning champions in Miami.

With a winning margin of 49 points over Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen (SWE) at the 2011 regatta, a repeat performance would give the Brazilian World Champions a great start to their World Cup campaign.

In a fleet of 31-boats Loof and Salminen will join the Brazilians in Miami, as will Perth 2011 bronze medallists Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (USA) and 2009-2010 ISAF Sailing World Cup Star champions Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen (NOR).

Ireland's Peter O'Leary and David Burrows who are now certain of their Olympic slot for London will be attemptin to move up a gear and challenge the champions with under 200 days  to the Olympic regatta itself.

O'Leary and Burrows are back on the Olympic circuit this wekend in Miami, Florida – Photo: Richard Langdon

In the Laser Radial Lijia Xu (CHN) will look to continue her good start to her Sailing World Cup campaign after victory at Sail Melbourne. The World #42 won Sail Melbourne after a dominating display following seven top three finishes during the regatta in the competitive 25-boat fleet. But the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist and former Laser Radial World Champion will find Miami a harder nut to crack with 59 sailors registered to compete.

Among the fleet is World #1 Evi Van Acker (BEL), Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships Laser Radial gold medallist Marit Bouwmeester and Perth 2011 bronze medallist and winner of the 2011 Rolex Miami OCR Paige Railey (USA).

Dun Laoghaire's Annalise Murphy fresh from her sixth in Perth in December is competing and seeking further progress for London.

Bouwmeester is going for a third consecutive ISAF Sailing World Cup title after a six point victory over Veronika Fenclova (CZE) in 2009-2010 and a one point win over Van Acker in 2010-2011. But after one regatta Bouwmeester sits in 15th position with Xu leading the way followed by Tuula Tenkanen (FIN) and Krystal Weir (AUS).

Annalise in action in Perth. She races this weekend in Miami. Photo: Richard Langdon

With 81 entries the Laser fleet is the largest at the Rolex Miami OCR. World #4 Bruno Fontes (BRA) is the highest ranked sailor competing World #5 Julio Alsogaray (ARG) and Beijing Olympic gold medallist Paul Goodison (GBR) set to join him on the starting line.

In the Men's RS:X 14 sailors will compete for ISAF Sailing World Cup points with last year's World Cup runner up Nick Dempsey (GBR) set to line up. And in the Women's fleet, 13 windsurfers will compete.

A competitive 16-boat fleet will line up in the Women's 470. Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan (USA) and Kathrin Kadelbach and Friederike Belcher (GER) sailed at Sail Melbourne and registered early World Cup points. The Americans finished third whilst the Germans came fifth. Another good performance from either crew will give them a superb start to the 2011-2012 campaign.

Joining the American and German crews will be World #2 Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR). Having already been selected to represent Great Britain for the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition the pressure of qualification is off the girls and they will get some valuable competition time in Miami.

Israel's Gil Cohen and Vered Bouskila and the Netherlands Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout will also sail following strong performances at Perth 2011.

The Men's 470 fleet welcomes 24 crews to Miami including Perth 2011 gold medallists and World #1 pair Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page. The Australians finished second behind Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl (USA) at the opening ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta, Sail Melbourne, and are looking to defend the World Cup crown they won by 19 points last year.

World #3 Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlov Kagialis (GRE), World #7 Gideon Kliger and Eran Sela (ISR) and World #8 Luca Calabrese and Juan De La Fuente (ARG) are also set to sail.

Thirteen American Finn sailors make up half of the 26-boat fleet. World #6 Zach Railey (USA) will be the favourite to take the title with only Brendan Casey (AUS) and Caleb Paine (USA) the other sailors in the top 25 of the world's Finn sailors.

2010-2011 ISAF Sailing World Cup 49er Champions Nico Delle-Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT) begin their World Cup campaign and will be joined by World #4 pair Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang (DEN) and the American team of Erik Storck and Trevor Moore whose dreams of world championship medals were shattered in Perth when their rudder broke in the Medal Race.

