Following our recent articles on youth sailing, a sailor, who bought a Laser Radial sailing dinghy four years ago and used it only once, is kindly offering the boat free to an organisation who could put it to good use for youth sail training.
The boat (valued around €2000) has all the Laser go fast string, plus a launching trolley, a Silva compass and a Gorilla tiller.  The donor in question has told afloat.ie "I don't know any organisation that might use it to introduce sailing to non–sailing youth, but if one exists, I would be delighted to give this boat to them for free". If you know of such an organisation or a worthy home for this generous offer please email the details to: [email protected], putting 'Laser Youth Boat' in the subject line.  Alternatively leave a comment below.

Despite light and shifty sailing conditions which brought mixed results for most leaders, during the fourth racing in the Princesa Sofia MAPFRE competition, Ben Ainslie in the Finn class and Dorian van Rijsselberge in the RS:X, were able to sail to a perfect day claiming victories in the day's races.

Dun Laoghaire's Annalise Murphy lies sixth overall in the Laser Radial class after another strange day on the water. Her results here

Ryan Seaton and Matthew McGovern's 49er campaign got a boost with a race win in the gold fleet in race 12. They are 20th overall. Results here

Ben Ainslie (GBR) increases his lead over Giles Scott (GBR) in second and places 24 points from Thomas Lebreton (FRA), third overall. Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) is eleven points ahead of Nick Dempsey (GBR) and twenty from Gold Medallist Tom Ashley (NZL) in the RS:X.

The day's tricky conditions distributed high scores to all the favourites and with two more races on Friday, the top ten places for the medal races not a done deal yet.

Defending champions, Manu Dyen and Stéphane Christidis (FRA) are keeping the lead in the 49ers despite mixed results which include a victory, 10 and 20. Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello (ITA) are gaining a place in second after three top ten places and carry a good lead over third. It could have been a perfect day for the British duo of Dylan Fletcher and Alan Sign (GBR). They score a fifth and a second, but a penalty on the start force them to count 19 points.

Mixed results also collected for French 470 teams who share top placing despite collecting their worse race results today. Nicolas Charbonnier and Jérémie Mion (FRA) are conserving the lead without winning a race yet. They struggled in the first race and took third in the second. Three points behind, last year regatta winners Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garros (FRA) read the wind differently with a second in the opening race and a 28th in the second.

"The wind was unstable and tended to favour the left. The last race was long and difficult. In the end we scored a good race and may be back on the podium so not so bad in the end." explained Leboucher and Garos.

The Greek team of Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis are third. Races victories went to Panagiotis Kampouridis / Efstathios Papadopoulos (GRE) and Gideon Kliger / Eran Sela (ISR).

The women in the 470 class suffered the same fate with all top teams collecting high scores.

"It was a very exhausting day." explains the Israeli team of Cohen and Vered, who narrowly slip into first place overall after a 22 and a 12. " We usually are in the top ten at the windward mark. Today was another story, we struggled in these conditions and had to go with the fleet in the middle to try to gain places. We kept gaining and losing so in the end it was quite stressing. Anyway, the other top girls have also collected a bad race so it makes our day look better! The score is very tight so with two races tomorrow before the medal race, it is like we start all over again."

Jo Aleh and Bianca Barbarich-Barber (NZL) won the first race but followed the trend with a high point second race. They are in second, only two points from the Israeli. Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata (JAP) lost the lead after scoring their worse results so far. But with only five points from first, anything remains possible.

Marina Alabau is enjoying the conditions in Palma, with another good racing day. The Andalucian is conserving her lead in the RS:X fleet, six points from Charline Picon (FRA). They share today's victories. Third place goes to Italy but Alessandra Sensini has stepped down from the podium, replaced by Laura Linares (ITA).

With Paul Goodison (GBR) collecting top points for braking the start, Tom Slingsby (AUS) is reclaiming the lead in the Lasers. The Australian has sailed to top 6 results and is going into tomorrow's final races with a good advantage. Nick Thompson is third, one point only from Goodison and five from Slingsby. Best results (2-1) in the Gold fleet today were taken by Sam Meech (NZL) who climbs from 10th to 4th.

