| Day
3: U.S. Olympic Star Class Trials - SZabo And Merriman
Take It Lightly
Monday's
wind: E and shifty, 7-9 knots.
Tuesday's forecast (by Chris Bedford): Wind NE,
16-21 knots, possible gusts to 25.
By
Rich Roberts
For YachtRacing.com
Photo
boat captain Daryl Saunders.
MIAMI,
Fla.---George Szabo and Rick Merriman haven't asked
for much in sailing conditions at the U.S. Olympic
Star class trials---in fact, the less the better.
They're from San Diego, a venue notorious for gentle
breeze.
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A
strong sideways current stacks up the fleet
at the pin end seconds before the gun. Vince
Brun is sail No. 8132. Photo © Rich Roberts
/ YachtRacing.com
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"I
like flat water and light air," Szabo said
after winning Race 5 by three boat lengths over
Merriman Monday.
"We
do well in the light-to-moderate stuff," said
Merriman, who sailed with Bill Bennett as crew.
The
results, factoring in the first of two discards
in the 16-race series, lifted Szabo and crew Mark
Strube from sixth to fourth place and left Merriman
and Bennett in ninth but now separated from the
rest of the pack in the current upper echelon of
the competition.
Paul
Cayard/Phil Trinter shadowed Szabo and Merriman
to the finish line in third place to strengthen
their grip on first place overall. After dropping
a sixth place, they have eight points to 15 for
runners-up Eric Doyle and Brian Sharp. Vince Brun
is only one point farther back after finishing fourth
Monday and tossing his 23-point OCS from opening
day.
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Rick
Merriman and crew Bill Bennett lead Szabo and
Mark Strube on the offset leg at the first windward
mark. Photo © Rich Roberts / YachtRacing.com
|
Mark
Reynolds, who has won these trials to represent
the U.S. in the last four Olympiads and collected
two gold medals and a silver, slipped to seventh
overall with his worst finish in 13th place. But
with 11 races remaining, nobody who knows his record
for coming from out of the pack to win---as he did
at Sydney four years ago---is about to count him
out.
There
was only one race instead of the scheduled two,
and it took 3 hours 20 minutes to get that off on
the fourth try after two course shifts.
Mike
Dorgan, who sails with Brun, said, "I felt
bad for the race committee. The wind was all over
the place."
Two
starting sequences were aborted seconds before the
gun.
The
RC finally went with 8-9 knots from the east, but
the fleet of 22 still had to contend with a current
that laid the committee boat and pin boat parallel
to the line and caused a pileup at the pin end as
the boats drifted down the line like they were on
a conveyor belt.
Szabo
squeezed past Brun, who coaxed his boat around the
bow of the pin boat, and they led the fleet off
to the left with a healthy lead.
"The
current was ripping," Szabo said. "We
wanted to be in front of the guys on the left."
Strube
said, "If we had been two or three seconds
later we would have been in real trouble. Vince
was just able to squeeze around the pin and we got
out ahead of three boats behind us."
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Downwind,
George Szabo covers Merriman in a brief jibing
duel neat the finish, with Vince Brun in the
background. Photo © Rich Roberts / YachtRacing.com
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Merriman/Bennett
led at the first two marks of the three-lap, windward-leeward
course until Szabo slipped past on the second downwind
leg.
"We
had a bad start but had really good speed,"
Merriman said. "We ducked everybody and played
the shifts. We got half the leaders on a lefty [shift]
and the other half on a righty just before the mark."
Szabo
said, "On the second run they jibed and we
jibed, but they had to go low for clear air and
we were able to get by."
The
bad news for Szabo and Merriman is that the biggest
winds of the regatta so far are forecast for Tuesday:
16-21 knots with gusts to 25. The race committee
hopes to run three races to get back on schedule.
Reynolds'
crew, Steve Erickson, said, "We're just plugging
along. Three races should make it interesting."
Leaders (22 boats, 5 of 16 races, one discard):
1.
Paul Cayard/Phil Trinter, San Francisco, 2-(6)-1-2-3,
8 points. 2. Eric Doyle/Brian Sharp, San Diego,
1-1-(9)-8-5, 15. 3. Vince Brun/Mike Dorgan, San
Diego, (23/OCS)-9-2-1-4, 16. 4. George Szabo/Mark
Strube, San Diego, 4-5-(14)-9-1, 19. 5. Andrew MacDonald/Austin
Sperry, Laguna Beach, Calif., (11)-7-5-4-6, 22.
6. John MacCausland/Brad Nichol, Cherry Hill, N.J,
6-8-3-6-(10), 23. 7. Mark Reynolds/Steve Erickson,
San Diego, 5-2-10-7-(13), 24. 8. Howie Shiebler/Will
Stout, San Francisco, 3-3-6-(23/OCS), 24. 9. Rick
Merriman/Bill Bennett, San Diego, 7-4-(17)-13-2,
26. 10. Andy Lovell/Magnus Liljedahl, New Orleans,
(23/OCS)-23/DNS-4-3-11, 41.
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As
several boats are left stuck behind the pin
boat, Brun squeezes past with George Szabo,
the ultimate race winner, to his windward
side. Photo © Rich Roberts / YachtRacing.com
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Complete
standings: www.ussailing.org/olympics/olympictrials/2004
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