US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR
Olympic and Paralympic Hopefuls Stake Their Claims

Miami, Fla. (February 2, 2006)—The 2006 edition of US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR shaped up as the biggest in a decade, with 610 sailors representing 40 countries and competing aboard 406 boats. In the event’s 17-year history, it has been bigger only twice, and that was in the year of and prior to the "home-court" 1996 Olympic Games in Savannah, Georgia. A one-design winter circuit organized by US SAILING with different Olympic class organizations surely contributed to the large turnout; however, the regatta has long held its own as a significant step in preparing athletes--both from this country and abroad--in the sailing classes chosen for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR kicked off with opening ceremonies on Sunday, January 22 and hosted five subsequent days of racing through January 27, when gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded.

"It's good to see so many foreign competitors compete on our U.S. waters," said Dean Brenner (Wallingford, Conn.), chairman of US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee, which organizes the event. "The competition was tough, the regatta was well organized, we tried some new things, and the results speak for themselves. The winners are all well-known sailors and I'm sure we'll be seeing these names again in the years leading up to the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games in China."

Among the ranks of Olympic medalists and class veterans were no less than seven reigning world champions. With a little over two years to go before the Olympic and Paralympic Games, they targeted this event to see how they'd stack up against other Olympic hopefuls. US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR also counted for Grade 1 ranking points in the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) world rankings; a potential spot on the 2006 US Sailing Team; and a country qualification for the 2007 Pan American Games.

New in 2006

This marked one of the first ISAF Grade 1 events for the newly selected Olympic windsurfer, the Neil Pryde RS:X, which replaces the Mistral in the 2008 Olympic Games. ''It's considered a hybrid design -- wider and faster with a centerboard that can sail upwind and in lighter winds,'' said US Sailing Team Head Coach Gary Bodie (Hampton, Va.). Gauging by the number of entries--20 women and 39 men--the RS:X looks to be the success that its class architects had hoped it would be.

The 2006 US SAILING Rolex Miami OCR also represented the second time ever and the first time in the U.S. that the new Olympic format--which calls for a single "Medal Race" to conclude the series for each of the classes--was applied. (The Paralympics have not adopted the format.)

Whereas a throw-out was allowed in the series leading up to it, the "high stakes" Medal Race could not be dropped in each sailor's score line and counted for double the normal amount of points. Regardless of the size of a class's fleet, only the top ten made it into the Medal Race. Umpires resolved all protests on the water, and the results were final almost immediately.

And the Winners…

With the typically small fleets at the Olympic Games, the odds would be slim that someone could sit out their Medal Race because they'd won prematurely. At the 2006 US SAILING Rolex Miami OCR, however, three teams earned the right to skip out on the last day, in part due to the large numbers of entrants that mathematically increased the odds.

Star
In the 69-boat Star fleet, France's two-time and reigning World Champions Xavier Rohart (Martigues) and Pascal Rambeau (La Rochelle) built up a whopping 48-point lead before the Medal Race. It seemed not to matter that every Star World champion since 1999 was competing or that among the headliners were the top nine teams on ISAF's world rankings list.

"There are positives and negatives on every team, but for us we are consistent always," said Rohart, who with Rambeau also won the Star-class bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Athens. "There are no bad things--never. This is good, especially here, because everyone is so great."

Defending champions Andrew Horton (Newport, R.I.) and Brad Nichol (Miami Beach, Fla.) took home the silver medal.

Yngling
USA's reigning Yngling World Champions Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Deborah Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) also earned the right to skip the medal race, but they chose to compete instead. With nine victories in 12 races, the trio won their Medal Race for good measure, proving why they are the most formidable team on the international Yngling circuit.

"We were on it tactically all week," said Barkow, recently named US SAILING's Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. "Our team has been in the boat the longest, which is not to say the competition wasn't tough, but when we make a mistake we try to only make it once."

Taking home the silver was Hannah Swett (New York, N.Y.), Melissa Purdy (Belvedere Tiburon, Calif.) and Liz Filter (Stevensville, Md.)

Tornado
The USA's 2004 Olympic silver medalists and defending champions in Tornado class, John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Kemah, Texas), also won their Medal Race, though they had the gold medal sewn up the previous day. "We put the whole package together," said Lovell matter-of-factly. "We were going fast, sailing well."

