Miami, Fla. (January 19, 2015) – From 26-31 January 2015, Miami, USA will welcome world class fields in ten Olympic and three Paralympic events for the second regatta of the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup series.

Biscayne Bay will come alive with the sails of 651 boats, featuring 848 sailors from 63 nations. The stakes are high at the 2015 edition of ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, Presented by Sunbrella, with Abu Dhabi Final qualification spots and valuable ranking points available at the 200-point regatta.

The 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, Presented by Sunbrella, marks the second anniversary of competition for the Nacra 17. The mixed multihull made its debut at the 2013 edition with a small seven boat fleet that was dominated by North Americans. Sarah Newberry and John Casey (USA) took the first Nacra 17 gold medal and now two years on, Miami welcomes a truly international field with 21 nations represented within the 51-boat fleet.

Seasoned campaigners and young hopefuls will be on the start line come 26 January, gunning for an Abu Dhabi ISAF Sailing World Cup Final qualification spot.

Beijing 2008 Tornado Olympic gold medallist Fernando Echavarri (ESP) will take to Nacra 17 racing for the first time in Miami. Echavarri has paired up with 2011 470 World Champion Tara Pacheco who formerly sailed with Iker Martinez. Pacheco and Martinez, who were coached by Echavarri, split up towards the end of 2014 with Martinez teaming up with Marina Lopez.

The transition from coach boat to the Nacra 17 has gone well for the experienced Echavarri, a two time Tornado World Champion, who is taking things in his stride, “We have been sailing for about two months. We are just starting and there are many things that are going on and we want to think about a one year campaign. If everything works well and we qualify [for Rio 2016], we will then think about the next step.

“Miami will be the first race so we are just thinking about learning and getting into the game again. At the moment we are taking it day by day. We have many things to organise before we even think about our goals. For today I can tell you that our goal is to balance the rudders, which will make everything easier.

“We’ve had some normal starting issues that make us lose some time but we are happy about our progression. There are many things to learn and they are special to remember. Here in Miami we came two days ago [Thursday 15 January] with a charter boat so there is plenty of work to do to prepare.

“It’s a nice competition, as always, in Miami. I am really happy to be back in the game.”

Echavarri joins a list of highly experienced competitors in the Miami Nacra 17 fleet. Two time Nacra 17 World Champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou (FRA), Sofia Bekatorou and Konstantinos Trigonis (GRE), Franck Cammas and Sophie de Turckheim (FRA) and Puerto Rico’s Enrique Figueroa, sailing with Franchesca Valdes Ortega, all have vast experience that they’ll put into practice in Miami.

At the other end of the spectrum are Aruba’s Nicole van der Velden and Thijs Visser. At 20-years-old Van der Velden is one of the youngest competitors in the fleet but with two years of campaigning behind her, she hasn’t been intimated by her older rivals, reaching World #17 and finishing in the top ten at the European Championship.

“It’s amazing how much you can learn in two years just by committing to something,” commented van der Velden. “The learning curve has been huge for me. The Nacra is so much fun to sail and I can’t wait to see what this year will bring for us.”

It would be easy for van der Velden to look in awe at the star spangled fleet that features numerous Olympic medallists, Volvo Ocean Race winners and multiple World Champions but she has used the competition to her advantage as she explained, “It’s awesome to be able to sail against such experienced sailors. It really pushes you even harder to get better and better, especially being so young there’s so much to learn.

“For us at the moment it’s quite important to keep working on our racing skills. So every race we do we try to learn as much as possible from it.”

Lisa Darmanin and Jason Waterhouse (AUS) were the first Nacra 17 pair to qualify for the Abu Dhabi ISAF Sailing World Cup Final when they took the Melbourne title. Teams will be vying to join them on the start line with six days of high intensity racing in Miami.

Great Britain’s Giles Scott will spearhead the Finn fleet, aiming to defend his title and continue his unbeaten run of six ranked regattas and the Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2014 (Olympic Test Event).

Scott has dominated at every regatta and has his eyes on another victory, “It [the unbeaten run] is absolutely something I’d like to continue. Every regatta I do is incredibly important, but that being said I do really try and focus on each event as it comes so we’ll have to see what Miami brings, I’m sure it will be great racing.

“I think the fleet will be very strong this year with only a handful of the top guys missing. Last year we were plagued by lack of wind so hopefully this year we get good Miami conditions.”

World #1 Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO), World #2 Caleb Paine (USA), ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne victor Ed Wright (GBR) and Abu Dhabi ISAF Sailing World Cup Final champion Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) will all be in the fleet.

