Bermuda Olympic Hopefuls Jesse and Zander Kirkland finished 12th during the recently concluded US Sailing’s Rolex Miami OCR Regatta. See the Kirklands accident in Miami unfold in Video Clip
The Kirkland’s are taking their progress all in stride, Jesse Kirkland said, “Finishing 12th at a Grade 1 is a good step in gaining confidence at the highest level. We had numerous races in the top 3, battling with top 10 boats in the world. Our speed is coming together in more conditions more often and coupled with our strong starting, we have found ourselves at the top of the fleet. The other helpful aspect from the event, was working with Coach Ramon. He had some astute observations on our racing and should be helpful in our refining our final push to London."
Zander Kirkland went on the say, "The conditions were not quite ideal for us because it was little light (4 days of 8-12kts) and we usually like a little more breeze (14-18kts), but it was great practice to have those moderate conditions to work through. Historically, those conditions have been tricky for us and we are finally finding some good rig settings for those conditions. The last day we got some breeze and that's when we nabbed that 3rd place (we were winning for the 1st leg). That was an intense race, battling with top Danish and Finnish teams, one of whom is the defending Gold Medalist from Denmark."
Jesse Kirkland returns to Bermuda on Tuesday to get an injury checked out, with the Kirkland’s hoping to resume training in Miami in mid-February.
“We leave for Europe to outfit our new boat and compete in the first World Cup Event this spring in Europe (in April in Mallorca, Spain), with the Final Olympic Qualifier the 2nd week of May in Croatia,” concluded Zander Kirkland.
