(From US SAILING’s 2009 Rolex Miami OCR website: rmocr.ussailing.org/)

Paralympic and Women’s Match Racing Champions Named; Medal Races for Olympic Classes Tomorrow

MIAMI, FLA. (January 30, 2009) – Good things happened today at US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR, where 444 sailors from 41 countries are competing. Medals were determined in three Paralympic classes (Sonar, SKUD 18 and 2.4mR) as well as one Olympic class (Laser SB3, which is being used here instead of the Olympic Elliott 6 in the Women’s Match Racing event), while each of the remaining nine Olympic classes (Finn, 470 Men’s, 470 Women’s, 49er, Laser, Laser Radial, RS:X Men’s, RS:X Women’s, Star) determined the top-ten sailors who will advance to tomorrow’s medal race. The regatta replicates the format that will be used at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Regattas and is the second of seven stops on the 2008 - 2009 ISAF Sailing World Cup for Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls. It is also the USA’s only qualifying regatta for determining its 2009 U.S. Sailing Team AlphaGraphics.

Women’s Match Racing:

“It was very little wind to very much,” said Denmark’s Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, who with Tina Schmidt and Trine Palludan won the gold medal in Women’s Match Racing. “We tried it all today.” Denmark was the third-ranked boat going into today’s four-boat Semi Finals. After they proceeded to the Finals, their match-up was with none other than yesterday’s leading Italian team of Giulia Conti, Alessandra Marenzi and Alessandra Angelini. The final contest went all five races with Pedersen’s team posting a final win-loss score of 3-2. The final race served up a photo finish after the boats changed leads twice in the last six boat lengths. “It was too windy to have our chutes up,” said Pedersen, “and we just made a right decision. Conte did a very good job.”

Pedersen said two days ago she would have said her team could win, but four days ago she would have thought it impossible. “We didn’t know the boat; our teamwork and coach were new…we’ve had a very increasing learning curve!” She added with a smile: “It is always important to win a regatta, but it’s really great to win what is, in effect, the very first Olympic Match Racing event. It’s a nice victory.”

Remaining Olympic Classes to Continue Sailing

For tomorrow, back-to-back competition is planned for the medal races, to be held on two circles. With courses shortened for approximately 30-minute races, it should be a quick day, unless the wind causes postponements as it has on-and-off since Monday, when this event began. The stakes are high, just as they will be in the Olympics, with the single race weighing in for double in the sailors’ score lines and not allowed as a discard.

Regatta results, photos and updates are posted at www.RolexMiamiOCR.org. Video highlights, produced by t2p.tv, can be viewed at the same URL.

Event organizers have partnered with the City of Miami, and additional hosts for the event include Coral Reef Yacht Club, Key Biscayne Yacht Club, Coconut Grove Sailing Club and Shake-a-Leg-Miami. The Coral Reef Yacht Club also hosts the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as a mid-week dinner hosted by Nautica. In addition, the University of Miami’s Sports Medicine Center is providing on-site medical care during the event.

In addition to title sponsor Rolex Watch U.S.A., US SAILING’s 2009 Rolex Miami OCR is also sponsored by AlphaGraphics, Nautica, LaserPerformance, Harken, New England Ropes, Sperry Top-Sider and Team McLube.