| Day
2: U.S. Olympic Star Class Trials - Cayard, Brun
Top Oldies On the Star Charts
Sunday's
wind: E-NE, 6-8 knots. Monday's forecast (by Chris
Bedford): Wind NW-NE, 6-12 knots.
By
Rich Roberts
For YachtRacing.com
Photo
boat captain Daryl Saunders.
MIAMI,
Fla.---As Paul Cayard was saying before the U.S.
Olympic Star class trials started, he usually prays
for strong wind because "I usually do pretty
good in a breeze."
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Eric
Doyle and Brian Sharp (sail No. 8163 at the
far end) were called over early in Sunday's
first race, but returned to restart and placed
ninth to remain in second place overall. Photo
© Rich Roberts / YachtRacing.com
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It
blew all of 6-8 knots over Biscayne Bay Sunday,
when Cayard, 44, and Vince Brun, 57, swapped 1-2
finishes that shot Cayard into first place by eight
points and lifted Brun from the back of the pack
into serious contention with 12 of 16 races remaining.
Cayard's
reconsidered opinion: "Light air's good for
old guys like me."
And
Brun. "We got some breaks," he said, smiling.
With
a modest shuffle in the early standings, eight of
the first nine boats are from California. The lone
intruder is another seasoned Star campaigner, John
MacCausland, 43, from Cherry Hill, N.J., who is
sailing with Brad Nichol and reached third place,
one point ahead of Olympic regular Mark Reynolds,
who is three ahead of Andy MacDonald/Austin Sperry,
Laguna Beach, Calif.
Eric
Doyle and crew Brian Sharp, who won both races Saturday,
started off on the wrong foot Sunday with an early
start but held onto second place after returning
to start and finishing ninth, followed by an eighth
in the next race.
With
the light winds, the race committee set a pair of
three-lap courses on a relatively short windward-leeward
course.
The
Howie Shiebler/Will Stout team appeared to be making
a move but fell from second to eighth on a similar
error. They led the second race for awhile and finished
fourth, which would have kept them second overall.
"I
just got a little trigger happy," Shiebler
said. "I lost my line sight and put the bow
down. A silly mistake."
They
weren't the first to suffer the dreaded OCS but,
like the others, didn't learn they had been disqualified
until they returned to shore.
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Vince
Brun/Mike Dorgan held off Paul Cayard/Phil
Trinter by two boat lengths. Photo ©
Rich Roberts / YachtRacing.com
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That's
the way it works in the U.S. Olympic Trials. A second
gun and signal flag tells competitors that somebody
was over early, but nobody knows who until returning
to shore at the end of the day and checking the
result postings.
In
Doyle's case, after he restarted properly the flag
came down, and everyone else blew a sigh of relief
knowing they were clear to race. In Shiebler's case,
the flag stayed up because he didn't go back.
The
sailors don't seem to like the system---least of
all Brun, who was tagged in the first race Saturday.
He noted that transgressors are hailed by sail numbers
in almost all other regattas, large or small.
"I
don't like this thing about not calling guys over
the line," Brun said. "I don't see how
it makes the sport better. Say the [guilty] guy
starts [to windward of] you, he can ruin the regatta
for the whole group."
Brun
and other sailors also said it can alter strategy
if nobody knows which boats are racing illegally.
It
certainly would have altered Andy Lovell's game
plan in the strong winds Saturday. Race officials
explained that they kept the competitors ashore
for 1 ½ hours to avoid risking equipment
on the first day of the nine-day event.
But
in most events where early starters aren't hailed
at the line, their sail numbers are shown on a chalk
board at the first windward mark and they are free
to drop out and save their strength and equipment.
That isn't being done here, either.
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Howie
Shiebler and Will Stout lead Paul Cayard/Phil
Trinter at the windward mark but were disqualified
for jumping the gun. Photo © Rich Roberts
/ YachtRacing.com
|
So
when Lovell was secretly ruled OCS in the first
race he didn't know he was one of the guilty parties
and kept racing---and ultimately broke his mast
on the final downwind leg and was unable to sail
the second race, as well.
One
competitor filed a formal question with the race
committee asking why board notifications aren't
being used.
The
official explanation posted on the Notice Board:
"The SIs [Sailing Instructions] do not make
a provision for this."
Another
informal explanation is that this is the system
used in the Olympics.
"Then
we should try to change the Olympics," Brun
said, "like what happened when they tried to
take the 'drop' races out. Do the right thing."
Brun
and Cayard did the right things tactically Sunday.
Brun
and crew Mike Dorgan, who were 13th at the first
mark in the first race, fought their way back to
second behind Cayard and crew Phil Trinter.
"Downwind
it favored the guys who came from behind,"
Brun said.
But
nobody was catching Cayard/Trinter, who won by 20
seconds---a blowout in this fleet.
Trinter
said, "We had two good starts, good speed and
stayed out of trouble. We stayed out of traffic
and sailed clean."
In
the second race, Brun/Dorgan held off Cayard/Trinter
by two lengths in the downwind finish.
After
the fifth race today competitors will discard their
worst scores. The second and last throwout will
be after 12 races.
Leaders
(22 boats, 4 of 16 races):
1.
Paul Cayard/Phil Trinter, San Francisco, 2-6-1-2,
11 points. 2. Eric Doyle/Brian Sharp, San Diego,
1-1-9-8, 19. 3. John MacCausland/Brad Nichol, Cherry
Hill, N.J, 6-8-3-6, 23. 4. Mark Reynolds/Steve Erickson,
San Diego, 5-2-10-7, 24. 5. Andrew MacDonald/Austin
Sperry, Laguna Beach, Calif., 11-7-5-4, 27. 6. George
Szabo/Mark Strube, San Diego, 4-5-14-9, 32. 7. Vince
Brun/Mike Dorgan, San Diego, 23/OCS-9-2-1, 35. 8.
Howie Shiebler/Will Stout, San Francisco, 3-3-6-23/OCS,
35. 9. Rick Merriman/Bill Bennett, San Diego, 7-4-7-13,
41. 10. Karl Anderson/Ezra Culver, Harwich, Mass.,
13-10-15-5, 43.
Complete
standings: www.ussailing.org/olympics/olympictrials/2004
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