Racing at the 11th Annual Miami Olympic Class Regatta furthered winnowed the field of 295 competitors from 32 countries in their pursuit for a spot in the Olympics. The International Sailing Federation rates the regatta the only grade-one sailing event in the U.S. Competition was intense throughout the Soling, Star, Tornado, Europe, Finn, and Laser and Mistral classes.
Soling racing continued its match race format with U.K?s Andy Beadsworth posting first for the championship followed by Sweden?s Hans Wallen and U.S.?s Jeff Madrigali at third.
Light air foiled some of the races in the 50-boat Star fleet, though eventually Marc Pickel and Thomas Auracher from Germany placed first with 11 points. Trailing were Australia?s Colin Beashel and David Giles in second and Canada?s Ross MacDonald and Kai Bjorn finishing the regatta third.
The 13-boat Tornado class saw strong U.S. postings as 1996 Olympians John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree took the championship. Bristol, RI?s Lars Guck and PJ Schaffer had second place with third place going to the Clearwater/Daytona Fla. team of Robbie Daniel and Jacques Bernier.
Other top U.S. finishers included Amanda Clark who is third out of the 15-boat Europe fleet, led by Denmark?s Soren Johnsen and Austria?s Denise Cesky.
Mark Herrmann from Seattle, WA. took third place in the 28-boat Finn class which was won by Canadian?s Richard Clarke with second place going to Belgiums?s Phillipe Rogge.
Sweden?s Karl Suneson went on to win the 62-boat Laser fleet followed by the Netherlands's Serge Kats and U.S.'s Mark Mendelblatt of St. Petersburg, FL.
The Mistral board sailing fleet saw Japanese sailors Kazuyoshi and Keisuke Ogawa trading places throughout the racing for a tie for the series to be determined by the winner of the last race, while Ben Barger of St. Petersburg kept a lock on third with 22 points.
