January 28, 2009
Miami, Fl USA

We are now half way through the Rolex Miami OCR regatta and stage two of the ISAF Sailing World Cup. We have completed 6 races over the last three days and I have moved up to first place overall with a 4 point lead over my team mate Paige Railey.

Yesterday the conditions were shifty with an 8-12 knot breeze. in the race committee started three races and I sailed well with finishes of 1, 2, 1. Today was a little different and we had one race in very light air. Paige got a fantastic start at the pin end and no body could touch her after that. She went on to win the race by a long way. I had a not so good start and found myself battling back from 19th at the top reach mark. I passed a lot of boats on the next downwind leg and upwind leg, but hit the second windward mark and when I could have rounded 6th, I ended up losing some boats. I finished the race in 7th, just enough to maintain the lead overall. You can see the results here: www.RolexMiamiOCR.org

This week’s regatta in Miami is the second event in the 2009 ISAF Sailing World Cup. The first event was the Sail Melbourne regatta held in Melbourne, Australia in mid December. After Miami, there will be five more events that will round out the World Cup. Those events are Princess Sofia in Spain, Semaine Olympique Francais in France, the Holland Regatta in Holland, Kiel Week in Germany and Sail for Gold Regatta in England.

Sailors accumulate points at each event and then at the end of the year, the sailor with the most points wins the World Cup. Points are awarded to the top 20 sailors at each event, with first place getting 20 points down to 20th place getting one point.

So far, I am leading the standings as I finished first at the Sail Melbourne event. From that event, there are two competitors competing here in Miami that are also vying for points for the World Cup. Third and Fourth place finishers in Melbourne respectively are Andrea Brewster from Great Britain currently lying in 17th, and Tina Mehelic from Croatia is currently lying in 10th .

We have two more days of fleet racing left before we head into the medal race on Saturday. The medal race will be a double points race for the top 10 sailors overall.

I will have another report on Friday leading into the medal race and then a wrap up report after the event. Until then, you can follow along with the regatta here: www.RolexMiamiOCR.org

Sail Hard,

Anna