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Rolex Miami OCR

Final Day Crowns Victors in Olympic and Paralympic Classes

Sunday 3 February 2002

The 2002 Rolex Miami Olympic Classes concluded today with all but one of nine Olympic and two Paralympic classes working in light-air races on Biscayne Bay. Though not the preference of the 400 plus sailors competing, 5-6 knot breezes were welcome after yesterday’s total lack of breeze, which led to cancellation of all racing. Only the Star class did not have today’s scores to combine with those from the first two days, when near-perfect conditions prevailed. The regatta, administered by US SAILING’s Olympic Sailing Committee and co-hosted by Coconut Grove Sailing Club; US Sailing Center; Coral Reef, Key Biscayne and Miami Yacht Clubs; and Shake-A-Leg Miami, attracted 282 boats representing 26 countries.

In Europes, Meg Gaillard (Jamestown, R.I.) won both of her races today to rise from second to first in her 25-boat fleet. The victory will play well toward a ranking on the 2002 US Sailing Team. "I’ve officially begun my Olympic campaign, and I’m feeling really solid," said Gaillard.

The top Finn finisher, Great Britain’s Andrew Simpson, kept company with other Canadian sailors Christopher Cook, Mike Milner and Larry Lemieux throughout most of the regatta. In the end, Cook and Milner took second and third, with Brazil’s Bruno Prado squeezing out Lemieux for fourth. USA’s Geoff Ewenson (Annapolis, Md.) took sixth.

Early leaders in the 470 Men’s class, Steve Hunt/Michael Miller (Hampton, Va./Charleston, S.C.) maintained their lead with a fourth-place finish in race one of today. The duo sat out the last race, having mathematically wrapped up the series. "We’re happy because last year at this regatta we lost by one point," said Miller. Mark Ivey (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Ward Cromwell (New Orleans, La.), who were second overall going into today, were disqualified for kinetics in today’s first race and fell to fourth overall. Their slip-up allowed the top women’s team of Courtenay Dey/Linda Wennerstrom (Westerly, R.I./Key Biscayne, Fla.) to better their position in the 21-boat fleet to a third overall. "We had a choice of sailing the 470 or the Yngling for this event," said Dey, USA’s 1996 Europe Olympic Bronze Medallist, who in an unusual move has—with Wennerstrom—launched Olympic campaigns in both classes. "I’m glad we chose the 470, because the competition was great and this was the last chance to improve our U.S. ranking in that class. We’ll get right into a Yngling next weekend for a ranking regatta in that class."

With only one race today, the top teams in the 49er class held their positions. The team of Andy Mack/Adam Lowry (Seattle, Wash./San Francisco, Calif.) posted a final 15 points to David Fagen/Bora Gulari’s (Cheasapeake, Va./Detroit, Mich.) 19. Fagen and Gulari won today’s race.

The Laser class was packed with action as Great Britain’s Paul Goodison showed his prowess and USA’s Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) and Brett Davis (Largo, Fla.) constantly nipped at his heels. In the end, what looked like a slight edge for Davis over Campbell became a solid second-place finish for Campbell, with Slovenia’s Vasilij Zbogar playing the spoiler to Davis’s would-be third.

After today’s one race on the Mistral course, Kimberly Birkenfeld (Miami, Fla./Myrtle Creek, Ore.) had maintained her third place overall in women’s division behind Sigrid Rondelez (Belgium) and Canada’s Dominique Vallee. Peter Wells (Newport Beach, Calif.) was the top U.S. men’s finisher in second overall behind winner David Mier Y Teren of Mexico.

With no racing on the Star course, the 49-boat fleet used standings after its second day of racing to determine winners. Germany’s Marc Pickel/David Giles won with 12 points, followed by Bermuda’s Peter Bromby/Martin Siese with 15. Sailing for Canada, Ross MacDonald and George Iverson finished third. San Diego’s Vince Brun and Mike Dorgan were the top-finishing U.S. team, with USA’s 2000 Olympic Gold medallists Mark Reynolds (San Diego, Calif.) and Magnus Liljedahl (Miami, Fla.) finishing sixth.

Tornado sailors Lars Guck (Bristol, R.I.) and Jonathan Farrar (Miami Beach, Fla.) won five of eight races in their series to clinch the class crown. Robbie Daniel and Eric Jacobsen finished in second with two-time Olympians John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Houston, Texas) taking third. Australia‚s two-time medallist Mitch Booth, now sailing for The Netherlands, finished fourth.

In Yngling class, Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.), sailing with Liz Filter (Stevensville, Md.) and Kate Fears (Key West, Fla.), turned on the juice to edge out leading team Jody Swanson/Cory Sertl/Pease Glaser (Buffalo, N.Y./Rochester, N.Y./Long Beach, Calif.). "I’m psyched," said Cronin, who won both of today’s races, "especially because we weren’t doing very well in a race that got abandoned, so that was a little bit lucky." A team lead by Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.) finished third in this dynamic fleet, while Great Britain‚s 2000 Europe Olympic Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson and Bermuda’s match racing champion Paula Lewin finished fourth and seventh, respectively.

In the Paralympic classes, Tom Brown (Northeast Harbor, Maine), the 2002 IFDS World Disabled Sailing Silver Medallist, topped the 15-boat 2.4 Metre class while Paul Callahan/Keith Burhans/Mike Hagmaier (Providence, R.I./Rochester, N.Y./Northfield, N.J.) won the six-boat Sonar class. Brown won five of eight races while the Callahan team won four of nine.

