Chasing gold at the Rio Olympics—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 16 Aug 2016 The Rio 2016 Olympics are now well past their halfway point, which means that we are now deep into the medal race cycle for the XXXI Olympiad. For the athletes who are still sailing or who have qualified for the medal races, this means that Olympic-level pressures are reaching their zenith as the sailors count down the clocks to their various starts.

North American sailors have enjoyed a strong showing at the Rio Games, with multiple Top Ten results as we move to the medal-race phase of the Olympic regatta. As of this writing, final positions have been determined in the Men’s and Women’s RS:X windsurfing classes, with medals going to Dutch, English, French, Chinese and Russian sailors, but everything else is still up for grabs, with the exception of the Finn class, where British sailor Giles Scott has already sewn-up the gold medal.

As with all sailing venues, the wind’s presence is one of the biggest wildcards, and Rio has been delivering some medal-week frustrations for the sailors and race officials alike. For example, on Monday, Laser and Laser Radial sailors-as well as the race committee-waited ashore for hours for the breeze to build for their medal race. The strategy worked until it worked too well: sailors were released from shore in a gathering wind that quickly spiked from 15 knots to 30-plus knots, kicking up fierce seas and adding some serious spice to an otherwise windless day.

Needless to say, no racing took place, and so this week’s already hectic medal-race schedule will become even busier as the RC works to ensure that all medal races take place without a hitch.

According to the official Olympic racing calendar, medal racing was supposed to take place today (Tuesday) in the Men’s Laser and Women’s Laser Radials, the Nacra 17, and the Finns, but the weather gods have not cooperated and all medal racing has been rescheduled.

But, if Monday’s wacky weather pattern is any indication that things can change quickly on Rio’s racecourses, the old saying about not liking the weather and waiting a few long minutes could spell the nature of the RC’s game plan as they wait to see what cards the weather will actually deal out.

As far as their Olympic performance is concerned, there’s no question that the North American sailors have faired better at the XXXI Olympiad than they did at the London 2012 Olympics, which saw medal-ceremony shutouts for American- and Canadian-flagged teams.

Americans Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha are currently sitting in second place overall in the Women’s 470 class, while Stuart McNay and Dave Hughes are in sixth place in the Men’s 470. Paige Railey is currently sitting in 10th place in the Laser Radials, Paris Henken and Helena Scutt are in ninth place in the 49erFX class, and Bora Gulari and Louisa Chafee are in ninth place in the Nacra 17 class. Caleb Paine is currently sitting in fourth place in the one-person Finn class, while Thomas Barrows and Joe Morris are in 19th place.

Team Canada has been having a rougher go at the Rio 2016 Olympics than their American neighbors to the south. As of this writing, Lee Parkhill was in 23rd in the full-rig Laser, Tom Ramshaw was in 21st place in the Finn class, Jacob and Graeme Saunders were in 22nd place in the Men’s 470 class, Erin Rafuse and Dannie Boyd were in 15th place in the 49erFX class, and Luke Ramsay and Nikola Girke were in 15th place in the Nacra 17 class.

So, as the clocks continue to tick down to medal races, and as the RC keeps one eye on the weather and the other on the need to conduct the right number of races and medal races, you can bet your last shackle that Team Canada and Team USA sailors will be doing everything within their power to ensure that their national anthems are played loudly during the upcoming medal ceremonies.

Go Team Canada and Team USA!!

May the four winds blow you safely home,