In the Laser radial, Paige Railey (USA) loses the lead for Evi van Acker (BEL). The American wins the first race but has to carry the 28 points collected in the second race and drops to third overall five points from the new leader. Veronika Fenclova (CZE) climbs to second overall.

Olympic Gold medallists Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) are increasing their lead in the Star class after winning a race. New faces are coming to the top with Andrew Campbell /
Ian Coleman (USA) in second and Diego Negri / Enrico Voltolini (ITA) third.

"There was very little wind out there today, it was pretty hard going. We didn't feel we got it right today, but somehow we seemed to still have a good day. We were not very lucky out on the course, but we fought back really hard and are pretty pleased to have extended our lead." says Percy.

The top three remain in place in the 2.4. Thierry Schmitter (NED) and Heiko Kroger (GER) shared today's best results with a first and a second. They are increasing the gap over Megan Pascoe (GBR).

The Women's Match Racing fleet at the 42nd Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofia MAPFRE has now been reduced to the top eight teams. The morning saw the completion of the Repechage Group to see who would advance to the Quarter-Finals with the Gold Group. Anne-Claire Le Berre (FRA) and Stephanie Hazard (NZL) were 1-2 in the group with scores of 4 wins and one loss each.
Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) continued her unbeaten streak through the Gold Round Robin and won the Gold Group to earn the chance to sail against the second place team for the Repechage (Hazard) in the Quarter-Finals. The other pairings for the Quarter-Finals are Claire Leroy (FRA) vs. Anne-Claire Le Berre (FRA), Silja Lehtinen (FIN) vs. Silke Halbrock (GER), and Lucy Macgregor (GBR) vs. Sally Barkow (USA). Th first team in each pair to score 3 points will advance to the Semi-Finals.
After two flights of the Quarter-Finals, Tunnicliffe leads Hazard 2-0; Le Berre and Leroy are tied 1-1; Lehtinen leads Hahlbrock 2-0; and Macgregor and Barkow are tied 1-1.
Tomorrow will see the completion of the Quarter-Finals and the Semi-Finals in the Women Match racing and the final races for the other classes. Last chance to qualify among the top ten for Saturday's medal races.

Sailing in a talented fleet of a thousand sailors from 53 nations, Annalise Murphy has scored a 1 and 2 in today's opening round of the 42nd Trofeo Princesa Sofia regatta, the third event in the Sailing World Cup circuit.

Murphy, from the National Yacht Club, won today's second race by a staggering margin of one minute and 30 seconds as the breeze freshened to 15 knots off Palma de Mallorca, on the Balearic Island of Spain.

The 21-year old sailor from Dun Laoghaire is in a tough fleet of 78, made up of all the top international trailists for next year's Olympic regatta in the Laser Radial Class. Today's opening races in 15 knots of breeze are the first of six days of racing. 

Lastest Olympic Sailing News here

 

May Bank Holiday weekend (29 April – 02 May) over 300 sailors will compete in Dublin Bay in seven different classes (Laser Radial, Laser 4.7, 420, Feva, Topper, SL16 and Optimist). For youth sailors, this event is the most crucial in the annual calendar as it is the decider for the top Irish sailors to compete internationally during 2011 and is the pathway for future Olympic sailors.
Not only will the ISA Mitsubishi Youth Nationals over the May weekend be an important event for youth sailors it is also a major milestone for the organisers of the ISAF Youth Worlds 2012 as it offers them the opportunity to test drive the logistics of managing such a large event incorporating three clubs, three race courses and hundreds of volunteers.
'Dun Laoghaire has a proud reputation for hosting international events such as the biennial combined clubs Dun Laoghaire Regatta and numerous world championships. However in 2011 the ISA Mitsubishi Youth Nationals is of more significance as it gives us an opportunity to test our systems in advance of the ISAF Youth Worlds 2012.' stated Event Chairman Brian Craig.
Dun Laoghaire won the bid to host the ISAF Youth Worlds 2012 from 12-21 July when, in excess of 300 sailors and windsurfing champions from over 60 nations will participate. The granting of this prestigious sailing event to Ireland is a major boost to the sport and secures Ireland's position as an ideal location for hosting world class sailing events. It also establishes Dun Laoghaire as one of the prime major racing locations in the world, capable of running multiple classes and courses to the highest international standard.
'The Youth Nationals is a significant event on the racing calendar. It involves young sailors from all of the 'Olympic Pathway' classes, some of whom are competing for places on the team that will represent Ireland in the ISAF Youth Worlds later this year.  In recent years Ireland has had successes at youth level with winner of the girls Laser World Championships a top 10 at the 2010 ISAF Youth Worlds and wins at the British National Optimist Championships.

