Day 5 and the RS:X Windsurfing Fleets woke to a brisk
northwesterly breeze here in Miami which certainly
made up for races lost to light air yesterday.
The conditions, though were chilly by Florida standards
and a tad shifty too.
Marina Alabau - ESP - took her foot off the gas just as
Marine Rambaud - FRA - stepped on it.
She won both races of the day to climb to 6th overall just 6 points behind Jessica Crisp - AUS - whom she will have to beat by two places in the medal race tomorrow to squeeze into the top 5. Fourth is a possibility too with Jessica tied on points with Laura Linares - ITA - In the light stuff predicted for Saturday, this is not an unreasonable ask.
Marina is 11 points clear at the top despite putting in her worst pair of results here at the Rolex Miami OCR. All she has to do is sail conservatively to secure the win.
Please note that there are 4 French women windsurfers in the top 11 here in Miami !
Congrats go to RS:X Women's Windsurfers Patricia Freitas - BRA - and Nikola Girke - CAN - for making the medal race. These two have everything to play for as Rolex World sailor of the Year, Blanca Manchon - ESP - is there with them on points.
Just outside the top 10, Farrah Hall - USA - and Demita Vega - MEX - have put in strong performances too.
It's 'Game on' in the RS:X men's windsurfing fleet.
Nick Dempsey - GBR - just has to put one board between himself and leader Dorian van Rijsselberge - NED - to win. It's going to be full on in the light stuff with Nimrod Mashiah - ISR - looking to mix it up a little too. He needs to put 2 places between himself and Dempsey and hope that Dorian is having a bad day if he has any chance of taking gold. The trouble is that he may be fully occupied with Spain's Ivan Pastor with whom he is tied on points.
Congratulations go to Zac Plavsic -CAN and Elliot Carney - GBR - who have made the medal race in fine style. It's a nice boost to the start of their ISAF World Cup Season.
And congratulations also go to Robert Willis - USA - who is now #1 RS:X windsurfer on the 2011 U.S. Sailing Team and their representative at the Pan-American Games in October, Guadalajara, Mexico. He beat team mate Ben Barger by 11 points despite Ben having lead race 8 for a while. As to who goes to the big one - 2012 Olympic Games - that's down to the U.S. Olympic Trials Regatta in 4 months time.
Overall the regatta started with strong wind, then went light wind and day 5 was medium-strong. All that's left is medal day tomorrow and that looks light according to the forecast. Let the best man or woman win !
Rolex Miami OCR - RS:X Men's Results
Rolex Miami OCR - RS:X Women's Results
Image by WindsurfingRacingTour