A mixed Irish sailing team of youth and experience compete in Miami this morning at the start of Olympic year that includes, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, the second round of the women's Irish Laser Radial trial between Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins. 

Already qualified for Rio, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern are racing in the 49er as is the three-man Paralympic Sonar sailing team of John Twomey, Ian Costello and Austin O’Carroll. Still seeking an Olympic nomination are hopefuls Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in the 49erFX class.

In less than 200 days, many of the nearly 800 sailors gathered in Coconut Grove this week will walk in the Opening Ceremonies of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games. For the sailors with a confirmed spot in the Olympic Regatta, this event is about sharpening their tactical game, refining their equipment and improving their conditioning. Others have a more immediate focus as they are in the midst of a selection series for their respective countries or working to qualify their country for the Olympic regatta.

Team Seaton-McGovern will be looking to take last season’s ups and downs into what is a tough regatta, and with stiff competition from the world’s best skiff crews, the pressure is on. In the 49erFX boat, Team Brewster-Tidey will be looking to build on last year’s  performances in preparation for a final qualification bid.

“There’s a lot at stake this year at Sailing World Cup Miami,” said Josh Adams, Managing Director of U.S. Olympic Sailing. “For the first time in the event’s 27-year history, it’s being used as part of the U.S. selection process and part of country qualification process for the 2016 Olympic Games.”

For American sailors in eight of the Olympic classes and the 2.4mR, this event is the first of two events that will determine the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team for this summer’s Games.

Sailing World Cup Miami is the second of six regattas in the 2016 series. From 25-30 January 2016, Coconut Grove, Miami, USA is hosting more than 780 sailors who are competing across the ten Olympic and two Paralympic classes on the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay.

Sailing World Cup Miami is the second of six regattas in the 2016 series. From January 25-30, 2016, Coconut Grove, Fla., is hosting more than 780 sailors from around the world who are competing across the ten Olympic and two Paralympic classes on the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay.

Competition in US Sailing’s premiere racing event gets underway this Monday in all 10 Olympic classes and two of three Paralympic classes. Saturday’s Medal Races will be carried live on ESPN3.

The Olympic classes competing this week will be: Laser Radial (women), Laser (men), Finn (men), Men’s RS:X, Women’s RS:X, 49er (men), Men’s 470, Women’s 470, Nacra 17 (mixed) and 49erFX (women). Paralympic classes included are the 2.4mR (open, Para World Sailing) and Sonar (open, Para World Sailing).

With under 200 days to go to the Olympic Games, Irish radial sailors Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins are preparing for the second round of their Olympic trials at Miami Olympic Classes regatta next week. Murphy leads after the first round of the trials on Rio waters in December and now the Irish rivals will enter the second test at the ISAF World Cup on Biscayne Bay. Hopefully, there will be no unexpected implications in Florida as there appeared to be in Rio. 

Murphy has been busy over the Christmas period competing again in Rio, finishing ninth overall at the Brazilian championships, giving her more valuable race time on Olympic waters.

Apart from Irish interest in the trial for the single Irish place, the Laser Radial fleet will be the one to watch in Miami with a special trio facing off at the top of the 80-boat fleet. London 2012 gold medallist Lijia Xu (CHN) will be joined by silver medallist Marit Bouwmeester (NED) and bronze medallist Evi Van Acker (BEL).

Alongside Murphy, Xu, Bouwmeester and Van Acker had a famous four way battle for gold at London 2012 with the Chinese racer coming out on top. Xu stepped away from the Laser Radial in 2013 but after a two-year hiatus she returned to Olympic sailing at the 2015 Laser Radial World Championship.

The rivalry with Bouwmeester and Van Acker resumed instantly as she finished sixth to their second and third. With more miles and training in the bag, Xu, who stole the hearts of the sailing world in 2012 will be aiming to make an impression in Miami.

