The Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta was wrapped up on Saturday 2 February after four days of sailing in warm sunshine and a steady breeze. The only ISAF Grade One ranked regatta held in the United States attracted 526 athletes representing 34 countries and took place in the eleven Olympic class boats and two Paralympic classes. RYA Team GBR came away from the first event of the Olympic class season with one medal for Rotherham Laser sailor Paul Goodison and a number of potential results in the competitive fleets.

European and world bronze medallist, Goodison went in to the event hoping to make it a hat-trick after wins previously at the Miami regatta in 2000 and 2001. After leading most of the duration of the event, he went into the final day two points ahead of Mark Mendelblatt of America. Having used his discard previously in the regatta, Goodison would have to stay out of trouble and sail two solid races in order to win the regatta. Mendelblatt finished the day with a sixth and a first place to Goodison’s 14th and second, which was enough to see Mendelblatt take first place by seven points. Goodison had done enough to take second, with Andrew Campbell of America in third place.

At this early stage in the year, the strength of the RYA Team GBR Laser squad was shown with Dan Holman (Cornwall) finishing in fourth place, including a number of results in the top five in his score-line, and team mate Mark Howard (Hampshire) in ninth place.

The most competitive fleet at the regatta was the 68-boat Star fleet, which was lined with talent and the class entry list read like a who’s who of sailing, with names such as Paul Cayard, John Kostecki, Vince Brun, Terry Hutchinson, Mark Reynolds and Great Britain’s own Olympic gold medallist and current world champion Iain Percy (Hampshire).

Almost every boat in the fleet at some point was awarded a black flag or marked as OCS (on course side) for being over keen on the start and crossing the line prematurely, which meant that those who sailed consistently and managed to stay out of trouble would prosper.

Percy and crew Steve Mitchell (Surrey) enjoyed a short break over the winter and the Miami regatta marked the start of a busy campaign year for the pair. After a successful year in 2002, making history as the first British sailors to win the Star worlds, they used the event as an opportunity to continue their training and eye up some of their competitors.

After a slightly shaky start with an OCS in the first race of the regatta, which was followed by a 50th place in race two, Percy and Mitchell found their form throughout the regatta, and left Miami on a high, being the only boat to score two first places, which they did on the final day, resulting in a 10th place overall finish.

Peter Bromby sailing with Lee White for Bermuda won the regatta for a second time and managed to fend of the push from Americans Andy Lovell/Eric Oetgen on the final day to count a second and an eleventh to win the regatta by 21 points. The final results saw the Americans dominating the top ten of the Star results with Bill Hardesty/Will Stout taking the final podium position, Paul Cayard in fourth place and Terry Hutchinson in fifth.

Close racing was also enjoyed in the Tornado fleet, Yngling class and 2.4mR, which were the only three other classes that had RYA Team GBR sailors competing.

Hugh Styles (Kent) and Adam May (Devon), who have spent some of the winter months training in America, finished in eight place in the Tornado fleet, which saw 2002 Olympic Test Event winners Roman Hagara/Hans-Peter Steinacher of Austria win the class by two points from Santiago Lange/Carlos Espinola of Argentina.

Two RYA Team GBR trios competed in the 24-boat Yngling class, which saw Sally Barkow/Carrie Howe/Debbie Capozzi of America take the top podium position. Lizzie Edwards (Essex)/Caroline Edwards/Sarah Webb finished in 13th place overall, two places in front of their Hampshire based team mates Cathy Foster/Jane Norris and Annie Lush.

2000 Paralympic gold medallist Heiko Kroeger of Germany took the top spot in the 2.4mR class from Hans Meyer of America. RYA Team GBR sailor Alan Smith (Leeds) finished in eleventh place with fellow Brit Val Millward one place behind.

The next event on the Olympic Class calendar is the Athens Eurolymp from the 18-22 February before going on to the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma from the 13-18 April.

Overall Results

Europe (25 boats)

1, Lenka Smidova, CZE (2,1,2,(7),2,1,1,1,1,1,1) 13 pts

2, Meg Gaillard, USA (1,2,1,1,1,(11),2,2,2,2,2)16 pts

3, Georgia Chimona, GRE ((11),3,4,2,3,5,3,3,7,3,3) 36 pts

GBR

9, Laura Baldwin (5,19,7,4,14,(DNF),9,4,10,8,8) 88 pts

Finn (32 boats)

1, Jonas Hoegh-Christensen, DEN ((8),2,5,6,1,4,1,1,2,6) 28 pts

2, Chris Cook, Whitby, CAN ((6),1,1,1,4,2,6,6,6,4) 31 pts

3, Richard Clarke, CAN (1,(33/OCS),6,3,11,10,2,2,1,8) 44 pts

No GBR boats

470 Men Mixed (12 boats)

1, Paul Foerster/Kevin Burnham, USA (2,9,1,3,2,4,1,(22/OCS),1,1) 24 pts

2, Steve Hunt/Michael Miller, USA (1,1,(6),1,6,3,3,1,6,3) 25 pts

3, Mark Ivey/Howard Cromwell, USA (3,2,4,6,1,7,2,4,4,(8)) 33 pts

No GBR boats

470 Women (9 boats)

1, Katie McDowell/Isabelle Kinsolving, USA (4,6,3,2,3,6,5,5,7,(9)) 41 pts

2, Erin Maxwell/Jen Morgan, USA (9,13,2,8,13,1,4,3,(14),2) 55 pts

3, Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler, USA (12,8,11,12,7,9,(15),7,9,11) 86 pts

