August 11, 2008

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Olympic Regatta Day 3:
Shifty Winds Challenge Fleet

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The 470 fleet lines up for the start of the first race.

With the city of Qingdao in the background, boats
leave the marina to head for today's races.

Qingdao, China (August 11) - A total of seven USA boats hit the waters off Qingdao today. Races continued in the Yngling, Finn, and 49er fleets, while the 470 Men and Women and the RS:X Men and Women sailed their opening day. On the whole, no team members came back to the dock thrilled with their performances, but most mentioned it is early in the regatta and there is room for improvement.

In the 470 Women's fleet, Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, NY) and Sarah Mergenthaler (New York, NY), who are ranked seventh in their fleet, finished 14th and 12th out of 19 boats, and now sit in 15th place overall. After racing, Mergenthaler rushed off to file a protest. Clark explained, "The leeward marks today were a full-on pileup. In the current, boats would stop right at the mark and it would make it easy for boats to catch up and create overlaps." She continued with her perspective on the day. "If this were a normal regatta I'd be mad at myself, but this feels more like a learning experience. All I can to is to be positive and try to improve." The Netherlands, Australia and Spain are in the top three places respectively.

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Latest Results

49er

1. GBR
2. ITA
3. DEN
13. USA

470 Men

1. FRA
2. ESP
3. POR
21. USA

470 Women

1. NED
2. AUS
3. ESP
15. USA

Finn

1. GBR
2. USA
3. FRA

RS:X Men

1. ISR
2. HKG
3.CHN
22. USA

RS:X Women

1. CHN
2. AUS
3. GBR
26. USA

Yngling

1. GBR
2. NED
3. AUS
4. USA

Laser


Racing starts August 12

 

Laser Radial


Racing starts August 12

 

Star


Racing starts August 15

 

Tornado


Racing starts August 15

 

View complete results

oly20080811cSailing Under the American Flag
 The eighteen sailors of the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team have spent their lives as numbers sailing in a sea of more numbers. In their racing events they are spotted by the identifying digits on their sail. For example, the USA Yngling is "337." But at the Olympics, they drop their numbers and gain new identities. They become "the Americans" sailing in a cosmopolitan sea of flags.

Men's 470 skipper Stu McNay explains, "In past Olympics I've always seen the flags and that's one of the coolest parts: To spectate and find your country." Now it's his turn. "I want to be a part of that, where people can identify me as that American boat."

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DeanBrennerLatest Blog Update by Team Leader Dean Brenner
A Day in the Life

Climb on board... I am going to walk you through a day here inside the Olympic Venue through my eyes as Team Leader.

0500: Wake up at first light, and grab the blackberry. With the time change from home, I typically have a full email inbox in the morning.

0515: Answer emails for a few minutes, specifically looking for anything back home or in my work life that needs attention...

Read Dean's Blog

U.S. Olympic Sailing Resources:

Meet the Team

 Bullet Blog by Team Leader Dean Brenner

International Sailing Federation

 Bullet NBC Olympics

 

 Bullet Support the Team

nbc_olympics_small Television network NBC is broadcasting the Olympic Regatta live on its website, www.NBCOlympics.com.

In addition to watching the racing live online, sailing fans will be able to view reports by renowned sailing commentator Gary Jobson starting August 13 (video to be available on August 14). 

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This Olympic Daily Update is brought to you by US SAILING, national governing body for the sport. The athletes of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Team are selected, trained, and managed by US SAILING. The top three athletes in each Olympic and Paralympic class are part of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics.

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