The Paralympic Classes also commence sailing with 29 registered 2.4mR entries, seven SKUD-18 and 11 Sonar entries.

Women's Match Racers enjoy a practice day on 22 January before competition for all the fleets kicks off on 23 January.

#PERTH2011–Peter O'Leary and David Burrows are back in the top ten of the ISAF Star World Championships in Perth today after briefly dropping to 13th from fifth overall, the result of a poor third race where they scored 33rd in their 42-boat fleet. They scored an excellent third place though in the second race of the day to put the sole Irish pair ninth overall on 46 points, the same tally as Portugal's Afonso Domingos and Frederico Melo in eighth.

Leading the world - the Irish Star rounds the top mark first. Photo: Richard Langdon

Writing on their facebook page the Irish crew said: 'We had a shocker in race one but we managed to get a 3rd in race two. Long day on the water.'

Another outstanding performance from the British Olympic Champions Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson consolidated their first place position in the overall standings after race four in the Star fleet.

Percy and Simpson have a total of 16 points while Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (USA) are on 28 points, with Germany's Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen just behind them on 30.

"We had a good day today. We weren't going very well but we hung in and fought hard," Percy said. "My body is a bit bruised and battered for it but it's okay".

In race three, Norwegian team Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen took first followed closely by Aimilios Papathanasiou and Antonios Tsotras of Greece.

The fight for third was close with Aimilios Papathanasiou and Antonios Tsotras of Greece just making it, putting Germany's Johannes Babendererde and Timo Jacobs in fourth place.

The outcome of race four saw the Swedish pair Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen take first place followed by Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada.

Third went to O'Leary and Burrows while British pair Percy and Simpson were fourth.

With six more races until the medal race the British are aware of the obstacles to come.

"There is still a long way to go, we're not super quick, so not confident we will get too far but we will keep battling to the end," he said.

Star racing is scheduled to continue on Tuesday on the Leighton course from 1300 Perth time.

#PERTH2011 – Ireland's Peter O'Leary and David Burrows have sailed straight to the top of the Star keelboat leaderboard after the first day's racing of the ISAF world Championships today. The Cork-Dublin pairing are third overall having counted an 8 and 2 in the 42 boat fleet and just three points off leaders, the current Olympic Gold Medallists Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson from Great Britain.

The Irish Stsr boat is out of the water this evening having damage repaired after a second race collision, O'Leary and Burrows are working on the basis that all should be good by tomorrow for the important third race of the series.

Latest results here

#OLYMPIC SAILING–All set for next week's Olympic qualification sailing regatta Irish campaigners Peter O'Leary and David Burrows look in fine form out training in the 'Fremantle doctor'. The consistent wind that blows during Perth's summer time from the southwest proved no object to the pair even when it got up to 28–knots during their downwind session.

The Star (that ceases to be an Olympic class after next year's Olympic regatta) does not use a spinnaker when sailing downwind. Instead, when running downwind a whisker pole is used to hold the jib out to windward for correct wind flow.

Listening to comments from coach Marc Pickel boat you can hear how technical things have become in Olympic keelboat set-up even when sailing in mast breaking weather! O'Leary and Burrows are advised there is 'too much inversion at the spreaders and the solution is to use more mast puller and more top backstay! Maybe not an easy task when you're surfing along in a 700kg keelboat!

O'Leary and Burrow's first race is Sunday week, December 11th so there's a few more days of windy training to come.

All our Olympic team coverage in one handy link here

#OLYMPIC–Ireland takes its place among the world's sailing nations in Perth, Western Australia this weekend for the start of a two-week long sailing championships that is a do or die regatta for Ireland's Olympic squad intent on competing at the London Olympic regatta next July.

There are high hopes that at least two crews will qualify at the ISAF world championships where over 75% of qualification slots are available. Irish officials say Peter O'Leary and David Burrows in the Star keelboat along with Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial are not only front runners for qualification next week but also Olympic medal prospects.

