Like Qingdao in the US

The light wind conditions continue to make life difficult at the US Olympic Team Trials

East Coast:

After the third day of racing at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team Trials - Sailing, leaders in all five classes racing off Aquidneck Island are holding onto their leading edge. But a study of the scores tells a deeper story: rivalries are heating up and points spreads are progressing into the territory of little-margin-for-error sailing. Fast forward to eight races, when racers can discard their worst race, and the picture gets even more interesting.

In the Laser class - a 33-boat fleet filled with talents both seasoned and up-and-coming - odds makers before this event were eyeing two sailors from two coasts: Florida-based Brad Funk and San Diego sailor Andrew Campbell.

Funk moved into the class lead with a five-point margin after Sunday's racing. But two bullets in today's two races escalate Campbell into the number two slot. Once a discard is factored in, Campbell's throwout of a 20th-place finish and Funk's ninth make this a battle of class talents about to reach a boiling point. After today, Funk stands in first, with Campbell second, tied in points with Clay Johnson.

2.4mR sailor Mark Bryant has seen some close finishes here in Newport. On the Paralympic course today - which saw squirrelly conditions, where the breeze never topped ten knots and did an about-face from west-southwest to east-northeast - he lost a race to John Ruf by only a foot at the finish line.

"That's the third race I've lost in this regatta by only a foot," he said. Although the on-the-water distances are close and the points scores are lethal - with only three points separating the top thee boats. "I'm standing right where I want to be," he said after today's racing. For a man disabled by degenerative arthritis, that standing position is likely more than simply his spot on the leader board - but also the chance to compete for a spot amongst the world's top athletes heading to the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games in China next year.

As predicted, the battle for the Laser Radial win is developing into a battle of two Titans in this new Olympic class, with Anna Tunnicliffe leading and Paige Railey in second. After Tunnicliffe's two bullets today and Railey's two seconds, Tunnicliffe leads by three points.

"It was tricky sailing today, with light winds and big waves," said Tunnicliffe. Winds on the Laser course started at about 13/15 knots and steadily died to as little as four knots.

For Tunnicliffe, this regatta is both a mental and physical challenge - but one she prepared for. She trained with long strings of sailing days with little breaks between, to learn how her stamina would fare during such an intense stretch of racing. So far, it is faring better than most: Tunicliffe shares the fleet's lowest point score (eight points) with SKUD-18 racers Nick Scandone and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker, who also took two first-place finishes today to retain their lead in this doublehanded Paralympic class.

Sonar skipper Rick Doerr, racing with Tim Angle, and Bill Donohue, still leads this six-boat class. But a jury decision to reinstate race two, which was originally abandoned, moves the team of Albert Foster, David Burdette and Jim Thweatt into second, only one point ahead of the team of Paul Callahan, Roger Cleworth and Tom Brown. Callahan represented the United States at the 2000 Paralympic Games.

West Coast:

Whether Qingdao's notoriety for wimpy wind will ring true for the Olympic sailing next August, most of the competitors in America's West Coast Trials got plenty of practice dealing with it on Monday. The Finns' day at Newport Beach was a complete loss, while everyone else except the 49ers at San Diego and the RS:X sailboards at Long Beach spent much of the afternoon twiddling their tillers before ample breeze arrived for fair contests.

Beleaguered race committees managed only one race for the Stars at Marina del Rey and struggled for two elsewhere. Meanwhile, the 49ers lived it up with their usual three races at San Diego as veterans Morgan Larson and crew Pete Spaulding shook off a slump with a sweep of the day. There were no lead changes, although Nancy Rios moved into a first-place tie with Lisa Kremer in the women's RS:X sailboards at Long Beach.

Anyone wondering, "Where are Morgan Larson and Pete Spaulding?" after the first two days of 49er racing got an answer today, Monday, when the accomplished veterans not only swept the day with three first-place finishes but tossed a 14-point OCS they'd been dragging behind them for two days. With a second OCS still hanging, that moved them up to third place behind leaders Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast and second-place Dalton Bergan and Zack Maxam, who conceded an OCS hit in the final race following a pair of seconds. Larson said, "We hadn't sailed poorly, but we discovered a few things with tuning our rig and were going a little better in the lighter conditions. We dug ourselves a pretty deep hole and now we're trying to fill it." They can discard their other OCS after 17 races, but there's no margin for error. "Our backs are still against the wall," Larson said. While every other venue gasped for air, the 49ers started on time at noon in six to eight knots off Coronado Roads and clicked off all three races before surrendering their course to the Tornados, who went windless a couple of miles farther down the coast near Mexico.

