TEAM COMPUCOM / SAILNET.COM - Olympic Practice Report

Hello from the Olympic City.

Well, it's finally time to get this thing started.

We had a practice race today on course B (the course that is farthest out in the harbor). We had wind of 5-10 knots out of 50 degrees, not too shifty or puffy, but the left side was generally favored. It was good to get out and see what all the marks and race committee flags looked like.

We had a good start in the middle of the line but eventually got pinched off by the French (they were OCS). We got a little too far right at the end of the first beat so did not round too well, but had a good downwind leg to move up. Then we played the left side little better and passed a boat.

Well, we ended up finishing about seventh, but all the players were not there.

Tomorrow we start the real racing. We are on Course E, which is out in the ocean. Another light wind forecast is set for tomorrow.

More tomorrow.

Hello again from Sydney.

We raced on Course E today. That's out in the ocean.

Forecast was for a cold front from the south to arrive in the late morning and blow out of the southeast, going to the east by the end of the day.

We got towed out to the starting line, about a forty-minute tow, and arrived at 11:00 a.m. for a noon start. We had no wind initially, but we could see it coming. The wind arrived at 11:15 and slowly built to 15 knots. We did some tuning up and got ready.

Race 1
This race was an outer loop with the Yellow pumping flag up (that meant we got to pump and rock as much as we wanted). The first start was a general recall, a good thing because we did not quite make the pin end and had to tack and duck.

On the next start, we won the pin and went left. Speed was okay, and we took short of the lay line and crossed everyone. By the weather mark, the guys on our hip had gotten more wind and had passed us. We were rounding fifth but fouled the Israeli boat at the mark and had to do a 720. To make matters worse, we also fouled the Australian boat while doing our 720 and had to do another one-- ??@#*&^$!

Well, we were now back in the pack in 13th. We passed one boat on the remaining reach, then passed two more boats on the first run. At the leeward mark, we tacked right away and headed to the favored left; this put us past the Greeks and French and into eighth.

We could not catch anyone on the last run and finished eighth.

Race 2
We had a few postponements while the race committee tried to catch up with the left shifting wind. The first start try was a general recall.

On the second one, we got off in the middle of the line but not well enough to hold our lane. We had to tack out but came back left and ate dirty air to the left corner. This was probably the best we could do and rounded the top mark in 14th. No fouls this time though.

The reach was pretty tight, so most people did not set spinnaker. We held off spin set till the mid point on the reach, then had a good set and passed Finland to leeward and Estonia and Italy to windward.

We went down the run and had to defend high and got passed by five boats that went low, but we stayed clear on the last part of the run and passed three back.

We tacked left again and went past the lay line. This worked better, and we passed three boats to move into 10th.

On the last run, we worked past the Spanish and finished ninth.

Well, a pretty poor day.
Hope things change.

We sail again on the offshore course tomorrow.

We were towed out to E course at 10:00 again and arrived close to 11:00. When we got there, the wind was at about 2 knots from the south. At about 11:30, the sea breeze filled in from the northeast at about 10 knots, and we started on time. We sailed Outer Loop Trapezoids all day.

Race 1
We had an okay start towards the boat end. About a minute after the start, we tacked away and found a better lane to the right of the fleet. We got into phase and rounded the weather mark in fifth. At the mark, the Ukrainians tacked too close inside us, so we protested them.

We held our position on the reach and run. On the last beat, we were in phase until the end when we got a little too far right. We passed some boats but lost some others and rounded in sixth. There was a pack of boats in front of us on the run, and we caught one of them, the French, to finish fourth.

Race 2
We started down at the pin. The Germans were right to windward of us and way over the line, putting us in bad air. They eventually went back, but our start was ruined. We spent the rest of the beat looking for clear air. We rounded the first mark in 21st.

We got in the high lane on the reach and passed two boats, then jibe set and had a good run to round 14th.

We were looking too hard for good lanes on the next beat, got out of phase and lost two boats to round 16th.

We jibe set on the run again and gained some distance on the boats in front of us but rounded the last leeward mark in 16th. On the last reach, we made the low road work and passed two boats. Three boats were over early, so we finished 11th.

At the end of the day, the Ukrainians got DSQ'd from Race 3 for hitting the mark.

We're in sixth place now, still slugging away. Tomorrow we're going to sail on D course.

Today we moved inside the harbor onto D Course. We got towed out again in no wind, but the sea breeze filled in at around 10 knots, and we had two good races.

The weather mark was right behind North Head, so the breeze was really shifty and puffy.

Race 1
Outer Loop Trapezoid - 2 Laps

We wanted to go left and had a good start but got pinched off by the Portuguese. We took a clearing tack and got to the puff on the left, but a bunch of boats beat us there. At the first weather mark, we were 10th.

