Day 1 in Miami delivers Early lead for USA and China

The 311 sailors representing 37 countries were greeted with spectacular, yet challenging conditions for the first of six days of racing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami. Sailors on five racecourses on Biscayne Bay welcomed sunny skies with temperatures in the mid-70s and moderate to strong winds when racing got underway on Monday 28 January 2013.

The Men's and Women's 470 fleets got the day started this morning in 15 to 18 knots. World #7 and 2012 Olympian Stuart McNay (USA) just missed out on the medal stand last year in Miami. He and fellow American teammate David Hughes rushed out to an early lead in the 11 team fleet, by finishing third and first.

There are two Austrian teams competing in the Men's 470. World #13 and 2012 Olympians from Austria, Matthias Schmid and Floran Reichstaedter are fresh off a win at the 470 North American Championship here in Biscayne Bay. They finished second and fourth today.

"We've had a long break, and this is our first real world cup and regatta since Olympics," said Schmid. "We are just trying to get back into racing mode and put our first foot forward for the next Olympic campaign."

470 Fleet © Walter Cooper

Winning today's first race in the nine team Women's 470 event was China's Xiaomei Xu and Chunyan Yu. Brazil's Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Luiza Barbachan were fifth and second today. They finished sixth at the Summer Games in Weymouth/Portland. Oliveira won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics with Isabel Swan as crew. Swan is racing this week with skipper Renata Decnop and are looking ahead to Rio 2016. After struggling in race one, Decnop and Swan placed third in race two.

"This is the first international event we have sailed together, so we are getting used to being a team. We have only been sailing for three months, but have practiced in Rio a lot and have known each other for a long time," explained Decnop. "We had a good start in our first race, but most importantly, we didn't get to the right shift. The second race was much better. On the second upwind leg we got to our right shift."

To follow all the action this week in Miami, visit event website at http://mocr.ussailing.org for real-time racecourse blogging, commentary and fan interaction with Cover it Live, regatta results, photos and news updates.

More Information:
470 Results
Event Website
ISAF Sailing World Cup News

Top image: Renata Decnop/Isabel Swan (BRA) © Walter Cooper