Denmark's Anne Marie Rindom continues to excite in the Laser Radial and returns to Miami to defend the title she won 12 months ago. Rindom also comes into the American World Cup regatta off the back of a world championship victory last year and will be aiming for the medals once again.

Much like the Radial, the Laser fleet will feature many of the leading lights of sailing and is set to be a hot contest. There will be no Irish mens trial in Florida as the second trial after Rio has moved back to a European venue.

World #1 Tom Burton (AUS) and #2 Matt Wearn (AUS) will spearhead a fleet that includes key players on the road to Rio. Five-time Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt (BRA), 2014 world champion Nicholas Heiner (NED), Rutger van Schaardenburg (NED), Andy Maloney (NZL), Jesper Stalheim (SWE) and Charlie Buckingham (USA) will be amongst the front runners looking to capture top honours.

Racing is set to commence at 10:00 local time on Monday 25 January across the ten Olympic and two Paralympic fleets. Medal Races on Saturday 30 January.

Also racing in Miami next week is Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey in the 49erfx, 49er duo Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern and the Paralympic trio John Twomey, Ian Costelloe and Austin O Carroll who have just launched a logo campaign.

The second Olympic Women's Laser Radial trial in Miami is looming but it looks like there were some unexpected implications from December's first trial between Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins in Rio because men were racing with women in the Radial class at the Copa Bresil de Vela regatta writes Water Rat.

In the race for the single Irish berth at this year's Olympics, the Irish Sailing Association currently rank Murphy as leading the Olympic trial ahead of Hopkins. There is no doubt that Hopkins was well beaten, no matter what way you read it. They all sailed off the same start, with the same competitors. But whether she was beaten by 10 boats (women only) or by 13 boats (men and women) could become significant in the event of closer racing in the next trials at Miami on January 25th and Mexico. 

Should the results not be based on female participation only? 

If the answer is negative, perhaps Hopkins should make an appeal immediately so that the issue can be sorted before this month's second Miami based trial in ten days time. In the absence of any appeal procedures on the ISA website, Water Rat looked over the race documents from Copa de Brazil and makes the following observations:

In NOR 3.3 there are 2 separate competitions the Copa Bresil de Vela and the Copa Bresil de Vela Jovem (Youth)

The Irish Girls were competing in the Copa Brasil Laser Radial (W) class.

In the youth event there were both men and womens categories in the Laser Radial.

NOR 5.1.2 states:

For Olympic classes the regatta will consist of an opening series followed by a Medal Race as per item 5.2. Youth classes Laser Radial and RS:X will be grouped with their Olympic class on a single starting sequence, course and overall results and for Medal Race criteria will be considered as one single class.

NOR 16.1 states that prizes will be awarded to the top 3 boats in each class.

NOR 16.2 reads :

16.2 In Youth classes Laser Radial (Male and Female) and RS:X (Male and Female) the top 3 boats will be defined by the better three boats in the overall results grouped with the Olympic classes

According to the results Aoife was considered to be sailing in the Youth event.

The ISA trial regulations (as quoted) state:

Points shall be awarded to the Candidate in each Trial Regatta exactly corresponding to that Candidate’s final overall placing in that Trial Regatta as shown on the official final results sheet published by the regatta organisers. For example, an overall first place shall score one point; a second place shall score two points and so on

Conclusions

1. It could be argued that Annalise and Aoife were not sailing in the same class nor even in the same event! In this case Annalise finished 14th in the Copa Bresil de Vela 2015 Laser Radial Class (W) and Aoife finished 3rd in the Laser Radial (W) in the Copa Bresil de Vela Jovem 2015. In which case the results of this event cannot provide significant information to select a sailor for the Olympics.

2. It could also be argued that both sailors were competing in the Olympic Women's Single-handed Class (for which the trial is designed to select the Irish competitor) which excludes male competitors but not those under 19 . In which case Annalise finished 14th and Aoife 24th.

3 Finally, a strict reading of the ISA regulations places Annalise 15th and Aoife 28th as per the results provided by the event.

