| In Second Place Going Into The Medal Race | | Print | |
|
Miami, Florida The light weather conditions that have persisted over Biscayne Bay all this week diminished even further today and there was barely sufficient breeze to meet the minimum required for US Sailing’s 2008 Rolex Olympic Classes Regatta. Racing in the Laser Radial Class, I paid the price for good, but average starts, and finished 8th and 16th in the two races sailed to drop to second place overall. Looking at the scores going into tomorrow’s double-points Medal Race I can still win Gold but to do it I’ll have to finish eight places ahead of Paige. That’s difficult although not impossible in the short course racing format of the Medal Race. At the same time to preserve my chance of winning Silver, I’ll have to watch for Karin Soderstrom from Sweden and Penny Clark from Great Britain who are in third and fourth places, with 14 and 15 points respectively. Tomorrow, a weak cold front will be dissipating over Southern Florida, bringing winds at 5-6 knots from the northeast in the morning, but swinging to 8-10 knots from the east by early afternoon. In the light conditions today it was vital to be launched at the start. I had decent starts but never punched clear of the fleet and had to abandon my game plan because I was stuck in traffic in the middle of the course. I was very deep at the top mark of the first race but fought my way back to eighth. In the second race I wasn’t as successful. My 16th place became my drop race for the series. Full results are available at 2008 Rolex OCR Radial Results. I would like to thank my sponsors Carmeuse and K-Swiss for their continued support of my campaign for the Olympic Gold Medal in Beijing 2008.
Sail hard, |
Team Member
