Cynthia Goss (East Coast) 203-430-4145
Rich Roberts (West Coast) 310-835-2526 / cell 310-766-6547
U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Team Trials –
Sailing
West Coast report Day 5
Railey in Finn class by himself, but Casey joins the chase
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (October 10, 2007) ---
Only the Finns sailed Wednesday, notching two races---both won by
frontrunner Zach Railey---to stay one ahead of schedule with nine in the
book and four days remaining. Their "lay day" was windless Monday. Wednesday
was much better with 12-16 knots and harbor seals frolicking around the
course.
Following their planned lay day, all other classes were to resume Thursday
with their final four days of racing through Sunday. All racing starts at
noon, conditions permitting, except for the RS:X men's and women's
sailboards at Long Beach, which start at 2 p.m.
Finn dinghy, Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Balboa / Zach Railey: Railey,
23, of Clearwater, Fla., has a stranglehold on first place. Besides winning
both races---that's six in a row and 7 of 9---he cashed in a bonus by
tossing his worst result---a 12th on Day 2---to drop his net points from 19
to 9 and now leads Geoffrey Ewenson by 14 and Darrell Peck by 15. Andy Casey
of nearby Fountain Valley, Calif., has made a 3-2-2 move over the last two
days to reach fourth place. "Zach is just unbelievably fast," Casey said.
"It feels good to go out and get beat just by him." Casey, 29, is originally
from Clearwater, where he knew Railey since the latter was 15 and coached
his younger sister Paige, who is campaigning for a Laser Radial berth in
Newport, R.I. this week (currently second to Anna Tunnicliffe). When Casey
and Zach Railey outgrew Lasers, they launched their Finn careers at US
SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR in 2005. "I went to Europe this year and learned
to sail in breeze," said Casey, 6-1 and 210. "With these 1.4-nautical mile
[upwind] beats, it's killing your body, but to lock in and not think about
how much it hurts makes a difference." ---Jenn Lancaster reporting
Tornado multihull, San Diego Yacht Club: Robbie Daniel/Hunter Stunzi
and John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree tied for first place. No racing scheduled
Wednesday.
Star keelboat, California Yacht Club, Marina del Rey: Mark
Mendelblatt/Magnus Liljedahl in first place. No racing scheduled Wednesday.
470 dinghy, Men, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club/US Sailing Center, Long Beach,
Calif.: Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl in first place. No racing scheduled
Wednesday.
470 dinghy, Women, ABYC/USSC: Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler in
first place. No racing scheduled Wednesday.
RS:X sailboard, Men, ABYC: Mike Gebhardt and Ben Barger tied for
first place. No racing scheduled Wednesday.
RS:X sailboard, Women, ABYC: Farrah Hall in first place. No racing
scheduled Wednesday.
49er skiff, Southwestern Yacht Club, San Diego: Tim Wadlow/Chris Rast
in first place. No racing scheduled Wednesday.
The leaders:
Finn (42 boats; 9 of 16 races; 1 discard):
1. Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.), 1-2-(12)-1-1-1-1-1-1, 9 points;
2. Geoffrey Ewenson (Annapolis), 2-3-(10)-4-3-2-2-4-3, 23;
3. Darrell Peck (Gresham, Ore.), (4)-4-1-3-2-3-4-3-4, 24.
Tornado (6 boats; 8 of 16 races; 1 discard):
1. Tie between Robbie Daniel (Clearwater, Fla.)/Hunter Stunzi (Charleston,
S.C.), 1-(2)-2-1-1-2-2-1, and
1. John Lovell (New Orleans, La.)/Charlie Ogletree
(Kemah, Tex.), (2)-1-1-2-2-1-1-2, 10 points;
3. Colin Merrick (Portsmouth, R.I.)/John Sampson (Rumson, N.J.),
4-3-(5)-3-4-4-3-4, 25.
Star (19 boats; 9 of 16 races; 1 discard):
1. Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.)/Magnus Liljedahl (Miami, Fla.),
3-3-1-(8)-1-3-6-2-5, 24 points;
2. George Szabo (San Diego)/Andrew Scott (Annapolis), 2-1-(1)-1-7-3-4-9-6-2,
34;
3. Andy Horton (Newport, R.I.)/Brad Nichol (Sunapee, N.H.),
(18)-7-7-1-5-11-1-3-1, 36.
49er (13 boats; 13 of 24 races; 1 discard):
1. Tim Wadlow (Beverly, Mass.)/Chris Rast (San Diego),
1-2-1-1-3-1-(4)-3-3-1-1-1-1, 19 points;
2. Dalton Bergan (Seattle, Wash.)/Zack Maxam (Costa Mesa, Calif.),
2-4-3-4-1-2-2-2-(14/OCS)-3-3-4-4, 34;
3. Morgan Larson (Capitola, Calif.)/Pete Spaulding (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.),
(14/OCS)-1-2-2-9-14/OCS-1-1-1-2-2-2-5, 42.
RS:X Men (6 boats; 8 of 16 races; 1 discard):
1. Tie between Ben Barger (Tampa, Fla.), (8/RAF)-1-2-1-2-1-3-2, and
1. Mike Gebhardt (Ft. Pierce, Fla.),
2-(3)-1-2-1-2-1-3, 12 points;
3. Robert Willis (Chicago, Ill.), 1-2-5-3-(6)-3-2-1, 17.
RS:X Women (7 boats; 8 of 16 races; 1 discard):
1. Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.), (4)-1-4-1-3-3-1-1, 14 points;
2. Lisa Kremer (Worthington, Minn.), 1-2-2-4-4-1-(5)-2, 16;
3. Nancy Rios (Miami, Fla.), 2-(4)-1-3-2-2-4-4, 18.
470 Combined Fleet/Official scoring* (13 boats; 8 of 16 races; 1
discard):
1. Stuart McNay (Lincoln, Mass.)/Graham Biehl (San Diego),
2-2-2-2-1-2-(4)-1, 16 points;
2. Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.)/Sarah Mergenthaler (New York, N.Y.),
4-3-1-(6)-3-3-2-4, 20;
3. Mikee Anderson-Mitterling (Coronado, Calif.)/David Hughes (San Diego),
5-1-(6)-3-4-4-1-5, 23.
*--For purpose of selecting Olympic representatives.
For complete information on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team Trials -
Sailing, please visit
www.ussailing.org/olympics/OlympicTrials.
Video from the event with commentary by Gary Jobson will be available daily
on the website of the NBC network at
www.NBCOlympics.com.
About the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team Trials - Sailing
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team Trials - Sailing are managed by US
SAILING and hosted by several sailing organizations. Racing takes place
October 6 through October 14 with a rest day scheduled at each venue. The
highest eligible finisher in each class will be nominated by US SAILING to
the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) to the 2008 U.S. Olympic or Paralympic
Team - Sailing. The events on the West Coast are hosted by Alamitos Bay
Yacht Club (470 Men & Women, RS:X Men & Women), California Yacht Club
(Star), Newport Harbor Yacht Club (Finn), San Diego Yacht Club (Tornado),
and Southwestern Yacht Club (49er). On the East Coast, the Rhode Island
Sailing Foundation in Newport (R.I.) is host to the Laser, Laser Radial,
2.4mR, SKUD-18, and Sonar events.
About US SAILING
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national governing
body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode
Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the
United States. US SAILING offers training and education programs for
instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing
organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and
provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the
country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and
Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit
www.ussailing.org.