4. The intention of the event organisers to sail and score all the Laser Radial classes as one class was clearly signalled in the NOR. It is the responsibility of the competitors to read the NOR and raise any objection before or during the event. However, in this case it would seem that the trial organisers may equally have failed to fully appreciate the implications of the NOR for the trials?

After the first of three Irish Laser Olympic trials was completed at the weekend, London 2012 sailors have established a lead in both mens and womens disciplines but the first trial, held as part of Copa Brasil de Vela regatta, on the Olympic waters itself, ended without any Laser medal race participation for Ireland.

In the mens division there was little to write home about from Rio, with nation qualifier James Espey from Belfast Lough only moving ahead of Finn Lynch by one place in the closing stage of the regatta to finish 38th from 48. Fionn Lyden was 43rd.

In the women's radial, Howth debutante Aoife Hopkins managed a 15th place in her last race of the day having recovered from a broken mast to be 28th place overall. Annalise Murphy took 15th place overall, her best result was a third in race three. The former European champion also scored a seventh in race five but all other results were critically outside the top ten if London 2012's fourth place finish is to be improved on next August.

Full Laser results are downloadable below.

There was also Irish participation in the mens 49er and 49erfx, both teams were treating the regatta as a 'training event', according to the ISA. The Irish skiffs were penalised for not launching off the prescribed regatta slipway (a beach). The Irish 49erfx sailed by Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey made Saturday's medal race cut.

ISA Press Release 21/12/2015): 

Following a week of sailing at the Copa Brasil in Rio, Providence Team IRL sailors and London 2012 Olympians, Annalise Murphy and James Espey take the lead their respective trials.

It was an act of sportsmanship that was unnecessary but reflects the class of Annalise Murphy. Her rival for the Olympic berth, Aoife Hopkins, broke her mast and would have been unable to compete in the last race had it not been for Murphy’s intervention. Annalise lent the young Howth sailor her own spare mast. Aoife gratefully accepted the generous offer and went on to post her best race of the event finishing 15th. Murphy’s class shone in other ways too during the regatta, which regularly saw temperatures over 40 degrees and light, fickle winds. She placed 3rd in one of the ‘light’ races but it was her consistency throughout the week that will be a real boost to her confidence coming into 2016. Annalise finished 15th and Aoife 28th overall. The second trial event is the ISAF World Cup regatta in Miami at the end of January.

In the men’s trial, James Espey holds pole position by the tiniest of margins. Espey finished in 38th while Finn Lynch finished 39th. Close behind was UCC scholarship student Fionn Lyden in 43rd. This effectively means the Men’s trials is very much still a three horse race. For Lynch it was a significant achievement to get to the start line, as only five weeks ago he dislocated his shoulder and was in a race against time to get fit, and only managed to make it with intensive rehabilitation. James Espey, Ireland’s 2012 Olympic representative will be drawing on all his experience to try and widen the gap at the next trial event – the Princess Sofia regatta in late March, in Palma, Mallorca. Overall, James Espey has 38 points, Finn Lynch 39 and Fionn Lyden 43.

Both Skiff campaigns also raced in Rio, and while overall results were not spectacular, there were positives. Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern were happy to bag a race win on the Olympic waters. Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey got to experience a Medal race final a feat they will hope to repeat next summer.

Standings after 1st Trial Regatta:

Laser Radial
· Annalise Murphy 15 points
· Aoife Hopkins 28 points

Laser Standard
· James Espey 38 points
· Finn Lynch 39 points
· Fionn Lyden 43 points.

Finn Lynch and Annalise Murphy continue to lead their respective Laser Irish Olympic Sailing Trials at the Copa de Vela Brasil in Rio this morning but Lynch has slipped back for four places after six races sailed in the overall rankings. Download full results below.

Lynch is now 36th from 48. Other Irish contestants are Fionn Lyden in 42nd and James Espey 43rd.  

In the women's Radial division, Murphy stays 13th, now 15 places ahead of Howth's Aoife Hopkins. 