On the reach, we stayed high for the puff and passed a boat. We bore away around the reach mark and passed some boats but lost others to round the leeward mark also in 10th.

On the next beat, we got into phase with some big shifts and puffs and rounded eighth.

On the next run, we bore away again but got lower for more pressure and rounded the leeward mark in sixth.

We stayed in sixth at the next weather mark and then jibe set. The pack in front of us bore away, and we had more wind and moved up to first by the last leeward mark and WON the race!

Race 2
Windward/Leeward - 3 Laps

The race committee took a while to get the next course set up in the shifty wind, but we eventually got racing after the girls' start.

It was looking like we needed to get left again until just before the start when the right started looking better. Most of the fleet was at the pin, so we started at the boat and worked the shifts up the right side, away from the rest of the fleet. It worked out well for us, and we rounded the first mark in fourth.

We found a good puff on the run and rounded the leeward gate in second.

We found some good puffs and stayed in phase on the next beat and rounded in first.

We held the lead for the rest of the race and WON!

We moved up to FIRST today, tied with the Portuguese. The Australians are about two points behind.

We have a day off tomorrow and then race again on Sunday.

Paul and Bob Team 2000

G'day!

Well, this was day four of racing.

We sailed on course C today, with a wind out of the southeast. Our weather mark was to the right of Shark Island. Wind was 8-12 knots for the first race.

Race 1
Quadruple Inner Loop.

We had a poor start in the middle, but held on in bad air, thinking we were going the right way. We were wrong and rounded the first mark in 21st.

We had a good run, though--passed two boats, and caught up a lot. We rounded the right gate mark and went a little right, then found a great puff and shift, getting us to the weather mark in seventh.

We jibe set on to the run, which turned out to be the wrong thing to do, but we lost only one boat.

The next beat, we again played the shifts well and rounded the top mark in eighth.

On the last beat, though, we made another good move and got up to fifth.

We extended on the reach, but lost the Portuguese on the last run to finish sixth.

Race 2
Triple Inner Loop.

It looked like it was getting lighter, so we powered up, and this was the wrong thing to do.

We had another bad start ( I'm getting tired of this), but we bailed out right and found a good shift to get us back into the race. We hit another good shift near the weather mark, to round sixth.

We had a good run to pass the Ukrainians, but on the next beat we missed some shifts and fell back to eighth.

We did no better on the run, rounded ninth and just could not hit the shifts or find the fast gear and ended up 12th. Bummer!

Well, three races left.
If we sail better, we have a good shot at winning.

THANKS FOR EVERYONE'S SUPPORT!

We got another chance at C course today. Wind was out of the north at about 10 knots. We sailed Inner Loop Trapezoids, 3 laps.

Race 1
After two general recalls, we had a bad start in the middle of the line. We had to tack and duck everyone to the right of us, which put us out of phase. At the weather mark we were 26th.

On the run, we gained a little distance but no boats.

We played the shifts up the right side on the next beat and moved up to 15th, but then lost most of it on the run. At the bottom of the run, we were 21st.

Again we played the shifts up the right side and moved up to 17th, where we stayed for the next lap.

On the last run after the reach, we did a bear away, and all the boats around us jibe set. We found some more pressure and moved up to 13th by the finish.

Not a good race.

Race 2
We were trying to start at the pin, away from the crowd, but had to bail out just before the start and duck the whole fleet. Luckily, this time we were ducking in phase. When the lefty went to the righty, we were looking good and rounded in third. We passed the Spanish on the run and were gaining on the Greeks.

The Greeks stayed in front of us for the next two laps, but we passed them on the last beat. It was a good thing Paul was counting laps, because I forgot what lap we were on. We went on to win the race.

The Ukrainians got thrown out of the race in a port/starboard with Portugal.

One race left, and we're five points behind the Australians in first, and six points ahead of the Argentineans in third.

Tomorrow is a day off. The final race is on Wednesday.

We were postponed all day due to--as far as we can tell--unstable winds.

The women's 470s were sent out at 2:20 p.m., but by 3:00 the rest of us were canceled; soon after, the women came in not having sailed.

We will have our last race tomorrow, God willing.

Paul and Bob
Team 2000

Hello again from Sydney,

Sorry this e-mail is so late. I'm sure most of you have found out the result by now.

We were supposed to have raced our last race on Wednesday, but there was not enough wind, so the R.C. let the pressure build for another day.

When we woke up Thursday morning, it was drizzling again, and the forecasters did not think we would have much wind. Well, they were wrong again, and the R.C sent us out to a building northeasterly, which is a sea breeze.

We raced on Course B today, and the TV boat and helicopters were assigned to our course since Australia had a chance for two gold medals.

The R.C. put the women's flag up to race an inner double loop, which meant we would have to wait for their fleet to start before we could get onto the racecourse. Not that everyone was not amped up already!

