ATHENS, Greece (September 20, 2004) – Just as it did last month for sailors competing in the Olympic Games, the unpredictable winds of the Saronic Gulf have once again baffled sailors and shuffled the standings, although this time it is the sailors competing in the 2004 Paralympic Regatta who are battling the conditions.

The USA’s entry in the Sonar class – skipper John Ross-Duggan (Newport Beach, Calif.), with crew Brad Johnson (Milwaukee, Wis./Hollywood, Fla.) and J.P. Creignou (St. Petersburg, Fla.) – slipped to fourth place overall after finishing sixth in each of today's two races. The series standings, with six races scored, now allows each team to discard their worst finish from the total points.

After dropping the 16 points they earned on being disqualified from race two, Israel has returned to the lead position in the 15-boat fleet on 14 points. Germany follows second with 16, third is The Netherlands with 18.  The USA is currently one point out of the medals with 19 points.

"It was tough today," said Ross-Duggan. "The wind was shifty. We had a brilliant first race start and led to the first weather mark. As things should have unfolded, we should have just walked away with the race, but we didn't."

The USA shot off the starting line to open the first race, but dropped to third by the second mark. With the winds continuing to shift, the USA dropped as far back as seventh at the final windward mark, but edged out rival Australia at the finish to place sixth. Less than a minute separated the top seven finishers in the race.

"It was tough out there," said Johnson. "It was very shifty. We'd have a good wind and then – poof – it was gone."

The team faced an equally tricky breeze in the second race where they fell back as far as 11th place before climbing back to a sixth place and joining the rest of the fleet in a helplessly slow crawl to the finish line.

With only five points separating the top four teams, the USA’s Sonar team heads into the final three races of the series in contention for a medal.

"We've got three races to go," said Ross-Duggan. "The plan now is to focus on the people ahead of us (in the standings) and try to stay ahead of them."

The Sonar fleet will have a day off tomorrow, Tuesday, September 21, with races seven and eight planned for Wednesday, September 22.

Today was a layday for the 2.4 Metre sailors, with racing for that class resuming tomorrow, Tuesday, September 21. The USA's Tom Brown (Northeast Harbor, Maine) holds the lead in that class after winning races three and four on Sunday.

The final race of the series is scheduled for both fleets on Thursday, September 23.

For more information, visit www.ussailing.org/olympics/OlympicGames/2004/