No GBR boats

49er (17 boats)

1, Tim Wadlow/Peter Spaulding, USA (2,1,1,3,(5),2,1,2,3,1,3) 19 pts

2, Andy Mack/Adam Lowry USA (1,2,2,1,4,4,3,(5),1,4,1) 23 pts

3, Dave Fagen/Bora Gulari, USA (3,5,4,2,2,(8),2,1,2,6,2) 29 pts

No GBR boats

Laser (49 boats)

1, Mark Mendelblatt, USA (8,1,1,(24),4,17,5,1,4,6,1) 48 pts

2, Paul Goodison, GBR (7,6,5,4,1,8,1,(50/DNF),7,14,2) 55 pts

3, Andrew Campbell, USA ((16),10,6,9,5,3,3,5,2,10,6) 59 pts

Other GBR

4, Dan Holman (1,2,10,5,9,(11/ZFP),6,10,11,2,(12)) 67 pts

9, Mark Howard (4,7,8,3,16,7,12,11,14,(28),19) 101 pts

Mistral Men (22 boards)

1, Nikos Kaklimanakis, GRE (1,1,1,1,1,(11),1,5,2) 13 pts

2, Kevin Stittle, CAN (2,(34/OCS),3,10,2,1,2,1,3) 24 pts

3, David Mier y Teran, MEX (3,2,2,3,5,6,3,2,(34/RAF)) 26 pts

GBR

8, Toby Monk (9,6,11,4,7,9,6,12,(12.5/MAN)) 64 pts

Mistral Women (11 boards)

1, Anja Kaeser, SUI (6,9,5,2,3,(13),10,7,12.5) 54.5 pts

2, Dominique Vallee, CAN (11,3,8,12,7.4/OCS,RDG,3,13,14,(16); 71.4 pts

3, Swaine Gregoire, CAN (13,8,14,16,9,12,14,(17),13) 99 pts

No GBR boats

Star (68 boats)

1, Peter Bromby/Lee White, BER (6,7,11,1,34,(69/BFD),8,2,11) 80 pts

2, Andy Lovell/Eric Oetgen, USA (7,20,1,(31),11,15,3,19,25) 101 pts

3, Bill Hardesty/Will Stout, USA (13,12,12,24,(69/BFD),5,28,5,10) 108 pts

GBR

10, Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell ((OCS), 50,38,12,25,7,9,1,1) 143 pts

52, Jez Fanstone/Luke Chapman ((OCS),46,51,32,51,16,54,34,53) 337 pts

Tornado (28 boats)

1, Roman Hagara/Hans-Peter Steinacher, AUT (1,6,(8),1,3,8,1,8,7) 35 pts

2, Santiago Lange/Carlos Espinola, ARG (2,3,6,3,2,3,9,(14),9) 37 pts

3, Xavier Revil/Laurent Guillemette, FRA (9,2,12,2,7,10,(13),4,2) 48 pts

GBR

8, Hugh Styles/Adam May (12,9,2,12,12,7,2,10,(24)) 66 pts

Yngling (24 boats)

1, Sally Barkow/Carrie Howe/Debbie Capozzi, USA

((25/OCS),10,2,1,11,2,4,2,6,9,3) 50 pts

2, K. Giakoumidou/H. Dimitrakopoulou/E. Mantzaaki, GRE (2,7,10,4,12,1,1,14,4,2,(22)) 57 pts

3, Carol Cronin/Liz Filter/Bridget Hallawell, USA (4,1,7,15,1,6,(16),13,1,8,4) 60 pts

GBR

13, Lizzie Edwards/Caroline Edwards/Sarah Webb (11,9,14,13,21,12,19,11,10,7,(23)) 127 pts

15, Cathy Foster/Jane Norris/Annie Lush (10,21,11,11,7,9,20,15,(OCS),14,11) 129 pts

2.4 Metre (20 boats)

1, Heiko Kroeger, GER (1,1,1,(5),1,2,2,3,2,1) 14 pts

2, Hans Meyer, USA (3,(4),2,1,3,1,3,1,3,2) 19 pts

3, Stellan Berlin, SWE (2,6,(7),2,2,3,1,4,6,3) 29 pts

GBR

11, Alan Smith (11,8,4,(15),9,8,12,10,10,14) 86 pts

12, Val Millward (10,16,10,(OCS),11,12,13,13,14,10) 109 pts

Sonar (7 boats)

1, John Ross-Duggan/JP Creignou/Mikey Ross, USA (1,1,1,(4),2,2,1,2,3,1) 14 pts

2, Rick Doerr/Richard Hughes/Tim Angle, USA (4,3,4,2,1,3,(8/OCS),1,2,2) 22 pts

3, Ken Kelly/Peter Steel/Kirk Westergaard, CAN (3,6,2,1,3,(7),2,5,1,4) 27 pts No GBR boats