In the women's fleet, the Australians had a nine-point lead, and there were about five other boats that had a chance for medals; our women's team was in the hunt. The Australians got off to a good start and led all the way around the course. The Americans were not so lucky and were out of the medals till the last run when they turned on the burners and passed a pack of boats, including the Israelis, which they had to beat to take the Silver.

It was an awesome finish and a great result for our team.

Well, now it was our turn.

The wind had picked up to 14-18 knots, and the current would be running upwind for the entire race, at about one-quarter knot. The main factor in the race would be how we played Bradley's Head, which is a large point of land on the lefthand side of the course. If we played it right, we would get more wind and a favorable angle; but if we played it wrong, we could get caught in a hole and have no way out.

The scores were also a major factor. We were only five points behind the Australians, so to beat them we would have to finish in the top six and have at least four boats between us. Sounds easy enough. The problem was we were the only boat that could beat the Australians, but there were two other boats that could beat us; so if we had a bad race we could be out of the medals all together.

The Australians did not care--they just wanted to sit on us and make us have a bad race so they could win the Gold. The other guys that could beat us were the Argentineans, who were six points back, and the British, who were 10 points back. Also in the mix were the Portuguese, who could beat Argentina or Great Britain but not us.

Well, after trying not to think about this too much for three days and nights, we finally decided just to sail as best we could and see what happened.

As expected, the Australians tried to mess with our start, but we found a hole in the line and shot through for a good start while they were a little late and eventually had to tack out right.

We battled off the starting line for a few minutes, trying to stay off the guys below us and get our bow down so we could start planing and going fast. This probably helped the boats that tacked out to get an edge; at the first crossing, the Australians were just ahead. We were too close for them to tack on us, though, and finally got into some open sailing and started to rip. Bob called some great shifts up the left side, and we played Bradley's Head just right to round the top mark in first!

The Australians were way back in 11th, but it was a triple inner loop, so they had a long time to catch up. Also, it was pretty windy, and they are usually very fast in that wind. Well, we just decided to sail our best and try to win the race.

We were battling with the Ukrainians all the way downwind, and they got ahead at the leeward mark, but we were faster upwind and passed them back. Well, we were doing our part and winning the race, but the Australians were rapidly climbing through the fleet. At the second windward mark, they were in fourth.

The wind was getting lighter now, down to 10-12 knots, so anything could happen; but the Australians were just too quick, and with us messing around with the Ukrainians, the Australians even caught up with us.

So, going up the last beat, we and the Australians traded the lead a few times, and the spectator crowd on Bradley's Head went wild. When the Australians would cross us, the Australian crowd would go up in a big cheer. When we would cross the Australians, the Americans would go up in a big cheer. All of our crossings were happening near Bradley's Head--we were sailing within ten feet of the crowd at times. It was awesome!

Well, we won the last cross and got the last cheer and went on to win the race. The Australians were second, but the boats we needed between us were half a leg behind.

Overall, we gave it a great shot and won four out of the eleven races. We beat the Australians in six races, and they beat us in five races, but we still lost by four points.

It was a relief to get second, but still a disappointment to come so close to winning.

We feel very fortunate, however, because a lot of good boats were not in the medals, including the French, #1 in the world for the last two years; Greece, #1 in the world three years ago, and former world champion; Finland, former world champion; New Zealand, 2000 European champs and getting better every regatta; Portugal, winner of the 1999 Pre-Olympics; Sweden, 1999 European champs; Spain, who won the last regatta in Sydney; Ukraine, the Atlanta Gold Medalist; and ,finally, Slovenia, Israel, Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Poland, and Italy, all with an outside chance to win. We want to thank all our supporters back home who helped Bob and

me and the USA Olympic Team. When we started our campaign three years ago, we knew it was going to be a long, tough road; but with all the support we have back in the good old USA, we also knew we had to try to get the USA back where it belongs: among the ranks of the greatest sailing countries in the world. Hopefully, you all got to see some sailing on TV this time. Thanks to

everyone who stayed up all night on the Internet, going through the emotional rollercoaster of watching every mark rounding change, for better or for worse. See you back at home!

Paul and Bob
Team 2000

NOTE FROM BEANARD:
When Paul called this morning, he mentioned that he had been interviewed several times since winning the Silver, and that one of these interviews is supposed to be aired on NBC (Dallas Channel 5) on the 10:00 p.m. news tonight. From past experience, I, for one, will tune in at least an hour early to be sure I don't miss this!

Sadly, I had to tell Paul that sailing has received only a minuscle amount of TV coverage and that, unless I accidentally have caught some of this coverage on tape (my VCR has been running for days, but I have seen only one tiny sailing segment), I have no films to show him when he gets home. Let's hope our local NBC station voices the appreciation of the American public to this outstanding, dedicated athlete and his teammate for winning an Olympic medal for our country.