In sailing, if you win an Olympic medal (especially gold and preferably several), you'll probably have no problem getting hired onto an AC team. Nothing is a guarantee, of course...

Mike

Looks like it was a very tough first day at OCRs. Have seen some updates from British and Austrian teams on Facebook and Twitter. Sounds like 3 races in 25+ with lots of capsizes and breakages. Top US team is currently Easton/Pettibone in 25th with Aras/Hagood just behind in 26. Seems like Mike did the best job of going into survival mode. Hopefully none of the US teams have serious damage.

results:
http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/res...34440&view=fleetevent#results__18007

Looks like much of the US fleet punted on race 2 and 3...
Some interesting notes... Bora Gulari of Moth championship fame has jumped into the game.... but there was no magic in his pairing with Stephanie Hudson. Mark and Caroline Mendelbratt had the best finish of the US fleet with a 13 in R1. Old Fart Enrique Figoroa has a new partner and he seemed to be sailing well...

I think Bora and Stephanie have single digit sailing days before today, so I wouldn't read too much into today's results. Mendelblatt is definitely fast, which is also not surprising given he is a two-time olympian and took second at a laser worlds.

I was sitting with a wind meter in my face all day on the pin, and it was steady high teens / low 20s with occasional gusts into the mid twenties.

Yes, there was a lot of carnage, but to say that it was steady 25+ is just wrong. The squall that went through (we weren't racing at the time) was pretty interesting. ~40 kts and sideways rain. But it only lasted about 15 minutes.

That being said, 9+ hours in a 17' Boston Whaler, wrangling huge marks in that kind of breeze - I'm knackered. It's time for Advil and bed.

Thanks Matt, just going off of the very little information I could find. Hope you guys have great conditions the rest of the week. We have a blizzard here!

From Easton via Facebook

"Fun day learning to tame the Nacra 17 in 25-30+ with Katie Pettibone. Lots of carnage on the course (5 broken masts) so we were happy to finish all the races with just a few bruises and capsizes."

From Thomas Zajac and Tanya Frank:

"Day 1 at ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami was brutal, rendering winds up to 30 knots, cold rain and heavy chop. After a crash-capsize during the second race, we finished in 44th.
Far less encouraging was how quickly the fleet diminished, with many boats headed to shore due to injury-- and a grand total of five due to broken masts. Another two capsizes during the second race prompted us to seriously re-evaluate the harsh conditions. Eventually, we decided to keep our mast in one piece and retire for the day.
With our equipment and our bodies still fully intact, we are focused and ready to start fresh tomorrow!
(Hopefully the weather will stick to the forecasted 18-knots!)
Check us out for more updates this week."

From Coen De Koenig:

"First day OCR Miami. I think we all agreed it was bloody windy 20-30 knots. Had some issues (capsize, penalties etc) but hanging in there with 3 medium races 8,11,13."

From Robbie:

"A rough first day. Talked s look at Briannas cheak and you will get a feel. Race committee continued on even after more than half the fleet had crashed and burned. I think 6 broken masts today. To the tune of almost 8000 each. Key Sailing worked hard to pack a trailer and get it to lake City where Brian will get it and drive thru the night to get it to Miami in the morning so people can sail. This is just too much wind for this boat. Too much carnage and hospital level injuries. It's crazy.
Robbie ok after getting separated from the boat and missing for over 30 minutes. Thanks Max for picking him up! Bri banged up a bit but a trouper. Thanks Sulley for jumping in with your cloths on! Thanks Enrique for being there for them."

report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2...m_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Just so everyone knows . . .

The course race officers (there are six course circles here) do not have the authority to call off racing. They must receive authorization from the Principal Race Officer (Ricardo Navarro - a Brazilian, who started out racing Hobie 14s).

I saw the PRO boat pull up behind our signal boat in late afternoon, so I'm sure there was some conversation about the conditions. Peter van Muyden (the course RO), is very experienced (he runs the N17s at most of the ISAF world sailing cups).

The top guys probably would have bitched if it was blown off.

Matt: no winning for the RC in those conditions, hopefully the rest of the week is great!

From Steph Hudson:

"We had quite an interesting Day 1 of the Miami World Cup! Survival conditions on our 4th day in the boat together, and we were one of the lucky ones to only break small parts. Many Nacra masts broke yesterday, and without extra stock in the US, it is unfortunately game over for some of our competitors. Hopefully the rest of the week will not be so expensive for the fleet!!"

From Cammas: http://www.cammas-groupama.com/en/news/GSTnews/actu_equipe_503.jsp

I'm stuck in a blizzard, so will post what I see!

+1!

From Girke/Ramsay:

"Big Monday has come and gone, leaving a trail of broken boats and souls littered across the race area. But for us, the day went very well in the testing conditions. Other then a few minor swims and some broken battens, the team is feeling strong, fit and confident going into the rest of the week's racing. Today's triumph comes all the hard work and training that has gone into this campaign as well as the sheer will power and determination to achieve what is possible. Tomorrow's forecast is for a near perfect 11-15 knots and sunny skies. We couldn't be more excited!"

Some good day-1 footage on FB can be found here here

Sorry - couldn't get a direct link to work.

Looks like it was the real deal. Some serious pucker factor on the bear-away.

Live Tracking now: http://static.sportresult.com/feder.../index.php?event=109&pm=2d&v=103

Wilmot, Mendelbrat and Newberry finish first race of the day within 10 secs of each other.

Next Race Newberry Mendelbatt and wilmot finish within 8 seconds of each other..... (damn... can't wait to see how race three shakes out...

Wilmot, Easton and Newberry finish within less then a minute of each other AND close to the top of fleet...

Overall Wilmot and Easton are top US in standing since they survived Monday on the course.. Standing 20 or worse in the fleet.

Looks like JC had some issues with his mast replacement in race one... Its tough to recover after you break the stick you know so well.

looking forward to reports from the water!!


(Thank Goodness for US Laswr woman.... they seem to be strong for medal slots otherwise only two boats in the top 10s in the other fleets)

If you guys are even shooting video out on the water, please go easy with the zoom...it enhances the bouncieness and makes it hard to view.

That was the German coach shooting video, not the pro media teams they have here.

Today, they had a camera from a balloon(!) shooting the gate roundings.

Much better day on the water today. But again, I'm knackered. We run 3 races for the 49er blue fleet, then 3 for the N17s. We left the dock @ 8:45 and didn't get back until 4:30.

A balloon!? How does that work?