Three hundred sailors from around the country are expected to compete for national youth and junior pathway titles and the Mitsubishi coaching grant during the event.

Ireland's top performers from last week's Miami Olympic Classes Regatta are captured by photographer Ingrid Abery. Peter O'Leary and David Burrows in the Star keelboat are photographed in upwind pose along with fourth overall Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial. Click HERE for Ingrid's gallery.

Ireland is well placed in the latest world cup standings issued by ISAF this week. After two events Peter O'Leary and David Burrows are ranked 13th in the Star and Annalise Murphy who finished fourth in Miami last week is ninth in the Laser Radial class. More HERE.

Annalise Murphy, Ireland's only entry in the medal races at the Miami Olypmic Classes Regatta on Saturday finished fourth overall, missing out on bronze to Evi Van Ascker of Belgium. The Dun Laoghaire sailors overall result will be siginificant boost in her bid to represent Ireland at the London Olympic regatta next year. Other Irish results HERE.

More from Miami Regatta organisers below:

It was "do or die" today for sailors in the final medal races of US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR. Reserved for top-ten fleet racing finishers in Finn, 49er, Men's 470, Women's 470, Laser, Laser Radial, Men's RS:X, Women's RS:X and Star classes, the medal races also included "knock-out" Finals and Petit Finals, with two boats each, from the Elliott 6m (women's match racing) class. The racing formats replicate those that will be used at the Olympic Sailing Regatta in the 2012 Games, and as so designed, they did not fail to deliver a final punch of excitement to six days of racing here for 716 sailors from 53 nations.

"In the final medal count, 14 different countries won 39 medals, with eight different countries sharing Gold," said US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee Chair Dean Brenner (Wallingford, Conn.) at the final Rolex Prizegiving, held at Coral Reef Yacht Club. He explained that while 10 Olympic classes determined podium positions today, three Paralympic classes completed racing yesterday to determine medalists.

With finishes counting double points today in the fleet racing, Sweden's Rasmus Myrgren finished third in the 104-boat Laser class, the largest here, and added six points to his score line, putting him three points out in front of Argentina's Julio Alsogaray for the Gold. Taking Bronze after Alsogaray's Silver was yesterday's leader Paul Goodison (GBR), the 2008 Laser Olympic Gold Medalist.

"Among us three, plus Nick Thompson (GBR), it was who-beat-whom to take the Gold today," said Myrgren. "When Paul and Julio started messing around with each other on the first downwind leg, it made it possible for me to catch up and by the last downwind leg the three of us were each a half boat length apart in a race to the finish, with two others ahead of us (who were not in contention)." Myrgren's break came when he surfed ahead of Alsogaray on "the last couple of waves" at the finish to take third, leaving Alsogaray to fourth and Goodison to sixth.

It was sweet redemption for Myrgren, who was second behind Goodison going into the medal races at the 2008 Olympics and the only one with a mathematical chance at beating him for Gold. "In that race, Paul made sure to cover me, and we were both two minutes behind the rest of the fleet at the finish, because all he had to do was beat me. I was dead last, and so I fell to sixth overall. It is indicative of the pressures of a medal race on your final score."

