Sail for Gold Day 5 - No action for US sailors + Video

by Dana Paxton on 9 Jun 2012 Racing for day five of the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta was cancelled due to continued high wind conditions over Weymouth and Portland. As this was the final scheduled day of racing in the Paralympic classes, the results, to date, stand as final. For the Olympic classes, those in the top-10 will advance to Saturday’s medal races.

Representing the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider will be Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan in Women’s 470 and Zach Railey in the Finn,with US Sailing Development Team member Charlie Buckingham in the Laser. In Women’s Match Racing, Anna Tunnicliffe with her ‘Team Maclaren’ of Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi will compete face Lehtinen (FIN).

Zach Railey goes into the Finn medal race in third place overall. In race 7 a collision occurred, which forced him to retire from the race. He was later awarded average points for his previous races, and sits behind Giles Scott and Ben Ainslie (both GBR), in first and second, respectively. Railey’s last ISAF World Cup event was Princess Sofia Trophy regatta where he won a silver medal.

Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan are currently in sixth overall in the Women’s 470. They have seen their performance improve over the week of racing, and will be gunning for a top-three finish. The duo’s last World Cup competition was at French Olympic Sailing Week, where they won a silver medal.

US Sailing Development Team member Charlie Buckingham is in 10th overall in the Laser class. His most recent World Cup medal race experience was at Princess Sofia Trophy regatta where he finished fourth overall.

The Sail for Gold organizers will have live tracking for all medal races. The Laser medal race is schedule to begin at 9:55am; the Women’s 470 at 11:55am; and the Finn at 2:55pm. All times are British Summer Time (GMT +1 hour). Women’s Match Racing is schedule to start at 8:00 am. Racing takes place at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, site of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing competition.

Sailing in the Paralympic classes was cancelled as well. All current standings are final. SKUD-18 skipper Jen French, who with crew JP Creignou finished in fourth overall. After racing was cancelled on Thursday, French talked about how this event fits into their training for the 2012 Paralympic Games.

'It’s a good gauge for us against international competition,' said French. 'We’ve been training hard in the starts. We’re getting aggressive in our training and have seen improvement. JP is a very busy guy up front in the SKUD. Between all the lines and controlling three sails, we try to use our communication to keep everything going. It’s a very physical position and he does it well. For our training schedule, we trained a week before this event and will stay here a week after. We have a pretty rigorous training schedule before the Games.'

For Paul Callahan, Tom Brown and Brad Johnson, the week ended too soon for their taste, however they’ll stay on and devote time to Sonar training for the Paralympic Games.



'We made some significant changes since the Trials, and we have to utilize a significant strategy,' Said Callahan. 'We were here for six weeks last year and we had one day that was similar (to this week’s weather). You prepare for it from your clothing to your training. We are sailing in the U.S. in two open regattas, and we have our training partners, the Norwegians, coming to Newport to train. We have a full schedule.'

US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider athletes competing at Sail for Gold and their results, to date:

Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), Molly Vandemoer (Stanford, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) – women’s match racing, advanced to Quarter-Final Round, will race against Lehtinen
Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.) and Sarah Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) – Women’s 470, 6th
Bob Willis (Chicago, Ill.) – RS:X (Men’s Windsurfer), 29th
Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.) – Finn, 18th
Erik Storck (Huntington, N.Y.) and Trevor Moore (Pomfret, Vt./Naples, Fla.) – 49er, 11th
Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) — RS:X (Women’s Windsurfer), 27th
Jen French and JP Creignou (both St. Petersburg, Fla.) – SKUD-18, 4th
Mark LeBlanc (New Orleans, La.) – 2.4mR, 9th
Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (both Miami, Fla.) – Star, 13th
Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) – Laser Radial, 13th
Paul Callahan (Cape Coral, Fla./Newport R.I.), Tom Brown (Castine, Me.) and Bradley Johnson (Pompano Beach, Fla.) – Sonar, 8th
Rob Crane (Darien, Conn.) – Laser, 19th
Stuart McNay (Boston, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) — Men’s 470, 13th
Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) – Finn, 3rd

US Sailing Development Team members competing and results, to date:

Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) – Laser, 10th
Carson Crain (Houston, Texas) – RS:X , 58th
Zach Brown (San Diego, Calif.) and Fred Strammer (Nokomis, Fla.) – 49er, 33rd
Gordon Lamphere (Lake Forest, Ill.) – Finn, 41st
Greg Martinez (Houston, Texas) – Laser, 78th
Solvig Sayre (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) – RS:X, 41st

Deciding the greatest American sailor is no easy task. The U.S. has developed and produced a distinguished list of talented and successful racing sailors who have competed and won at the highest levels, from legendary world champions, to Olympic greats, to America’s Cup and ocean racing icons.

It’s time to settle the debate about who is the best. Beginning Monday, June 4 fans will have a chance to participate in a game that will answer the question – Who is the Greatest American Sailor?

US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider athletes Anna Tunnicliffe, Mark Mendelblatt, Paige Railey, Sally Barkow, Zach Railey and coaches Betsy Alison and Dave Dellebaugh are part of the 64 selected sailors. Vote Now: http://ussailingentry.com/Bracket/tabid/84/Default.aspx

Sail for Gold website