Rio |

Olympics: Bronze for USA, plus the Couple Who Sails Apart…

Caleb Paine was in fourth place going into the medal race in the Finn dinghy class on Tuesday. He led at every mark and took the race – and took the Bronze medal in the process.

caleb bronze — Sailing equivalent of a victory lap. Caleb Paine celebrating after securing Bronze.

The Finn is a large singlehanded dinghy, used as the ‘heavyweight’ men’s singlehanded class. It’s had a very long reign in Olympic sailing – uninterrupted since the 1952 Games. It’s arguably the hardest boat to sail well in the world. It’s certainly the most brutal.

This was Paine’s first Olympic appearance. He skipped college to pursue competitive sailing, and apparently it paid off. Congratulations!

Two other Olympians who wound up with significant fourth place stats in their classes have a lot in common…

Sail the same boat (Laser)
Live in the same country (Italy)
Share blood relatives

Who are they?

Gintaré and Robert Scheidt…

scheidette 2012 — Yes, her boat says 2012 – but she was indeed in the current 2016 Games too. This pic syncs well with the next one…

So, they sail they same boat, although Gintaré’s rig is the Radial (smaller sail and bottom half of mast). They represent different countries (Gintaré is originally from Lithuania). They are married with children, and live together in Italy. Gintaré was fourth in the medal race (7th overall), and Robert won the medal race which brought him to 4th overall. He won one of the earlier races but also had some poor outings.

Had he Bronzed, he would have won his 6th Olympic sailing medal in two classes – the Laser and the Star class doublehanded keelboat, which are as far apart as actual boats get in the Olympics. Only the sailboard class (RS:X) is further removed from the Star. Two Golds, two Silvers, and a Bronze – in two very different boats. This writer can’t think of a better Olympic sailing record. Elvström won 4 golds in two dinghies, the Firefly and the Finn, but I think Scheidt’s record is even more impressive.

Here’s hoping that the US women’s 470 team converts their 2nd place in overall standings into a podium finish. To be continued…

Want to watch live and also get some replays? Here are links to NBC’s streaming page for sailing. Most prior days’ coverage are available but the last two weren’t last time we checked.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/sailing (Main sailing page with news and schedules for streaming)

http://stream.nbcolympics.com/sailing-day-3 (First day of replays that are actually available on demand. Edit the number to try the day you want. Was working up through day 8 last time we checked and tech difficulties for days 1 & 2.)

Olympic Sailing Update

August 15, 2016 (edited on the 16th)

US Sailing, our country’s organization for sailboat racing, announced yesterday that things were looking good for Team US on the Olympic sailing front. “Five sailors are in the top 10.”

That’s lame! Guess we suck at sailing this time…

Well, it’s lame for us in the historical scheme of things. We have tended to be the country to beat. But the rest of the world is getting more competitive in the sport, which is a good thing.

There are numerous sailing classes for both men and women in the Olympics. They range from the RS:X sailboard (‘windsurfer’) to the Star class double handed keelboat. Most boats are boardboats. Right now only the Star class has a keel.

( – aside: there was a Star fleet at the Stuyvesant Yacht Club on City Island for decades. They dry-sailed them. This writer got on one for a few races a long time ago when a skipper needed a crew. That’s some hard-core boat! But like many pedigree platforms, it can be sailed on a more casual than Olympic basis and still be enjoyable.)

So; who’s good from the good ‘ol USA..

Womens 470: Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha, currently in second place!..

Finn: Caleb Paine, 4th place, 5 points out of Bronze so could medal…

Kudos to Great Britain’s Giles Scott, who has already clinched the gold. The medal race is on Tuesday, limited to the top 10 contenders, so this is definitely worth watching. Easier to follow than the whole fleet. Cheer Caleb Paine on to Bronze!

Brazilian hometown favorite Robert Scheidt was doing very well in the Laser class. He was second for awhile in the standings, but disappointing finishes in later races dropped him down. Scheidt is one of the winningest sailors in Olympic history, with 5 Olympic Medals in the sport. He’s taken two gold, two silver, and a bronze, and these are spread out over two totally different classes: the singlehanded Laser dinghy, and the doublehanded Star keelboat. That’s very impressive in my log book. In fact, I can’t think of a better Olympic sailing record. Super kudos!

And then there’s his wife! Gintarė Scheidt (Gintarė Volungevičiūtė-Scheidt) represents Lithuania in sailing. The two met at a training event and later got married. Gintaré was Lithuania’s standard bearer for the opening ceremonies. The two live with their children in Italy.

So… if we’re not exactly the standard setters this time, which countries are sailing more consistently?

Britain, and France. They’re solidly in the top ten in almost every event. As mentioned, Giles Scott had the Finn Gold wrapped up before the final race. France medaled in both mens and women’s RS:X sailboard events, so that’s impressive.

Want to watch replays and be ready to stream live when racing resumes (probably on midday, Tuesday August 16)? Here you go…

http://stream.nbcolympics.com/sailing-day-8

(update: NBC’s replay links are currently just saying “Coverage has concluded” for days 10 and 11. Lame. But maybe that’ll sort itself out.)

This is the link for racing on Sunday. Monday saw poor conditions with a lot of cancellations, and the replay seems to not be available for anything they did air. But you can edit the number “8” in your browser and substitute anything smaller, and you’ll get the replays for that day’s racing. Very hard to find otherwise. Footage is excellent. It’s mostly real video, with occasional graphic race course overlays. Sometimes they give real-time graphic renditions of the fleet instead.

You’ll probably have to sign in with your cable provider the first time but then be good to go.

Want results and schedules?

https://www.rio2016.com/en/sailing-schedule-and-results

Shortly after it says Schedule and Results in bold, you’ll see a list of all the sailing classes for men, women, and the one mixed class – the Nacra catamaran. There you can choose the class whose standings you want to see. Or, further down, you can browse by calendar date for individual race results or to see what’s coming up when starting Tuesday the 16th.

https://www.olympic.org/sailing

The Olympics home page for sailing, in case you like that better. Variety & options…

Watch Live Feeds of Olympic Sailing in Rio

Live footage begins today on NBC…

http://www.nbcolympics.com/live-stream-schedule/sailing

Today, at noon, we have Laser racing. Awesome little boat that is one of the most important classes in the history of the sport. Well worth checking this out, and also sailing one yourself at some point. Most America’s Cup skippers in recent history were winners in Lasers at some point.

The Dockmaster's collection of Laser racing awards — The Dockmaster’s collection of Laser racing awards

The medals above are NOT from the Olympics. They are from the local/regional level in Long Island Sound/NYC. But they are so kewl. That’s the boat as profiled on each medallion. Check out the live coverage or recaps as the Rio Olympiad rolls along and you’ll see why this boat rules.

Thanks, Bruce Kirby, for designing it.