The 470 and 49er classes were sailed at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, and the Mistrals, (board sailers) were hosted by the Eau Gallie Yacht Club at Indian Harbor in Fort Walton Beach.
Foerster, '92 Flying Dutchman Olympic Silver Medalist from Rockwall and Merrick ICYRA All-American from Portsmouth, R.I., had to come from behind in almost a dozen of their 15 races, to beat out '92 470 Olympic Silver Medalist Morgan Reeser and Kevin Burnham, both from Florida. Foerster modestly said the racing was much closer than the scores reflect. He credited their downwind speed with their winning edge.
The Olympic Sailing Committee chair, Robert H. Hobbs, was pleased with the windy and shifty conditions, and that six out of eight members selected from the three classes have previous Olympic experience. He said, it " bodes well for our success at the 2000 Olympic Regatta in Sydney."
Merrick liked selecting the US Olympic Team a year in advance. "It forced us to be at a higher state of readiness earlier in the four-year cycle. Now we can spend more time concentrating on training for Sydney."
Races at both venues were postponed on opening day, October 16, due to Hurricane Irene. Light air caused the cancellation of racing on day three for the 470's and 49ers.
One of the exciting comebacks happened in the first race on Day 7. Their first beat to the weather mark "wasn't so good," rounding the mark in fifth place out of nine boats. By the next beat they had pulled up to second behind Reeser and Burnham, about 50 yards ahead. As they approached the two-boat-length circle Foerster moved up to gain an overlap and Reeser headed up to break the overlap. Foerster was yelling "OVERLAP" and Reeser yelled back "NO OVERLAP" at the same time.
Foerster reported, "A small collision followed which resulted in Morgan becoming wrapped in our spinnaker sheet (line that controls the balloon-shaped sail) which almost pulled him overboard. His boat flipped as we got untangled, and after making sure everyone was okay, we sailed off to win the race, protest pending."
Understand that a lost protest results in disqualification from that race with a resulting score of the number of competitors plus one. It is the low score that wins. In this case the action was so fast, seconds and inches would determine the decision.
Fortunately there was a judge close to the mark and the rounding was captured on video. However, at the dreaded protest, the judge said that Morgan had broken the overlap just as they entered the two-boat-length circle, and then lost it again. That would have made Morgan right. The video was not at a good enough angle to help the decision.
On cross examination the judge said he had not taken the spinnaker and rudder into consideration in his no overlap call, and Foerster won the protest.
Reeser filed a protest appeal which was denied. Team 2000 had won the race, and went on to win the regatta with two races to spare. What a difference a couple of seconds can make.
Foerster and Merrick found it difficult to believe that the regatta was actually over, (you never can tell about these things) so before the celebration dinner that evening, they went down to the Sailing Center to see if Morgan was preparing to race on Sunday. "Big relief - they had taken their mast down, so we could finally relax."
J.J. Isler and Pease Glaser won the Women's 470 Trials, while two brothers, Jonathan and Charlie McKee won the 49ers.
In the Mistral Women?s Class it was Lanee Butler who won all her races. She has sailed in the last two Olympics but no Olympic medal, yet.
Mike Gebhardt winner of a Bronze Medal in 1988 and a Silver in 1992, won the men?s class.
Six other classes have yet to be determined. The Star, Soling, Laser. Finn, Europe and Tornado classes will have their Trials in March 2000 in California.