Low wind theme for Miami OCR

Miami, FL (January 24, 2021) – The final day of 2021 Miami OCR continued the light air theme of the previous three days for the second stage of the 2021 West Marine US Open Sailing Series.

With start times moved earlier in hopes of taking advantage of the morning breeze before temperatures rose to dull the breeze, the 49er, 49erFX, and the 470 fleets were towed out to the bay just after 7:00 am for an 8:00 am start time.

In the 470 class, Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Dave Hughes (Ithaca, N.Y.) put the finishing touches on another strong regatta with two more wins to capture first place honors. They won 8 of 11 races to win by a 13-point margin. Mixed teams Louisa Nordstrom (Osprey, Fla.) and Trevor Bornarth (Stuart, Fla.) finished second, and Michelle Lahrkamp (Rye, N.Y.) and Jack Parkin (Riverside, Conn.) placed third.

“We were looking to get live races under our belt and score races where there is a level of accountability, which is hard to replicate in practice races,” said McNay. “And on top of that, we worked on our live starting situations, communications on the upwind and downwind, and so this is part of our World Championship preparation, assuming things go forward as scheduled with our World Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal in the beginning of March.”

Nevin Snow (San Diego, Calif.) and Dane Wilson (Ojai, Calif.) sustained their lead in the 49er by placing first and third today to win by seven points. Ian Barrows (St. Thomas, USVI) and Hans Henken (Coronado, Calif.) finished second overall with Christopher Williford (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Duncan Williford (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) in third. Snow and Wilson won 9 of 11 races.

“The young sailors here are pushing us as well,” said Snow. “This event helped us with managing a smaller fleet. We were able to hone in on the details and experiment a little more.”

Stephan Baker (Miami, Fla.) and Nicholas Hardy (Newton, Mass.) regained the lead in the 49erFX fleet yesterday after three consecutive wins, entering today with a seven point lead over Lucy Wilmot (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). These two teams alternated first and second place results in both races today, securing the victory for Baker and Hardy. Bella Casaretto (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Jana Laurendeau (Billerica, Mass.) made the podium in third place.

Together, Baker and Hardy have only been sailing the 49erFX for nine days.

The Nacra 17 and iQFoil fleets were planning on heading out for an 11:00 am start time following 49er, 49erFX, and 470 racing. However, the conditions did not cooperate for afternoon sailing. The Nacra 17 results through Saturday were final.

Samuel Albrecht and Gabriela Nicolino of Brazil captured first place with their performance in the Nacra 17 fleet. Ravi Parent (Bradenton, Fla.) and David Liebenberg (Richmond, Calif.) finished in second as the top American team, while Riley Gibbs (Long Beach, Calif.) and Anna Weis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) finished third.

The two iQFoil fleets completed just one race each on day two of the regatta. Mateus Isaac of Brazil earned the win in the Men’s fleet (9-meter sail) and Garrett January (Pinellas, Fla.) won the 8-meter sail race. Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) placed third overall in the 8-meter race and the top women’s sailor.

Racing was held on January 21-24.

US Open information – Event details – Results

US Sailing and host yacht clubs at established sailing venues in Florida and California launched the 6-stage West Marine US Open Sailing Series to provide high-quality Olympic-class racing in the USA. usopen.ussailing.org

Source: US Sailing, Scuttlebutt