by

VanFalk

By the time you read this article, the first few races of the US Olympic Star Trials should be complete (Indeed - see below for the latest results - Ed.). The forecast is looking like breeze on with 18-22 being the last that I saw for Saturday, and 15-20 forecast for the following days. It should be an exciting regatta. Right now the entry list is officially 23 boats, but I was certain it was only 19. We'll have the final number tomorrow The only unfortunate part of the Trials is that there will be many disappointed people by the end. I think most of the guys have shown up with their expectations in check, but inevitably a few probably haven't. The top guys certainly are looking at a trip to Athens as being the only acceptable outcome, but for many of us who know that is not likely, our goals may be a top 10 overall finish, or an individual race win, or some sort of personal achievement. Some have questioned, why bother to compete if you have little chance of going. And the reason is each competitor provides some contribution to the process and ultimately makes our selection process better.

The Olympics will be sailed in a fleet of 17+ boats, and it is important that our Trials replicate that fleet size. Having 20 boats on the line will replicate the Olympic experience in terms of starting line length, chop and traffic at the roundings, and many other aspects of the race experience. Additionally, it is important to have those boats on the water because they present an opportunity for the top guys to force points upon their nearest competitor. If Shiebler were to fall several points behind Reynolds after the first few races, then Shiebler needs boats on the water to try to put between he and Mark to make up that deficit. If we only had 6 or 7 boats competing, then those opportunities would not exist as they will in the Olympics. So having a similar sized fleet provides a closer strategic simulation of the skills necessary to race in Athens. Cayard described the regatta as having one winner and 20 losers, I don't see it that way. I think everyone who participates is a winner because they have made a contribution to the process.

This is my second Trials, and I am really looking forward to the event. As a former collegiate sailor, I miss the short course and tight fleet racing we enjoyed on the college circuit. Star courses tend to be very long to spread out the large fleets, but the Trials are different. The Trials (and Olympic) courses are supposed to be completed in under an hour which means something closer to the collegiate experience as opposed to the Bacardi Cup type experience. I have always been critical of the large courses we use so the Trials presents for me an opportunity to get back to the type of racing I enjoyed most when I was younger.

In terms of what is going on, we just completed two days of measurement. Overall it went well. The process took longer than it should have, but it always does. The only hiccups were that a few boats weighed in light which was quickly corrected and and two of the new Spartech masts were light on their tip weight, also a quick and easy correction. The shocking thing wasn't that a few masts were light, but how many came in heavy. One mast was more than half a kilo heavy, without even having the spreaders on. While we have the records of the tip weights, I would like to measure the all up sailing weight of some of these rigs. I suspect that the few boats that were light may have recently changed over to the new lighter Spartech mast and
thus account for some of the delta. On the equipment side, Folli seems to be the boat of choice. With the exception of John MaCausland/Brand Nichol who use Mader, all of the favorites have chosen the Italian builder. Quantums appear to be the most popular sails right now, but North is well represented as is Jenkins a boutique sailmaker from Annapolis. The new Spartech rig seems to have taken some market share from the Emetti. It would be nice if the Star Class published the statistics of what equipment each team is using like the FD class used to do.

Noteworthy is that the US sailors are not alone. Peter Bromby who will race in Athens for Bermuda and Colin Beashel who will race for Australia are both here observing the event. Pretty smart considering the US Star Team is likely to be a potent force in Athens. Bromby sat through the measurement process carefully recording each type of sail measured in, mast(s), and boat type/hull numbers - for every single competitor. This process is open and public, and Bromby is very welcome here, but that information is potentially valuable and he will use it to good effect in Athens if he can.

Surprisingly, all boats are required to sail out of the US Sailing Center despite CRYC being the regatta host. I am not quite sure why CRYC kicked the boats out this week, but I suspect it was to keep all of the competitors in one place for the media. It is sort of unfortunate because the fleet only has use of two hoists now when we had five before. It appeared that they were scrambling to try to find the necessary support boats to run the races, but I am sure they are on top of it.
It should be interesting to see how it all comes together.