There is no question both are consistent top 10 performers at world level. There is no question either of their heavy weather performances and as Perth is famous for its strong winds team insiders say a world class result for Ireland is possible.

Murphy won bronze at the Sail for Gold (a dry run of the Olympic regatta) in August and O'Leary won gold (albeit with a different crew) at the same event in 2010.

In the 49er dinghy Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern are also aiming for the London Games and qualification here is by no means ruled out for the Belfast Lough pair.

Other Irish boats competing in Perth for the London ticket are two times Olympian Ger Owens from Dun Laoghaire now sailing with Howth's Scott Flanigan in the 470 dinghy James Espey will compete in the Laser, while Ross Hamilton will sail in the Finn

First into action on Monday morning will be Hamilton in the Finn. Murphy also has her first race in a 100-strong Laser Radial fleet.

Top international sailors put on a show of strength in Perth's Forrest Place on Friday to help launch the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships.

Several thousand people in the CBD watched as the athletes paraded from Barrack Street jetty to the heart of Perth, where they were warmly welcomed by a team of hosts, including Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett.

The athletes had sailed upriver on Rottnest Island ferries from Fremantle, passing under bridges lined with well-wishers, and paraded through the city past a crowd of cheering locals, all braving the 33C heat.

While the Japanese and Korean teams posed for a combined photograph, the New Zealand men squeezed in some rugby practice in the backdrop.

Onlookers lined the streets as the athletes walked behind their national flags, occasionally cheering and posing for photographs.

They were led by a Royal Australian Navy band — described by the Chief Petty Officer Gabe Kicsak as a "rock band on steroids".

Irish flag bearer Scott Flanagan twisted the flag in his hands as he joked that the Perth heat was nothing compared to Ireland's "tropical climate".

Also in the procession was Hungarian windsurfer Aron Gadorvalvi, who could be seen getting a workout with his toddler daughter's pushchair.

Drifting in and out of the procession during the march were Denmark's athletes stocking up on ice-cream.

Among those in the crowd were Trinity Sale (9) and brother Mitchell (6) cheering on their dad, Australian 49er crewman Marty Sale, who will compete with his skipper Duncan Head.

Trinity, who attends Perth's Rawlinson Primary School, said: "I liked it a lot, especially as my dad was marching."

Forrest Place was awash with colour, flags and cameras small and large as the athletes made their entry.

"The Fremantle Doctor is calling — may you all achieve your dreams," ISAF President Goran Petersson said, referring to the world championships and Olympic selection at stake.

The ceremonial part of the event was opened by three Aboriginal dancers, with Dr Richard Walley on the didgeridoo and performing the traditional Welcome to Country.

The Australian anthem was sung by talented Perth busker, Fiona Mariah, a former contestant on a national television talent show.

Marching for the first time were six nations — Kyrgyzstan, St Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, Cook Islands, Kazakhstan and Montenegro.

The athletes' oath was taken by three-time world champion Marcelien Bos-de-Koning (NED) and the officials' oath by jury chairman Bernard Bonneau.

Perth 2011 chairman Ian Campbell quoted Ernest Hemmingway in his welcome address — from a 1936 magazine article on why people go to sea. "The sea was the last wild place left."

He also quoted at length from a speech made by former USA President John F Kennedy after Australia's challenger Gretel took one race off the American defender Weatherley in the 1962 America's Cup at Newport, Rhode Island.

"It is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean and therefore we have salt in our blood, in our sweat and in our tears.

"We are tied to the ocean and when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came."

Mr Campbell said: "I wish all the athletes lots of sweat, as little blood as possible, and tears of joy as you enjoy the magnificent conditions off Fremantle in the coming weeks."

India's coach Mohit Nautiyal said he was confident in his country's team.

"The Finn is definitely our strongest event," Nautiyal said.

"We are very hopeful for gold but [winning] is not very important. We are here because we enjoy sailing," China's team manager Ye Xiao said.

It was clear that most athletes admired the Perth surroundings.

