Comebacks in two classes and good
maintenance in another highlighted the USA’s day at the Olympic Regatta in
Athens. A northern breeze, what the Greeks call a Meltemi, materialized but
failed to pump up the winds to their radical norm. U.S. sailors called the
breezes frustratingly shifty but managed them nicely.

In Tornado class, John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree
(Houston, Texas/Columbia, N.C.) held on to their top spot on the scoreboard
after turning in two ninth-place finishes, one of which they count as a
throwout. After a shaky start in the first race, the team’s successful
attempt to climb from seventh to fourth was negated by a spinnaker retrieval
line that got looped around their onboard camera. “It pulled the patch out
of the sail and Charlie had to climb out to manually stuff the spinnaker
back in its storage tube,” said Lovell. “Having a guy out there on the bow
is not fast.” Lovell said four or five different breezes were fighting each
other in the second race. When the committee shortened the last leg of the
race, the U.S. team had just passed six or seven boats to recover from a
position that had once been 17th in the 17-boat fleet. Though the team has
the lowest drop score of anyone in the hunt for medals, Lovell was cautious
when assessing the situation. “We were okay with the ninths, especially
considering all that happened and that we had a lot of the leaders around
us, but there were a lot of teams who seemed way back yesterday that moved
up today.” Their closest competition remains Austria, in second place and
trailing the USA by only one point.

Star sailors Paul Cayard (Kentfield, Calif.) and Phil Trinter (Lorain,
Ohio/Port Washington, N.Y.) climbed back to fourth overall today, after
having fallen to seventh yesterday. It took one race and a third-place
finish to do it. (Due to a dying breeze, a second race was postponed until
tomorrow.) The team had to fight back from 12th at one point and outsmart
the fluky winds. “You can’t ever get used to the conditions here,” said
Trinter. “It’s more a matter of controlling your frustrations.” Brazil has a
good jump on the fleet with eight points to Canada’s 15, Denmark’s 19 and
USA’s 20. “We have six races left,” said Trinter. “That’s a whole world
championship. And sailing tomorrow plays to our favor. We’re tougher, fitter
than a lot of guys out there, and taking their reserve day away plays into
our hands.”

The 49er class used a reserve day today to catch up on their schedule, which
was missing a race from yesterday. U.S. sailors Tim Wadlow (San Diego,
Calif.) and Pete Spaulding (Miami, Fla.), who had fallen to sixth yesterday,
picked themselves back up today, taking a third-place finish and climbing to
fourth overall. “It was a very difficult third,” said Spaulding. “A 10-15
knot breeze came in before the start. It was very shifty. We were seventh or
eighth at the first mark in a close pack that stayed mostly together for the
next two legs, but on the second run we separated and rounded the last
leeward mark in 4th.” The team then passed one more boat for good measure.
“We did a good job sailing the shifts and staying in the most wind,” added
Spaulding, “which was critical today.”

The Mistral class resumed racing today after a day off, with both the men’s
and women’s divisions completing two races. Lanee Butler Beashel (Aliso
Viejo, Calif.) sailed her throwout, a 19th, and then finished 15th in the
second race. She dropped one position to 17th overall. “There really isn’t
anything wrong or missing,” said Butler. “I’m sailing as best I can, and
against the same women I sailed against in Sydney. They’ve just all gotten
that much better.”

For Peter Wells (Newport Beach/La Canada, Calif.), today offered no relief
from finishes well back in the fleet. A 30th and 28th drops him to 27th
overall. Both classes have one race to go, scheduled for Wednesday.

Two classes-Europe and Laser-completed their series yesterday, Sunday, Aug.
22, making a total of five that have concluded racing.

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