In the 58-boat Laser Radial class US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member and ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla., USA) had a Gold Medal sewn up today as long as she didn't get disqualified. "I didn't push it at all today," said Railey, noting that her throw-out race for her lead-up series was a 59-pointer acquired from a black flag in race two. "I rounded the first mark fourth or fifth and just stayed relaxed, then rounded the next mark in first! The others were battling for the other medals, so I felt almost like I was watching it from the outside." Railey said Sarah Steyaert (FRA) passed her on the last leg to win and take the Silver Medal. "It was down to one boat for her, so she was sailing hard," said Railey. Evi van Acker (BEL), who had topped the scoreboard for several days this week, finished fourth today for eight points and the Bronze Medal, based on a tie-breaker in scoring that had her showing the same overall points as van Acker.

It was a triple-play for Great Britain in the 37-boat Finn class, with Giles Scott winning the Gold Medal; Ben Ainslie taking the Silver; and Andrew Mills the Bronze. Winning over half of his races in the leadup series, Scott said getting good starts gave him a half-boat length jump on the fleet to "enable me to tack off when I wanted." Nevertheless, he had gold to lose today if he had finished even one spot farther back than he did (fifth). That was because Ainslie won the race today, with Mills finishing sixth. Ainslie is a four-time (three-time Gold) Olympic medalist and three-time ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year.

"Today's medal race was pretty tricky," said Scott. "I was trying to go after Andrew and Ben just to kind of ruffle them a bit, and I managed to give Ben a penalty turn (before the start). Unfortunately that penalty turn forced him out to the right, which was favored, and he won the race, which kind of made things a bit difficult for me. But holding on to fifth was what I needed to do, and that's what I did, so I'm massively happy!"

In Men's 470, the battle between two British teams has been intense all week long, but today Nic Asher/Elliot Willis turned in the Gold Medal performance, pushing British teammates Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell (yesterday's leaders) to third overall for the Bronze. Australia's Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page, 470 class world champions who are ranked #1 in the world, took the Silver slot between them.

By winning today's medal race in the 24-boat Women's 470 class, Argentina's 2008 Olympians Maria Fernanda Sesto/Consuelo Monsegur moved themselves past Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Geron (FRA) to snag the bronze, showing how critical the medal race can be in securing a podium finish. "We had it in mind to win, but if the French had come in second we would not have made the medal. We had to beat them and put one boat between us."

Skipper Fernanda Sesto added, "It was not an easy, this medal race; you need to be mentally fast, focusing not just on what is happening but what will happen."

Yesterdays' leaders Ingrid Petijean/ Nadege Douroux (FRA) took the gold on merit of a fourth-place finish today while Penny Clark/ Katrina Hughes (GBR), in second overall yesterday, maintained that position for the Silver Medal after turning in a second-place finish.

In the 57-boat Star class, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA), who together won the Star Olympic Silver Medal in 2008, clinched their 10-race series and the Gold Medal here, winning today's race and leaving the battle for the Silver Medal to Sweden, Canada and France. When Sweden's Fredrik Loof/Max Salminen finished third today, they assured themselves the second spot on the podium, knocking Xavier Rohart/Pierre Alexis Ponsot (FRA) out of contention and leaving Richard Clark/Tyler Bjorn (CAN) to collect the Bronze.

Top-three positions from yesterday were maintained in the 29-boat 49er class when GBR's John Pink/ Rick Peacock finished third today to claim the Gold and lead, by a whopping 19 points, fellow teammates Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith (GBR) in the overall standings. Brotherton and Asquith won today's race, securing the Silver over yet another British team, Dave Evans/Edward Powys, who took home Bronze.

In the 30-strong RS:X Women's (windsurfing) fleet, Spain's Marina Alabau seemed untouchable here. With eight races in her lead-up series, she had six of those counting as victories. Today she finished 7th, which was good enough for Gold and a five-point spread over Silver Medalist Bryony Shaw (GBR) and another six over Bronze medalist Laura Linares (ITA). Alabau has won the last three Rolex Miami OCRs and says the competition this year has been the toughest. "It is closer to the Olympics and the level is higher. Everybody is more prepared."

In RS: X Men's, with 37 boards, Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) kept his early regatta lead to finish fifth today and take the Gold Medal. Only two points behind him was Nick Dempsey (GBR) for Silver. Julien Bontemps (FRA) surged past Nimrod Mashiah (ISR) on the scoreboard today to take the Bronze. He was second to Mashiah's sixth today and shared the same overall points, but the tiebreaker favored Mashiah.

