While Miami woke up to a nice breeze, it had started to fade by the time the first gun sounded at 10:00. There was enough wind to make it through one race for both fleets, but that was it. After waiting in vain for something to materialize, the 470s were sent in for the day.

The race for first in the Men's 470 race came down to a battle between Asenathi Jim/Roger Hudson from South Africa and the Ducasse brothers of Chile. The South Americans had the upper hand initially, but Jim/Hudson ground them down on the second beat to take the win. A nice opener after their recent victory at the 2016 470 African Championships.

American medal hopefuls Stu McNay/David Hughes struggled off the line, but managed to stem the bleeding and go on the attack.

"We did not have a very good start because of our own errors, but were able to be in the mix with the peleton working our way up [the first beat]," said crew Hughes. "We got flagged [for a rule violation] during the run, but we ended up only losing one boat on those penalty turns. Things really came together for us on the second upwind, we were able to pass a few more boat."

Skipped by one more boat on the final run lifted the Americans into fourth, a solid opening race. The Australian team of Thomas Klemens/Timothy Hannah was third in the race, with Onan Barreiros/Juan Curbelo Cabrera of Spain in fifth.

It was a 'head out the boat' kind of day with sailors looking to play the shifts and read the current to advance in large packs of racers. The morning opened with 4-6 knots from the north that slowly swung to the east, coming in at 7 knots and peaking at 10.

The duo of Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luiza Barbachan (BRA) won the only Women's 470 race, getting the upper hand in a see-saw battle with Tsuf Zamet/Stav Brokman (ISR). The Israeli team led around the first mark, and stretched away to nearly a half minute lead on the run. But Oliveira /Barbachan turned the tables on the second beat and took over the lead, which they held for the remainder of the race. Marina Gallego/Fatima Reyes (ESP) finished third with Xiaomei Xu/Ping Zhang (CHN) in fourth and Lara Vadlau/Jolanta Ogar (AUT) in fifth.

Up for grabs at Sailing World Cup Miami is Olympic Qualification for one nation in each for both South America and North America. South American Olympic Qualification will be between Chile and Ecuador in the Men's and Argentina and Chile in the Women's. As for North America, Canadian and Mexican sailors will compete for the Men's Rio 2016 slot and Canada's Allie Surrette/Ali Ten Hove are left uncontested in the Women's.

MEDIA INFORMATION

Live sailing will be available from 11:00 EST on Saturday here:
URL - https://youtu.be/_V2YQYar0IU
Embed - <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_V2YQYar0IU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Further information on how to follow the event is available below:

RESULTS / ENTRIES
Entries for Sailing World Cup Miami are available to view here - http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_registrant_list.php?regatta_id=11442&custom_report_id=66 and results will be available throughout when racing commences on 25 January here - http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/results/index.php
 
LIVE TRACKING
The racing will be available to watch in 2D and 3D via the live tracking. Live tracking will be available when racing commences via - http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/multimedia/tracking.php
 
Live Tracking via the Sailviewer-3D Tablet App will be available for devices with 7" or greater screens.
Click here to download the iOS Application - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sailviewer-3d/id912801278
Click here to download the Android Application - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stsportservice.sailviewer

COMPETITION STATUS
The Competition Status Screen feeds in straight from the Race Committee boats with the teams inputting data such as race times, course type, the status of each race and the plan moving forward. The competition status screen will be available when racing commences via - http://www.sailing.org/worldcup/multimedia/tracking.php

PHOTOGRAPHY
High resolution imagery free for editorial usage will be provided throughout Sailing World Cup Miami by Sailing Energy. Imagery will be available to download via http://worldsailing.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/SWC-Miami-2016/C0000XsZ8MOIfCnE. The password is SWCMiami16

VIDEO
Agency news feeds will be available from Sailing World Cup Miami.
Four VNRs will be sent throughout the event:
Tuesday 26th of January
Friday 29th of January                                                                                                          
Saturday 30th January (Medal races)  

VNR duration and content: 2:30 minutes agency news feed. Includes long lens shots, on board action, mounted cameras and sound on tape.

For further TV news information or interview requests please contact:

Sabina Mollart-Rogerson
M: +44 (0) 7922 140 148
E: smollartrogerson@sunsetvineapp.com

Florence Hill
M: +44 (0) 7899 793 185
E: florence.hill@sunsetvineapp.com

Blanca Handrich
M: +34 657 854 173
E: blanca.handrich@sunsetvineapp.com