With one racing day left at the Rolex Miami OCR, some leaders in the 11 Olympic and Paralympic classes competing here are holding their breath including British Laser sailor Paul Goodison who leads his fleet by seven points. Yesterday’s light breezes, shifty like yesterday, provided plenty of power for several races on each of six courses, but scrambled the standings and, in some cases, left very little room for mistakes tomorrow. The Rolex Miami OCR, in its 15th year has attracted 503 sailors, sailing 323 boats and representing 39 nations.

After two races, USA’s team of Mark Reynolds and Steve Erickson has a seven-point lead in the 58-boat Star fleet. The margin is anything but comfortable, however, since the team sailed its throw-out race – a 46th. Erickson explained that Australia’s Colin Beashel and crew David Giles, who are using this event as a qualifier for their Olympic Team, rose in the ranks to second overall, winning yesterday’s first race and counting a 15th in the second race as their throw-out.

Though Erickson is a new crew for Reynolds, he, like Reynolds, is a fixture in the Star class. He won two world championships, one with Bill Buchan (’85) and one with Paul Cayard (’88) who is competing here. He also won the Star Olympic Gold Medal crewing for Buchan in 1984. Reynolds made US Olympic sailing history as a four-time consecutive representative in the same event. He is a two-time Star world champion (’00, ’95) and three-time Olympic medalist (1992 Gold,1988 Silver, 2000 Gold) in arguably the most competitive one-design class in the world.

In Tornados, Puerto Rico’s Olympic representative Enrique Figueroa saved his lead from the previous day, but Austria’s Roman Hagara is closing in, only three points behind.

Denmark’s Jonas Hoegh Christensen lost his lead to 1996 Finn Gold medalist Mateus Kusznierewicz(pictured above), when the Polish sailor won three of four races yesterday and pulled ahead in overall scoring by 12 points. Christensen commented: “I just had a bad day. Winning is pretty much out of my reach, now. It’s going to be a battle for second between me, Ewenson and Hall.” USA’s Geoff Ewenson sits in third, only two points behind Christensen, with USA’s Kevin Hall in fourth, again two points behind.

Asked about his strategy for today, Ewenson said: “This isn’t as important to me as the Trials (this February). Kevin and I have been training together, so we’re used to pushing each other pretty hard.”

USA’s Tim Wadlow increased his team’s lead over Switzerland’s Chris Rast to 15 points after winning three of four races today, while New Zealand’s Sharon Ferris decreased her lead on the Yngling fleet. Only five points behind Ferris is USA’s Hannah Swett, who toppled Sally Barkow from the runner-up position.

In Paralympic action, Udo Hessels of the Nederlands is only one point ahead of USA’s Rick Doerr in Sonar class. In 2.4 Metres, USA’s Jeff Madrigali, an able-bodied sailor who won the Soling bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics, leads in the 2.4 Metre class over Stellan Berlin, a world champion. Madrigali and Berlin have been coaching and training with USA’s representative to the Paralympics in this class, Tom Brown. Brown is in fifth overall. “The best way to coach someone is to sail the same boat they sail,” said Madrigali.

Racing concludes today.

Results

Europe (20 boats)

1. Smidova, CZE, 1-(4)-1-1-1-1-2-3-1, 11

2. Gaillard, USA, 2-2-2-(4)-3-2-1-2-3, 17

3. Blanck, AUS, 3-(14)-6-3-2-3-4-1-9, 31

Finn (35 boats)

1. Kuszinerewicz, POL, 2-(4)-2-1-2-1-2-1-1, 12

2. Christensen, DEN, 1-2-4-3-1-(7)-7-2-4, 24

3. Ewenson, USA, 3-3-5-2-5-(6)-1-4-3, 26

470 Men (6 boats)

1. Anderson-Mitterling/Biehl, USA, 2-2-1-2-(4)-4-1-2-1, 15

2. McNay/Kinsolving, USA, 1-1-2-1-2-1-(5)-5-4, 17

3. Noakes/Beaudoin, CAN, 3-7-6-7-3-6-6-(10)-8, 46

470 Women (5 boats)

1. Grobe/Kussatz, GER, (11)-3-3-3-1-2-3-1-2, 18

2. Carapiet/Besse, USA, 4-5-(11)-4-5-5-4-3-5, 35

3. Maxwell/Freye, USA, 7-6-4-8-7-3-2-(9)-3, 40

49er (20 boats)

1. Wadlow/Spaulding, USA, (9)-2-2-3-2-1-2-1-1-1, 15

2. Rast/Steiger, SUI, 2-6-1-1-4-(15)-3-5-3-5, 30

3. Bergan/Maxam, USA, 4-4-(11)-10-3-4-10-2-4-3, 44

Laser (63 boats)

1. Goodison, GBR, 4-18-1-6-3-6-(64/DNF)-4-1, 43

2. Mendelblatt, USA, 2-13-2-4-5-3-6-15-(64/DNF), 50

3. Moberg, NOR, 5-1-4-2-2-24/ZFP-10-(25)-12, 60

Mistral Men (24 boats)

1. Rodrigues, POR, 1-1-1-1-(2)-1-2, 7

2. Santos, BRA, 3-5-3-5-3-2-(7), 21

3. Guyadr, FRA, 5-2-2-4-(9)-9-3, 25

Mistral Women (14 boats)

1. Frey, GRE, (39/DNC)-19-18-15-20-22-13, 107

2. Konstantinova, BUL, (23)-20-22-20-15-20-18, 115

3. Borges, BRA, (28)-22-25-22-25-24-22, 140

Sonars (14 boats)

1. Hessels/Van De Veen/Rossen, NED, 3-16-2-(8)-7-2-5-3, 29

2. Doerr/Wilson/Ross, USA, 1-2-9-5-7-1-4-(13)-2, 31

3. Mackie/MacDonald/Tingley, CAN, (8)-7-2-1-6-3-5-1-6, 31

Star (58 boats)

1. Reynolds/Erickson, USA, 2-6-18-3-(46)-8, 37

2. Beashel/Giles, AUS, 13-14-6-10-1-(15), 44

3. Loof/Ekstrom, SWE, 17-3-4-15-(38)-12, 51

Tornado (29 boats)

1. Figueroa/Hernandez, PUR, 8-4-6-1-5-6-3-(14), 33

2. Hagara/Steinacher, AUT, 7-6-4-(11)-7-2-8-2, 36

3. Booth/Derchsen, NED, 2-(30/OCS)-1-6-4-4-11-9, 37

2.4 Metres (18 boats)

1. Madrigali, USA, 5-1-1-3-2-6-(7)-3-2, 23

2. Berlin, SWE, 3-4-3-8-4-1-1-5-(19/OCS), 29

3. Meyer, USA, 9-(19/DNF)-5-1-7-2-3-2-1, 30

Yngling (17 boats)

1. Ferris/Jameson/White, NZL, 3-2-4-1-4-7-4-5-(14), 30

2. Swett/Purdy/Touchette, USA, 2-11-1-5-(14)-6-3-2-5, 35

3. Eikeland/Fredriksen/Kristiansen, NOR, (14)-8-3-13-2-2-8-6-2, 44