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Wednesday, September 20
Americans strong on sailing's busiest day
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- The wind came up, and so did American
sailors in the Olympic standings.
J.J. Isler, the sailing mom from San Diego, led the way, taking
first place overall on the opening day of racing in the 470 class
on Wednesday (Tuesday night ET).
The McKee brothers of Seattle, Jonathan and Charlie, were right
behind, moving into second place with three strong finishes aboard
their speedy 49er.
The McKees became the first Americans to win a fleet race in
this regatta. They whisked their winged skiff across the finish
line some two hours before Isler and her crew, Pease Glaser of Long
Beach, Calif., won out on the Pacific Ocean in their second race.
Isler and Glaser were sixth in the first race.
Soling skipper Jeff Madrigali, the 1996 bronze medalist,
finished second in each of the final two fleet races to finish
fourth overall. That earned him a bye in the first match-racing
round robin.
Madrigali, a sailmaker from Novato, Calif., and crewmembers
Craig Healy of Tiburon, Calif., and Hartwell Jordan of Discovery
Bay, Calif., will spend the next three days training with Russell
Coutts, one of the world's best match-racing skippers. Coutts
steered New Zealand to consecutive America's Cup victories,
including a 5-0 rout of Dennis Conner off San Diego in 1995.
Healy's wife, Pam, was Isler's crewmember when they won the 470
bronze medal at Barcelona in 1992. Glaser, Isler's new crewmember,
was making her Olympic debut.
After slogging around in light wind the first three days,
sailors were greeted by a cold south wind of 13-15 knots, which
whipped up whitecaps on the Pacific.
Isler, 36, took time off from training for this Olympics after
giving birth to her second daughter two years ago.
"That was great to win a race in the Olympics. I've never done
that before," said Isler, who in 1992 had her worst performance of
the regatta on the opening day.
"I knew that we had a really bad first day eight years ago and
came back to medal, so if we could just survive the first day,
anything would be better than the way I started this regatta
before."
On Thursday (Wednesday ET), Isler and Glaser will become the
first Americans in this regatta to wear gold vests, indicating
they're the fleet leaders. Wanting to recognize the crews in first
place, sailing organizers are following the concept of the Tour de
France's yellow jersey.
"The regatta starts all over again tomorrow but we get a little
jump," Isler said.
The McKees are both former Olympic medalists. Jonathan won gold
in the Flying Dutchman in 1984 and Charlie the bronze in the 470 in
1988.
Charlie McKee played down the significance of the first-place
finish in the overall standings -- there are still 11 races to go --
but added: "It sure feels better to win a race at the Olympics."
The Soling fleet was pared from 16 boats to 12. The bottom six
boats must sail the first round robin, meaning the first
eliminations. The top three boats draw byes until the
quarterfinals.
Madrigali mistakenly thought he was over the starting line early
in the first race, and had to decide whether to restart, which
basically meant he would have had to eat a last-place finish. He
sailed on.
"It wasn't a good feeling during the whole race," Madrigali
said. "It felt great to get ahead, though."
Madrigali had the lead in both races, but lost it both times to
Roy Heiner of the Netherlands. Norway's Herman Johannessen won the
fleet racing followed by Rod Davis of New Zealand, who has won
Olympic medals for both the United States and New Zealand.
In men's 470, Paul Forester of Garland, Texas, was eighth
overall after finishing eighth and ninth.
Mike Gebhardt of Fort Pierce, Fla., was ninth overall in the
men's windsurfing with finishes of 11th and ninth. Courtenay Becker
Dey of The Dalles, Ore., the 1996 bronze medalist, was 21st after
finishes of 20th and 18th.
John Myrdal of Kilua, Hawaii, was in ninth overall in the Laser
with finishes of fourth and 20th. Windsurfer Lanee Butler of Aliso
Viejo, Calif., jumped from 13th to fifth place overall with fifth-
and seventh-place finishes.
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