Match Racing started early this morning, with Claire Leroy/ Elodie Bertrand/Marie Riou (FRA) meeting Anna Tunnicliffe/Molly Vandemoer/Debbie Capozzi (Plantation, Fla., USA/Redwood City, Calif./Bayport, N.Y., USA) in a first-to-three points "knockout" Finals match. Serious sailing went down as Leroy's team took the first two matches and Tunnicliffe came back to win the third. A fourth and final match went to Leroy, giving her the Gold and Tunicliffe the Silver.

"It is what it is," said Tunnicliffe, the three-time (consecutive and current) Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and a member of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics. "If you lose, you want to lose in a good race, and it was a really good race...very entertaining for the spectators, with lots of lead changes. Claire is one of the most experienced match racers on the circuit, and sometimes I beat her and sometimes she beats me; it was going to be who was on their game today."

Leroy is the 2008 ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship and is ranked second to Tunnicliffe's fourth on the women's world match racing circuit. They both are ISAF Rolex World Sailors of the Year.

In the Petit Finals for Bronze (a first-to-two points knockout match), US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member Sally Barkow/Alana O'Reilly/Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham (Nashotah, WI.,/Charleston SC, Miami Beach FL, USA) posted a win-loss score of 2-1 to win over Lucy Macgregor/Mary Rook/ Kate Macgregor (GBR).

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 Laser Radial Gold Medalist Paige 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. Railey also received the award last year.

US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR 2012 started Monday and has returned to Biscayne Bay annually since 1990. The event is the second of seven stops on the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Cup circuit. The USA had the largest contingent of sailors with 198, followed by Canada (97), Great Britain (39), then Italy (36).

US SAILING has 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., US SAILING's 2011 Rolex Miami OCR is also sponsored by AlphaGraphics, Gowrie Group, Chubb Insurance, Sperry Top-Sider, Harken McLube, Trinity Yachts, University of Miami Hospital and Kattack.

A complete roster of competitors can be viewed at the event website, RMOCR.ussailing.org, where real-time racecourse blogging, commentary and fan interaction, regatta results, photos and news updates will be integrated into a live coverage platform once racing begins. Video highlights produced by Gary Jobson and presented by Rolex air daily and are available on-demand on the event website. Fans can also follow the event on Facebook/RolexMiamOCR and Twitter/ RolexMiamOCR.

For full results, go to http://rmocr.ussailing.org/2011/Results.htm

(end)
(top-three results follow)

US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR 2011
Final Results

470 WOMEN (9 RACES)
1. Ingrid Petijean/ Nadege Douroux (FRA) 1-2-3-4-12-5-1-[18]-8- (36)
2. Penny Clark/ Katrina Hughes (GBR) 4-4-2-6-1-[25/BFD]-6-10-4 (37)
3. Maria Fernanda Sesto/ Consuelo Monsegur (ARG) 6-3-7-1-[16]-12-3-7-2-(41)

470 MEN (10 RACES)
1. Nic Asher/Elliot Willis (GBR) 1-3-5-2-6-10-10-[32]-2-6 (45)
2. Matthew Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) 2-8-10-3-3-[12]-2-3-10-10 (51)
3. Luke Patience/Stuart Bithell (GBR) 3/RDG-2-2-5-1-8-1-[17]-9-20 (51)

LASER (11 RACES)
1. Rasmus Myrgren (SWE) 7-3-1-1-1-3-4-12-[21]-6 (38)
2. Julio Alsogaray (ARG) 5-1-3-5-2-[12]-1-5-11-8 (41)
3. Paul Goodison (GBR) 1-2-8-1-[53/DSQ]-1-2-1-15-12 (43)

LASER RADIAL (11 RACES)
1. Paige Railey (USA) 1-[59/BFD]-4-6-2-5-1-4-2-4-4 (33)
2. Sarah Steyaert (FRA) 10-6-6-4-1-3-[15]-7-14-3-2 (56)
3. Evi Van Acker (BEL) 2/RDG-2-1-1-7-16-3-[19]-15-1-8 (56)

