#MOCR – Two top ten results overall at the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta means medal race participation is guaranteed for Ireland's Star and Laser Radial tomorrow even though medals are most likely just out of reach for both Peter O'Leary/David Burrows in the Star or Laser sailor Annalise Murphy.
With nine of the top 15 from December's Star World championships in Perth racing this week in Miami, including the world champions Robert Sheidt and Bruno Prada from Brazil, just getting into the medal race has been a tough job this week. It is something O'Leary and Burrows failed to achieve in Australia but have done so today and shown some consistent form too as the week progressed. An understated entry on the team facebook page simply says:
Today was the last day of fleet racing and conditions were not as favourable on Biscayne Bay as previous days with moderate winds of 9 to 12 knots in the morning, dropping to six knots this afternoon. The Cork-Dublin pair had a superb performance though coming home second and third in today's two races. They round up the fleet racing in sixth overall, poised for tomorrow's final race.
Annalise Murphy finished her final fleet race today with a race win, her second of the regatta. It's a result that moves her right up to seventh overall in the fleet of 60 Laser Radials and earns her a place in the Medal Race tomorrow.
Belfast's James Espey finished his racing in the regatta today. He was competing in the 78 boat Laser feet, the largest in the championship. Espey scored a 26th and a 20th which left him 24th overall.
At the front of the Star class, the neck-and-neck race between Brazil's Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada and Sweden's Fredrik Loof/Max Salminen was further complicated by Norway's Eivind Melleby/ Petter Moerland Pedersen when that team won the first of two races today. With the Brazilians taking fourth and the Swedes taking third, the performance tied Melleby/Pedersen with Scheidt/Prada going into the second race, while Loof/Salminen had a one-point edge on their closest competitors. The nod went to Scheidt/Prada in the end, however, when the Brazilians, who are the current World champions, won the second race, putting Loof/Salminen two points behind them in fourth (with 33 points) and Melleby/Pedersen in third (38 points).
Melleby had said earlier in the week that the top ten here are so good that getting to the medal race would be tough. "We have here nine of the top 15 teams from Perth (where the most recent World Championships were held), so the fleet is quite strong." With five of those now off the final-race roster, Melleby's goal tomorrow will be to power through for a podium position.
