Sailors from 64 nations are gearing up for the first big showdown of Olympic and Paralympic sailing in 2016, Sailing World Cup Miami presented by Sunbrella. Racing is set to commence at 10:00 local time on Monday 25 January across the ten Olympic and two Paralympic fleets. Medal Races on Saturday 30 January will bring Sailing World Cup Miami to a close with the races to be broadcast live on the World Sailing TV YouTube Channel – www.youtube.com/worldsailingtv
More than 780 athletes will feature across the ten Olympic and two Paralympic events from Monday 25 to Saturday 30 January. Whilst the Paralympic racing wraps up on 29 January, the Olympic competitors will be fighting it out to appear in Saturday’s live television broadcast of the Medal Races.
Set to be shown in front of a live audience on the World Sailing TV YouTube channel and on more than ten global broadcasters, Sailing World Cup Miami will provide sailing fans with a window of opportunity to see who is looking strong on the Road to Rio.
If World Cup glory was not enough to drive the sailors forward, those from North and South America will be aiming to qualify their nation for Rio 2016 as the event acts as the Continental Qualification regatta for both regions.
The Nacra 17 will be fiercely contested as Puerto Rico’s Enrique Figueroa and Franchesca Valdes face off against two Canadian teams for the North American spot. Long term campaigners and Olympians Luke Ramsay and Nikola Girke will be the main Canadian hopefuls aiming to to overcome the Puerto Ricans. They’ll have compatriots and relative newcomers to the Nacra 17 Maxime Loiselle and Justine Antaya for company in the fleet.
Throughout 2015 the Puerto Ricans faced Ramsay and Girke on six occasions in highly competitive fleets. Figueroa and Valdes finished ahead of the Canadians at World Cup Miami, the World Championships and the European Championships.
Ramsay and Girke were in front of the Puerto Ricans at World Cup Hyeres and Weymouth & Portland as well as the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta.
At each regatta the separation between the teams was minimal. That rivalry will resume in Miami for what could be the final bout between the teams as there will be no second chances for whoever misses out.
As for South American qualification, Guatemala’s Jason Hess and Irene Abascal, Uruguay’s Pablo Defazio and Mariana Foglia and Venezuala’s Yamil Saba and Andrea Saba will go toe to toe for the Rio 2016 spot.
At the head of the fleet World #1 Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AUS) will spearhead a pack of 49 that includes high profile Nacra 17 contenders. Teams such as three-time World Champions Billy Besson and Marie Riou (FRA), World #2 Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri (ITA) and the experienced Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli (ARG) will all be on the start line.
Entries for Sailing World Cup Miami are available to view on the World Sailing website and results of the Sailing World Cup Miami will be available throughout when racing commences on 25 January.
Live Tracking Sailing World Cup Miami
The racing will be available to watch in 2D and 3D via the live tracking. Live Tracking via the Sailviewer-3D Tablet App will be available for devices with 7″ or bigger screens.
