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 6
Wind lovers find little to celebrate on a mild day
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (Oct. 11, 2007) - Happy birthday---take that! There
was hardly enough breeze to blow out the candles on John Lovell and Charlie
Ogletree's mutual 40th birthday, which they would rather forget, as Robbie
Daniel and crew Hunter Stunzi broke their week-long deadlock to take command
of the Tornado Trials at San Diego.
And those weren't the only ones to do or die in fluky conditions up and down
the coast. Zach Railey's big Finn lead was cut in half by Geoff Ewenson at
Newport Beach and Mark Mendelblatt/Magnus Liljedahl's cozy Star margin at
Marina del Rey totally disappeared behind a pair of firsts by George Szabo
and Andrew Scott.
Read on . . .
Tornado multihull, San Diego Yacht Club; Daniel and Stunzi: Playing
wispy winds of 4-5 knots for all they were worth, Robbie Daniel and crew
Hunter Stunzi won both races to break away from their week-long arm-wrestle
with John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree to take a three-point lead---the first
of five days that hasn't ended with them tied with the three-time Olympians
and 2004 silver medalists. Daniel and Stunzi maintained their streak of all
1s and 2s, but Lovell and Ogletree slipped to a 4-3---their worst two
finishes. Stunzi said, "Finally, we've broken that awful tie." They made
their best gains downwind, passing Lovell/Ogletree on the first run leading
to an incident at the leeward mark when the latter held starboard
right-of-way. "We were going to duck them and they were hunting us," Stunzi
said. There was a protest and Lovell/Ogletree did a penalty turn that cost
them critical distance. "The wind was so light that we weren't flying a hull
at all today," Stunzi said. "It's in the stronger wind that they seem to
have a significant edge."
---Mike Foster reporting
Star keelboat, California Yacht Club, Marina del Rey: Szabo/Scott tie
Mendelblatt/Liljedahl: Mark Mendelblatt and Magnus Liljedahl's seemingly
secure 10-point lead vanished in George Szabo and Andrew Scott's mastery of
the gentle zephyrs of Santa Monica Bay Thursday, leaving the two boats even
with a six-point lead over resurgent veteran John Dane III and his
son-in-law crew, Austin Sperry. While Mendelblatt/Liljedahl (10-4) took
their first double-digit finish in 10 races, Szabo/Scott (1-1) swept the day
with comfortable margins ahead of Dane/Sperry's 2-3. Winds were 6-8 knots
for the first race dropping to 5-7 for the second. Szabo said: "Andrew had
the race course figured out and I got to handle the tiller. We went
everywhere---left in the first race, right in the second . . . not an easy
day." It looks like a three-boat race now, but Szabo's Quantum Sails boss,
Mark Reynolds with Hal Haenel---silver and gold medalists in 1988 and
'92---are 19 points off the pace with five races left, "and we know better
than to count them out," Szabo said. Through 11 races in this well-behaved
19-boat fleet, there have been no protests of general recalls. ---Tom
O'Conor reporting
49er skiff, Southwestern Yacht Club, San Diego/Wadlow and Rast:
Morgan Larson and crew Pete Spaulding had a breakaway day with two wins and
a second place but cut only three points off Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast's
(1-3-3) commanding lead Thursday. They're due to make a bigger gain Friday
when they discard their second 14-point OCS after the 17th race, while
Wadlow/Rast drop a mere 3 points, but there figures to be a sizable gap left
with eight races remaining. For now, Dalton Bergan and Zack Maxam (3-2-2),
due to toss a 4, remain in the middle of the three-boat fight. Bergan, in
his second full-on Olympic campaign with Maxam dating to 2001, said, "We
still have to reel in somebody before things get too crazy. We've had some
bad starts. Two of the three today we were doing [penalty] circles for
hitting the pin and another boat." ---Margo Hemond reporting
Finn dinghy, Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Balboa / Zach Railey:
Second-place Geoff Ewenson cut Zach Railey's huge lead in half to seven
points on a long day of dealing with fickle winds off Newport Beach. Ewenson,
37, of Annapolis scored first- and third-place finishes as Railey, 23, went
3-8. Winds never topped 6 knots and didn't allow a start that wasn't
abandoned until nearly 2 1/2 hours behind schedule. "This regatta is not
over yet," Ewenson said. "Zach is a little stronger downwind with better
technique, but maybe being a little older makes me a little more patient."
---Jeff Johnson reporting
470 dinghy, Men and Women, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club/US Sailing Center,
Long Beach, Calif. / McNay/Biehl and Clark/Mergenthaler: It wasn't their
best day (6-4), but Stuart McNay and crew Graham Biehl were looking
China-bound Thursday because their strongest rivals, Mikee Anderson-Mitterling
and David Hughes, had a worse day (5-7) in the mixed fleet. Instead, in
single-digit breeze from the south, focus turned to the contest for the
women's Olympic berth between Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler (1-5) and Erin
Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving (3-2), now only seven points apart in second and
third place in the mixed scoring table that will determine the winners.
