(Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)- USA team Manager Dave Johnson provided this
recent update on the American sailing team and, specifically, the
American J/24 Team. By the way, the USA Pan Am Games team is packed
with current/ former J/24 sailors, including Augie Diaz (Snipe), Lutz
Brothers from Texas (Lightning), Foerster (Sunfish), so are the other
Pan Am Teams!Said Dave, "Today was a great start to the Pan Am Games for Team USA. All three courses sailed today in 6-12 kts breeze and lots of sun. On the far course Charlie (J/24, Lightning, Snipe) got the first race off with consistently more breeze. The J/24 team of Mollicone, Rabin, Becker, and Abdullah went 1-1 as their boat speed proved superior on the long course.
"We really used speed to our advantage," said John Mollicone, skipper for the J/24. "The races are really long, even longer than Worlds." With a much smaller fleet of boats in the Pan Am Games, John pointed out that keeping your competition in check is critical in the long races.
And what John said makes sense because one boat going out on a flyer could be a hero or a zero, as they say. In their 7-boat fleet, one boat is nearly 15% of the fleet.
Our Lightning Team of the Lutz brothers (Jody - skipper, Jay - crew) and Greg Thomas also sailed a top performance today, going 1-3 and tied for the lead with Brazil. They too had long races today but their fleet was intense. With teams not leaving any good 'lanes' open, having clear air and a clean lane is important.
Other good performances include four-time Olympian, Paul Foerster, sitting atop the Sunfish fleet with a 1-2. Augie Diaz and Kathleen Tocke finished 2-4 in the Snipe class while Paige Railey went 5-1 in the Radial.
For more USA sailing team information:
USA team: http://tinyurl.com/USSTAG-Pan-Am-2011
Event website: http://www.guadalajara2011.org.mx/ENG/01_inicio
Results: http://tinyurl.com/PAG-2011-results