The Tornado trials may have to be settled with a coin flip because there isn't much separating the two main protagonists on the water. Robbie Daniel andHunter Stunzi and three-time Olympians (silver in 2004) John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree have swapped first and second positions all regatta. The former won by 1:26 in the first race sailed near Mexico, then after the course was moved to the 49ers' vacated site up the beach Lovell and Ogletree won by 2:31, although in the four to eight knot winds the margins were not indicative of how close it was.

Age may have its privileges, but John Dane, at 57 the senior competitor among 19 talented teams in this hard-edged Star fleet, and son-in-law Austin Sperry earned their victory in the only race in fluky five knot winds on Santa Monica Bay Monday. Nobody has worked harder in their three-year campaign than the pair from Gulfport, Miss, who now share second place with George Szabo and Andrew Scott, nine points behind Mark Mendelblatt and Magnus Liljedahl, who saved their lead by moving from eighth to third behind California's Eric Lidecis and Michael Marzahi on the last run to the finish. Double Olympic medalists Mark Reynolds and crew Hal Haenel are two points back in fourth. "We're happy where we're at," Dane said, "but it's a long series." He didn't mind the conditions. "I grew up on Lake Pontchartrain, where it was light and fluky all the time" Dane said. "I learned patience, so this was fine for me."

It appears that Stuart McNay and crew Graham Biehl have found a groove that could lead all the way to China in the Men's 470, while favorites Mikee Anderson-Mitterling and David Hughes struggle approaching the halfway mark in these Trials. Despite tricky conditions Monday, McNay and Biehl logged two wins and have no finish worse than second, while their rivals settled for two seconds and stand ten points in arrears. "We were able to do a good job in the wind shifts and stay consistent and positive," McNay said. Anderson-Mitterling is less positive. "We're trying to have fun and stay loose," he said. "I've never sailed this badly before." Meanwhile, a protest brought by Anderson-Mitterling and Hughes against Justin Law and Mike Miller for an incident in race number three on Sunday resulted in the latter's disqualification for that race.

Only McNay and Biehl outsailed the top women in the combined fleets on the 470 course on Monday. Overall, Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving were second and first while leaders Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler took two thirds. In the race for the sole Olympic berth, the latter's lead was cut to three points. Later, after dark, a Clark and Mergenthaler protest against their nearest rivals for a pre-start incident in the second race was dismissed.

Ben Barger, 20, held his own with his mentor, Mike Gebhardt, 41, to remain four points behind as they swapped firsts and seconds in the Men's RS:X, but the youngster is in position to seize the lead Tuesday when he'll discard his opening-day eighth-place disqualification for sailing the wrong course. The worst result Gebhardt can toss is a third. "We exchanged the lead through both races," Barger said. "I have an advantage in a breeze because I'm taller and bigger." With a glance at Gebhardt, he added, smiling: "Age does have disadvantages. I'm waiting for him to crack."

The top four are within two points in the Women's RS:X, as Nancy Rios, who dominated the Pre-Trials here a year ago, moving into a tie for the lead with Lisa Kremer with two second places on the course off Seal Beach Pier. "It was pretty exciting," Rios said. "I was watching Lisa in the first race because she seems to have a feel for the course." Rios made a strong move late in the second race to salvage second behind Kremer. "I saved my energy upwind because I knew I'd need it downwind. I pumped all the way downwind."

The U.S. Trials' largest fleet of 42 boats, the Finn class, spent the afternoon in dead calm, teased only by a gentle five knot zephyr around two o'clock that soon faded to nothing. With no prospects of racing, principal race officer Jeff Johnson called it a day at about 3:30, leaving Darrell Peck on top by three points over Zach Railey. Together they have won three of the four races.

Results:

Laser

Laser Radial

470 Men

470 Women

Finn

Tornado

Star

2.4mR

Skud 18

Sonar

RS:X Men

RS:X Women

49er