Michael Hestbaek (DEN), a Star class competitor, said: "I originally came (to the opening ceremony) with the idea to have a sail up the river and see the beautiful and spectacular scenery."

"I'm sure there will be more to come," said the three-time world champion in Laser (2) and 49ers (1).

And on his hopes at Perth 2011: "I expect at least three teams to make the top 10 and hope some will medal. I'm hoping to be one of them."

Athletes then flooded the numerous Perth eateries for lunch before catching a train back to Fremantle.

Olympic keelboat duo Peter O'Leary and David Burrows face one of the sternest tests of the summer season but this time its on waters st least.

All 32 boats for the Star European Championship (2nd-10th September) have arrived in Dun Laoghaire and are busy training on Dublin Bay prior to Sunday's first race. Current world champions and double Olympic Gold medallists Iain Percy (GBR) with Andrew Simpson top the entry list while defending title-holders Johannes Polgar (GER) with Markus Koy are also competing.

Beijing 2008 helm O'Leary along with Olympian Burrows, (who crewed a Star at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996) will be in the hunt for a top three place on home waters while Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks will be competing from their home club for the first Star class event in Ireland.

Percy will be seeking to improve on his second place at the recent London Olympic 2012 test-event at Weymouth while the championship will also be an indicator of form before the ISAF Sailing World Championships at Perth in December.

"This fleet is certainly an example of quality rather than quantity," commented Martin Byrne, Commodore of the Royal St. George YC, organising host club. "Looking at the entry-list, a large number of boats could form a typical world top ten and are capable of winning this championship. We expect Dublin Bay will live up to its reputation as a great racing area and deliver good conditions for the seven races."

Five Star world champions or Olympic medallists are included in the line-up while several more are also former champions in other Olympic classes. Polgar and Koy won last year's championship in Viareggio (Italy) in a record turn-out for the Star class. Second-placed runner-up Andrew Campbell (USA) from 2010 is also in Dun Laoghaire, this time with Ian Coleman and are up against 2009 world champion George Szabo (USA) with Mark Strube in the lead-up to selection for next year's Olympics.

Tornado class Gold medallist Fernando Echavarri (ESP) with Fernando Rodriguez Rivero will be competing along with double world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Xavier Rohart (FRA) and Pierre Alexis Ponsot. Former Finn Gold medallist and 2008 world champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL) and Dominik Zycki are also certain contenders next week.

Ireland is on the entry list in six classes for the Weymouth and Portland International Sailing Regatta 2011, the London 2012 Olympic Test Event, that has been finalised today.

Ireland's leading hopes for  a top result is in the Radial class where Annalise Murphy took bronze at the Sail for Gold regatta at the same venue. There's also high chances in the Star class with Peter O'Leary and David Burrows. Also sailing for Ireland is James Espey is in the Laser, Ross Hamilton in the Finn, Ger Owens and Scott Flannigan in the 470, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern in the 49er. A full entry list is available for download at the end of this post.

Sixty six nations have submitted the names of the 460 sailors who will test the conditions at Weymouth and Portland one year ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.

For many of Member National Authorities there has been a selection headache with nations following game time rules where only one athlete per event is allowed.

In the Finn class Great Britain's Ben Ainslie was selected ahead of Giles Scott and Ed Wright, Spain's Marina Alabau received the nod ahead of Blanca Manchon and Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) lost out to Sally Barkow (USA).

The Women's Match Racers open the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta on 2 August 2011 with the start of their Round Robins. The Men's and Women's RS:X begin on 4 August followed by the Laser, Laser Radial and Men's and Women's 470 on 5 August before the Finn, 49er and Star sailors begin their competition on 6 August.

At the 2012 Games sailing will introduce women's match racing for the first time. The racing format will be a single round-robin, quarter finals, semi-finals and then the finals. The nine fleet racing events will all sail an opening series before the top ten in each event contest a double-points Medal Race to decide the final positions. The Medal Races have a target time of approximately 30 minutes and will take place close to the shore at the Nothe to allow spectators ashore to get close up to the action.