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France and New Zealand top the tables in the latest release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings with Kiwi World Champion Adam Minoprio top in the Open Rankings and French skipper Claire Leroy returning to #1 in the Women's.

The match racing year is getting into full swing with the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland followed shortly after by the start of the 2010 World Tour in Marseille. Reigning World Champion Adam Minoprio (NZL) will start the 2010 season secure at the top of the World Rankings, whilst Claire Leroy (FRA) is back at the top of the Women’s Rankings after briefly surrendering her top spot to Lucy Macgregor (GBR).

Open Rankings

The top five remain unchanged in the latest release of the Open ISAF World Match Race Rankings. Adam Minoprio(NZL) completes his sixth consecutive release in the world #1 spot, followed by fellow young gun Torvar Mirsky (AUS). The French duo of Damien Iehl and Mathieu Richard follow at #3 and #4 respectively, with double World Champion Ian Williams (GBR) rounding out the top five.

Just missing out on the top five this month is triple Olympic gold medallist and TeamOrigin skipper Ben Ainslie (GBR). Ainslie lost out to Dean Barker (NZL) in the final of the recent ISAF Grade 3 Omega Auckland Match Race, but that runners up spot is still good enough to help lift him into his best-ever Match Race Ranking at #6.

Also moving up is South Africa’s Ian Ainslie, who won the ISAF Grade 2 Cleanport Winter Challenge to move up one place to #11, just two points off the world top 10. Cleanport runner up, Russian skipper Eugeniy Neugodnikov, is just behind Ainslie at #13 after moving up seven places in this release.

Further down the Rankings, Evan Walker (AUS) makes a big jump from #97 to #68 after winning the ISAF Grade 3 Hardy Cup in Sydney.

Women’s Rankings

Claire Leroy (FRA) is back at the top of the Women’s ISAF World Match Race Rankings, reclaiming the world #1 spot from British skipper Lucy Macgregor.

Neither skipper compete in the latest Ranking period, but Leroy regains the top spot as a result of a re-grading of the ISAF Sailing World Cup event held in Miami earlier this year.*

Australia continues to hold onto spots #3 and #4 in the Rankings, with Katie Pellew (AUS) leapfrogging team mate Nicky Souter (AUS) after beating her in the final at the ISAF Grade 3 New Zealand Match Race last weekend. Silke Hahlbrock (GER) is unchanged at #5.

Further back, Brazil’s rising star Juliana Senfft gains three places to enter the world top 20 for the first time at #18. Senfft is not just the first Brazilian to earn the distinction of holding a top 20 ranking, but the first South American, evidence of the increasing spread of Women’s Match Racing since it was selected as one of the 10 sailing events for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

This next release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings will be on 7 April 2010.

ISAF World Match Race Rankings - www.sailing.org/mrrankings

*At their meeting in November 2009, the ISAF Match Race Rankings Sub-committee decided from 2010 onwards all ISAF Sailing World Cup events would be changed from ISAF Grade W to ISAF Grade 1 events.

Unfortunately, due to an administrative lapse, this change was not made in time for the release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings on 10 February 2010, which included the Rolex Miami OCR, second event of the 2009-10 ISAF Sailing World Cup season, as a Grade W event.

Upon notification of this mistake from the Match Race Rankings Sub-committee, the Rolex Miami OCR has been re-graded to a Grade 1 event (changing the Grade points multiplier for this event from 3.5 to 3.17). Consequently Lucy Macgregor’s points total has been reduced from 11,500 to 11,318 as she was counting her second place result from Miami in her top four events from the past 12 months (Leroy also competed in Miami, but was not counting her score there in her best four events).

American-based Kiwi Gavin Brady and his largely international team of Latin Rascals took the fight to host Emirates Team New Zealand in their Louis Vuitton Trophy race today, only to lose after a gear failure.

