Passing the flag to Mexico marked the official end of the event

Another great event drew to a close tonight when the trophies were awarded to the Champions. The closing ceremony, held at the Crowne Plaza, official hotel of the event, began with the presentation of a memento to each competitor, who were called to the stage in groups per country. Each team celebrated displaying their colours, chanting and blowing whistles and horns. After the usual speeches of the authorities, the prizes were awarded to the corresponding winners, the first of whom in each category were:

• North American Champion 2011: Russell Clarida (USA)
• First overall: Alberto Lados (URU)
• First girl: Odile van Aanholt (AHO)
• North American Team Race Champion 2011: USA 2 (click here to view the members)
• Nations Cup Champions 2011: ARG 1 (click here to view the members)

Team USA sing their national anthem and celebrate the victory of Russell Clarida, who had to leave before the ceremony

Tito Lados with Quino Nigaglioni and Robin Kuebel (president of USODA)

Congratulations to all the participants and coaches!! The event now goes to Mexico, who have just been elected as organisers for 2012.

From right to left: Odile van Aanholt, 1st girl; Camila Flores, 2nd; Justina Pacheco, 4th; Lucy Wilmot, 5th

Tito Lados from Uruguay sailed to his very best today, finishing the last two races of the event in first and second places respectively and becoming the overall champion of the regatta. Peter Janezic from Slovenia, who had been leading the fleet for the first two days, and who seemed to have secured the lead after Tito's premature start in one of yesterday's races, had a second and a fourth, missing the top by one point.

In the closed event Russell Clarida, a member of the USA team that will sail the Worlds in New Zealand, also sailed consistently during the whole regatta, throwing a 16th and a 7th, and ending up just 3 points behind Janezic. Congratulations to Russell, North American Champion 2011!!

At 18:48, results are now final.

Photo ©Dave Hein

Photo ©Dave Hein

Three more races were completed today, totaling up to 9 races and consolidating Peter Janezic's lead. The temperature and wind conditions were the same as had been during the previous two days -light winds in the morning, picking up to 15-20 knots as the day progressed-, however, one of the variables was different: the current, usually downwind, today was upwind, pushing the sailors towards the course side and forcing the RC to do two or three starts per race. The consequence was a large number of OCS, especially in the three flights of the first race.

See below the first three sailors in each race: (provisional, as we don't know the OCSs yet and there are a couple of measurement protests)

The day started early in the morning with the Coaches' meeting at 9:00, after which the coaches informed the RC what sailors would be members of each of the teams. After a few last minute changes and being the RC satisfied that the wind was strong enough to start the races, Delta flag went down and the sailors set sails. The racing took place in the harbour, on flat waters and winds that were blowing 4-5 knots in the beginning, and gradually picked up, reaching +15 knots during the last flights. Both courses had to be adjusted once or twice due to windshifs but with no major delays between races.

In the Nations Cup Argentina 1 arrived at the finals undefeated, while Uruguay had to sail 3 extra races after they had lost to Argentina 2. Both the first two races of the finals were also won by Argentina, who then became the Nations Cup Champions. Uruguay finished second and Ecuador 1 third.

In the North American Team Race it was Puerto Rico who made it to the finals undefeted. USA 2 went to the 'loser's side' after being beaten by Puerto Rico in Race 23 and arrived at the finals after winning Race 29 against their fellow team USA 1. However, it was USA 2 who won the fist two races of the finals, becoming the North American Team Race Champions 2011. Puerto Rico were runner ups and USA 1 third.

Congratulations to all the teams, especially to the winners, and to the RC and the number of volunteers that made the excellent races possible.

Click on the corresponding links to download the results: North American TR | Nations' Cup

There have been slight changes in the grid for the Nations Cup: Brazil announced yesterday that they are participating with just one team and Peru had the chance to enter their second team. In the end, the teams and their positions are according to the table below. Please go to 'Results' to download the list of team members and the updated grids.

Photo ©Dave Hein

There won't be any fleet races tomorrow, but the action continues: there are two parallel team race events, one for teams from North American countries and another for teams from the rest of the world. The selection of the teams to enter each event is done according to the points of the sailors in the first five races of the individual series. After these calculations, done according to what is stated in the Notice of Race, the teams that qualified for the events and their corresponding positions in the grid are the following:

The members of each team will be announced tomorrow after the Coaches meeting at 9:00.

Click here to download an Excel spreadsheet with the calculations of the team points.

Grids: NAM Team Race | Nations' Cup

Foggy morning on second day of races - Photo ©Dave Hein

Races started later today due to lack of wind in the morning. Flag D was removed at 1200 and the first warning signal of the day was made at 13:30. The Race Committee managed to set the course so that the right side was not so favoured and indeed the fleet was spread across the racing area.

At 19:10 results are not ready yet. First three sailors in each race were: (provisional) RESULTS TO BE POSTED ASAP

Photo ©Dave Hein

Today saw the first three races of the event, sailed in winds that ranged from 10 to +20 knots under blue skies. The right hand corner of the course seemed to be preferred, due to the strong current that also made rounding marks quite difficult.

First three sailors in each race were: (provisional)

Results at 20:34!!

Photo ©Dave Hein

The streets in the harbour area, usually deserted at 8.30 in the morning, were invaded today by a colourful crowd of 21 nationalities, when the sailors paraded towards the theatre where the ceremony was held. No matter the early hours, sailors were eager to sing local songs and listened with interest and amusement to the short but humorous speeches of the local authorities, the USODA and the IODA. John O'Connor, Commodore of the organising club, lead the ceremony and proved to be an excellent entertainer. :)

Later in the afternoon the practice race started at 1500, and sailors enjoyed a breeze of 15 knots, forecasting excellent races for tomorrow.

Measurement finished today after inspecting sails that had to be repaired and the equipment of Team Guatemala, who arrived at dawn today.

We wish everybody good luck for tomorrow.

Elevators are starting to get packed at 'rush hours', the hotel is not half empty any more... the championship has started!! :)

Early in the morning there was no wind and the day was grey, but the clouds were gone by midday and the wind picked up giving the sailors the chance to hike a while in a breeze that reached +20 knots.

The parking lot has seen a lot of activity today as the sailors went to the water or prepared their boats for inspection.

Most of the teams are already here, some of them since three or four days ago. We are waiting for Guatemala!

The measurer talks to the sailors about on the water checks