Clearwater Sailors Still Leading the PackBy Anne McKay GarrisClearwater sailor Paige Railey and her teammates on the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics brought home some impressive wins from Kiel Week in Germany, last week. Paige won the Gold in the Laser Radial class and her teammate, Anna Tunnicliffe of Plantation, Florida, took the bronze. According to reports from the team, the Kiel Week races are usually very lively and challenging, but unusual calm weather this year reduced the number of races to five. The races in Germany were the fifth in the 2009 Sailing World Cup event for the International Sailing Federation. The two Florida sailors have brought home medals from five races this year, including Gold for Paige Railey at the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and silver from Rolex, Miami. Anne Tunnicliffe brought home gold medals from Sail Melbourne in Australia and the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres, France. She also brought home Gold from the Miami race. Both women are part of the team sponsored by the United States Sailing Association. Members of the team were selected early to be coached, trained and funded by US Sailing in preparation for the next Olympics which will be held in Weymouth, England in 2012. Their next competition will be at the Laser Radial World Championship in Japan at the end of July. The next Sailing World event will be held in Weymouth, England at the venue where the sailing portion of the 2012 Olympics will be held. The total U.S. presence at the Kiel Week competition, last week, was 51 sailors in several classes, making a strong presence at the races.
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