Olympic Sailing Regatta Day 7: Railey Match Races France to Nearly Guarantee Medal

Qingdao, China (August 15, 2008) â€" Winds did not cooperate with today’s aggressive catch-up schedule for the Olympic Sailing Regatta and all racing was postponed for four hours due to light and shifty winds. Boats were held in delays on the water, and some classes were brought in around 2:00 p.m. to wait onshore. Boats were re-launched after a brief wait and the Finns had started racing by 3:45 p.m. As they were in a delayed start that could not be rescheduled in time to make the day, 49ers were canceled for the day at 4:00 p.m. From noon to 4:00 p.m., hourly wind directions were reported in degrees as follows: 86; 69; 117; 79; 23. Though winds steadied out, sailors from different courses and different countries agreed today’s racing was dicey. In the words of one sailor, the sailing today was “marginal at best.” All classes sailed one race today, except the 470 Women who were able to sneak in two races.

John Dane Sweeps Competition-- IN 1970!

John Dane may not be "lanky" any more, but he is still that same "cocky" sailor who can rumble with the best in the world. Check out his resume from almost 40 years ago in the Sports Illustrated Vault: "In the 1970 World Soling class championships he had defeated a truly great Daneâ€"perhaps the best sailor in the world todayâ€"Paul Elvstrom. And for two years the Tulane Dane had been a collegiate All-America[n]. He had taken the North American junior sailing championship at Annapolis in 1967. In 1969 he was the North American Soling champion. He had raced aboard the converted 12-meter sloop American Eagle with Ted Turner , a man he resembles in voice and sailing passion. Last summer in his spare time Dane jammed his lanky frame into a Windmill dinghy and won the world championship in that class. As much as anything, he did it for a friend who wanted to sell his Windmill, reasoning that a world-champion boat would have some value."

Team Seven Sails to Second Place at Yngling European Championship in Blanes, Spain

Portsmouth, R.I. (April 5, 2008) After a week of extremely tight racing at the Yngling European Championship in Blanes, Spain, US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics members Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe, and Debbie Capozzi stole the medal race by a nose and finished in second place overall. Having led on the first day of racing, Team Seven fell after a bad race on day two, but kept chipping away in the close fleet where every point counted. They were just one point out of first place at this year’s Yngling European Championship, and despite this close loss they seemed thrilled with the medal race results. In a team email, they gave a play-by-play of the medal race, which boiled down to a surfing contest on the last leg to the downwind finish. With five boats abreast all vying for the win, Team Seven’s Debbie Capozzi called for a late gybe, which edged them about one foot in front of Sarah Ayton of Great Britain. Ayton and her team went on to win the regatta.

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Disabled Sailors to Compete in Qingdao International Regatta

Portsmouth, R.I. (May 7, 2008)- Ten members of the US Disabled Sailing Team AlphaGraphics have landed in Qingdao, China, and are preparing for five days of racing at the International Association For Disabled Sailing (IFDS) Qingdao International Regatta. The U.S. has sent five of its top-ranked teams to this May 11-15 event: in the Sonar, the Paralympic team of Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.), Tim Angle (Marblehead, Mass.), and Bill Donohue (Brick, N.J.) will race, as well as the second-ranked team led by Paul Callahan (Providence, R.I.) with Mike Hersey (Hyannis, Mass.) and Roger Cleworth (Lithia, Fla.) as crew. In the SKUD 18, Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Julia Dorsett (Westchester, Penn.) will represent the United States, as the Paralympic team of Nick Scandone (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) will not attend due to scheduling conflicts. Competing in the 2.4mR are John Ruf (Pewaukee, Wis.) and Marc LeBlanc (New Orleans, La.), ranked first and second respectively. US Disabled Sailing Team AlphaGraphics members who sit first in the rankings have qualified to compete in the Paralympic Games in September, also in Qingdao, China.

F1 News

Hemmilton

'I Will Give My Best'

With his chances of defending his world championship now mathematically over, Kimi Raikkonen has finally pledged his full backing to his Ferrari teammate for the final two races of 2008.Concluding months of controversy and speculation about the 'number one' and 'number two' status of the Italian team's driver lineup, the Finn is quoted as saying by La Stampa newspaper from Shanghai: "Our goal is a one-two finish.