Brady, with American tactician Morgan Larson calling the shots, pulled off a risky pre-start strategy against skipper Dean Barker on the New Zealand boat, pushing ETNZ deep into the start box after a dialup but breaking clear with immaculate timing to grab the start he wanted – a port tack cross at speed, right at the committee boat.

Minutes later as they came back together, Brady had a two boat-length advantage that he parlayed into a 22 second lead at the first weather mark. Down the run, the New Zealanders split away and Brady let them go, only to concede the right side of the course when they rounded opposite gates starting the second beat.

Brady’s lead had evaporated but the fight had just started. Half way up the weather leg Mascalzone barely had her nose in front as they sailed into a building breeze when the jib came crashing down. “That was our race to win,” said Brady. “And a tough way to lose!”

Out on the Waitemata Harbour today, the wait for a good breeze stretched out to three hours but the competitors were rewarded with superb sailing conditions under a bright sunny sky. The sea breeze filled in from the southwest, starting at five to seven knots and building during the afternoon to nearly 15 knots before softening a little in the late afternoon.

The boats raced on 1.2-mile legs on the black course, bounded by the Devonport shore and the natural grandstand of North Head on one side and Bastion Point on the other. Spectators high on North Head were rewarded with birds-eye views of the competition.

Race One: TEAMORIGIN def. All4One, 01:33 – Britain’s TEAMORIGIN, skippered and steered by Ben Ainslie, prevailed in the pre-start to lead Sébastien Col at the wheel of All4One at the gun with a 16-metre margin. Sailing at speed on port tack, the British boat started right at the committee boat while their adversary tacked off to starboard behind them. When they converged at the first cross, Ainslie had converted his lead in the shifty breeze to 70 metres. The German/French boat stayed relatively close until the second weather mark but lost a minute on the last run.

Race Two: Emirates Team New Zealand def. Mascalzone Latino Audi, 4:43 – Gavin Brady, the Kiwi skipper of Italy’s Mascalzone Latino Audi Team took the fight to the home team, overcoming Dean Barker’s starboard entry advantage. Brady came out unscathed in several close pre-start encounters to win the start and the right side of the course. With the breeze up to 11 knots, Brady led Barker by a boat length at the first cross. The visiting team exploited the power of the right to lead at the top mark by a boat length and then extend on the run. Barker fought back, closing down to eight seconds at the leeward mark and getting out to the right. After two very close tacks, the visitors were fighting to maintain a safe leeward berth on starboard when a halyard clip failed and Brady’s hopes crashed, along with the jib.

Race Three: Azzurra def. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 00:41 – The Russian boat steered by Karol Jablonski secured a safe leeward as the boats started, forcing Francesco Bruni on Azzurra away soon after the gun. Jablonski followed and held a one boat-length lead on a long port tack before Bruni tacked back. A tacking duel followed in 12 to 14 knots of breeze as the Italians whittled away the Russian lead, gaining a metre or two on every tack. As Jablonski tacked to leeward for the tenth time, Bruni had gained the advantage and sailed his opponent out to the layline. The Russians kept it close but the young Italian team eked out more time on every leg.

Race Four: Artemis def. ALEPH Sailing Team 01:21 – Bertrand Pacé and his ALEPH Sailing Team trailed by 50 metres over the starting line in this match and that was all the margin Artemis would need to dominate the race. It appeared to be a miscalculation on time and distance to the start on the French boat, and with Artemis helmsman Terry Hutchinson hitting the line with speed, his Swedish team was in firm control all the way around the track.

Provisional leaderboard after Flight Two:

Emirates Team New Zealand, 2
Azzurra, 2
TEAMORIGIN, 1
Artemis, 1
All4One, 1
ALEPH Sailing Team, 1
Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, 0
Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 0

LIVE Sport Sailing 103.0 FM is featuring all-day live coverage of the Louis Vuitton Trophy. On television, during the seven days of the round robin, TVNZ is carrying nightly reports on its sports news. From March 16, during the elimination rounds, TVNZ will feature nightly half-hour reports. For the finals on 20th and 21st March there will be live coverage of the racing from noon to 4:00pm.

