Little to no breeze created mirror-like conditions on the calm waters of Biscayne Bay Monday morning for race day 1 of ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami. This was not ideal for the 580 sailors representing 50 countries, who were raring and ready to go for the start of this six-day international regatta. Racing was postponed at approximately 09:00 local time due to insufficient wind, pushig back the start times to around 12:00. The breeze picked pick up in the afternoon and all fleets completed races in the consistent light breeze, with wind speeds ranging from 4 to 8 knots for most of the afternoon.

Men's 470
The Men's 470 is stacked with a strong fleet of world ranked teams, including #1 ranked Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS), who are looking to extend their unbeaten streak as a team to 11 this week. Belcher has won his last 18 consecutive 470 regattas.

The 2013 World Champions also won gold at the 2013 ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne. They were third and ninth on the opening day and are currently fourth out of 30 teams.

The day belonged to 2013 470 World Championship silver medallists Sofian Bouvet and Jeremie Mion. The tandem won both races to get off to an outstanding start. They were challenged by defending champions Stu McNay (USA) and David Hughes (USA), who placed second in both races. World #3 Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) placed second at both ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao and Melbourne. They are coming off a silver medal at the North American Championships. Fantela and Marenic are in third place.

Bouvet/Mion (FRA) © Walter Cooper

"Our goal this year is Santander [ISAF Worlds]," said Fantela. "We got off to an early start this year by racing in Qingdao, Melbourne, and now Miami. The competition here is quite high. Only a few from the top 20 are not racing this week. We are used to the light winds from the recent North American Championships and knew what the wind was going to do. We had to play with the shifts all the time and focus on boat speed because if you lose only a half meter, somebody will catch you on the starboard tack."

Fantela also commented on going up against Belcher and Ryan again this week. "Certainly, it would be nice to beat those guys. They have had so much success and we are good friends outside the course. As a sportsman, I'd like to beat them this week."

Women's 470
The small, but talented, Women's 470 fleet kicked-off the racing. Three of the World's top five crews are battling it out on the Bay this week in the 10-boat fleet.

Great Britain's Sophie Weguelin and Eilidh McIntyre used the light wind to their advantage. They won race one and followed up with a third place finish. Weguelin and McIntyre are ranked #3 in the ISAF Women's 470 World Rankings. The placed fifth at the 470 Women's World Championships last July in La Rochelle, France.

"We are trying to work on our downwind boat speed, as well as our decision making and communication around the race course this week," explained Weguelin. "Sailing in a smaller fleet has its pros and cons. We've been down here racing for the past couple weeks at North Americans and we trained down here as well." The duo placed third out of ten teams last week here in Miami at the North American Championships.

World #1 Austria's Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar (AUT) won race two after slipping to seventh in race one

Taking place from 26 January to 1 February 2014, this 25th edition of ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami annually attracts top ranked one-design sailors in 10 Olympic and three Paralympic events selected for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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Image: Light wind racing © Walter Cooper