ICSA
- US Olympic 470 Update
Hello
race fans,
It has been nearly five months since my last report,
but the US 470 team has been busy in the interim.
After a much deserved rest in December the troops
were back in action in Miami in January testing
sails and regaining their competitive edge. Paul
and Kevin headed to Athens in February for a brutally
cold training and racing session. Many days were
lost due to snow, excessive wind and lack of wind,
but we learned a lot anyway. Katie and Isabelle
chose a different and significantly warmer option
and headed to Vilamoura, Portugal for a 6 weeks
of training and racing where they sailed in three
small regattas with elite competition. The sailing
was awesome with terrific waves and a great variety
of conditions. We left wanting to return asap.
We were all back together for April Fools Day
in Palma de Mallorca, Spain for the Princess Sofia
Trophy, the first major event of the spring European
season. There are 71 men's teams including all
of the Olympic medal contenders and 36 women of
equivalent stature. This is a terrific event.
Fifteen races are scheduled over five days giving
all of the players plenty of opportunities to
strut their stuff. The men are sailing in two
groups with three days of qualifying while the
women are in a single fleet for the duration.
Racing got underway yesterday with three tough
races in a 7-9 knot Palma seabreeze with typical
left side biases. Paul and Kevin opened up with
a solid second, losing a tight battle with the
Argentineans. The left was good in the first race
and the boys went decisively left from the pin
after the start only to find themselves outside
of a right shift. Left was still good, as long
as you were right early. They weren't and rounded
deep, but rallied to a 17th at the end. They had
a fair start, mid line in the third race and got
to the top in 9th and started a methodical, very
impressive rally to third. They were fast and
smart on all points of sail and finished the day
tied for fifth with two other teams. It is early
and very close, but Paul and Kevin have shown
that they are ready to challenge for the Gold.
The Argentineans are leading with the #2 French
team second and an unknown British team third.
The day started brilliantly for Katie and Isabelle.
They won the pin and held an early lead up the
first beat, but let too many boats get to their
left and rounded 6th. They got pushed right on
the next three legs and lost two more to finish
8th for a good, but slightly disappointing finish.
They set up for a conservative start on the second
start above the big crowd at the pin that was
punched out at the start. Unfortunately, they
were visible and over early. They raced around
the course to finish around 12th, but had to settle
for an OCS.
The breeze was trending right before the third
start and Katie and Isabelle responded with a
perfect start at the committee boat and assumed
and early lead from the right. They were going
fast and racing well, but the left came back and
they rounded 10th at the top. They got stuck in
the low lane on the top reach and dropped five
boats and their edge. The race didn't improve
from there and they dropped out on the bottom
reach. It was a rough day.
The
Danes were the best for the day with three top
6 finishes. The Slovenians are second with the
Greeks third. With twelve more races on the schedule
anything is possible, but there is no more room
for alphabet scores.
We are expecting another light seabreeze today
and hoping for a bit more than that.
Stay tuned.
Rollin "Skip" Whyte
US Sailing Team