Forty five teams are registered to compete in the Men’s 470 and quality is prevalent throughout the pack. Mat Belcher and Will (AUS) will be the ones to beat whilst 2013 champions Sofian Bouvet and Jeremie Mion (FRA) will want to hold on to their title. 2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao gold medallists Jordi Xammar and Joan Herp (ESP) will be looking to impress whilst Greece’s Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis will certainly be in the running for top honours.

In the Women’s 470, 2014 World Champions Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar (AUT), Olympic champions Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) and Olympic silver medallists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) will renew their rivalry. The trio shared the podium at the Santander 2014 ISAF Worlds as well as the 2014 Olympic Test Event with minimal separation between them.

Miami will be the first opportunity for the trio to test themselves against each other in 2015 which will make for some intriguing and insightful racing.

In the 2.4mR, one of three Paralympic events taking place in Miami, Megan Pascoe (GBR) will be aiming to defend her title. In testing winds at the 2014 edition Pascoe kept her focus to take the victory ahead of Allan Leibel (CAN) and Helena Lucas (GBR). Both Leibel and Lucas will return in 2015 with Melbourne victor Matt Bugg (AUS) and the ever consistent Bjornar Erikstad (NOR) also within the fleet.

Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell (GBR) return to defend their crown in the SKUD18 but will face stiff competition from long term rivals Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS). Ten boats will go in the competitive Sonar fleet with 2014 silver medallists John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas (GBR) set to lead the charge.

Competitors in the Paralympic events will have five days of fleet racing from Monday 26 January to Friday 30 January. Medal Races across the ten OIympic events will bring the regatta to a close on Saturday 31 January where medals will be awarded to the top three boats.

Regatta Headquarters will be located at the US Sailing Center Miami, an official Olympic training center, in Coconut Grove, Miami, Fla. Additional hosts for the event include Miami Rowing Club, Coconut Grove Sailing Club and Shake-a-Leg Miami. These sailing organizations host classes onshore, as well as help run the on-the-water racing. The Coral Reef Yacht Club hosts the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami is sponsored by Beneteau, Jeanneau, Lagoon, Sperry Top-Sider, Chubb Personal Insurance, City of Miami, Harken, McLube, Coral Reef Sailing Apparel, UMiami Health Sports Medicine, and Vetus-Maxwell

(end)

Editors Notes:

Video
Rights free news feeds containing interviews and b-roll of sailing action will be available from Wednesday 28 January through to Saturday 31 January on the ISAF FTP. A log Sheet will be attached. In addition, fully-produced highlight packages will be available from 26 to 31 January. These will contain interviews, action and results, including event graphics. For FTP login details, specific requests and native language interviews please contact ISAF TV using the following address – isaf.tv@isaf.com

Images
High resolution, free for editorial use images will be available to download view US Sailing’s Flickr account here. For specific requests please contact the ISAF Communications Department below.

Results
Results are available here – www.sailing.org/worldcup/results/index.php

Live Tracking
The racing will be available to watch in 2D and 3D via the live tracking.

Click here to view live tracking.

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.
Click here to download the Android Application.

Follow
ISAF Sailing World Cup website
ISAF Sailing World Cup Facebook
ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami Facebook

The @ISAFupdates and @SailingWCMiami (#SWCMiami15) Twitter accounts will be following the action throughout the week.

Contact
ISAF Communications Department
Tel: + 44 2380 635 111
Fax: + 44 2380 635 789
Email: marketing@isaf.com

ISAF Sailing World Cup
The ISAF Sailing World Cup is a world-class annual series for Olympic sailing. It is open to the sailing events chosen for the 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition. Its centre piece is the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup will consist of five regattas for all ten Olympic events and where possible, Formula Kite Racing. Qualification places for the ISAF Sailing World Cup final are up for grabs at each event. The final will bring together the top 20 boats in each Olympic event and an Open Kiteboarding event where the World Cup Champions will be crowned

2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup
Melbourne – 7-14 December 2014
Miami – 25-31 January 2015
Hyères – 20-26 April 2015
Weymouth and Portland – 8-14 June 2015
Qingdao – 14-20 September 2015
2015 Final Abu Dhabi – 27 October to 1 November 2015

View the World Cup qualification system here.

For more information about ISAF please go to isaf.com or contact marketing@isaf.com

About The International Sailing Federation
The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) is the world governing body for the sport of sailing. ISAF is made up of over 130 Member National Authorities (MNAs), who are its principal members, and responsible for the decision making process that governs the sailing world. There are currently more than 100 ISAF International, Recognized and Classic Yacht Classes, ranging from the small dinghy classes for young people up to 60 foot ocean racers.