There are four races left to sail in this, the first of three Irish Laser trials.

National Yacht Club sailors from Dun Laoghaire lead both the mens and womens Irish Olympic Laser Trials in the early stages in Rio. Anomalies in the scoring of Ill Copa Brazil de Vela have been resolved and overall results after four races now in the women's Laser Radial class show Annalise Murphy in 13th place in the 44–boat fleet with Aoife Hopkins 28th. Best results so far are a third for Murphy in race three, Hopkins has scored 22nd in races two and three. Belgium's Evi Van Acker continues her overall lead. 

Yesterday, in a confusing situation, Murphy was scored as a 'Did Not Compete' and ranked last but an overhaul of the official scoresheet has rectified this and also increased the number of competitors to 44. 

Ill Copa Brazil de Vela is the first of three Olympic Laser trials for two Irish Laser Olympic places. In total this gives the trials series 32 races over six months, with four now sailed.

In the mens division, Finn Lynch is 32nd and best of three Irish in the 48–boat fleet. Fionn Lyden is 40th and James Espey, Ireland's London 2012 representative, is 44th.

Official results are downloadable below.

In spite of qualifying the nation for Rio 2016, both London 2012 Laser sailors Annalise Murphy and James Espey face a test for their Olympic places on Rio waters this afternoon. The first of three Irish Olympic sailing trials begins at Copa Brasil De Vela regatta and three young Irish pretenders (from an earlier possible shortlist of eight) seek to unseat Murphy and Espey for the two Rio berths available.

In the Womens Laser Radial class, Aoife Hopkins threw down the gauntlet to Irish sailing sensation Murphy a month ago. The Howth Yacht Club backed 17–year–old declared for the Radial trial in an ambitious campaign that's ultimate aim is a medal in Tokyo 2020.

In the mens division, Belfast's Espey comes up against ISAF silver medalist Finn Lynch and West Cork's Fionn Lyden. At one stage there was arguably two more would be contenders but both Seafra Guilfoyle of Royal Cork and Daragh O'Sullivan of Kinsale ruled themselves out of the costly trials series. The build up to the trials has not been without its own drama when the National Yacht Club's Lynch dislocated a shoulder a month ago.

Both mens and womens Laser divisions will race ten races with a single discard on the Olympic waters and the forecast is for winds of less than eight knots after some stormy weekend weather.

Racing begins at 1pm local time, two hours behind GMT. The NOR is downloadable below.

The Irish Sailing Association coach Rory Fitzpatrick and the  ISA's Olympic Sailing Group member Trevor Millar, (who is Founder and Executive Director of the Laser coaching service, Sailcoach Ltd ) are monitoring the Irish trial.

Despite strong winds and rain that hammered Rio at the weekend the race progamme is going ahead without amendments, even though there a reports of increased pollution in the bay.

The competiton runs until 20 December and will be based in San Francisco beach in Niteroi, and will be used used by the host nation to fill the remaining spots of the Brazilian Sailing Team in the Olympics. 

An event website is here with no entry list available. Twitter followers are using # vempravela ‪#‎agoraébra‬.

After Copa Brasil de Vela, the Irish trial continues with the 2016 ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, and the 2016 Laser Radial World Championships (Women) and the 2016 Laser World Championships (Men).

Last year Irish Olympic sailor Annalise Murphy ended up with a dead fish in her boat while sailing in Rio's polluted waters and yesterday the Dun Laoghaire solo sailor made good use of a chair she picked up during her first day back training on Guanabara Bay! The London 2012 sailor is preparing for a two boat fight against 17–year–old Aoife Hopkins from Howth in the first round of an Irish trials on the controversial 2016 Olympic waters next week.

The Laser Radial Women’s World Championship, organised by Oman Sail, concluded today with Anne-Marie Rindom from Denmark securing the overall world championship title. After a difficult week Ireland's Annalise Murphy recovered to be fifth in the silver fleet.

The 24-year-old Scandinavian representing Horsens Sejlklub in Jutland, managed to stay cool on a somewhat frustrating day dominated by general recalls, and clinch the event from Marit Bouwmeester (NED). They both finished the day on equal points, but two first places in the overall rankings was enough to break the tie in Rindom’s favour.

Fresh from victory at Semaine Olympique Francaise La Rochelle in October, and a win at the Laser Europa Cup in Denmark in the summer, Rindom was on top form right from the start at this event. This former Optimist sailor who won the first race, and sailed a generally consistent series had to discard a 19th place from today.

“It is an amazing feeling to be confirmed world champion. I can hardly believe it. Thankfully I was able to discard today’s poor result!” she said as she stepped ashore.

There is little rest for the new world champion though. “I have one week at home then I am off to Rio for training, followed by Miami for the next World Cup so it is full on for me from now on.”

Rindom was enthusiastic about Al Mussanah as a world championship venue: "It is a perfect place for a championship, great launching and plenty of room for everybody and, most importantly, the conditions are great for sailing."

Light, shifty conditions and fleets eager to start resulted in a succession of general recalls in both Gold and Silver fleets. The Gold fleet managed just one race before the 15:00 time limit and Silver was unable to start at all.

Bouwmeester (NED), 2014 World Champion and 2012 Olympic silver medalist was naturally disappointed about losing her title but a fourth place in today’s race was enough to retain silver.

Evi Van Acker (BEL) representing the Royal Belgian Sailing Club, and ranked world number one, also had a less than satisfactory day.

“It was a frustrating day, I think I was on the wrong side on the first upwind and, although I caught up a lot on the first downwind, I then went up the right side of the beat, and the wind came completely from the left so I lost out there too.

“Overall though, it’s been a great week of sailing with a real mix of conditions which is perfect for this sort of regatta.”

As well as Rindom’s success of being crowned world champion, the star of the show in today’s sole race was reigning Olympic champion – Lijia Xu (CHN). This 28-year-old sailor from Shanghai, who has been off the racing scene for two years with back and knee injury, demonstrated her light wind skills by winning the final race.

From a pin-end of the line start, Xu read the shifts well and had a good first beat. She pulled up the fleet from 3rd on the final round and led fellow Chinese sailor and closest rival, Dongshuang Zhang, across the line.

“Today's conditions were perfect for me because that is what I am most into. I am glad that most of my feeling is still there. One month ago I wouldn't even have been able to finish one race in strong winds. The best I could manage was a club race in Weymouth with amateur sailors so I am glad to be where I am now,” said Xu.

"The fitness is just a matter of time and with eight months I am quite confident I can compete for a place at the Rio Olympics.”

The prize giving and closing ceremony, took place at Al Mussanah Sports City in the presence of Her Highness Dr. Muna bint Fahad Al Said – Assistant Vice Chancellor of International Cooperation at Sultan Qaboos University – and Her Excellency Maitha Al Mahrouqi – Undersecretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Chairwoman of Oman Sail.

Also present was David Graham, Oman Sail CEO, who, in his closing speech said that hosting major international events in the Sultanate helps to build the country’s profile and the effects of this championship will be visible in Oman for many years to come. “The quality of sailing on show has been incredible, with fierce competition every single day. It is an honour to have welcomed Olympic Champions, medallists, World Champions, the current world number one and many of the sailors who will be lining up in Rio next summer.”

Overall Results (top 10)

Gold

Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 40pts
Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 40pts
Evi Van Acker (BEL) 44pts
Tuula Tenkanen (FIN) 49pts
Josefin Olsson (SWE) 53pts
Lijia Xu (CHN) 84pts
Alison Young (GBR) 101pts
Manami Doi (JPN) 104pts
Maxime Jonker (NED) 110pts
Erika Reineke (USA) 110pts
Silver

Line Flem Høst (NOR) 81pts
Isabella Bertold (CAN) 108pts
Andrea Aldana (GUA) 109pts
Susannah Pyatt (NZL) 115pts
Annalise Murphy (IRL) 125pts
Odile Ginaid (BRA) 125pts
Lena Haverland (GER) 137pts
Anna Pohlak (EST) 141pts
Elena Vorobeva (RUS) 151pts
Kanako Hiruta (JPN) 154pts
As well as producing a new world champion, the Laser Radial Women’s World Championships at Millennium Resort in Mussanah acted as a country Olympic qualification event for the Laser Radial class.