"For us, the most important thing was to get off the line clean and get to the current off the lee shore of Key Biscayne," said Callahan, who represented the U.S. at the 2000 Paralympics and is shooting again for 2004. "This is an important victory because it’s the first time the disabled classes have been allow to compete at this regatta. Personally, I’d like to leverage this into helping other disabled people know they can compete at this level."

Information Media Media #media Pro Newport . Site: www.ussailing.org/Olympics/MiamiOCR/


Europe (25 boats)
- 1. Meg Gaillard, USA, 2-2-2-1-(3)-2-1-1; 11
- 2.Nik Meyland-Smith, DEN, 3-1-1-4-1-1-(9)-6; 17
- 3. Maria Coleman, IRL, 1-3-3-5-2-(7)-3-5; 22
- 4. Krysia Pohl, USA, 4-5-6-3-4-6-(7)-4; 32

Finn (29 boats)
- 1. Andrew Simpson, GBR, 1-3-2-1-1-(DNC)-2-2; 12
- 2. Christopher Cook, CAN, 3-4-7-2-2-1-1-(DNC); 20
- 3. Mike Milner, CAN, 2-2-5-4-(10)-2-5-4; 24

49er (16 boats)
- 1. Andy Mack/Adam Lowry, USA, (4)-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-4; 15
- 2. David Fagen/Bora Gulari, USA, 2-1-(4)-3-3-3-3-3-1; 19
- 3. Dalton Bergan/Zack Maxim, USA, (6)-3-3-1-4-4-4-2-(OCS); 27

470 Men (14 boats)
- 1. Steve Hunt/Michael Miller, USA, (1)-1-1-1-1-1-4-DNC; 10
- 2. Stuart McNay/Ross Anderson, USA, 2-3-(16)-4-2-4-5-4; 24
- 3. Mark Ivey/Ward Cromwell, USA, (DNF)-2-2-2-3-2-DNF-2; 35

470 Women (7 boats)
- 1. Courtenay Dey/Linda Wennerstrom, USA, 4-5-6-3-4-3-(7)-5; 30
- 2. Katie McDowell/Isabelle Kinsolving, USA, 8-7-(10)-6-5-8-2-7; 43
- 3. Elizabeth Kratzig/Louise Gleason, USA 5-6-11-(12)-6-5-3-8; 44

Laser (64 boats)
- 1. Paul Goodison, GBR, 4-2-2-(6)-1-1-4-1; 15
- 2. Andrew Campbell, USA, 1-3-13-2-5-(19)-1-2; 27
- 3. Vasilij Zbogar, SLO, 8-10-4-9-(14)-2-5-9; 47

Mistral Men (12 boats)
- 1. David Mier y Teren, MEX, 1-2-1-2-1-2-1; 8
- 2. Peter Wells, USA, 3-1-3-1-3-3-3; 14
- 3. Zachary Plavsic, CAN, 8-3-4-3-4-1-(14); 23

Mistral Women (9 boats)
- 1. Sigrid Rondelez, BEL, 2-(5)-2-4-2-5-4; 19
- 2. Dominique Vallee, CAN, 6-8-8-(9)-8-9-2; 41
- 3. Kimberly Birkenfeld, USA, 5-9-(13)-11-7-11-10; 53

Star (49 boats)
- 1. Marc Pickel/David Giles, GER, 6-1-(10)-2-2-1; 12
- 2. Peter Bromby/Martin Siese, BER, 1-3-(18)-5-1-5; 15
- 3. Ross MacDonald/George Iverson, CAN, 3-5-7-3-6-3; 20

Tornado (18 boats)
- 1. Lars Guck/Jonathan Farrar, USA, 1-1-1-(4)-1-1-3-4; 12
- 2. Robbie Daniel/Eric Jacobsen, USA, 2-3-2-1-(5)-3-2-3; 16
- 3. John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree, USA, 4-5-4-2-3-(9)-4-1; 23

Yngling (18 boats)
- 1. Carol Cronin/Liz Filter/Kate Fears, USA, 2-1-1-(4)-4-1-3-1-1; 14
- 2. Jody Swanson/Cory Sertl/Pease Glaser, USA, 1-2-6-1-1-4-2-(8)-5; 22
- 3. Betsy Alison/Nancy Haberland/Joan Touchette, USA, 5-5-3-2-(11)-8-1-2-2;28

2.4 Metre (15 boats)
- 1. Tom Brown, USA, 1-1-1-2-(3)-1-(8)-1; 10
- 2. Hans Meyer, USA, (5)-2-2-1-1-2-2-3; 13
- 3. Dan McCoy, CAN, 4-3-3-4-(7)-4-1-4; 23

Sonar (6 boats)
- 1. Paul Callahan/Keith Burhans/Mike Hagmaier, USA, 2-2-1-1-1-(3)-2-2-1; 12
- 2. Gene Hinkel/J.P. Creignou/Mike Ackley, USA, 1-1-3-2-3-2-1-3-(RET); 16
- 3. Rick Doerr/Tim Angle/Richard Hughes, USA, 3-(OCS)-2-3-2-1-3-1-2; 17


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