For the rest of the classes, the final Medal Race, held in 18-20 knot winds, set the stage for an exciting climax.

Laser Radial
In the Laser Radial class, USA's Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) turned in an outstanding performance to clinch the gold medal as well as US SAILING's Golden Torch Award, given to the American sailor deemed to have the best overall performance among all classes. She had ten points on Canada's Jennifer Spalding (Vancouver) going into the final day. "I had to finish ahead of her or at least within five boats of her to win, and I knew because of the high winds that I had the advantage," said Tunnicliffe. "At the start, there were some boats over the line early. I wasn't sure if I was one of them, but Jennifer was 'bow out' on me, so I figured if I was, she was, too. In other words, I didn't need to go back if she didn't--I'd still win." When at the first windward mark Tunnicliffe saw a posting that Jennifer was OCS ("over early"), she knew she had won. Near the end of the race, Tunnicliffe capsized. "I got a little excited and was caught off guard," she said, adding that at that point it didn't matter that she lost four boats in the process and wound up finishing seventh.

Tunnicliffe's nemesis, the class's 2005 World Champion Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) took the silver medal ahead of Spalding's bronze-medal finish. Railey won the Laser Radial World Championship last December (Tunnicliffe finished third) and looked to be the favorite at this regatta until day four when she, too, was over the starting line early. It was the second in her one-dropout series, which meant she had to claim 48 points. "That really helped me out," said Tunnicliffe.

Laser
Great Britain's Paul Goodison (Rotherham), a three-time winner of this event, secured the gold in the Medal Race for Lasers by holding off France's Felix Pruvot (Brest), who took silver. He had hoped to have a point spread great enough to secure his victory before the finals but found the regatta's light shifty winds on day three to be an obstacle. "It was really tricky out there," said Goodison. "I didn't start out well, but I did a good job of getting back; I probably passed 60-70 boats total in three races."

In the final race, Goodison finished second to Pruvot's 6th. "It was hard, as you start looking at everyone in this small fleet," said Pruvot about the 10-boat fleet as compared to the original 89 Lasers he sailed against to get to the finals. "It is important to beat your other competitors, more than in normal racing." The Laser fleet was the largest at the regatta and split into Gold and Silver fleets after a two-day qualifying series.

49er
Italy's Piero and Gianfranco Sibello (both Alassio) finished second in the 49er Medal Race to clinch the gold medal over Great Britain's Olympic bronze medalists Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks (both Portland). Draper and Hiscocks had dominated all week until the Italian team took over on day four. Reigning World Champions from the Ukraine Rodion Luka & George Leonchuk (both Kiev) settled for bronze.

470 Men
After watching Israel's Gideon Kliger and Udi Gal (Tel Aviv) take the lead on day four, the 470 Men's team from Great Britain, Nic Asher (Lowestoft) and Elliot Willis (Sevenoaks), got to work in the Medal Race, leading at all marks to win it and get back to the top of the scoreboard. They claimed the gold medal, while France's Benjamin and Romain Bonnaud (both Nantes) took the silver and Israel settled for bronze.

"We were anxious to get this race done," said Asher. "We weren't sure what it was going to be like, but the conditions helped make it a great event. It was pretty gusty with quite big waves."

470 Women
The French 470 Women's team of Ingrid Petitjean and Nadege Douroux (both Marseille), ranked number one in the world, led on day one but quickly fell behind the UK's Christina Bassadone (Southampton) and Saskia Clark (West Mersea) for the rest of the week. The medal race was their comeback as the duo finished second to the UK's fifth and secured the gold medal.

About the new final race format, Petitjean said, "I think we had to do something to make the racing better and more popular. I think it was a good thing."

The gold-medal standings in both the Men's and Women's 470 events replicated the final results of the 470 North Americans, held in Miami the week prior to this event.

Finn
Spain's Rafael Trujillo (Santander) went into Friday's Finn Medal Race with only a two-point lead over Canada's Christopher Cook (Toronto), the defending champion and a formidable contender all week. "It is a good format, and the race committee did a great job with the distance and timing of the race," said Trujillo, who won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Athens. It was a narrow window in which to do his job, but Trujillo successfully covered Cook in the 30-minute race over a trapezoid course, finishing fourth--just ahead of Cook's fifth--to clinch the gold medal, while Cook earned the silver.

