The Wild Card

By: Mr. X

Courtenay Dey has competed in every Olympic sailing discipline offered for women. She's spent time in women's board sailing, back in the early 90's when the equipment of choice was the Div. II board. Her ultimate focus for the '92 games was in the Europe dinghy but she finished second in the Olympic trials to eventual Bronze Medallist Julia Trotman.

Dey continued her Europe dinghy sailing, and some Americas Cup sailing, in a build up to the '96 games in Savannah GA. After winning the trials over second place finisher Hannah Swett, Dey won the Olympic Bronze Medal. Her Bronze was one of only two medals won by the US at those games.

With crew Alice Manard, Dey campaigned in the 470 for the games in 2000. The two women missed most of the major events in Europe choosing instead to train at home beyond the prying eyes of their competitors. The plan almost worked but Dey and Manard ultimately finished second at the 470 trials in a series that came down to the last race. JJ Isler and Pease Glaser were the winners and went on to win the Silver Medal at the Olympics. That was not the end for Dey. Drawing on her skills in the Europe dinghy Dey made a surprise appearance at the trials and won over Meg Gaillard who had finished third at the Europe World Championships in that same year. Dey was short on time to practice for the games and when her mother died after the trials, time was even shorter. She finished 16th at the 2000 Olympics.

You may think she would have taken her Bronze Medal and called it quits by now; happy to have achieved what so many of the worlds more celebrated sailors have only dreamed of - but no. Early in this Olympic quadrennium Dey was campaigning in two Olympic classes, the women's 470 and the Yngling, a new women's class for the 2004 games. Dey and crew Linda Wennerstrom finished 6th at the 470 worlds in 2001 and 8th in the Yngling worlds only a few weeks earlier.

By the next year Dey had disappeared from the Olympic sailing scene, pregnant with her first child. This is where the rumors start. She has yet to re-appear but the word on the dock is that she will and she has been practicing. The question is where will she re-appear.

With the competition among US Yngling teams so tight this class seems to be the least likely for success.

The Women's 470 trials may be ripe for poaching. No US women's 470 sailors made it into the gold fleet at the past World Championship. The women's 470 is also the only event in which the US has yet to qualify for an Olympic spot.

Given her past success she may also jump back into the Europe hoping to once again upset Meg Galliard with a last minute trials appearance.

For now she's the Wild Card, an itch in the mind of Americas best female sailors, and that is no doubt part of the plan.