US Sailors top-five finishes - Day 3 Pan Am Games

by Marni H Lane on 25 Jul 2007 Another day of light winds delayed sailing at the XV Pan American Games today in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But, it didn't slow down the U.S. team as seven boats posted top-five finishes in races Tuesday at Glória Marina.

The U.S. team got on the water for the afternoon races following a rainy morning, but many sailors were only able to complete one race after waiting for up to three hours for wind. Both the RS:X Men and Women, as well as the Hobie 16 added two races on the day.

In the Hobie races, the crew of Bob Merrick (Branford, Conn.) and Eliza Cleveland (Branford, Conn.) posted two bullets to move into second place with 12 points behind Brazil.

Other first-place races for Team USA on Tuesday included the Lightning boat - David Starck (Buffalo, N.Y.), Bill Faude (Chicago, Ill.), and Jody Starck (Buffalo, N.Y.) - which moved into first place with eight points. The Snipe team of Augie Diaz (Miami, Fla.) and Tracy Smith (Newport, R.I.) also posted a bullet in their third race of the regatta to jump into a tie for second with Brazil.

Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) remained in first in the Laser class after finishing second in his lone race of the day.

In the Sunfish class, Paul Foerster (Rockwall, Texas) remained consistent with his third top-five race of the Pan Am Games to hold onto third place with 10 points heading into tomorrow.

Both RS:X sailors completed two races. Nancy Rios (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) finished the day in third place after three races overall, and Ben Barger (Tampa, Fla.) sits in fifth.

Also for the U.S., Laser Radial sailor Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) remained in second place after three races, and the J24 crew of Dan Borrer (St. Augustine Beach, Fla.), Josh Putnam (Augusta, Ga.), Nate Vilardebo (Tampa, Fla.) and Patrick Wilson (Savanah, Ga.) finished second in their third race to sit in fourth place.

The sailors will be back on the water tomorrow with races scheduled to get underway at 12 p.m. local, an hour earlier than previously listed. If wind conditions are favorable, they will attempt to complete three races before daylight runs out to make up for Sunday's cancellations. Wednesday was also originally scheduled as a reserve day.

The XV Pan American Games feature 5,654 athletes from 42 nations competing in 37 sports. The sailing competition is taking place at the Glória Marina in the Guanabara Bay. The Pan American Games are held every four years, historically one year before the Olympic Games. The first Pan American Games were held in 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For more information, visit: www.rio2007.org.br.

About US SAILING

The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the National Governing Body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the U.S. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.

RESULTS

Top Three and USA

Laser Radial (12 boats) - 1 race today/3 total 1. Canada 2-2-3: 7 (Lisa Ross) T2. USA 4-1-9: 14 (Paige Railey/Clearwater, Fla.) T2. Argentina 3-4-7:14 (Cecilia Carranza Saroli) T2. Bermuda 5-3-6: 14 (Katrina Williams)

Laser (12 boats) - 1 race today/ 3 total 1. USA 1-5-2: 8 (Andrew Campbell/San Diego, Calif.) 2. Argentina 7-1-1:9 (Julio Alsogaray) 3. Brazil 3-4-3: 10 (Robert Scheidt)

RS:X Men (nine boats) -- 2 races today/4 total 1. Mexico 1-1-1-1: 4 (David Mier Y Teran) 2. Brazil 3-2-3-1: 9 (Ricardo Winicki) 3. Argentina 2-3-2-5: 12 (Mariano Reutemann) 4. USA 5-4-6-6: 21 (Ben Barger/Tampa, Fla.)

RS:X Women (seven boats) - 2 races today/3 total 1. Canada 1-1-1: 3 (Dominique Vallee) 2. Argentina 2-2-4: 8 (Florencia Gutierrez) 3. Brazil 4-3-2: 9 (Patricia Castro) 4. USA 3-8(OCS)-3: 14 (Nancy Rios/Cocoa Beach, Fla.)

Lightning (seven boats) - 1 race today/3 total 1. USA 3-4-1: 8 (Bill Faude/Chicago, Ill.; David Starck/Buffalo, N.Y.; Jody Starck/Buffalo, N.Y.) 2. Brazil 2-3-4: 9 (Claudio Biekarck, Gunnar Ficker, Silva Marcelo) T3. Chile 1-1-8(OCS): 10 (Alberto Gonzalez, Diego Gonzalez, Cristian Herman) T3. Ecuador 5-2-3: 10 (Sebastian Herrera Castro, Juan Santos Dillon, Juan Santos Garces)

Sunfish (11 boats) - 1 race today/3 total 1. Venezuela 3-1-2: 6 (Eduardo Cordero) 2. Peru 1-6-1: 8 (Alexander Zimmermann) 3. USA 2-5-3: 10 (Paul Foerster/Rockwall, Texas)

J24 (seven boats) - 1 race today/3 total 1. Argentina 1-2-4: 7 (Joaquin Duarte Argerich, Gustavo Gonzalez, Sebastian Peri Brusa, Alejo Rigoni) T2. Brazil 8-1-1: 10 (Carlos Jordao, Mauricio Oliveria, Daniel Santiago, Alexandre Silva) T2. Canada 3-4-3: 10 (Mark Goodyear, Rossi Milev, Erwyn Naidoo, Mike Wolfs) 4. USA 6-5-2: 13 (Daniel Borrer/St. Augustine Beach, Fla.; Nate Vilardebo/Tampa, Fla.;Patrick Wilson/Savannah, Ga.; Josh Putnam/Augusta, Ga.)

Hobie Cat 16 (eight boats) -- 2 races today/4 total 1. Brazil 1-1-2-4: 8 (Bernardo Arndt, Bruno Oliveira) 2. USA 6-4-1-1: 12 (Bob Merrick/Branford, Conn.; Eliza Cleveland/Branford, Conn.) 3. Guatemala 3-2-6-2: 13 (Cristina Guirola, Juan Ignacio Maegli)

Snipe (11 boats) - 1 race today/3 total

1. Uruguay 2-2-2: 6 (Pablo Defazio, Eduardo Medici) T2. Brazil 1-3-6: 10 (Pedro Amaral, Alexandre Paradeda) T2. USA 5-4-1: 10 (Augie Diaz/Miami, Fla.; Tracy Smith/Newport, R.I.)

QUOTES FROM TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2007
Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.)

'We waited for about three hours with no wind. But, when we started the race, it was fine. It just took all day for that thermal to kick up. At that point, it was a steady wind and it ended up being a pretty even race.'

On tomorrow: 'We still need to see what the conditions are like, and I'm going to just keep doing what I've been doing. A bunch of guys got penalty flags today, so it's nice for me not to have one or worry about that going into tomorrow.