Drama for Cayard and Trinter

Broken mast nearly scuppers their Olympic dream

A blustery northerly that ushered in cooler temperatures also made for a speedy ride out to the racecourse once the postponement flag came down for the 22 Star teams competing in the 2004 US Olympic Team Trials-Sailing. During the morning, wind readings built from 14 to 20 knots, and were predicted to peak around noon at 24 knots before dropping off in the afternoon. When the first race got started at 1300, winds were recorded at 18 knots with puffs to 20, and, as predicted, by the start of the second race had dropped to 16 knots.

Paul Cayard (Kentfield, Calif.) and Phil Trinter (Lorain, Ohio) won both of the day’s races and go into tomorrow’s layday with the lead in hand. Rich Robert's on YachtRacing.com reports that Cayard actually broke his mast leaving the dock, but a quick turn around, with a new mast fitted, and a delay ashore for the whole fleet saved his regatta.

Cayard and Trinter are 14 points ahead of Vince Brun and Mike Dorgan (both San Diego, Calif.), who continued their move up the overall standings after posting finishes of 5-3 today. Just one point back, also moving up one spot – from fourth to third overall –are George Szabo (San Diego, Calif.) and Mark Strube (Miami, Fla.) after finishes of 4-2 today.

Eric Doyle (San Diego, Calif.) lost crew Brian Sharp (Norwalk, Conn./Franklin, Mass.) overboard during the second race and dropped two spots in the overall scoring – down to fifth – after placing 10-12 today. They have 34 points thus far for the series. Following four points back, in fifth overall, are John MacCausland (Cherry Hill, N.J.) and Brad Nichol (Sunapee, N.H.) who finished 15-5.

Wednesday is a mandatory layday. Racing resumes on Thursday, March 25, 2004, when the Race Committee will attempt to run three races.

Pos	Skipper/Crew	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
1	Paul Cayard/ Phil Trinter	2	[6]	1	2	3	1	1	10.00
2	Vince Brun/ Mike Dorgan	[23/OCS]	9	2	1	4	5	3	24.00
3	George Szabo/ Mark Strube	4	5	[14]	9	1	4	2	25.00
4	Eric Doyle/ Brian Sharp	1	1	9	8	5	10	[12]	34.00
5	John MacCausland/ Brad Nichol	6	8	3	6	10	[15]	5	38.00
6	Mark Reynolds/Steve Erickson	5	2	10	7	13	2	[15]	39.00
7	Howie Shiebler/ Will Stout	3	3	6	[23/OCS]	12	9	6	39.00
8	Rick Merriman/ Bill Bennett	7	4	[17]	13	2	7	9	42.00
9	Andrew Macdonald/Austin Sperry	11	7	5	4	6	[13]	10	43.00
10	Andy Lovell/Magnus Liljedahl	[23/OCS]	23/DNS	4	3	11	3	7	51.00
11	Peter Vessella/Brian Fatih	10	[23/DNF]	8	19	8	11	4	60.00
12	Doug Schofield/Bob Schofield	12	13	[16]	11	7	8	11	62.00
13	Karl Anderson/ Ezra Culver	13	10	15	5	[16]	16	8	67.00
14	John Dane/ Henry Sprague	9	12	[20]	16	9	17	16	79.00
15	Ben Cesare/Serge Leonidov	14	11	18	10	15	14	[21]	82.00
16	Jock Kohlhas/Rick Burgess	16	14	12	18	[19]	6	17	83.00
17	Henrik Wennerstrom/Jon Rogers	15	15	7	[23/OCS]	14	21	13	85.00
18	Bill Allen/ Brad Lichter	[23/DNF	23/DNS	11	15	20	12	14	95.00
19	John Virtue/ Scott Pack	8	[23/DNF]	19	12	23/RAF	18	23/DNF	103.00
20	Stephen Gould/Chris Gould	[23/DNF]	23/DNS	13	14	18	20	18	106.00
21	Steve Brown/Michael Marzahi	[23/OCS]	16	21	17	17	22	20	113.00
22	Fotis Boliakis/ Chris Rogers	17	17	[22]	20	21	19	19	113.00