Clark said, "That was a good day---a great day! Even the fifth place wasn't
bad because we were over early and had to go back." McNay said, "The shifts
were tricky and there were big wind holes all over the course." After
Clark/Mergenthaler, the other win went to Boston College all-American Adam
Roberts and crew Nick Martin, both of San Diego. ---Rick Roberts reporting
RS:X sailboard, Men, ABYC/Gebhardt and Barger still even: "Just like
[the movie] 'Groundhog Day,' " was how four-time Olympian Mike Gebhardt
summed up another afternoon of swapping wins with his onetime protégé, Ben
Barger. Gebhardt won the first race in lighter wind of 3-4 knots, then bowed
to the larger Barger in 7-8. "It came down to who had the better start,"
Gebhardt said. "I ran a little conservative moving my board." In his win,
Barger said, "I was planing, which gives me an advantage, just trying to
hold him back. Each day's race is a big one. I'm trying not to mess up."
---Rick Roberts reporting
RS:X sailboard, Women, ABYC/Farrah Hall: Nancy Rios (1-2) lived it up
in the light wind to move into second place and shrink Farrah Hall's (2-3)
lead to two points. "I'm just trying to maintain my speed and sail smart,"
said Hall. "Nancy is really light and does well in light air." Rios: "My
goal was to be first off the starts. I pumped the whole first race." ---Rick
Roberts reporting
The leaders:
49ER (13 boats; 16 of 24 races; 1 discard):
1. Tim Wadlow (Beverly, Mass.)/Chris Rast (San Diego),
1-2-1-1-3-1-(4)-3-3-1-1-1-1-1-3-3, 26 points;
2. Dalton Bergan (Seattle, Wash.)/Zack Maxam (Costa Mesa, Calif.),
2-4-3-4-1-2-2-2-(14/OCS)-3-3-4-4-3-2-2, 41;
3. Morgan Larson (Capitola, Calif.)/Pete Spaulding (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.),
(14/OCS)-1-2-2-9-14/OCS-1-1-1-2-2-2-5-2-1-1, 46.
TORNADO (6 boats; 10 of 16 races; 1 discard):
1. Robbie Daniel (Clearwater, Fla.)/Hunter Stunzi (Charleston, S.C.),
1-(2)-2-1-1-2-2-1-1-1, 12 points;
2. John Lovell (New Orleans, La.)/Charlie Ogletree (Kemah, Tex.),
2-1-1-2-2-1-1-2-(4)-3, 15;
3. Colin Merrick (Portsmouth, R.I.)/John Sampson (Rumson, N.J.),
4-3-(5)-3-4-4-3-4-3-4, 32.
STAR (19 boats; 11 of 16 races; 1 discard):
1. Tie between Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.)/Magnus Liljedahl
(Miami, Fla.), 3-3-1-8-1-3-6-2-5-(10)-4, and
1. George Szabo (San Diego)/Andrew Scott
(Annapolis), 2-1-(1)-1-7-3-4-9-6-2-1-1, 36;
3. John Dane III/Austin Sperry (Gulfport, Miss.), 1-10-6-2-8-1-5-4-(12)-2-3,
42;
FINN (42 boats; 11 of 16 races; 1 discard):
1. Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.), 1-2-(12)-1-1-1-1-1-3-8, 20 points;
2. Geoffrey Ewenson (Annapolis), 2-3-(10)-4-3-2-2-4-3-1-3, 27;
3. Darrell Peck (Gresham, Ore.), 4-4-1-3-2-3-4-3-4-(6)-5, 33.
RS:X MEN (6 boats; 10 of 16 races; 1 discard):
1. Tie between Ben Barger (Tampa, Fla.), (8/RAF)-1-2-1-2-1-3-2-2-1, and
1. Mike Gebhardt (Ft. Pierce, Fla.),
2-(3)-1-2-1-2-1-3-1-2, 15 points;
3. Robert Willis (Chicago, Ill.), 1-2-5-3-(6)-3-2-1-4-4, 25.
RS:X WOMEN (7 boats; 10 of 16 races; 1 discard):
1. Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.), (4)-1-4-1-3-3-1-1-2-3, 19 points;
2. Nancy Rios (Miami, Fla.), 2-(4)-1-3-2-2-4-4-1-2, 21;
3. Lisa Kremer (Worthington, Minn.), 1-2-2-4-4-1-(5)-2-4-5, 25.
470 COMBINED FLEET/Official scoring* (13 boats; 10 of 16 races; 1
discard):
1. Stuart McNay (Lincoln, Mass.)/Graham Biehl (San Diego),
2-2-2-2-1-2-4-1-(6)-4, 20 points;
2. Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.)/Sarah Mergenthaler (New York, N.Y.),
4-3-1-(6)-3-3-2-4-1-5, 26;
3. Erin Maxwell (Norwalk, Conn.)/Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.),
(9)-7-5-5-2-1-5-3-3-2, 33;
*--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.