After today's racing, a total of four countries have had their Olympic qualification confirmed.

Countries qualified for the Olympics are as follows:

Japan
Australia
Turkey
Argentina

It may only be silver fleet racing for Annalise Murphy but there has been a thrilling start to the Laser Radial Women’s World Championship Final Series in Oman yesterday where the final rounds are due to take place today. The sole Irish representative posted a 1 and 2 to lie 12th in the 50-boat silver fleet. Full results sheet is downloadable below.

The opening races of the Final Series produced the windiest conditions seen so far at the Oman Sail-organised Laser Radial Women’s World Championship. After a tough opening three days on the water, and a day of relaxation enjoying cultural activities on Reserve Day on Monday, competitors were ready for action this morning for the first, final showdown.

Winds that reached in excess of 16kts made for exciting racing with the cream of the fleets embracing the conditions and producing some extremely impressive racing.

Although she didn’t actually win a race today Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN), representing Horsens Sejlklub in Jutland, took two good starts from the middle of the line, sailed consistently and was happy to finish the day with a 4, 5 score.

Rindom commented: “I was just trying to sail my own race, not do so many tacks just sail really, really fast because that is what it is all about when there is that much wind. Because of my leading position, also, I don’t want to risk anything so my strategy is to just stick with the fleet and sail my own race and do as best I can. I do not want to think about other people, especially Marit [Bouwmeester] and the other Danish girl because we have our Olympic trials here.”

Marit Bouwmeester (NED), reigning World Champion and silver medallist at London 2012 demonstrated her heavy weather skills today and concluded the day with a 1, 3, which lifts her into second place overall overnight.

A modest Bouwmeester commenting on the opening races of the Finals Series, said: "It was an okay day. I was naturally pleased with the first race of the day, but my focus switched to the second race where I messed up my start. Thankfully I worked really hard and made a good comeback, so I'm happy about that."

Number 1-ranked Evi Van Acker (BEL) had a poor first race of the day but learned from her mistakes and rounded the day off with a first. In race 1 she found herself in the middle of the start line and confessed she was not happy at all with her sailing.

“My upwind performance in that race had plenty of room for improvement. Getting stuck in the middle of the line wasn't a particularly smart decision either but I learned from it and did better in the second race, so I’m happy with that.”

In the second race of the day, it paid to go right off the start and that was exactly where Van Acker (30) positioned herself.

“I also had good speed in the windy conditions and built up a nice lead. Tomorrow will be all about making improvements in the opening moments of the race.”

Josefin Olsson (SWE) who won the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago, is also sailing consistently. With 5, 4 score line today, this 26-year-old from Kungliga Svenska Segel Sällskapet (KSSS) in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden, is now in fourth place.

With a 15th and 27th it was not such a good day for reigning Olympic champion, Lijia Xu (CHN) who now drops down the rankings to 7th with 54 points. However, this 28-year-old sailor from Shanghai, who is back on the race scene after her two-year break to recover from sailing-related injury, says this event is all about getting back into the grove.

In Silver fleet, Line Flem Høst (NOR) currently holds the lead from Isabella Bertold (CAN) with Susannah Pyatt (NZL) in third.

As the event reaches the penultimate day tomorrow, the competition is likely to intensify further, particularly with just four points between the top four boats. At the end of play tomorrow (after 10 races are complete) a second discard will also come into play.

Finals Races 3 and 4 will take place today with a start time scheduled for 1200 local time (CET +3).