ISAF Sailing World Championships - USA qualifies two Olympic events

by Dana Paxton on 9 Dec 2011 Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships sixth day of racing was held in glorious wind and sunshine off Fremantle in Australia.

With three additional races held Thursday in the Laser Radial, Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) has an overall third place, to date, in the series. By making the cut into the gold fleet on Wednesday, Railey secured a country berth for USA in the women’s singlehanded dinghy event at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Her USSTAG team mates, Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), Molly Vandemoer (Stanford, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) finished at the top of Group A – with 12 wins, three losses – and advanced straight to the Women’s Match Racing quarterfinals, and by doing so they qualified the USA for the 2012 Games.

For Paige Railey, today’s three races were a chance to move up and secure some points on the fleet. With a dominating win in the first of three races, Railey displayed her trademark tenacity.

'Going into the first race I knew I had to perform,' said Railey. 'I wanted to show the whole Radial fleet that the pressure is on, but I mean business! I had a great start and stuck to my gut with the tactics. When I was ahead I thought to myself that I don't need to outsmart anyone; I just need to be conservative and protect my lead.'

She lead from the start and held her lead for most of the race, never giving up her advantage.

'Going into the racing, I knew that it was going to be an important day,' said Railey. 'I told myself that it was time to step up, so to perform well under pressure makes me very happy. Of course I feel that there are things that I can improve on, but what’s so great about that is that I have two more races to apply the new knowledge! I’m really happy that I managed to move up in the standings.'

Stu McNay (Boston, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) collected their throwout score - 21st - in today’s lone Men’s 470 race. They currently stand in ninth overall, while their USSTAG team mates Adam Roberts and Nick Martin (both San Diego, Calif.) are in 26th.

In the Finn class, Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) finished 14th in the lone race of the day to bring his overall score to 11th after six races.

Racing in the Men’s 470, Finn and Women’s RS:X classes continues on Friday, December 9; Laser Radial has a reserve day. 'Team GETSailing' - Genny Tulloch (Houston, Texas/Sausalito, Calif.), Alice Manard Leonard (New Orleans, La./East Haven, Conn.) and Jenn Chamberlin (Washington, D.C.) return to Fremantle’s Inner Harbour on Friday to complete the Group B round robin in Women’s Match Racing. At stake is the chance to advance to the next round.

The Star, along with Men’s RS:X, Laser, Women’s 470 and 49er, race during the second week of this event.

To follow the live blog from event organizers and link to live tracking, please visit the event website. For class results click here.

For a roster of US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics athletes competing in this event, please visit here.

http://sailingteams.ussailing.org" target="_blank">US Sailing Team website