Clearwater sailor top American finisher in ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami
After six days of near-gales, followed by shifty breezes, then doldrums, and finally some consistent wind, no U.S. sailors made it to the awards podium Saturday in the 10 Olympic classes competing in ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami presented by Sunbrella.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s medal round among the top-10 finishers in each class on Biscayne Bay, the only American who came close to winning hardware was Clearwater’s Paige Railey in Laser Radials.
The defending champ — an Olympian and ISAF World Sailor of the Year — spent the week rising through the top 10. She won Saturday’s medal round but finished fourth in the overall points race. Denmark’s Anne Marie Rindom, who led the regatta pretty much wall-to-wall, won gold.
“It’s been unlike any Miami Olympic-classes regatta I’ve ever sailed,” Railey, 27, said. “This was definitely the most difficult. It was hard sailing.”
The annual regatta is a must-do for anyone campaigning for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. More than 600 sailboats from 64 countries competed.
Among the top U.S. men were Plantation skipper Brad Funk and crew Trevor Burd of Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 49ers. They came in second in Saturday’s medal round and seventh overall. Austria’s Nico Delle-Karth and Nikolaus Resch won the class.
“Every single leg was different and tricky to sail,” Funk, 36, said. “We had some big comebacks to keep us in the top 10. [Saturday], we showed we race with the top-10 guys in the world.”
Charlie Buckingham of Newport Beach, California, took seventh place in Lasers after finishing fourth in the final. Germany’s Philipp Buhl topped the fleet. San Diego’s Caleb Paine was ninth overall in the Finn class, which was won by Great Britain’s Giles Scott.
In the women’s 470, skipper Anne Haeger of East Troy, Wisconsin, and crew Briana Provancha of San Diego were eighth overall, and New Zealand’s Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie took the gold.
No U.S. sailors made it to the medal round in the other five Olympic classes. The men’s 470 champs were skipper Luke Patience and crew Elliott Willis of Great Britain. In women’s 49er FX, New Zealand’s Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech took the top spot. The Nacra 17 winners were Italy’s Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri.
Dorian Van Rijsselberge of the Netherlands won RS:X men, and Great Britain’s Bryony Shaw won RS:X women.
The Miami regatta was the second of five events in the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup series, with a final contest among the top-20 boats in each class to be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in October.
This story was originally published January 31, 2015 at 9:35 PM with the headline "Clearwater sailor top American finisher in ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami."