Meltemi Anyone? U.S. Sailors Take Home Two Medals

Meltemi or no Meltemi? That was the question asked each day before racing at the Agios Kosmas Sailing Center where the 2004 Olympic Regatta took place. What sounds like an exotic drink is the Greek word for local winds—sometimes raging—coming from a northeasterly direction. Its antithesis is the seabreeze, from the opposite direction, which is predictable and preferred, but for this event it did not come often enough. Instead, something of a hybrid breeze, shifty in a “random” way and sneaking in from the northwest, introduced itself. For the 18 members of the USA’s Olympic Sailing Team sailing in nine different classes (11 divisions) of boats, outwitting the wind, not just harnessing it, was the key to medals, of which there were two in the end.

Giving the USA its first gold medal eight days into the 15-day Olympic Regatta were four-time Olympian Paul Foerster (Rockwall, Texas) and three-time Olympian Kevin Burnham (Miami, Fla.), sailing in the 470 (doublehanded dinghy) men’s division. They had both medalled in this event before, but not together. “We don’t need anymore motivation,” said Burnham matter-of-factly before his final and deciding race. “We have silver medals; we want gold!” Foerster and Burnham mathematically were assured of a silver in that last race and pulled up something from deep inside themselves to capture their dream. In a truly amazing show of skill, the duo hunted Great Britain well before the start, found them in a vulnerable position and camped on them, match-racing them to the finish where otherwise-dismal finishes of 22nd and 23rd, respectively, determined who stood on the center podium. When the finish horn blasted for the duo, Burnham performed a perfect back flip off his boat, leaving Foerster alone to douse the spinnaker and round up to retrieve him…with a huge grin on his face. “For me, the journey has been 25 years or so,” said Foerster. “I didn’t realize how much I wanted it until a few days ago when I knew we had a shot at it.”

The USA’s next chance at a medal would not come until after six more classes had had their medal ceremonies. The Meltemi and the unusually fickle “hybrid” winds took their tolls on the performances of Meg Gaillard (Jamestown, R.I./Pelham, N.Y.) in the Europe (women’s singlehanded dinghy); Kevin Hall (Bowie, Md./Ventura, Calif.) in Finn (men’s singlehanded dinghy); Katie McDowell (Barrington, R.I.) and Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.) in 470 women’s (doublehanded dinghy); Tim Wadlow (San Diego, Calif.) and Pete Spaulding (Miami, Fla.) in 49er (open doublehanded high-performance dinghy); Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.) in Laser (open singlehanded dinghy); Lanee Butler (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) and Peter Wells (Long Beach/La Canada, Calif.) in Mistral (men and women’s boardsailing); and Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.), Liz Filter (Stevensville, Md.) and Nancy Haberland (Annapolis, Md.) in Yngling (women’s three-person keelboat).

The best performances from this group were turned in by the 49er and 470 women’s teams, which both made their Olympic debuts and finished fifth overall.

For 49er sailors Tim Wadlow and Pete Spaulding there remained a glimmer of medal hope late in their 11-race series, but the duo took a blow before their last-race bout that pushed them back to fourth overall with no chance mathematically of moving up on the scoreboard. Adding insult to injury, their best-laid plans for the final race went awry.

“On the last run, the Norwegians were in second and we were in seventh,” said Wadlow. “We needed to be sixth in order to be tied with Norway and maintain our fourth overall on a tie-breaker.” At that point the choices were to follow the parade of boats going to the right side of the course or roll the dice and split from the pack. Wadlow and Spaulding pulled off a quick jibe set and banged the left corner, but luck was not waiting there. It was the scenario that seemed to play out too many times for the U.S. Team, which historically has won more Olympic sailing medals than any other nation.

“We’re both disappointed that everything did not go our way,” said Spaulding. “At the same time, we sailed very well. Fifth is respectable, especially when you consider where we started with our campaign. Everyone here is more experienced than us—they’ve been at it twice as long. And we have to be satisfied with the speed of our progress.”

For 470 women’s division sailors Katie McDowell and Isabelle Kinsolving, the last-day high note was that a fifth-place finish overall was a move up (from sixth) rather than a move down. “There is a disappointment about missing a medal,” said McDowell, “but we were 15th after the first day, so fifth is a whole lot better. You had to use your head as much as your body here. We had a couple of days that were great and two days where we had some tough luck. I am proud of how we did. I am proud of us.”

It was not until the very last day of the Olympic Regatta that the USA knew it would go home with its second medal.

On their third consecutive try at winning an Olympic medal in the Tornado (open doublehanded catamaran) class, John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Houston, Texas/Columbia, N.C.) won the silver in Athens. The last of 11 races had been their one final opportunity to pass the defending gold medallists from Austria in the overall standings, but it was not meant to be.

“We had a good shot at it but knew it would be tough,” said Lovell. “We just didn’t know how tough. We tried to get Austria behind us, but they broke away and got to the right side of the course at the critical point in the race when the right came in big time. We then had to take big chances and dropped back. It was a done deal. The way they sailed today, there was no chance to beat them.” Lovell and Ogletree fell to tenth in the race, while Austria climbed through the fleet to finish first.

