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District 20 Regatta Report | Mon Jan 26th, 2004 through Fri Jan 30th, 2004 |
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Final results: Jan. 27th, the first day of the Rolex Miami OCR was cut short for most of the 11 classes (503 sailors representing over 35 countries)competing when a rain squall bearing high, shifty winds rolled down Biscayne Bay at mid-day. With six race courses utilized in six different areas, some classes were effected more drastically by the surprise conditions than others. "The water was foaming," said US Sailing Team Coach Skip Whyte, who was on the 470 course where several of the boats purposely capsized to avoid wind damage to their rigs and one signal boat reported a waterspout hitting it. "The gusts felt like bowling balls coming at you." After the severe squall on opening day, the Rolex Miami OCR benefited from a fresh, though shifty, westerly breeze on the second day. In the first race Great Britain's Ian Percy, had an "untroubled start" in the Star class's single race and led Mark Reynolds, USA's gold medallist from 2000, around the course to win. "Those are the easy races, when you're out in front," said Percy. "We're happy with our boat speed." When a 40-degree wind shift forced the race committee to abandon the second race halfway through the first beat, Percy was sitting in 15th. "That was going to be the hard one," said Percy, conceding that winning in this fleet, with 58 entries, will be no cakewalk. "Being in Miami for this event is a no-brainer," he said, with a nod to the many world champions competing. "Because of the quality competition, you have to be here, and most of the Star sailors from around the world come here in mid-December and stay through the winter." Wednesday's weather was 15-20 knots from the west and 65 degrees F for the high. The committee got in three races for the Star class. Thursday's two races were sailed in 6-8 knots of shifty breeze. Mark Reynolds and Steve Erickson have a seven-point lead in the 58-boat Star fleet. The margin is anything but comfortable, however, since the team sailed its throw-out race--a 46th--today. (After six races, sailors are allowed to discard their worst race) Erickson explained that Australia's Colin Beashel and crew David Giles, who are using this event as a qualifier for their Olympic Team, rose in the ranks today to second overall, winning today's first race and counting a 15th in today's second race as their throw-out. "That's easily a race to count. Anyone else in the top nine can't have a bad race." Though Erickson is a new crew for Reynolds, he--like Reynolds--is a fixture in the Star class. He won two world championships, one with Bill Buchan ('85) and one with Paul Cayard ('88) who is competing here. He also won the Star Olympic Gold Medal crewing for Buchan in 1984. Reynolds made U.S. Olympic sailing history as a four-time consecutive representative in the same event. He is a two-time Star world champion ('00, '95) and three-time Olympic medalist (1992 Gold,1988 Silver, 2000 Gold) in arguably the most competitive one-design class in the world. On Friday, "breathless" was the word for describing the final day. No wind and cancellation of racing meant that yesterday's results determined class champions. |
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ISCYRA Central
Office 2812 Canon Street San Diego, California 92106 USA Phone: +1 619 222 0252 Fax: +1 619 222 0528 SKYPE: star.class.office office@starclass.org |
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