2012 Rolex Miami OCR

REGATTA REPORT

Event

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Video of start by Jock Fink

Results for ten races and the medal race January

23-28 at Miami,

Florida.

Day 1 Report: Heavy Lifting in Light Air
It started out a perfect day on Biscayne Bay, with sunshine and 12 knots of breeze, but those conditions gave way to struggling light winds by late afternoon, when several of the ten Olympic and three Paralympic classes at the Rolex Miami OCR regatta were trying to finish opening day races. The six-day event is the second of seven ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas and the only one of those to be sailed in North America. In its 23rd edition, it is hosting 529 sailors from 41 countries sailing on 354 boats.

One team who doesn’t have to worry about snagging an Olympic berth is Miami’s own Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih, who finished a solid 3-4 today in the Star class to take second overall on tied points with Sweden’s leader Fredrik Loof/Max Salminen. They were named to the USA’s 2012 Olympic Sailing Team after they recently finished third in their World Championship. “This is not a major regatta for us in the same regard, but we definitely want to train and improve our standing in the World Cup,’ said Fatih, adding that this will be his first time to the Olympics after four times trying and Mendelblatt’s second (in Laser class).

For Loof/Salminen, today they practiced “no risk” sailing. “We were not hitting the corners or anything, just one thing at a time,” said Loof, who added that he even wisely held back, but only “a bit,” for the second start, which was black-flagged (meaning any boats over the line prematurely would be disqualified). “Our two goals were to have good starts and hold the lane for a while to control our own destiny on the first shift.”

Day Three report:
“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.

“Today we didn’t have a great day,” added Scheidt. “The first race was good because we were coming from behind, but the second race we wanted to start at the boat and got jammed there, so we had to start behind the pack and play catch-up the whole race. We managed to hold our lead, but there are still two races to go until the medal race. “

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.

Day Four:
In Star class, the neck-and-neck race between Brazil_