Ogletree, who has been sailing since 1993 with Lovell--a “great friend” with whom he shares the exact same birthdate, year and all--said that initially the two were disappointed about losing the gold. Upon returning to the Agios Kosmas Sailing Center, however, the melancholy turned to delight. “Our heads were down a little, but the moment we got ashore and started talking to the media and friends and family we started realizing how great it is to conclude with a medal after trying in Savannah and Sydney. It’s a dream come true.”

That same day, the medal dreams of Paul Cayard (Kentfield, Calif.) and Phil Trinter (Lorain, Ohio/Port Washington, N.Y.) in the Star (open doublehanded keelboat) class were dashed. In fourth going into the final race, with an outside shot at bronze or silver, they “got tangled up with Spain” for a bad start. The rest of the race went just as badly; the 16th they took was their worst finish yet out of 11 races and it landed them in fifth overall for the regatta.

“We tried to make it work, but it almost seemed like a bad joke,” said Cayard, who accompanied the Olympic Sailing Team to the Los Angeles Games 20 years ago as an alternate and has since established himself as one of the most recognizable sailors on the planet. “Everything we tried didn’t work and we got a serious distance behind. Right now it’s hard not to focus on the opportunities that were there throughout this regatta and the unfortunate fact that we didn’t take advantage of them.”

Cayard figures that only half the races they sailed were in conditions for which they had trained and the “difficult” random winds—like the last day’s--were what got the best of his team. “We started off in the groove but then the third race it started unraveling. I’m disappointed I didn’t sail the regatta of my life. I’d rather have a gold medal. But I’m old enough and have been through the emotional part of all this in sailing, with the America’s Cup and other events, that I know that in a week, a month, it slowly fades away.”

Trinter considered the emotional letdown to be a natural part of being an athlete. “You’ve got to remember, it’s still the greatest thing in sailing to be here,” he said. “The Olympics are something special, and to get here is a great accomplishment and honor.”

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Final Standings—Olympic Sailing Regatta

Europe (after 11 races)
1. NOR, Siren Sundby
2. CZE, Lenka Smidova
3. DEN, Signe Livbjerg
14. USA, Meg Gaillard (Jamestown, R.I./Pelham, N.Y.)

Finn (after 11 races)
1. GBR, Ben Ainslie
2. ESP, Rafael Trujillo
3. POL, Mateusz Kusznierewicz
11. USA, Kevin Hall (Bowie, Md./Ventura, Calif.)

470 Men (after 11 races)
1. USA, Paul Foerster (Rockwall, Texas), Kevin Burnham (Miami, Fla.)
2. GBR, Nick Rogers, Joe Glanfield
3. JPN, Kazuto Seki

470 Women (after 11 races)
1. GRE, Sofia Bekatorou, Aimilia Tsoulfa
2. ESP, Natalia Via Dufresne, Sandra Azon
3. SWE, Therese Torgersson, Vendela Zachrisson
5. USA Katie McDowell (Barrington, R.I.) and Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.)

49er (after 16 races)
1. ESP, Iker Martinez, Xavier Fernandez
2. UKR, Rodion Luka, George Leonchuk
3. GBR, Chris Draper, Simon Hiscocks
5. USA, Tim Wadlow (San Diego, Calif.), Pete Spaulding (Miami, Fla.)

Laser (after 11 races)
1. BRA, Robert Scheidt
2. AUT, Andreas Geritzer
3. SLO, Vasilij Zbogar
8. USA, Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.)

Mistral Men (after 11 races)
1. ISR, Gal Fridman
2. GRE, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis
3. GBR, Nick Dempsey
28. USA, Peter Wells (Newport Beach/La Canada, Calif.)

Mistral Women (after 11 races)
1. FRA, Faustine Merret
2. CHN, Jian Yin
3. ITA, Alessandra Sensini
16. USA, Lanee Butler Beashel (Aliso Viejo, Calif.)

Star (after 11 races)
1. BRA, Torben Grael, Marcelo Ferreira
2. CAN, Ross MacDonald, Mike Wolfs
3. FRA, Xavier Rohart, Pascal Rambeau
5. USA, Paul Cayard (Kentfield, Calif.) and Phil Trinter (Lorain, Ohio/Port Washington, N.Y.)

Tornado (after 11 races)
1. AUT, Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher
2. USA, John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Houston, Texas/Columbia, N.C.)
3. ARG, Santiago Lange, Carlos Espinola

Yngling (after 11 races)
1. GBR, Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb, Sarah Ayton
2. UKR, Ruslana Taran, Ganna Kalinina, Svitlana Matevusheva
3. DEN, Dorte Jensen, Helle Jespersen, Christina Otzen
10. USA, Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.), Liz Filter (Stevensville, Md.) and Nancy Haberland (Annapolis, Md.)