Neil Pryde RS:X Men
Great Britain's Nick Dempsey (Weymouth), the leader since day one in the Neil Pryde RS:X Men's fleet, won the Medal Race to secure his gold. Dempsey won the Olympic bronze Mistral medal in the light breezes in Athens and seemed to relish the light-air conditions on day two, winning both of that day's races. In fact, he showed eight first-place finishes in his ten-race lineup. Taking silver was France's Huguet Nicolas (Marseilles), a favorite here who last year won the first-ever RS:X event in Cadiz, Spain.

Neil Pryde RS:X Women
Great Britain's Neil Pryde RS:X Women's entrant Bryony Shaw (Weymouth) had dominated until Thursday when she slipped behind Spain's Marina Alabau (Santander). In the finals, she came back, finishing third to Alabau's fourth, which handed her the gold and Alabau the silver.

Sonar
Also included in racing here was the Sonar, one of the three classes chosen for the 2008 Paralympic Games. In that class, standings from day four determined class medalists when sailing had to be canceled due to the fifth day's high winds. David Schroeder (Miami, Fla.), Keith Burhans (Rochester, N.Y.) and Bill Mauk (Miami, Fla.) won the gold medal, with Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J), Ezra Culver (Miami, Fla.) and Mike Ross (Encinitas, Calif.) finishing two points behind for the silver.

In addition to Rolex, sponsors for US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR are Nautica, Extrasport, Gill, Harken, McLube, New England Ropes, Nikon, Sperry Top-Sider, Vanguard Sailboats, Vineyard Vines, and Zodiac. Rolex and Nautica are also sponsors of the US Sailing Teams. Nautica also hosted a spectacular mid-regatta dinner on Wednesday.

Headquarters for US SAILING’s 2006 Rolex Miami OCR were at the US Sailing Center, with classes hosted by the US Sailing Center; Coral Reef, Key Biscayne and Miami Yacht Clubs; the Coconut Grove Sailing Club; and Shake-A-Leg-Miami.

For complete results, photos and daily reports, visit the event website at www.ussailing.org/Olympics/RolexMiamiOCR.  Video from the last two days of racing, produced by T2P TV, can be viewed at www.t2p.tv.

About US SAILING
The Rolex Miami OCR is organized by US SAILING, the national governing body of the sport. Headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, US SAILING’s mission is to encourage participation and promote excellence in sailing in the U.S. US SAILING offers training and education programs, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including the US Sailing Teams and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.  

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(top-three results follow)


US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR
(FINAL RESULTS)

Position, Skipper/Crew, Hometowns, Total Points
Please note that, as part of the new Olympic finals format, the final race in each Olympic event reflects the double score-count.

49er (32 boats)
1. Piero Sibello/Gianfranco Sibello, both Alassio, ITA, 3-6-4-[OCS]-4-7-2-1-1-1-1-4, 34.00
2. Chris Draper/Simon Hiscocks, both Portland, GBR, 1-3-1-[7]-1-1-4-7-5-2-5-6, 36.00
3. Rodion Luka/George Leonchuk, both Kiev, UKR, 5-12-3-9-2-[14]-6-2-7-6-7-8, 67.00

470 Men (21 boats)
1. Nic Asher/Elliot Willis, Lowestoft/Sevenoaks, GBR, 4-1-3-1-3-7-8-1-3-9-[10]-2, 42.00
2. Benjamin Bonnaud/Romain Bonnaud, both Nantes, FRA, 3-3-1-2-7-5-3-8-[OCS]-4-9-4, 49.00
3. Gideon Kliger/Udi Gal, Tel-Aviv, ISR, 7-4-4-[9]-2-2-1-9-5-2-3-14, 52.00

470 Women (16 boats)
1. Ingrid Petitjean/Nadege Douroux, both Marseille, FRA, 3-1-5-4-3-2-[9]-6-2-2-1-4, 33.00
2. Christina Bassadone/Saskia Clark, Southampton/West Mersea, GBR, 2-5-2-2-1-[8]-3-3-1-1-5-10, 35.00
3. Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler, Shelter Island, N.Y./Matawan, N.J., USA, 1-[12]-1-10-7-1-11-2-6-3-3-6, 51.00