FINN (10 RACES)
1. Giles Scott (GBR) 1-1-1-1-[38/OCS]-7-4-1-3-10 (29)
2. Ben Ainslie (GBR) 5-2-5-2-8-[38/RAF]-1-3-2-2 (30)
3. Andrew Mills (GBR) 7-6-2-3-[16]-4-2-2-1-6 (33)

Star (11 Races)
1. Robert Scheidt/Bruno Robert (BRA) 1-2-9-1-9-7-[11]-11-1-5-2 (48)
2. Fredrik Loof (SWE) 5-3-7-3-15-6-[47]-36-3-13-6-6 (97)
3. Richard Clarke (CAN)6-6-6-9-6-16-5-7-18-[38]-20 (99)

RS: X WOMEN 9 RACES
1. Marina Alabau (ESP) [1]-1-1-1-1-1-[8]-6-14 (26)
2. Bryony Shaw (GBR) [7]-2-2-2-2-6-4-5-8 (31)
3. Laura Linares (ITA) 5-5-6-[7]-5-5-2-7-2 (37)

RS: X MEN (9 RACES)
1. Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) 1-4-1-1-2-4-[7]-10 (24)
2. Nick Dempsey (GBR) 2-2-4-4-3-1-2-[5]-8 (26)
3. Julien Bontemps (FRA) 5-[9]-6-6-8-2-1-4-4 (36)

49ER (15 RACES)
1. John Pink/ Rick Peacock (GBR) 4-1-5-1-1-1-4-[6]-1-1-2-1-4-4-3-6 (39)
2. Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith (GBR) 1-3-2-5-2-10-2-10-5-3-5-3-2-3-[30/DNS]-2 (58)
3. Dave Evans/Edward Powys (GBR) 2-6-1-3-3-2-5-1-2-2-6-10-[30/OCS]-11-10-10 (74)

Elliott 6m (Women's Match Racing)
1. Claire Leroy/Elodie Bertrand/Marie Riou (FRA)
2. Anna Tunnicliffe/Molly Vandemoer/Debbie Capozzi (Plantation, Fla., USA/Redwood City, Calif., USA/(Bayport, N.Y., USA)
3. Sally Barkow/ Alana O'Reilly/Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham (Nashotah, WI./Charleston SC/Miami Beach FL, USA)

SKUD-18 (6 RACES)
1. Daniel Fitzgibbon/ Liesl Tesch (AUS) 1-1-4-1-[8/OCS]-1-1-1-2 (12)
2. Scott Whitman/ Julia Dorsett (USA) [8/DNF]-2-2-3-3-2-3-2-1 (18)
3. Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell (GBR) 2-4-3-[5]-1-4-2-3-3 (22)

2.4Mr (6 RACES)
1. Damien Seguin (FRA) 2-[5]-1-1-5-4-1-2-2 (18)
2. Thierry Schmitter (NED) 1-1-4-4-[9]-6-4-1-1 (22)
3. Allan Leibel (CAN) 3-2-2-2-[7]-5-6-4-5 (29)

SONAR ( 7 RACES)
1. John Roberston/ Hannah Stodel/ Steve Thomas (GBR) 3-2-1-7-2-5-[13/DSQ]-5-2-3 (30)
2. Bruno Jourdren/Eric Flageul/Nicolas Vimont Vicary (FRA) 8-7-2-[13]-3-4-2-1-7-2 (36)
3. Udo Hessels/ Mischa Rossen/Marcel van de Veen (NED) 2-1-4-[13]-6-3-5-2-1-13 (37)

Annalise Murphy goes in to today's final round of Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in Florida as a medal contender in the Laser Radial class after a string of top results gave her fourth overall last night.

The strong Dun Laoghaire girl relished the prospects of the big winds that blew at times on Biscayne Bay this week. Consistent results of 5, 15, 2, 2, 5, 6 11,9, (21) and 5 never saw her out of the top five.

Tuesday saw her bag two second places in a fleet of 58.  It was a turning point in a regatta that she crashed out of last year only to return wth grit to be Ireland's only medal hope today.

