Banner Day for USA Sailing
by Andrew Campbell on 14 Aug 2008
Andrew Campbell (USA) checks for Qingdao Geeen before the start of Race 3, 2008 Olympic Regatta - Day 5 - Laser Mens Richard Gladwell
www.photosport.co.nz
What a day for our team today! With Zach and Anna still in podium positions, the rest of the US team picked up the slack yesterday taking first place finishes in all three 49er races, the Yngling race, one of the men’s 470 races, and on the Laser racecourse.
We had to wait for our thrill on C course as light air dominated the morning. Even though the other courses started on-time at 1 o’clock, the outer courses (C and D) waited for nearly two hours before we were able to get enough stable breeze to run races. The radial fleet went first and headed around the outer loop. We went off under black flag half an hour and a general recall later in 4-5 knots of fading breeze. With the wind coming in a continuously streaky and lighter form it was incredibly important to find those seams of pressure and stay in them up the first beat. I managed to start about three boats down from the boat end and get my nose out to the right hand side. I crossed back to the middle about a third of the way up the beat, and was able to leebow the leaders from the left and come back across the middle in the last third of the leg to lead around the top. I led Andy Geritzer (AUT) around the next gate and was able to extend thanks to a loose cover as we went up the next beat, reach and run. The final reach was extremely light, but we finished at our target of 60 minutes thanks to the shortened course length.
What a thrill to say the least to win a race at the Olympic Games, but to do so on a day where the US Team had such a legendary day makes it all the more rewarding. Hopefully we can carry that momentum through the next couple of days.
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