Finn (25 boats)
1. Rafael Trujillo, Santander, ESP, 1-1-5-3-4-[9]-2-5-1-1-1-8, 32.00
2. Christopher Cook, Toronto, CAN, 3-2-3-1-[7]-4-1-1-4-3/RDG-4-10, 36.00
3. Jonas Hoegh Christensen, DEN, 5-[OCS]-4-4-1-6-6-4-3-4-3-2, 42.00

Laser Full (89 boats)
1. Paul Goodison, Rotherham, GBR, 2-1-1-3-1-4-[5]-3-1-3-4, 23.00
2. Felix Pruvot, Brest, FRA, [8]-2-8-1-2-2-1-6-3-5-12, 42.00
3. Maciej Grabowski, Gdynia, POL, 3-1-1-4-4-7-[13]-2-7-12-8, 49.00

Laser Radial (47 boats)
1. Anna Tunnicliffe, Plantation, Fla., USA, [9]-6-2-4-8-4-3-2-4-7-14, 54.00
2. Paige Railey, Clearwater, Fla., USA, 1-1-1-10-[OCS]-1-1-1-48/OCS-1-2, 67.00
3. Jennifer Spalding, Vancouver, CAN, 12-2-[17]-3-6-2-2-9-2-12-22/OCS, 72.00

Neil Pryde RS:X Men (39 boards)
1. Nick Dempsey, Weymouth, GBR, 2-1-1-1-1-[5]-1-1-1-2, 11.00
2. Nicolas Huguet, Marseille, FRA, 1-2-5-2-6-1-3-4-[10]-14, 38.00
3. Ivan Pastor, Santander, ESP, 5-4-[12]-3-4-2-5-8-12-6, 49.00

Neil Pryde RS:X Women (20 boards)
1. Bryony Shaw, Weymouth, GBR, 1-3-1-3-2-1-[6]-2-4-6, 23.00
2. Marina Alabau, Santander, ESP, 3-[OCS]-4-1-1-5-1-1-1-8, 25.00
3. Lucy Horwood, Wales, GBR, 2-5-5-[11]-3-2-2-3-2-2, 26.00

Sonar (6 boats)
1. David Schroeder/Keith Burhans/Bill Mauk, Miami, Fla./Rochester, N.Y./Miami, Fla., USA, 1-2-1-1-1-1-[DSQ]-1-2-3-1, 14.00
2. Rick Doerr/Ezra Culver/Mike Ross, Clifton, N.J./Miami, Fla./Encinitas, Calif., USA, 2-1-[3]-2-2-3-1-2-1-1-2, 17.00
3. Carwile Leroy/Ali Soylu/Carlos Rodriguez, Baltimore, Md./Baltimore, Md./Miami Fla, USA, [4]-4-2-3-3-2-2-3-3-4-3, 29.00

Star (69 boats)
1. Xavier Rohart/Pascal Rambeau, Martigues/La Rochelle, FRA, 1-9-[26]-1-6-3-1-5-2-22/DNC, 50.00
2. Andrew Horton/Brad Nichol, Newport, R.I./Miami Beach, Fla., USA, 2-[25]-2-19-4-6-23-13-13-4, 86.00
3. George Szabo/Eric Monroe, San Diego, Calif./Coronado, Calif., USA, 14-4-5-10-[19]-13-12-1-17-18, 94.00

Tornado (25 boats)
1. John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree, New Orleans, La./Kemah, Texas, USA, 1-1-2-8-2-4-1-7-1-[11]-2, 29.00
2. Olivier Backes/Paul-Ambroise Sevestre, Marseille/Fontanes, FRA, 3-11-7-1-7-8-[12]-3-8-1-6, 55.00
3. Revil Xavier/Espagnon Christophe, FRA, [OCS]-2-6-6-3-10-13-6-2-5-4, 57.00

Yngling (14 boats)
1. Sally Barkow/Deborah Capozzi/Carrie Howe, Nashotah, Wis./Bayport, N.Y./Grosse Pointe, Mich., USA, 1-1-1-3-1-1-2-[5]-1-1-1-2, 15.00
2. Hannah Swett/Melissa Purdy/Liz Filter, New York, N.Y./Belvedere Tiburon, Calif./Stevensville, Md., USA, 9-3-3-1-3-2-4-2-5-[DSQ]-9-4, 45.00
3. Sarah Ayton/Sarah Webb/Victoria Rawlinson, all Weymouth, GBR, 2-4-4-4-[11]-3-3-4-4-2-7-10, 47.00