Last night's move up to fourth overall on the scoreboard is another confidence boost, heightening the prospect of a place on this evening's podium. Conditions in Miami today are forcast to be light, probably not the conditions the National Yacht club girl would have hoped for.

In the Star Peter O'Leary and his crew for his London 2012 bid David Burrows finished with a strong fifth place yesterday but it was not enough to make today's final. They finished 13th overall after counting a black flag disqualification on day two of the event. See all results HERE.

Rival to Annalise, Tiffany Brien from Belfast Lough finished 21st overall.

Her club mate Jame Espey was 49th out of 52 after 7 races in the Laser gold fleet.

More from Miami organisers below:

Waking to a brisk northwesterly breeze, sailors at US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR yesterday made up for races lost to light air Wednesday. The conditions, though chilly by Florida standards, played out perfectly for medals to be determined in three Paralympic classes, while 10 Olympic classes fought their final battles for the right to compete in tomorrow’s medal races, which are comprised of top-ten “sail-offs” for Finn, 49er, Men’s 470, Women’s 470, Laser, Laser Radial, Men’s RS:X, Women’s RS:X and Star classes, and Finals and Petit Finals for Elliott 6m (women’s match racing).  The regatta, which began Monday for 716 sailors from 53 nations, prepares Olympic and Paralympic sailing aspirants for the 2012 Games and is the second of seven stops on the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Cup circuit.

For France’s Damien Seguin, a two-time 2.4mR IFDS World Champion who is currently ranked  #1 in the world, winning gold in the Paralympic 2.4mR class was looking good from day two when he assumed the lead over his 30-boat fleet.  Clinching today, however, was not as straightforward as today’s scores seemed to reflect.  Following seven boat lengths behind leader USA’s John Ruf (Pewaukee, Wis.) at the finish in race one, Seguin was determined the actual winner when Ruf was disqualified for starting the race prematurely and neglecting to exonerate himself.  “After that, for my next two races, my score was such that I needed only to loosely cover Thierry Schmitter (NED),” said Seguin, further explaining that only if he finished worse than sixth would he foil his own plot. Schmitter, another IFDS World Champion, took the Silver Medal, finishing fourth in the first race and winning the next two, each time with Seguin behind in second.  

“There were many different winds here,” said Damien about the practice this provides for his run for a spot on the French national team.  “We started in strong wind, then there was light wind and today medium-strong.  I am very happy for that and for the competition.”

Taking bronze was Canada’s Allan Leibel, who is able-bodied and allowed to compete here, since the class is declared “open” for this event.

The Gold Medal taking in the Paralympic Sonar class by GBR’s John Robertson/Hannah Stodel/Steve Thomas came with an intriguing twist today. With two races completed, the Dutch team of Udo Hessels/Mischa Rossen/Marcel van de Veen were in the lead, and surprisingly, they did not sail the third and final race. 

“There were two points between us and the Dutch, so no one will ever know how it would have played out on the water,” said Robertson, explaining that he understands Hessel’s middle crew Rossen, a single-arm amputee, had been having problems with his opposite shoulder and the team had decided beforehand to race no more than two races today.

Robertson’s team, which took the Silver here last year, posted a final score of 30 to the 36 points posted by silver medalists Bruon Jourdren/Eric Flageul/Nicolas Vimont Vicary (FRA). The Dutch team, with 37 points, is going home with the Bronze.

As for his team’s overall strategy here, Robertson said, “We tried to sail our own race and not get hung up with the other guys. Hanna did a fantastic job calling tactics, especially today, as the wind was up and down and all over the place, with 40-50 degree shifts.”

The Australian Paralympic SKUD 18 team of Daniel Fitzgibbon/Liesl Tesch has led their fleet since day one and boasted six victories in their nine-race score line to take the Gold medal.  Today they finished 1-1-2.

