Each year in January, the Miami Yacht Club is the host of the US Sailing Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR) for Tornados and is proud to have been the home of the 2004 Tornado US Olympic Trials held in February of that year.  After two weeks of competition, one sailing team was chosen from the Trials to represent the USA in the Summer Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens, Greece.  Since then as we have done for many previous years, the Club has provided the race committee and headquarters for the international and national competitions in the OCR's Tornado class.  Last year, the OCR took place during the week of January 21^st to 27^th.  Below are pictures from past OCR events that we have sponsored.

The Tornado catamaran can reach speeds of 15 to 18 knots upwind and downwind, and over 33 knots reaching!

STRONG USA PRESENCE AT THE TORNADO 2006 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN ARGENTINA

Several US Sailing Team members traveled to San Isidro, Argentina, to compete in the Tornado World Championship that took place Tuesday, December 5, 2006, and concluded on Sunday, December 10^th.  The USA athletes competing in the event were John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree, Robbie Daniel/Gary Chu, Don Thinschmidt/Andrew Wierda, and Michael Grandfield/Brock Callen.  Lovell and Ogletree also competed in the Tornado South American Championship at the same site, a warm-up regatta for the Worlds, in which they finished 10^th out of 32 boats.  Visit the Tornado World Championship event website at http://tornado2006.cnsi.org.ar for latest news from the event.

THE 2007 ROLEX MIAMI OCR AND TORNADO NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP REGATTAS

From January 21^st to 27^th, 2007, the 18th annual US Sailing Rolex Miami OCR returned to the waters of Biscayne Bay, bringing together the world's top sailors to compete in 14 Olympic and Paralympic classes.  This race, ranked by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) as a Grade 1 event, is a mainstay on the winter circuit presented by the North American Class Associations and US Sailing and is a must for sailors desiring to compete in the 2008 Games.  As in the past, the Miami Yacht Club sponsored the OCR Tornado class and the Tornado North American Championship Regatta, the latter occurring from January 29^th to February 2^nd, 2007. Paul Ulibarri, a certified Olympic PRO, was the PRO for both events, as he has done since the 2004 Olympic Trials; and Roger Strube of Punta Groda, FL, volunteered his Ocean Catamaran 48.8 Millennium Dragon as the signal boat, as he has also done for the past three years.

    Sarah Newberry and Jamie Livingston in the 2007 Tornado North American Championship, Photo courtesy of Richard Camacho

PREPARATIONS FOR THE 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES IN CHINA

Part of the on-going mission of the US Sailing's Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) is to assist the US Sailing Team in its annual selection of the top three ranked sailors in each of nine classes (11 Olympic events).  Selectees will represent the USA in the 2008 Olympic Games to be held in China.  The nine classes are:  Finn (men); 470 (men and women); Laser (men); Laser Radial (women); Neil Pryde RS:X (men and women); 49er, Star, and Tornado (all open); and Yngling (women).  Beijing will host the next Games, scheduled for August 8^th to 24^th of 2008.  The coastal city of Qingdao, approximately 430 miles east of Beijing, will host the Olympic Regatta.