Live streaming web coverage of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland is available on the event website, http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com. The official site (in English, French, Italian and Russian) is also rich in team content, as well as features, audio, video and images.

MIAMI, FL (March 10) – Skipper Andy Horton and Crew James Lyne edged up from their fifth place finish yesterday in the standings to secure the top spot Wednesday in the third day of Star Class sailing for the Trofeo BACARDI. Wind conditions increased slightly later in the afternoon to about a 10 knot high in a field that was spread out in comparison to the tight group yesterday. With three more days of Star Class sailing to go in the BACARDI Cup, Wednesday's midway point has U.S. Team Horton-Lyne in first place overall with Ireland's Skipper Peter O'Leary and Crew Stephen Milne taking second. Yesterday's leader, American Skipper Rick Merriman and Crew Phil Trinter faded slightly with a still solid third place finish today while Brazilian Skipper Lars Grael with Crew Ronald Seifort placed fourth and first day victors American Augie Diaz alongside sailing phenomenon Crew Bruno Prada came in fifth place overall to round out the top five in the BACARDI Cup standings.

"The breeze was light again today, but we're expecting the wind to become stronger later in the week with the weather. Today, the real challenge was getting over to the wind, which was tough today, but we managed to spring out of jail and really get out there," comments Skipper Andy Horton. "We're trying to approach this like any big regatta by really staying focused and not being too risky. This is a strong fleet of competitors and you have be careful out there. The breeze is supposed to pick up a bit later this week and we're going to continue to try to do our best and see where we are at Saturday."

Wednesday marked the third of six total days of Star Class sailing as competitors reach the halfway point in BACARDI Cup competition. The BACARDI Cup will run on Biscayne Bay through Saturday, March 13th as the flagship event for the inaugural BACARDI Miami Sailing Week.

The day's sailing also included the start of the Viper 640 class competition for the Pan-American Championships at BACARDI Miami Sailing Week. The Viper 640 victory today went to U.S. Team Skipper Barry Parkin, who came out on top in the 21 vessel field alongside Crew John Logue and Sue Parkin. Viper 640 competition will continue through Saturday, March 13th.

Look for more BACARDI Cup Star Class competition continuing tomorrow along with the Viper class through Saturday. BACARDI Miami Sailing Week will also host J24, Melges20, and Melges24 classes beginning tomorrow.

Andrew "Amac" McDougall’s (AUS) nine-point lead evaporated today in the difficult patchy Dubai breeze of the third day of the PUMA International Moth World Championship. Simon Payne (GBR) posted two thirds and a fourth to move into first place overall on 18 points, two ahead of Brad Funk (USA), with Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) on 24 points.

The first race of the day, race five of the series, was a carbon copy of the final race yesterday, with US Laser sailor Funk scoring a bullet. European Moth Champ Psarofaghis scored a second on the same race, and at the end of the day Psarofaghis moved into third place. "Today I lost a few positions I shouldn't have, but overall I was going pretty fast in some difficult conditions," the Swiss racer said. Payne captured third in the race.

Seattle, USA skiff sailor Dalton Bergan pulled off the move of the regatta at the exciting start of race six, when he port-tacked the entire fleet – a sailor’s dream at a World Championship. The manoeuvre paid off and guaranteed victory for Bergan. Australian Scott Babbage grabbed second place, with Funk again scoring big with a third. Payne continued his strong performance with a fourth and 2009 World Champ Bora Gulari (USA) rounded out the top five.

The last race of the day started in a lighter and dying breeze, with Psarofaghis edging out Brad Funk for the race win after Funk broke his boom vang. Funk also lost a sail control called a camber inducer, greatly reducing the power in his rig. The gear failure cost Funk one point, leaving his just two points from race leader Payne, whose consistency has proved his biggest advantage. "I was good but not great today, not quite as fast as yesterday just before I broke my mast, but then the conditions weren't quite the same so you have to take that into account," explained Payne.