Perfect 12-15 knot conditions today on Biscayne Bay allows completion of 12 flights; Womenʼs teams leading in Elliott 6m competition

Miami, FL – After a long but near-perfect day of twelve flights of match race sailing, Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year award winner Anna Tunnicliffe and her Team Tunnicliffe are leading the ISAF Grade 3 Miami Invitational, organized by the Chicago Match Race Center (CMRC) and Sail Sheboygan. On a record of 9-3, she and runner-up Silja Lehtinen and her Team Finland on a record of 8-2 are ahead of the pack of nine crews that include both Womenʼs and Open teams racing in Elliott 6m class keelboats.

Besides having prowess in match race positioning, those teams that have experience in boathandling these small keelboats have performed well in todayʼs results. With over a year of training in the Elliott 6Mʼs in aspiration for the 2012 Olympic Games, its no wonder that Tunnicliffe, Lehtinen, and Genny Tulloch and her GetSailing team have dominated the top four positions, while the Open teams have been climbing a learning curve to understand the nuances of these three-person keelboats.

And among the Open teams, those who have had recent exposure to small-boat racing have done the best: third-placed Taylor Canfield, for example, is a reigning Intercollegiate champion from Boston College, but has also won match race events at CMRC and elsewhere in North America. And while the Womenʼs teams have been dominating many of their matches with better boathandling, the Open teams that are closer to their total weight targets have shown a slight advantage in upwind speed, and are improving with every flight to close the gaps.

So for tomorrow the teams will be offered another promising forecast for perfect match race sailing: easterly winds of 9-15 knots should allow completion of the double Round Robin, followed by a second stage of three flights among the top four teams in the Gold Fleet and Silver fleet.

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.

Results after 12 flights completed:
1. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) 9-3
2. Silja Lehtinen (FIN) 8-2
3. Taylor Canfield (ISV) 8-3
4. Genny Tulloch (USA) 7-3
5. Steve Hunt (USA) 6-5
6. Sally Barkow (USA) 5-5
7. Andrew Campbell (USA) 4-7
8. Don Wilson (USA) 1-10
9. Leo Vasiliev (USA) 0-11

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.