| Day
5: U.S. Olympic Star Class Trials - Szabo/Strube
Make Their Move At Cayard
Thursday's
wind: E/NE, 24-32 knots. Friday's forecast (by Chris
Bedford): E/NE, 19-24 knots.
By
Rich Roberts
For
YachtRacing.com
Photo
boat captain Daryl Saunders.
MIAMI,
Fla.---Wet, windy and nasty, two masts down, boats
like bathtubs, more of the same due Friday and Paul
Cayard now looking at George Szabo as his nearest
threat in the U.S. Olympic Trials for the Star class.
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Mark
Reynolds and crew Steve Erickson cross Andy
Lovell/Austin Sperry on port tack in 30 knots
of breeze. Photo © Rich Roberts / YachtRacing.com
|
That's
the quick version of Thursday's competition that
saw the fleet escorted onto Biscayne Bay by a drenching
downpour. All 22 boats started the only race they
could manage when a 24-knot easterly built to 32
as it chased the storm out over the Florida Keys.
Waves were 3-4 feet.
"Today
was survival more than anything else," said
Austin Sperry, crew for Andy MacDonald, who finished
seventh and are eighth overall.
Szabo
and crew Mark Strube bagged their second win in
the last four races, the only boat to match Cayard
and crew Phil Trinter step for step lately as the
trials reached the midway mark of 16 races scheduled
with three days remaining. Szabo/Strube leapfrogged
Vince Brun and Mike Dorgan (10th Thursday) into
second place, 12 points behind Cayard/Trinter.
Brothers
Doug and Bob Schofield from Boston finished second,
followed by Andy Lovell and Magnus Liljedahl, Cayard/Trinter
and Rick Merriman and Bill Bennett, who are sixth
overall.
Howie
Shiebler, a San Francisco veteran accustomed to
similar conditions, and crew Will Stout were close
behind Szabo/Strube on the second downwind leg to
the finish. As they jibed, a puff rolled their boat
and the whisker pole dipped into the emerald water,
throwing them out of control and snapping their
mast in the middle.
"Howie
spun out right in front of us and almost took us
out," Trinter said.
Moments
later, John Dane of New Orleans and crew Henry Sprague,
Long Beach, Calif., saw their mast drop quietly
over the bow.
"We
didn't make any mistake at all," Sprague said.
"We were having a great race. We don't know
why it broke. Funny, it's very peaceful when it
comes down---not even a snapping sound."
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Howie
Shiebler/Will Stout lead Andy Lovell/Austin
Sperry near the second windward mark. Photo
© Rich Roberts / YachtRacing.com
|
The
race committee had hoped to sail three races to
get back on the two-a-day schedule. Before the rain
blew through the plan looked good, but by the end
of the lone race Jonathan Harley, US Sailing's Olympic
director, had decided to call it a day even as a
few boats headed back to shore on their own.
"At
11 o'clock it was a gorgeous day [with] 14-15 knots,"
Harley said. "Then I started hearing 30. That's
not Star boat sailing."
The
fallen masts were not a factor. "I did not
know that the masts came down," Harley said.
Trinter
said, "That's the most wind I've sailed a Star
in since the '97 Europeans at Kiel."
Alas,
the forecast is for similar conditions Friday. One
day, people here are hoping, forecaster Chris Bedford
of Sailing Weather Services will be wrong.
Cayard/Trinter
started in the middle, went left toward shore with
the pack and led Eric Doyle/Brian Sharp by two lengths
at the first windward mark. By the leeward mark
Szabo/Strube were in front and Doyle/Sharp had dropped
well back, finishing 11th.
The
problem, Sharp said, was that "we had water
up to here in the boat," indicating halfway
up his calf. "We buried our bow in a wave and
couldn't get it to drain."
Unlike
Volvo 60s, Stars don't sail well with water ballast.
Brun/Dorgan had the same problem, as did several
others.
Sharp
has not had a good couple of days. He fell overboard
in lighter wind Tuesday, and on Thursday his cap
blew away for the second racing day in a row.
 |
George
Szabo/Will Stout (7995) turn downwind ahead
of Howie Shiebler/Will Stout (8077) and Paul
Cayard/Phil Trinter (8159). A few minutes later
Shiebler/Stout lost their mast as Szabo/Strube
went on to win. Photo © Rich Roberts /
YachtRacing.com
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Shiebler's
coach, veteran Star sailor Peter Bromby of Bermuda,
said that before racing was abandoned for the day
the team was prepared to replace the mast on the
race course with one from their chase boat.
"We
could have done it, but we were not relishing the
prospect," Bromby said.
Another
veteran, John MacCausland, currently fifth overall,
said, "There were some fun rides, for sure,
and it was as shifty as it was windy."
Strube
said he and Szabo were relatively comfortable.
"We
never felt like we were out of control," he
said.
On
the other hand, they didn't jibe on either downwind
leg, probably a prudent decision, considering Shiebler's
fate.
Strube
also explained how they tried to keep their boat
stable with body ballast. Normally, the crew is
forward of the mast downwind.
But
Strube said, "At some times I'd be aft of where
George was sitting to keep the bow from diving."
Szabo:
"I don't think I've ever seen that in a Star."
Cayard
said he and Trinter sailed in a slightly conservative
mode of "about 90 per cent," keeping their
mast vertical instead of releasing it forward downwind,
where most Star dismastings occur.
"Your
ego says you want to win every race," Cayard
said, "but with the position we're in we weren't
willing to go for it. We sailed safer but on the
edge of control."
Leaders
(22 boats, 8 of 16 races, one discard):
1.
Paul Cayard/Phil Trinter, San Francisco, 2-(6)-1-2-3-1-1-4,
14 points.
2.
George Szabo/Mark Strube, San Diego, 4-5-(14)-9-1-4-2-1,
26.
3.
Vince Brun/Mike Dorgan, San Diego, (23/OCS)-9-2-1-4-5-3-10,
34.
4.
Eric Doyle/Brian Sharp, San Diego, 1-1-9-8-5-10-(12)-11,
45.
5.
John MacCausland/Brad Nichol, Cherry Hill, N.J,
6-8-3-6-10-(15)-5-8, 46.
6.
Rick Merriman/Bill Bennett, San Diego, 7-4-(17)-13-2-7-9-5,
47.
7.
Mark Reynolds/Steve Erickson, San Diego, 5-2-10-7-13-2-(15)-9,
48.
8.
Andrew MacDonald/Austin Sperry, Laguna Beach, Calif.,
11-7-5-4-6-(13)-10-7, 50.
9.
Andy Lovell/Magnus Liljedahl, New Orleans, (23/OCS)-23/DNS-4-3-11-3-7-3,
54.
10.
Howie Shiebler/Will Stout, San Francisco, 3-3-6-(23/OCS)-12-9-6-23/DNF,
62.
Complete
standings: www.ussailing.org/olympics/olympictrials/2004
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