NEWPORT - For our local Olympians in the sailing events, the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens are all over and, unfortunately, no Rhode Island sailors ended up on the podium. Meg Gaillard of Jamestown finished 14th out of 25 in the Europe class, the women's singlehanded dinghy. Though she did not do as well as she expected, she still enjoyed the opportunity to represent her country at the Olympic Games.
"My first four races I made mistakes and found myself way back in the standings, which didn't please me," Gaillard said. "The fleet was surprisingly close. We all knew the seabreeze wasn't steady, and I made horrible lane choices and have had a bad sense of shifts. I also think I over trained, but it's the only regatta you can not do well at and still say, 'At least I'm here!'"
Carol Cronin, also of Jamestown, won two races and finished second in another in the 11-race series in the Yngling, the women's keelboat class, but it wasn't enough to overcome some tougher days and Cronin, with crewmates Nancy Haberland and Liz Filter, finished 10th of 16 in the competitive fleet.
"I'm disappointed," said Cronin. "But would I have stayed away if I knew I wouldn't win a medal? No way."
Barrington's Katie McDowell, sailing with Isabelle Kingsolving, fared the best from our local contingent, placing fifth in the women's doublehanded dinghy, the 470. After starting slow, McDowell and Kingsolving finished strong with an 8-1-4 in the last three races of the 11-race series.
"There is a disappointment about missing a medal," said McDowell. "But we were 15th after the first day, so fifth is a whole lot better. I'm pleased we ended strong. We had a couple of days that were great and two days where we had some tough luck, but generally we sailed pretty well. I am proud of how we did. I am proud of us."
McDowell and Kingsolving's counterparts in the 470 class, Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham, have put in the best performance thus far for the American team with a gold medal in the men's doublehanded dinghy. Needing to finish within two spots of the British team in the last race to secure the win, Foerster and Burnham successfully match raced the Brits into last place and stayed ahead of them to cap off the golden effort.
Kevin Hall, a Brown University alum, sailed to a 11th in the Finn class, the men's singlehanded dinghy, while Tim Pitts, a University of Rhode Island student representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, finished 41st in the open singlehanded dinghy Laser class. American Mark Mendleblatt finished 8th in the Laser. In boardsailing, Peter Wells ended up 28th in the men's division while Lanee Beashel was 16th.
Sailing continues in the 49er, Tornado and Star classes, where Americans still have chances at a medal in the latter two classes. After a disappointing penultimate day where they finished 10-11-1, Tim Wadlow and Pete Spaulding found themselves in fourth place and eliminated from medal contention before the final race was to be sailed Thursday. The American duo had been hanging around in contention all week until Tuesday's three races.
In the Star class, America's Cup luminary Paul Cayard sailing with Phil Trinter, are currently in third place with eight races sailed and three remaining. They are 2.8 points out of second. John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree are also in second place in the Tornado class, the open multihull division. After eight races, with three to go, the Americans trail the Austrian team by seven points.
