Olympic Regatta Day 11:
Deciding Moments for 49ers and Stars

Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter of USA (L) are pursued by Nicklas Holm and Claus Olesen of Denmark Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

ATHENS, GREECE (August 24, 2004) - There was a light load on the Olympic Regatta courses today, with only the 49ers sailing three races and the Stars sailing a single makeup race. The small number of races, however, counted big for the USA, putting the Star team of Paul Cayard (Kentfield, Calif.) and Phil Trinter (Lorain, Ohio/Port Washington, N.Y.) more solidly into medal contention while at the same time dashing any medal hopes had by 49er sailors Tim Wadlow (San Diego, Calif.) and Pete Spaulding (Miami, Fla.).

Going into today with a fourth overall, Wadlow and Spaulding turned in a 10th and an 11th before winning today's final race. "Two big shifts in the first two races didn't go our way," said Wadlow, giving the Cliff Notes version of what went amiss. "In the last race, everything went our way, but it was too little, too late."

The finish positions again left them in fourth overall at day's end, but with the next racing day's window of opportunity closed. Only a single race--scheduled as a medal round to take place Thursday, August 26--remains in the 16-race series, and there is no way the USA can catch up mathematically in the scoring with the three teams ahead in medal positions (Spain, Ukraine and Great Britain).

"It was bittersweet," said Wadlow, who with Spaulding finished fifth at the 49er World Championship and fourth at both SPA and Hyeres Week this year. "To win the last race today was great, but it's the end of a dream."

Wadlow/Spaulding Photo by ISAF

Spaulding added: "Today when we were ahead by a considerable margin, we did sit back and enjoy the moment. We thought that this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; someday we might be able to do the Olympics again, but we don't really know. We had a chance to reflect on the experience and it put a smile on our faces."

After climbing to fourth overall yesterday, Cayard and Trinter finished sixth today to move up a notch to third overall. They are tied on points with fourth-place finisher Denmark and have Canada and Brazil ahead of them. Brazil's Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira have a strong but not unsurmountable lead on the fleet.

"In the big scheme of things, I'm happy," said Cayard, explaining that he had to fight back, as he did yesterday, from a position deep in the fleet for his respectable finish. "Most of the race we were 10th or 12th, and on the last leg, we got our head out of the boat and passed a group in front of us to get to sixth. I have to be humble enough to admit that we had to have some luck to do that. Yesterday, we felt more in control of moving up."

Cayard and Trinter had been tied on points with Canada before that country's team received redress points in today's race for a jib track that had been ripped from its deck after a collision with Bermuda. The effect of the decision was nearly six points shaved off Canada's score. Cayard and Trinter will be watching that team closely as well as those in the next six places behind them.

"Torben will be hard to reel in," said Cayard. "I wish the whole group was closer to him, because the pack that's close together will eventually start thinking silver or bronze and will start beating up on each other and he'll get farther ahead. I just hope tomorrow we can get him back farther in the fleet so there will be a chunk of guys fighting for gold in the end." The Stars have three more racing days and five races to go.

What's Next - Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 25, the Mistral (men and women) class sails its medal round while Stars continue racing, Tornados resume racing after their reserve day today, and the 49ers observe a reserve day. On Thursday, August 26, the 49ers will finish their series with a medal round, while Star and Tornados continue racing.

Additional background information on the events, and the U.S. athletes, is available online at www.ussailing.org/Olympics/OlympicGames/2004.

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Current Standings of U.S. Sailors: (for full results http://www.sailing.org/olympics2004)

Europe (FInal Results--after 11 races)
14. Meg Gaillard (Jamestown, R.I./Pelham, N.Y.), 9-11-13-9-3-13-11-16-9-(19)-19; 113

Finn (Final Results --after 11 races)
11. Kevin Hall (Bowie, Md./Ventura, Calif.), 11-6-13-(17)-16-14-13-9-9-17-7; 115

470 Men (Final Results--after 11 races)
1. Paul Foerster (Rockwall, Texas) and Kevin Burnham (Miami, Fla.), 1-8-2-15-9-4-3-7-18-4-(22); 71

470 Women (Final Results--after 11 races)
5. Katie McDowell (Barrington, R.I.) and Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.), 12-16-3-12-9-2-(18)-17-8-1-4; 84

49er (after 15 races)
4. Tim Wadlow (San Diego, Calif.) and Pete Spaulding (Miami, Fla.), 7-8-5-(OCS/20)-9-9-8-3-1-(13)-7-3-10-11-1; 82

Laser (Final Results--after 11 races)
8. Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.), 2-14-20-6-6-10-(29)-22-16-6-9; 111

Mistral Men (after 10 races)
27. Peter Wells (Newport Beach/La Canada, Calif.), 22-20-23-16-22-(29)-27-24-(30)-28; 211

Mistral Women (after 10 races)
17. Lanee Butler Beashel (Aliso Viejo, Calif.), 13-16-9-(18)-17-13-6-14-(19)-15; 121

Star (after 6 races)
3. Paul Cayard (Kentfield, Calif.) and Phil Trinter (Lorain, Ohio/Port Washington, N.Y.), 1-6-(15)-10-3-6; 26

Tornado (after 6 races)
1. John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Houston, Texas/Columbia, N.C.), 2-2-1-6-(9)-9; 20

Yngling (Final Results--after 11 races)
10. Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.), Liz Filter (Stevensville, Md.) and Nancy Haberland (Annapolis, Md.), 2-10-16-9-15-10-1-15-7-1-(OCS/17); 86