| Day
8: U.S. Olympic Star Class Trials - Cayard/Trinter
Had It All Figured Out
Sunday's
wind: E, 7-9 knots, gusts to 12.
By
Rich Roberts
For
YachtRacing.com
MIAMI,
Fla.---The biggest sailboat race of his life figured
to be a cakewalk Sunday---all he had to do was finish
within 12 places of the second-place boat to clinch
the U.S. Olympic berth in the Star class---but Paul
Cayard didn't vary from his pre-race routine.
 |
Coach
John Craig of St. Francis YC discusses the
last-minute game plan with Paul Cayard by
radio. Photo © Rich Roberts / YachtRacing.com
|
The
winds had gone light after several days of boisterous
breeze, and light wind usually means tricky shifts
that can turn a race into that sailors call a "crapshoot."
"Call
Commodore [weather forecasting] and ask what's going
on," Cayard asked coach John Craig, who was
following him and crew Phil Trinter around the starting
area in the chase boat.
On
the way out Craig, the race manager at Cayard's
hometown St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco,
had already pulled up reports with an onboard laptop,
but he ducked into the tiny cabin again to get the
latest information.
As
the minutes ticked down before the starting sequence
near noon, Cayard was saying, "Big lefty [wind
shift to the left] here. But I think there's more
pressure [wind velocity] on the right."
So
the decision was made: start near the committee
boat and tack to go to the right side of the course.
To comply with the rules, Cayard slipped his VHF
radio into a bright yellow bag and tossed it toward
the chase boat to be retrieved. It's supposed to
float. It didn't. That's the one thing that went
wrong for him Sunday.
In
a three-lap, light-air tour of the windward leeward
course won by Howie Shiebler and crew Will Stout,
Cayard/Trinter finished a comfortable fifth, only
two places behind Andy Lovell and crew Magnus Liljedahl,
who needed to put 12 boats between them to force
C/T to sail one or both of the last two races.
As
it was, they counted those as their allowable pair
of discards to finish with 40 points.
"I just wanted go get it over with and get
back here [to shore]," Cayard said. "I'm
feeling pretty tired."
So
were 42 others from 21 boats, especially Andy Lovell
and Magnus Liljedahl---the latter a 2000 gold medallist
crew with Mark Reynolds at Sydney---who ground back
from a double DNF and DNS disaster when their mast
broke on Day 1 to finish second, 25 points behind
C/T.
 |
Howie
Shiebler and crew Will Stout lead Paul Cayard,
who looks back to check on Andy Lovell, his
nearest threat on the final day. Photo ©
Rich Roberts / YachtRacing.com
|
Lovell
and Liljedahl were Cayard/Trinter's tuning partners
the last few months and are first alternates for
the Olympics.
Next
came George Szabo/Mark Strube, Eric Doyle/Brian
Sharp and Reynolds/Steve Erickson.
Two
more races were run after C/T retired on their hard-earned
laurels. Shiebler/Stout won another, and Doug and
Bob Schofield finished 2-1 after losing their mast
a day earlier.
It
had been a long week in physically taxing conditions,
but that was probably only part of Cayard's sudden
fatigue. Whether it's an America's Cup, a Whitbread
[now Volvo] race or an Olympic push, Cayard, 44,
drives himself hard mentally and physically in leaving
nothing to chance.
On
a compact scale, his Star effort has been as meticulous
as one of his America's Cup campaigns. An interesting
point, though, is that while many great sailors'
careers have progressed from Star boats to America's
Cup or Whitbread/Volvo races, Cayard has gone back
to his roots.
"That's
a pretty cool thing at my age," he said. "It's
not the norm."
One
reason may be, he suggested, is that "kids
in the U.S. can't afford to do a [serious] Star
campaign. I've spent at least a hundred grand, as
have some others here."
But
getting there is only half the fight.
"This
was a necessary step," Cayard said. "I'd
like to win the gold medal."
His
only Olympic experience was as an alternate behind
gold medallist Bill Buchan at Long Beach in 1984.
Trinter, 35, a native of Lorain, Ohio, has never
been to the Olympics, but he thinks he has figured
out how to get there.
"Our
big plan was not to make any foolish mistakes---no
OCSs [early starts], don't hit any marks. Everybody
else took themselves out of the regatta and allowed
us to sail conservatively and safely."
There
were two close calls. On the first day they did
a "death roll" capsize downwind but, surprisingly,
didn't lose their mast. Three days later they did
lose their mast, but they were on their way out
of the harbor and had time to return, replace the
spar, reach the starting line in time---and win
both races.
 |
The
Olympic torch passes as Mark Reynolds, who has
won two gold medals and a silver representing
the U.S. in the last four Games, sails by with
crew Steve Erickson moments after Paul Cayard
and Phil Trinter (upper left) clinched the berth
Sunday. Photo © Rich Roberts / YachtRacing.com
|
Their
next test will be in the Star Worlds in Italy April
23-30, where they'll face their prospective Olympic
opponents. But a better measure of their medal hopes
might have been last year's pre-Olympics at Athens,
where they finished second behind Brazil's 1996
gold medallists, Torben Grael and crew Marcelo Ferreira.
Final
results (22 boats, 16 races, two discards):
1.
Paul Cayard/Phil Trinter, San Francisco, 2-6-1-2-3-1-1-4-2-1-4-3-5-5-(23/DNS)-(23/DNS),
40 points.
2.
Andy Lovell/Magnus Liljedahl, New Orleans, (23/OCS)-(23/DNS)-4-3-11-3-7-3-5-2-5-1-2-4-12,
65.
3.
George Szabo/Mark Strube, San Diego, 4-5-(14)-9-1-4-2-1-3-3-8-9-8-(11)-7-5,
69.
4.
Eric Doyle/Brian Sharp, San Diego, 1-1-9-8-5-10-(12)-11-1-8-1-6-(23/OCS)-6-6-3,
76.
5.
Mark Reynolds/Steve Erickson, San Diego, 5-2-10-7-(13)-2-(15)-9-7-4-3-11-1-2-10-7,
80.
6.
Vince Brun/Mike Dorgan, San Diego, (23/OCS)-9-2-1-4-5-3-10-(11)-6-11-7-3-8-5-6,
80.
7.
Howie Shiebler/Will Stout, San Francisco, 3-3-6-(23/OCS)-12-9-6-(23/DNF)-14-15-2-2-12-1-1-4,
90.
8.
John MacCausland/Brad Nichol, Cherry Hill, N.J,
6-8-3-6-10-(15)-5-8-4-9-15-8-7-4-(16)-2, 95.
9.
Rick Merriman/Bill Bennett, San Diego, 7-4-(17)-13-2-7-9-5-8-7-6-(15)-9-9-8-8,
102.
10.
Andrew MacDonald/Austin Sperry, Laguna Beach, Calif.,
11-7-5-4-6-13-10-7-12-5-10-5-4-(16)-3-(15), 102.
Complete
standings: www.ussailing.org/olympics/olympictrials/2004
Full
Day 8 Gallery
|
