SAILING:BOTH OF Ireland's big hopes for London Olympic success are back on the water this weekend at US Sailing's Rolex Miami Olympic classes regatta in Florida attended by 532 sailors drawn from 44 countries.
When Dún Laoghaire’s Annalise Murphy secured her Olympic berth in the Laser Radial class at the world championships in Australia last month, the single-hander showed the depth of her ambition when she left the venue disappointed at not having won a medal. Now she has another chance starting next Monday, this time on Biscayne Bay against a similar fleet that includes arch rival and reigning world champion Marit Bouwmeester.
Racing is scheduled through to Saturday, January 28th, and the six-day event is the second of seven 2011-2012 ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas. It features elite-level competition in the classes selected for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Ireland is competing in both the Star keelboat and Laser Radial divisions.
Paralympians John Twomey, Anthony Hegarty and Ian Costello who finished seventh overall at the recent IFDS Worlds will also be in action.
In the radial fleet, Murphy knows that to outwit the Dutch woman she needs to maintain a consistent score line, something she did not do in Australia.
Murphy won four races in Perth, more than any other sailor in her fleet. Her average position, excluding discard, was seventh. If she had scored seventh in her two worst races, she would have won the regatta by five points. Instead a couple of bad results kept her sixth overall.
Still sixth in a 102-boat fleet of such world-class competitors is a top result. It was also a personal best for Murphy.
On Sunday against a fleet of 59 it all starts again and Bouwmeester is well aware of the Irish threat particularly if winds on Biscayne Bay blow over 10 knots where Murphy has proved untouchable.
In the Star class, Peter O’Leary and David Burrows also learned from their World’s experience and though they qualified for London in 12th overall, the Cork-Dublin duo now want to jump-start 2012 by taking their campaign up “a step or two”. Buoyed by recent successes Burrows has declared a medal could be “on the cards”.
The Star class is shining with world-renowned champions, and the best-known names attending Miami are two-time Olympic gold medallists Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada of Brazil, who wrapped up 2011 with their second straight title at the Star World Championships.
Significantly though, there are some names missing in the Miami line-up – Olympic gold medallists Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson from Britain. Also absent are the German’s Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen, second in Perth, and Poland’s Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominick Zycki, fourth in Perth.
Now back in school but still celebrating her silver-medal performance at this month’s Optimist World Championships in New Zealand, Sophie Browne (14) has been saluted at home for her solo performance. The Tralee sailor was 13th overall in a fleet of 200 elite pre-qualified sailors and a silver medallist in the girl’s division.
To put the result into an international perspective the best British sailor in Napier was 21st overall.
