Olympic Sailing - Day 6 - Video Observations

By Doug

It's always interesting to see how much support a sailor gets. At the Open Worlds in Cancun, a Polish sailor apparently arrived without the proper equipment and was helped by the other competitors. At the other end of the scale is CRO at the Olympics in the Finns. He has his own personal trainer. And chef. And psychologist.

Laser race 7: most of the fleet pulled the trigger early and was over early. No sag. General recall:

Under a black flag, only CHI was over early for the second start:

On-board camera of defending Olympic champion Paul Goodison:

Series leader CYP with similar form:

Approaching the first mark... but watch out!

What a mess... GBR, AUS, and CYP all had to do 360's:

Coverage was spotty, here are the sailors in the teens at the next windward mark:

ARG with a big lead:

Final bottom mark, FRA after a fantastic run, but is rolled by ARG on the final reach:

Lasers race 8: big gap in the coverage, top mark with SIN leading and AUS right behind:

 SIN chooses to goes low through the pack, AUS takes the lead by sailing high:

Right behind... is that someone kicking the mark away?

The rest of the fleet:

Top of second beat:

Final run, AUS carving with SIN close behind. Isn't is amazing how important the first windward leg is! SIN is in 23rd place overall, yet had the speed to stay with Tom Slingsby to finish 2nd:

Olympic Sailing - Day 5 - Video Observations

By Doug

Finns start of race 7, Ben Ainslie (GBR) trailing in the series, needing to aggressive:

It worked, while series leader DEN not taking any chances:

GBR leading up the first leg, DEN slipping for now:

DEN gaining downwind on the reach:

It was a real screamer:

GRB protecting its lead:

On the run, GBR risking everything, while series leader DEN tipped:

GBR won, DEN moved up to finish 8th:

Finns start of race 8, this time DEN getting aggressive:

DEN in a breeze:

GBR trailing DEN on the final run, needs to pass to gain 2 points:

GBR passes and finishes behind ESP and NED:

Olympic Sailing - Day 4 - Front Row Seat

Courtesy of Brett Beyer

Olympic Sailing - Day 4 - Video Observations

By Doug

Why we should not worry about Weymouth security:

RS-X race 4 (ESP was OCS):

RS-X photo finish with GBR passing GRE on the finish line:

Lasers race 6 on the starting line:

Crowded starboard tack layline:

Tom Slingsby (AUS) on the port tack layline (out of the picture) looking for a hole:

AUS finds one, POR also looking:

POR also finds one:

AUS in 9th place with CRO leading:

AUS after a great run leads NZL going left, the leaders have gone right:

A rare computer error in the calculations... AUS is not last!

Further up the second beat:

AUS and HUN rounded, chasing CRO (out of the picture):

AUS only one on port, boom way in:

AUS catching CRO:

AUS almost even at the bottom mark:

Close racing on the last beat, NOR having a great race:

CRO still in front:

AUS goes way low:

CRO also goes low:

CRO stays in front and goes on to win: