#STAR WORLDS – Ireland's Peter O'Leary and David Burrows are third overall in the Star Worlds in Hyeres, France tonight having mastered light, shifty winds and notched up an impressive opening scoreline of 3, 4,12 in the 72-boat fleet that contains all their main rivals for an Olympic medal in 80 days time.

After the first two races O'Leary and Burrows lead with a third and a fourth for seven points, two ahead of Brazilians Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada, who had a seventh and second for nine points.

But British sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson win of today's race three gives them the overall lead.

World leaders – the scoresheet after two races in Hyeres

After two days of very shifty weather, it finally decided to blow, with 20 knots, and more in the gusts. Nine boats didn't finished the race, and three masts were broken.

Stronger winds for the third race. Photos: Pierrick Contin

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson showed their superiority with the Poland's Mateusz Kusznierewiczof second. The Swedish hlemsman Fredrik Loof was third.

10 knots are expected for the first start at 12.00 noon on Tuesday.

 

 

#BACARDI CUP – Peter O'Leary and David Burrows have shot to second overall in the Bacardi Cup leaderboard with an impressive 1, 4 scored yesterday in testing conditions on Biscayne Bay, Miami. The Cork-Dublin duo who will sail for Ireland at the London Olympics this summer are only two points adrift of the leaders, Poland's Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki. A further two races of the series that has been cut short by strong winds take place today with the Irish pair eyeing the prestigious class title, a regatta in which they finished second in 2011. O'Leary and Burrows are racing a new P-Star keelboat launched only last week.

In the first race of the day for the Star class 2008 Olympian O'Leary and Burrows (Ireland) led around the first leeward mark followed closely by 2008 Star World Champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki (Poland) and Xavier Rohart and Pierre-Alexis Ponsot (France). The positions remained intact as the three teams crossed the finish line. In race two, 2007 BACARDI Cup champion Hamish Pepper and crew Jim Turner (New Zealand) were leading at the first mark, followed by Kusznierewicz/Zycki and Rohart/Ponsot, but the Polish team succeeded in beating them across the line, with the French team finishing third.

The win of the second race moved Kusznierewicz and Zycki to the top of the overall standings with three points, followed by O'Leary and Burrows with five. Day one leaders Hans Spitzauer, a five-time Olympian, and Gerd Habermueller (Austria) placed 9-5 in today's races and dropped to third overall, where they are tied on points with Rohart and Ponsot. Two points back, Pepper and Turner stand fifth with eight points.

"Overall not a bad day," said Peter O'Leary. "After two days on shore we were very happy to be on the water again. Conditions were good, yet a bit tricky with big waves that made sailing interesting. We were first at the first mark and we took it from there to the finish. In the second race we had an excellent start and then had to overcome a big wind shift. We made it to the top mark in the top group, and although we wanted to win we had to settle for fourth."

In a further boost for the Irish camp O'leary's training partner, his brother Nicholas crwed by Rodney Hagebols lies 12th in the 67-boat fleet after scoring a fifth yesterday in his first ever Star event. Ireland is also racing in the Melges class in Miami this week. Report here.

#BACARDI CUP – Ireland's Olympic keelboat duo Peter O'Leary and David Burrows have launched a new boat in time for Monday's Star class Bacardi Cup in Miami and the American organisers have tipped the Cork-Dublin pair as front runners in the 65-boat fleet.

Details of the new Irish boat and the pair's new 'secret' training partner are in this morning's Irish Times Sailing Column.

The Bacardi Cup headlines the week-long regatta in Miami, and, with 65 Star teams registered to date, will continue its tradition of excellent competition. Among the notable sailors vying for the 85th Cup title are 2007 winner Hamish Pepper with crew Jim Turner (New Zealand) and 2008 Olympian O'Leary and Burrows (Ireland). Three of the top-seven finishers at the 2011 Star World Championship in Australia will also compete, including 2008 world champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki (Poland) who finished fourth in Perth, as well as Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen (Norway) and Xavier Rohart and Pierre-Alexis Ponsot (France) who were sixth and seventh respectively. Leading the American contenders are 2009 Star World Champion George Szabo (San Diego) who will sail the BACARDI Cup with Miami's Magnus Liljedahl, who was both world champion and winner of Olympic Gold in 2000.

Next week the red carpet will again be rolled out for the annual Miami Sailing Week (BMSW) when it returns to Coconut Grove in Miami, Fla., from March 4-10, 2012. BMSW's hospitality is the foundation on which this event is built, and when combined with great race management and an unbeatable winter sailing location draws the world's best one-design sailors to South Florida for competition in five classes.

The third annual running of BACARDI Miami Sailing Week will mark several milestones starting with the 150th anniversary of the BACARDI Company, as well as the 50th year that the BACARDI Cup is being held in Miami for the storied Star class which just celebrated its own 100th anniversary. Also being celebrated during the week will be Jose E. "Tito" Argamasilla Bacardi, who lost his battle with cancer late in 2011. During his 40 year career with the company he not only hosted the BACARDI Cup for several decades but also founded the BACARDI museum in Miami.

The BACARDI Cup headlines the week-long regatta in Miami, and, with 65 Star teams registered to date, will continue its tradition of excellent competition. Among the notable sailors vying for the 85th BACARDI Cup title are 2007 winner Hamish Pepper with crew Jim Turner (New Zealand) and 2008 Olympian Peter O'Leary and David Burrows (Ireland). Three of the top-seven finishers at the 2011 Star World Championship in Australia will also compete, including 2008 world champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki (Poland) who finished fourth in Perth, as well as Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen (Norway) and Xavier Rohart and Pierre-Alexis Ponsot (France) who were sixth and seventh respectively. Leading the American contenders are 2009 Star World Champion George Szabo (San Diego) who will sail the BACARDI Cup with Miami's Magnus Liljedahl, who was both world champion and winner of Olympic Gold in 2000.

Racing for the Stars gets underway on Monday, March 5. Starting on Thursday, March 8, the Stars will be joined on Biscayne Bay by sailors in the Viper 640, Audi Melges 20, and Melges 24 classes, along with the J/80 class which makes its event debut following their successful participation in the 2011 BACARDI Newport Sailing Week. Racing, for all classes, will conclude on Saturday, March 10.

Favorites in the 20-strong Melges 24 class are Alan Field (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Riccardo Simoneschi (Milan, Italy), who drove to podium finishes of second and third, respectively, in 2011. Kristen Lane (Tiburon, Calif.), the 29erXX North American Champion, is another sailor to watch in this competitive fleet.

Entries are up in both the Audi Melges 20 and Viper 640 classes, with the top-three finishers from each class in 2011 returning to compete on Biscayne Bay. In the Audi Melges 20, which has 36 boats registered to date, Mary Anne Ward (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) will look to defend her title against two-time ('11, '10) class national champion Michael Kiss (Holland, Mich.) and Paul Reilly (Chicago, Ill.). For the 17-strong Viper 640 fleet, BMSW defending champions Glyn Locke, David Chapman and Ian Nicholson (Isle of Wight), will again face Justin Scott (Greenwich, Conn.) and Joseph Healey (Stormville, N.Y.).

During the event sailors will be able to enjoy themselves in the hospitality lounge, at BACARDI Rum tastings, as well as the daily prize giving for the top-three finishers and the final awards dinner. The work of Rhode Island-based award-winning nautical photographer Onne van der Wal will be on exhibit in the North Hall of the Coconut Grove Convention Center, along with "150 Years of BACARDI," a collection of information, photos and artifacts from the BACARDI museum. The exhibits will be open to the public from noon to 7:00PM daily and are free of charge. The prestigious Coral Reef Yacht Club will coordinate on-water activities in collaboration with Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and Coconut Grove Sailing Club. The U.S. Sailing Center and Shake-A-Leg Miami will also support the event. Racing will be held on three separate courses approximately two miles out on Biscayne Bay.

#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

#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)

#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.

#PERTH2011–  Today's Star medal race gave an invaluable glimpse at the make up of next Summers Olympic fleet. It's a point that won't be lost on Irish pairing Peter O'Leary and David Burrows who, although they didn't make the medal race cut, are qualified for the London Olympics and tipped by the Irish Sailing Association as medal prospects.

Brazilians Scheidt and Prada maintained their points lead on the final day of the Star event to secure their second World Championship title. It was a world class performance that sent out many messages to any would be rivals, not least O'Leary and Burrows, and demonstrated just how difficult it will be to take Olympic Gold next Summer.

Sheidt and Prada retained their Star title at the ISAF Worlds today in Perth. Photo: Richard Langdon 

The Brazilian's also won at the last ISAF Worlds in Cascais in 2007.

"To be Star world champion I think is the biggest achievement that a sailor can have," Prada said. "To win two times is to be a part of the story of Star class, it means a lot. The Star class is very special. It's the class of all the biggest names.''

The Brazilian duo were also presented with the 100-year-old International Star Championship Trophy, described as one of the most prestigious in world sailing, and the Mary Etchell's Bowl for world championship Star crew.

The silver medal went to Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen (GER), while Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (USA) won bronze after an exciting and close Medal race fought out on Centre course.

Scheidt and Prada (BRA) started the day with a 20-point lead over the USA crew, who faced a tough battle for the silver medal against teams from Germany and Sweden.

Poland led the fleet in a 13-knot sea breeze for most of the race and crossed the finish line first, followed by Norway and the two German crews.

Fifth across the line in Bather's Bay, the Brazilian team had gained just 10 points which kept them within the margin needed to secure gold at the end of the Medal Race.

The duo, who won a silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, raised their country's flag after crossing the finish line to the cheers of delight and applause from fans in the grandstand.

After making its debut at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the Star has a long history in Olympic sailing but will bow out after the London 2012 Olympic Games.

"It's a big achievement because all my life when I was sailing Laser I was dreaming about sailing the Star and winning the World Championship one time, so managing to do it twice is a really big thing for me," Scheidt said.

"This year we have improved a lot in our sailing and our main goal was always to do well here in Perth, so coming through this year and managing to peak at this moment is very special.

"It means that we are on the right track for the 2012 Olympics."

German skipper Robert Stanjek said he was pleased with his silver medal after coming up against the Brazilian team.

"Yesterday we qualified for the Olympics and that was the aim of coming here. Now we are even happier. The silver medal is just a little extra on top."

"To sail against Scheidt is amazing because he is a legend in sailing," crew member Frithjof Kleen added.

Commenting on his bronze medal, American skipper Mark Mendelblatt said he had faced "tough competition" in Scheidt.

"I have been sailing against Robert Scheidt for 20 years," he said.

"The thing about him is he is very difficult to beat when he is at his best. Everyone has great regattas and not so great regattas. All we can do is improve our level."

#Perth2011– Star keelboat sailors Peter O'Leary and David Burrows have qualified for the 2012 Olympics and finished 12th overall after a thrilling fight for the last qualification slot between the Irish, Italian, Swiss and Spanish boats. Given the string of top results the pair have achieved this season though there will be some disappointment in the Irish camp that they miss out on tomorrow's medal race final. A simple post on the team facebook pages today says: "12th overall at #Perth2011 and qualified for #London2012".

Going into the final day of Star fleet racing Ireland's Peter O'Leary and David Burrows occupied the final qualification spot but were tied on 97 points with Spain's Fernando Echavarri and Fernando Rodriguez. With qualification in their hands the Irish put in one of their best performances of the regatta with a seventh in Race 9 followed up with a 13th place finish in Race 10 whilst the Spanish crumbled with a 24-22.

They rounded the first mark of the second race in the mid 20's and then had an incident with the Spaniards during the rounding. Rather than risk disqualification O'Leary opted to take penalty turns leaving them at the back of the fleet but a  comeback to finish the race in 13th was an impressive recovery. It's a result that gives them 12th overall and ninth nation, thus securing Ireland its third boat at the London Olympic Games.

Eleven nations in the Star class have qualified for the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition after ten races at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships.

Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden and the USA have all guaranteed themselves a Star spot at London 2012 following an action packed week of sailing.

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) had to withdraw earlier on in the week but their place at London 2012 is assured after they were selected to take the British quota spot. Four more places are available at the Star World Championship in Hyeres, France from 2-12 May 2012.

Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada have been the stand out performers in the Star class and head into tomorrow's Medal Race with an 18 point advantage and guaranteed of a medal. It's then very tight between Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (USA), Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen (GER) and Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen (SWE). Five points separate second to fourth so each team will look to finish with a strong performance.

#PERTH 2011 – Missed opportunities on a crucial day afloat in the Star keelboat means Olympic qualification for Ireland's Peter O'Leary and David Burrows now goes 'to the wire'.  Disappointingly, the pair scored a 16th and a 24th today in a fleet of 41 and slip to 15th overall. It follows a black flag result on Tuesday. The top 11 nations will qualify for the Olympics in Perth and although O'Leary/Burrows are in the qualification zone, they will be well aware they occupy the last nation slot. The Cork-Dublin duo have been leapfrogged by the Swiss and now share the same overall score as Spain's Fernando Echavarri and Fernando Rodriquez on 97 points each with only one day of racing left before the medal race on Saturday.

Tight racing in the penulitmate rounds of the Star champs in Perth. Photo: Richard Langdon

The Star class have a rest day tomorrow with their final day of fleet racing taking place on Friday.