USSTAG Wins Two More Medals
at Sail for Gold
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Marni Lane, marnilane@ussailing.org, 617.671.8332
USSTAG Wins Two Bronze, Two Gold Medals at Sail for Gold
Two Teams Win ISAF Sailing World Cup Standings
Weymouth, England (September 19, 2009) – USA’s medal count doubled today at Sail for Gold when Olympic Silver Medalist Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) won a bronze in the Finn class and Olympic Gold Medalist Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), crew Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer (Redwood City, Calif.) and Alice Manard (Charleston, S.C.) won a bronze in the new Elliott 6 m. Today, the usual Southwesterly winds returned to Weymouth after a long postponement on shore, but only six classes were able to sail their double-point Medal Races to finish off the week-long International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Cup event.
Medal Races were cancelled in the Finn, Star and Men’s and Women’s RS:X classes, which frustrated some sailors who wanted one last showdown. “I would have liked to get a medal race in because you always want to have the opportunity to keep moving up and working harder,” said Railey. “But I am happy with another podium finish this year.” Railey won a bronze medal at US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR and a silver at the Finn Gold Cup earlier this year.
“The conditions were difficult,” said Railey, who explained the Finn race course was close to a cliff face, which allowed the wind to drop down and spread over the course. “Everyone sailed over different pressures and wind angles, and the shifts happened quickly. The races I did very well in this week, I tried to lead the fleet out to the side that was favored and capitalized along the shifts when they happened.”
In the new Women’s Match Racing Event, Tunnicliffe and her team battled France’s Claire LeRoy in the petit-finals, ultimately winning 2-1. In the first race, the USSTAG team led to the second windward mark, but they got a penalty and LeRoy passed them. In the second race, they played the shifts and sailed smartly to barely win by a half boat’s length. In the third and last race, the French boat got a penalty in the pre-start, but caught up to Tunnicliffe at the second windward mark. They had a close race downwind, and at the finish, LeRoy drew a second penalty and a black flag, and Tunnicliffe won the race.
“It was exciting. We made it much more difficult than it had to be, but we learned a lot out there,” said Tunnicliffe. “We’re slowing learning the boat more. We’re happy with how we did.”
“It’s an awesome start to the new quad and for USA Women’s Match Racing,” said Vandemoer. “It was definitely a team effort to get the bronze. It wasn’t just our boat; it was a group effort with our American teammates.”
Sail for Gold is the seventh and final stop of the ISAF Sailing World Cup 2008-2009 series, and the leaders in the Sailing World Cup standings were also awarded today. Tunnicliffe won the Laser Radial class, and Stu McNay (Boston, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) finished second in the Men’s 470. Tunnicliffe won three Sailing World Cup events this year: Sail Melbourne, US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR and French Olympic Sailing Week. McNay and Biehl won silver at Sail Malbourne and US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR.
Yesterday, two more US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) boats won gold medals: Scott Whitman (Brick, N.J.) and Julia Dorsett (Westchester, Pa./Boca Raton, Fla.) in the doublehanded SKUD-18 and Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.), Hugh Freund (So. Freeport, Me.) and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) in the triplehanded Sonar. Whitman and Dorsett also won the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings in the SKUD-18, and Doerr’s team finished second in the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings in the Sonar. Read press release
“The USSTAG has a lot of talent, and they’re working extremely hard,” said USSTAG High Performance Director/Head Coach Kenneth Andreasen (Tampa, Fla.). “We came here representing all the classes and with a full team of coaches to learn and experience being in Weymouth.”
Held at the venue of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Weymouth/Portland, England, this event was also a critical fact finding mission about the conditions and facility. Sailors experienced a wide range of conditions this week, including gusts that ranged from 5 to 30 knots.
“We’re taking it as a challenge,” said Andreasen. “We’re going to train hard at home and in Weymouth, and this time next year we’ll show we’ve made some great improvements.”
For more information about the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, please visit our website
For complete results of all the USSTAG members who competed at Sail for Gold, please visit the event web site
For racing photos, more USSTAG news and athlete bios, please visit the team web site
Credit onEdition
USSTAG's Zach Railey wins a bronze medal at Sail for Gold in Weymouth, England
More News
Laser Radial Women's' North American Champs and Finn Midwinter Champs Several of the world's top ranked sailors in each class battled it out in near perfect conditions in the Atlantic Ocean off Fort Lauderdale, FL. Eight races were held over three days. Americans Anna Tunnicliffe and Zach Railey took the titles in the Laser Radial class and Finn class respectively. More>
Zach Railey shapes up for London - Jeff Gelski (December 04, 2009) – For Zach Railey, working out in the gym has little to do with looking good on the beach. More>
US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Member Zach Railey Wins Silver at Finn World Championship (July 11, 2009) – Less than a year after winning a silver medal at the Olympic Games – and after having taken most of that time off from sailing - US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member Zach Railey (Clearwater, FL) has proven that he is still on top of his game. Today in Vallensbaek, Denmark, the 25-year-old Railey won the silver medal at the Finn Gold Cup, the world championship for the Olympic Finn class. More>
Delta Lloyd Regatta (May 27, 2009) – After missing both Palma and Hyeres, the 2008 Olympic Silver medalist Zach Railey (USA) is back in the Finn with a confident fourth place. “This is my first event of the European season. I am really excited to be back on the circuit and racing.”
“Today the racing was hard with big puffs and steep waves. It was a very windy day. The Finn start was at 3 pm with 25 knots of wind and higher gusts. Some classes raced and some didn't. We were only able to complete one race with the tough conditions. I finished fourth so a good start to the regatta.” More>
US SAILING’s 2008 SportsMan of the Year – Zach Railey surprised the sailing world by winning a silver medal in the Finn class at the 2008 Olympic Games in Qingdao, China. Railey’s silver medal was remarkable and unexpected: Going into the regatta, he wasn’t favored to win a medal, but Railey sailed one of the best regattas of his career and proved his talent and athleticism More >