London Olympics 2012 - Lack of wind halts competition

by Dana Paxton on 10 Aug 2012 At the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition, a lack of wind at the sailing venue in Weymouth and Portland led to all racing being abandoned for the day. Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi, who were eliminated from Women’s Match Racing Quarter-Final round on Aug. 8 by Finland, were scheduled to compete against The Netherlands for places fifth and sixth. With the abandonment of racing, their overall scores from the earlier rounds stand and USA will finish the Olympic Sailing Regatta in fifth place.

'It’s very unusual, especially for match racers as we generally race in anything,' said Tunnicliffe of the lack of wind. 'The wind was very difficult, we got out to our course and it was 5-6 knots, then it quickly started dying and getting shifty.'

While waiting on the water, Team USA initiated a water fight among the teams. 'We were trying to make light of the situation and have a little fun,' said Tunnicliffe.

'It’s definitely disappointing not to sail. We were psyched to get on the water and looking forward to sailing. We are happy with fifth place since we couldn’t get into the top four, but sailing would have been a better way to do it.'

As this campaign comes to a close, Tunnicliffe pointed out that there are many positive aspects. 'We are an amazing team and we get along really well,' she said. 'We pushed through some highs and lows throughout our whole campaign. Everything we learned made us stronger people and athletes. We learned a ton about match racing, sailing and life, and we will be stronger people in the end.'



Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan, who finished the 10-race series in the Women’s 470 in ninth place overall will compete in the medal race on Aug. 10. Today was a scheduled reserve day for the Women’s 470.

Results in concluded events:

12th, Finn (Men’s One Person Dinghy Heavy), Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) 10-15-13-17-2-8-11-8-12-19 (completed Aug 3)

29th, Laser, Rob Crane (Darien, Conn.) 35-42-30-28-16-32-19-8-33-(44)

20th, Women’s RS:X Windsurfing, Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) 22-18-18-18-20-22-23-27[OCS]-16-16 (completed Aug. 5)

22nd, RS:X Windsurfing, Bob Willis (Chicago, Ill.) 7-10-11-25-BFD-28-24-33-11-30 (completed Aug. 5)

7th, Star (Men’s Keelboat), Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (both Miami, Fla.) 5-14-5-3-8-9-5-10-3-11-6

8th, Laser Radial, Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) 8-5-12-17-4-9-[21]-20-9-8-6 (12 points)

15th, 49er, Erik Storck (Huntington, N.Y.) and Trevor Moore (Naples, Fla./N. Pomfret, Vt.) 6-10-16-1-7-13-[20]-18-2-17-5-20-17-8-17

14th, Men’s 470, Stuart McNay (Boston, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) 17-22-10-3-23-24-6-18-7-4

Women’s Match Racing, Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), Molly Vandemoer (Stanford, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) – fifth place overall

Overall standings to date:

9th, Women’s 470, Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.) and Sarah Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) 7-3-5-7-19-20-3-8-17-9

**BFD is black flag penalty
US Sailing website