ISAF Grade 3 event will be first-ever Open match racing in the US in new Olympic equipment; features nine teams of Olympic and AC veterans

Miami, FL – The Chicago Match Race Center (CMRC) and Sail Sheboygan have teamed up to organize the 2011 Miami Invitational, the first event of over 60 in the 2011 US match racing season. This will also be the first Open match racing event sailed in the boats used for Womenʼs Match Racing discipline in the 2012 Olympic Games, the Elliott 6M, and as such has attracted a field of nine menʼs and womenʼs teams to compete over February 19-20th on courses set in Miamiʼs Biscayne Bay.

Among the skippers and teams are several past and future Olympians and Americaʼs Cup veterans, as well as some established and aspiring US match racing talent. This mixed field promises to produce some exciting competition in the double-Round Robin format, which will be followed by second stage of Round Robin racing among the top four in a Gold fleet to determine 1st-4th places, with the next four racing in a Silver fleet for 5th-9th places. Teams will received Open Grade 3 points on the ISAF world match race ranking list.

The four Womenʼs teams in the field are all aspiring to the 2012 Games, with three on the US Sailing Team Alphagraphics: recently-crowned Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year winner Anna Tunnicliffe from Miami, FL and her team of Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi; Genny Tulloch from San Francisco, CA and her team of Alice Manard and Jenn Chamberlin; and 2008 US Olympian Sally Barkow from Nashotah, WI and her team of Maggie Shae and Jennifer Wilson. The fourth aspiring Olympians are from Helsinki, Finland: Silja Lehtinen and her team of Silja Kanerva and Mikaela Wulff.
Tunnicliffe is the highest-ranked in the field at 4th in the ISAF womenʼs rankings, while Barkow is ranked 8th, Tulloch is ranked 9th, and Lehtinen 15th.
Among the five Open teams, Taylor Canfield from the US Virgin Islands and his team of Tom Barrows and Darby Smith is the highest-ranked at 29th in the world Open rankings, with Don Wilson from Chicago, IL and his team of Americaʼs Cup veterans Cameron Appleton and Suzie Leech next-highest ranked at 54th in the world. Canfield and Wilson are both past champions of numerous CMRC events in the past two seasons. Leo Vasiliev from Port Washington, NY has a ranking of 186th in the world, and is sailing with Alex and Roman Nadolishny.

Rounding out the Open field are two skippers from San Diego, CA: Andrew Campbell, 2008 US Olympian in the Laser Class, sailing with a team to be announced soon, and Steve Hunt, sailing with Max Albert and Jake Reynolds.

Race management will be led by Principal Race Officer Rich Reichelsdorfer of Sail Sheboygan, and the umpire team will be led by Bruce Cook of Oyster Bay, NY.

Twitter coverage and race results will be updated live on the CMRC website (www.chicagomatchracecenter.com), with photos uploaded at the conclusion of racing each day. A final video show of the event will also be available on the website after the conclusion of racing.

Racing inquiries: Tod Reynolds, tod@chicagomatchrace.com or +1 908 578 6762.
Media inquiries: Dobbs Davis, media@chicagomatchrace.com or +1 443 306 3620.
For more information on CMRC and its events, visit www.chicagomatchrace.com.
For more information on the US Sailing Center at Sail Sheboygan, visit its website at www.sailsheboygan.org.