“We didn’t walk away with it, really, but we were comfortably ahead,” said Fitzgibbon, who won a Paralympic Silver Medal (with a different crew) in Qingdao. "We didn’t expect to have done so well with such a new combination,” he added, noting that he and Tesch, who gave up Paralympic basketball (she is a two-time medalist) for her new-found love of sailing, have only been together on the SKUD 18 for a few weeks. “It’s a new challenge for her and a breath of fresh air for everybody.”
Taking Silver was US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics’ Scott Whitman/Julia Dorsett (USA), with Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell (GBR) taking the Bronze.

Medal Races Tomorrow
Top-ten finishers from today in each of nine Olympic classes will get only one chance--a 30- to 40-minute race—to make or break their claim to a podium position.  Emulating the Olympic format, the medal race counts double points and cannot be counted as the one allowed discard race when it is added to a sailor’s score line from the rest of the series.

In women’s match racing, US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics members Anna Tunnicliffe(/Molly Vandemoer/Debbie Capozzi (Plantation, Fla., USA/Redwood City, Calif./Bayport, N.Y., USA) will meet Claire Leroy/ Elodie Bertrand/Marie Riou (FRA) in a first-to-three points Finals match tomorrow to determine Gold and Silver medalists.  Lucy Macgregor/Mary Rook/ Kate Macgregor (GBR) and Sally Barkow (Nashotah, WI., USA)/ Alana O’Reilly (Charleston SC, USA)/ Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham (Miami Beach FL, USA) will be fighting for bronze in the Petit Finals.

Match racing starts on its own course at 9:30 tomorrow, with fleet racing starting at 11:00 am on two additional courses.  Fleet races are planned to be approximately 30 minutes in length and started 40 minutes apart. No racing will start after 1:40 p.m., so it will be an early day. 

US SAILING has 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., US SAILING’s 2011 Rolex Miami OCR is also sponsored by AlphaGraphics, Gowrie Group, Chubb Insurance, Sperry Top-Sider, Harken McLube, Trinity Yachts, University of Miami Hospital and Kattack.

A complete roster of competitors can be viewed at the event website, RMOCR.ussailing.org, where real-time racecourse blogging, commentary and fan interaction, regatta results, photos and news updates will be integrated into a live coverage platform once racing begins. Video highlights produced by Gary Jobson and presented by Rolex air daily and are available on-demand on the event website. Fans can also follow the event on Facebook/RolexMiamiOCR and Twitter/RolexMiamiOCR.

More in our Olympics 2012 category HERE

The Irish Times reports that Ireland's sailing team have encamped to Fremantle in western Australia for some invaluable training ahead of the ISAF World Championships in Perth next year.

Though the Irish contingent is a much smaller one than that at Weymouth in August - the scheduled venue for sailing at the 2012 Olympics - and reports of shark sightings and attacks in the area are apparently on the rise, those who did make the trip were determined not to waste the opportunity.

“Between the breeze and the nice temperature our training is much more effective than back at home,” said 49er skiff crewer Matt McGovern.

He joins fellow 49er Ryan Seaton and Laser Radial sailor Annalise Murphy at the Perth International Regatta this week. Single-hander Ross Hamilton is also competing but outside the auspices of the Irish Sailing Association’s Olympic group.

The National Yacht Club's Annalise Murphy (Laser Radial) travelled to Australia last weekend for the Perth International Regatta http://www.perth2011.com/ which starts on the 16th of this month. The aim is to gain valuable experience at the venue which will host the December 2011 ISAF World Championships and which will be a vital qualifying event for the the 2012 London Olympic games.

Also heading for Perth is the Royal St. George's Ben Lynch in the high speed 49er dinghy.

After Perth, Annalise travels to Melbourne for the season's first ISAF World Cup event which will be run from Sandringham Yacht Club from 12-19th December. Annalise is currently ranked 20th Womens Laser Radial sailor and 1st under 21 in the World and is campaigning full time to represent Ireland in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Top youth Laser Radial Sailor Ross Vaughan from the Royal North of Ireland YC has gone down as a training partner for Annalise together with her coach Rory Fitzpatrick.

Also taking part in the Perth Regatta are Irish 49er team of Ryan Seaton and Matt Mc Govern (Ballyholme YC) and Ross Hamilton from the RIYC, Dun Laoghaire.