Closing on Cayard

Big wind day for US Star sailors at their Olympic trials in Miami

With both Star sailors and organisers anxious to resume racing after yesterday’s layday, the Race Committee sent an observer out on blustery Biscayne Bay to take wind readings after early-morning reports came in at 15-22 knots.

Armed with the information that the observer never recorded anything in excess of 18 knots, the fleet competing in the 2004 US Olympic Team Trials-Sailing headed out to the course where half an hour before the noon start, winds ranged from 13-18 knots.

Under conditions acknowledged as “excellent for Star sailing”, the course was set for W-2 (windward-leeward twice around). However, by noon the winds had increased to 18-21knots and by the time the lead boats had completed the first two legs, it had rised further to 22-25 knots with gusts as high as 32, resulting in a decision not to run additional races for the day, once the race in progress was completed.

With their win of the only race sailed today, George Szabo and Mark Strube have improved another position in the overall scoring. They have been steadily improving their placement over the course of the series, and today’s win, their second thus far in eight races, puts them 12 points behind series leaders Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter. Cayard and Trinter finished fourth today and now stand first overall with 14 points.

Vince Brun and Mike Dorgan, dropped back one place to third overall after adding a 10th-place finish to their scoreline. With 34 points, they trail Szabo and Strube by eight points.

Posting an 11th-place finish didn’t cost Eric Doyle and Brian Sharp anything in the overall scoring. In fact the two moved up from fifth to fourth on the strength of 45 points. Rounding out the top-five in the overall scores, one point behind Doyle and Sharp, are John MacCausland and Brad Nichol after finishing eighth today.

Racing continues tomorrow, Friday, 26 March until Sunday, 28 March. The Race Committee will plan for three races each of the remaining competition days in an attempt to complete the planned 16-race series.

Results

Pos	Skipper/	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Total
	Crew									Points
1	Paul Cayard/	2	[6]	1	2	3	1	1	4	14.00
	Phil Trinter
2	George Szabo/	4	5	[14]	9	1	4	2	1	26.00
	Mark Strube
3	Vince Brun/	[23/	9	2	1	4	5	3	10	34.00
	Mike Dorgan	OCS]
4	Eric Doyle/	1	1	9	8	5	10	[12]	11	45.00
	Brian Sharp
5	John MacCausland/	6	8	3	6	10	[15]	5	8	46.00
	Brad Nichol
6	Rick Merriman/	7	4	[17]	13	2	7	9	5	47.00
	Bill Bennett
7	Mark Reynolds/	5	2	10	7	13	2	[15]	9	48.00
	Steve Erickson
8	Andrew Macdonald/	11	7	5	4	6	[13]	10	7	50.00
	Austin Sperry
9	Andy Lovell/	[23/	23/	4	3	11	3	7	3	54.00
	Magnus Liljedahl	OCS]	DNS
10	Howie Shiebler/	3	3	6	[23/	12	9	6	23/	62.00
	Will Stout				OCS]				DNF
11	Doug Schofield/	12	13	[16]	11	7	8	11	2	64.00
	Bob Schofield
12	Peter Vessella/	10	[23/	8	19	8	11	4	6	66.00
	Brian Fatih		DNF]
13	Karl Anderson/	13	10	15	5	[16]	16	8	13	80.00
	Ezra Culver
14	Jock Kohlhas/	16	14	12	18	[19]	6	17	12	95.00
	Rick Burgess
15	John Dane/	9	12	20	16	9	17	16	[23/	99.00
	Henry Sprague								DNF]
16	Ben Cesare/	14	11	18	10	15	14	21	[23/	103.00
	Serge Leonidov								DNF]
17	Henrik Wennerstrom/	15	15	7	[23/	14	21	13	23/	108.00
	Jon Rogers				OCS]				DNF
18	Bill Allen/	[23/	23/	11	15	20	12	14	14	109.00
	Brad Lichter	DNF]	DNS
19	Stephen Gould/	[23/	23/	13	14	18	20	18	16	122.00
	Christopher Gould	DNF]	DNS
20	John Virtue/	8	[23/	19	12	23/	18	23/	23/	126.00
	Scott Pack		DNF]			RAF		DNF	DNF
21	Fotis Boliakis/	17	17	[22]	20	21	19	19	15	128.00
	Chris Rogers
22	Steve Brown/	[23/	16	21	17	17	22	20	17	130.00
	Michael Marzahi	OCS]