September 20, 2000 - From Jeff Madrigali

Hello from Down Under. The fleet racing is now complete. It was a very tough series of races with the first three days and four races having very little wind and big sloppy seas. We had two good results in these conditions and two disasters. One was caused by being on the left when there was a big shift to the right and the other by a very poor start. The other two races we sailed very well in the trying conditions and posted a fourth and a second.

We were in ninth place going into the last day and the last two races. We arrived on course F outside the Heads in the ocean to find glassy windless conditions. It looked like it would be another long day. A weak front passed by and the wind filled in behind it, and in a matter of half an hour the wind built to 15 to 17 knots. We had practiced in these conditions and were very happy with our speed. We had a good start, but were horrified to see the X flag raised and not lowered, indicating that there were premature starters. We were very close to the line and made the decision to keep going and not to return. Having the two bad scores already, an OCS would put us in a position that making it into the match racing would be in doubt. This made for a very uneasy feeling for the entire race. We fell out of the lead group and were forced to tack off to the right. Halfway up the beat we were in about tenth place. We went hard left gained some ground back and tacked just inside the Russian team at the weather mark to round about seventh. We jibed right away, got clear of the other boats and settled into a good rhythm with the waves. We managed to pass the entire fleet and just get an overlap on the Netherlands team and round the bottom mark first. Roy Heiner and his NED team passed us on the second downwind and we held that spot to finish second.

We still were not sure if we were OCS and it took about ten minutes to confirm that Sweden and Ukraine were OCS and not us. This was a big relief and now we were assured of making the match racing.

The wind was dying out and shifting left for Race 6, and we got a good start at the weather end and showed very good speed. We rounded the weather mark first and were locked in a very tight race with New Zealand (Rod Davis) and Netherlands. We lead at the next two marks, but NED again passed us on the second downwind when we missed the jibe angle to the mark and we went on to finish second again. It was a good last day for us and we moved up to fourth place overall for the fleet racing. This earns us a bye in the first round of match racing. We have three days off before we race and we will be practicing and preparing for the different sailing we are about to do. Our speed is good in all conditions and we feel ready. More to follow as our journey continues.

FROM:  Jana Madrigali
Mon, 18 Sep 2000 - Sydney Olympic Games, Day 2 - Fleet Racing

Tonight our Team is not as jubilant as last night. The racing was again delayed due to light, light winds, and finally started at 1:50 p.m. Our Team started the race in a decent position, with the thought of going left for a bit for clear air, and then going right as the weather was predicting. Unfortunately, our Boys stayed left a little too long and rounded the top mark with only 2 boats behind them (remember, there are 16 nations competing). Though their speed is good, they were unable to catch up to the rest of the fleet and finished 14th today. (Okay, no more 4s for our Boys!!)

Overall, our Team is in 7th place, results as follows (remember, the top 12 from the fleet racing advances to the match racing):
1. NED, 6 pts.
2. NZL, 6 pts.
3. NOR, 7 pts.
4. RUS, 10 pts.
5. UKR, 13 pts.
6. FIN, 15 pts.
7. USA - Craig/Hart/Jeff, 18 pts.
8. AUS, 19 pts.
9. CAN, 19 pts.
10. GBR, 20 pts.
11. DEN, 22 pts.
12. SWE, 22 pts.
13. FRA, 22 pts.
14. ITA, 22 pts.
15. GER, 24 pts.
16. ESP, 27 pts.
(there will be a throw out of their worst score after 5 races)

Tonight, Craig and Pamela went off to watch Wrestling, Hart and Susan are off to dinner with the Buestad's and Jeff and I are going for a quiet dinner at a local restaurant. Jeff told me that he and Hart had a really good talk on the way home from the boat park about the "big picture", so I'm sure we're going to see good things tomorrow!

Hands in the air - collect that good Karma!