August 16, 2008

Keeping Up With the Action

            There is so much happening on the water off Qingdao, that my head is spinning.

          First, there was the disappointment of no race for the Finns or Ynglings.  The anticipation was running high with medals on the line.  Race committee officer Peter Reggio tried hard to get a race in, but the wind off the Qingdao Sailing Center sea wall did not come in. In spite of the trouble we were treated to quite a show at the start of the Finn race that lasted only two legs.

           Britain's Ben Ainslie and USA's Zach Railey got into a match race.  Railey thought he had jumped gun and returned to the line.  Ainslie pounced and quickly drove Railey back by blanketing the wind in the 24 year old Olympic rookie's sail.  Ainslie is a very skilled match racer sailor having spent three years training with the New Zealand America's Cup team.  Railey has never been to a match race of any note, and it showed. Railey seemed to have the notion that he could get Ainslie in a bad position and push him back to get a goal.  But there are only 10 boats in the medal race.  To win Railey would have to put 6 boats in between him and Ainslie.  Railey needs to be careful because a bad finish could give Dan Birgmark of Sweden, Guillaume Florent of France or Chris Cook of Canada a chance to pass Railey for the silver or even bronze medal.  The math shows that it is possible.

             Waiting back on shore, it was a frustrating day for the Yngling women sailors who were scheduled for the second medal race of the day.  The USA has to make up one point to get into medal positon. The Finn and Yngling classes will try again on Sunday.

             Over on the Star course John Dane and his crew, son-in-law Austin Sperry, demonstrated that they are very competitive.  After three weird, wind-challenged races the USA duo stands in first place. This is a strong performance for a skipper who is 24 years older than the average age of the rest of the sailors in his class. Every team here is using a coach, but Dane had a different approach leading up to this regatta.  He told me, "We have used two coaches over the past year."  The first is Hans Wallen from Sweden, a silver medalist in 1996 in the Star, who worked with Dane and Sperry on tactics and boat handling.  The other was Rodney Hagebois whose focus, according to Dane, was taking care of the boat, equipment and sail inventory. You are only allowed one coach at the Games.  Since the equipment was set, Hans is the solo coach here in Qingdao.   Using multiple coaches is unique and may become a future trend.

             Of course, three races doth a regatta not make, but the early indication is that John Dane, after 40 years of trying to get into the Olympics, is giving it his best shot.  It is a powerful example of what a long term commitment can achieve.