U.S. Sailors lead Fleets - Pan Am Games

by Marni H Lane on 26 Jul 2007 With start times moved up an hour earlier today, the sailors were able to at least get one race in before the winds died down on day four of racing at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All nine U.S. boats are among the top five in points with two days of sailing remaining on the schedule before Saturday’s medal races.

Laser sailor Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) remains in first place, after posting his second bullet of the regatta in his first race on Wednesday. He led the fleet throughout most of his second race before still winds caught him near the end and Julio Alsogaray (Argentina) and Robert Scheidt (Brazil) finished ahead of him.

The U.S. Lightning team of David Starck (Buffalo, N.Y.), Bill Faude (Chicago, Ill.) and Jody Starck (Buffalo, N.Y.) sits in a three-way tie for first with 11 points after four races, sharing the slot with Chile and Brazil.

Augie Diaz (Miami, Fla.) and Tracy Smith (Newport, R.I.) hold on to second place aboard the Snipe. They finished third in their first race on Wednesday and had started a second race before it was abandoned due to no wind.

Bob Merrick (Branford, Conn.) and Eliza Cleveland (Branford, Conn.) remain in second in the Hobie 16 class, finishing third in their lone race of the day. Paul Foerster (Rockwall, Texas) also posted a top-five finish Wednesday in his second race of the day and sits in third place.

Both Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) in the Laser Radial and the J24 team are in fourth place after the third day. The two RS:X sailors completed two races for the second consecutive day. Nancy Rios (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) is tied for fourth place, while Ben Barger (Tampa, Fla.) is in fifth.

The sailors return to water tomorrow 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 cancelled races.

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) – 2 race today/5 total
1. Mexico [9]-6-1-2-2: 11 (Tania Elias Calles Wolf)
T2. Argentina 3-4-[7]-1-4: 12 (Cecilia Carranza Saroli)
T2. Canada 2-2-3-[5]-5: 12 (Lisa Ross)
4. USA 4-1-[9]-3-6: 14 (Paige Railey/Clearwater, Fla.)

Laser (12 boats) – 2 races today/5 total
1. USA 1-[5]-2-1-3: 7 (Andrew Campbell/San Diego, Calif.)
2. Argentina 7-1-1-[11]-1: 10 (Julio Alsogaray)
3. Brazil 3-[4]-3-3-2: 11 (Robert Scheidt)

RS:X Men (nine boats) -- 2 races today/6 total
T1. Mexico 1-1-1-4-[6]-2: 9 (David Mier Y Teran)
T1. Brazil [3]-2-3-1-2-1: 9 (Ricardo Winicki)
3. Argentina 2-3-2-[5]-3-3: 18 (Mariano Reutemann)
5. USA 5-4-[6]-6-4-6: 25 (Ben Barger/Tampa, Fla.)

RS:X Women (seven boats) – 2 races today/3 total
1. Canada 1-1-1-[3]-1: 4 (Dominique Vallee)
2. Brazil [4]-3-2-1-2: 8 (Patricia Castro)
3. Argentina 2-2-[4]-4-4: 12 (Florencia Gutierrez)
T4. USA 3-8(OCS)-3-5-5: 16 (Nancy Rios/Cocoa Beach, Fla.)

Lightning (seven boats) – 1 race today/4 total
T1. Chile 1-1-8(OCS)-1: 11 (Alberto Gonzalez, Diego Gonzalez, Cristian Herman)
T1. USA 3-4-1-3: 11 (David Starck/Buffalo, N.Y.; Bill Faude/Chicago, Ill.; Jody Starck/Buffalo, N.Y.)
T1. Brazil 2-3-4-2: 11 (Claudio Biekarck, Gunnar Ficker, Silva Marcelo)

Sunfish (11 boats) – 2 races today/5 total
T1. Peru 1-[6]-1-5-1: 8 (Alexander Zimmermann)
T1. Venezuela [3]-1-2-2-3: 8 (Eduardo Cordero)
3. USA 2-5-3-[8]-4: 14 (Paul Foerster/Rockwall, Texas)

J24 (seven boats) – 1 race today/4 total
1. Argentina 1-2-4-2: 9 (Joaquin Argerich, Gustavo Gonzalez, Sebastian Brusa, Alejo Rigoni)
2. Brazil 8 (DNC)-1-1-1: 11 (Carlos Jordao, Mauricio Oliveria, Daniel Santiago, Alexandre Silva)
3. Canada 3-4-3-4: 14 (Mark Goodyear, Rossi Milev, Erwyn Naidoo, Mike Wolfs)
T4. USA 6-5-2-5: 18 (Daniel Borrer/St. Augustine Beach, Fla.; Nate Vilardebo/Tampa, Fla.; Patrick Wilson/Savannah, Ga.; Josh Putnam/Augusta, Ga.)
T4. Uruguay 4-3-8(OCS)-3: 18 (Santiago Silveria, Sebastian Rana, Alejandro Foglia Mafio, Nicolas Shaban)

Hobie Cat 16 (eight boats) -- 1 races today/5 total
1. Brazil 1-1-2-[4]-2: 6 (Bernardo Arndt, Bruno Oliveira)
2. USA [6]-4-1-1-3: 9 (Bob Merrick/Branford, Conn.; Eliza Cleveland/Branford, Conn.)
3. Venezuela 4-3-3-[6]-1: 11 (Gonzalo Cendra, Yamil Saba)

Snipe (11 boats) – 1 race today/4 total
1. Uruguay 2-2-2-2: 8 (Pablo Defazio, Eduardo Medici)
2. USA 5-4-1-3: 13 (Augie Diaz/Miami, Fla.; Tracy Smith/Newport, R.I.)
3. Brazil 1-3-6-4: 14 (Pedro Amaral, Alexandre Paradeda)


QUOTES FROM WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2007

Augie Diaz (Miami, Fla.)

'The breeze was out of the right direction, and by all indications, the breeze should have increased or maintained. But, unfortunately, it was not to be.'

On getting on the water at noon: 'It did help, because otherwise the one race we were able to get in today would have been a bad race. By the time we got down to the bridge at noon, the wind shifted. So, the principal race officer was pretty smart in moving the line up the bay, making a little better course. That worked out good. We started the second race and we went about half-way through the race and then the wind was hopeless. I think the committee did the right thing in calling it off.'

Tracy Smith (Newport, R.I.)

'We definitely try to be pretty aggressive on staying on top of the No. 2, No. 3 boats when we can. It’s almost like every race is a medal race. There are five boats at this point in the race that are fairly tight. Every point makes a difference – a third as opposed to a fourth finish could mean a medal.'

Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.)

On starting races an hour earlier than originally scheduled: 'It definitely helped. We had a lot better breeze at 11:30. It’s just luck of the draw whether we have a good breeze or not. We had a lot of breeze when we first got out there, then it kind of tapered off.

'I was winning the last race, heading the last 200 yards to the finish. Then the breeze went to absolutely nil and a couple of guys got around me. So, I was kind of disappointed to end the day that way. I just picked the wrong side, made a mistake, and it cost me a couple of points, so hopefully those points don’t really matter in the end. I still won the day.'

'In the first race, I was putting shifts together like I know how to do, and I went into the second race with a lot of confidence. On the whole, I’m extremely happy with the way everything is going for me. I was the first to every mark on the course except for the last finish, so not a bad day at all.'

'Going into tomorrow, I’ve just got to play it the same way. I still have to play it conservative; we still have a couple days left before that medal race. I think stuff is starting to heat up among the guys to try to make it into that top five.'

David Starck (Buffalo, N.Y.)