After a second-place finish in the first race, the Americans were tied on points with the Brazilians. They were second rounding the first weather mark and held their position around the course, keeping the Brazilians directly behind them. An important victory in race two also came packaged with the Brazilians finishing right behind and gave the Americans their needed edge in the overall scoring.

`We stuck with our own game plan,` said Crocker, `which was to really work our boat speed and let other people make the mistakes. Everyone did his job 100% from start to finish. We had some fantastic starts and really hit our stride with downwind performance. We are exactly where we want to be.`

For a fourth day of racing, large swells had to be navigated and large pressure holes had to be considered. Sailors also had to look up, as giant cloud formations interrupted blue skies and brought with them dramatic shifts and sometimes rain.

`During one race, the wind was 14 knots before the start and then fell to two knots under the clouds,` said Lanee Butler (Aliso Viejo, Calif.). The Mistral Women's contender today came closer to claiming a gold medal by posting two victories for a commanding 11-point lead on the fleet. A bad start in the first race did not shake her concentration, as she worked to catch Canada and Cuba on the first downwind leg after they had rounded ahead of her at the top mark. In her second race, Butler led the entire way around the course.

In the remaining six disciplines, USA sailors maintained their positions from yesterday. Butler's counterpart in the Mistral Men's division, Peter Wells (Newport Beach, Calif.), finished 5-7-6 in today's three races to keep his fifth overall, while Laser Radial sailor Sally Barkow (Pine Lake, Wisc.) maintained her fifth-place position with finishing scores of 6-5.

Snipe sailors Henry Filter (Stevensville, Md) and Lisa Griffith (San Diego, Calif./Phillipsburg, N.J.) are sixth on finishes of 4-5 today. `It's a dog fight out there,` said Filter. `To be honest, there's no way we're going to catch the top three, but we gained two points on the fourth-place team today and can still get to that position. That's our goal.`

Sunfish sailor Jeff Linton (Tampa, Fla.) used a ninth-place finish today as his series discard and a second-place finish as a psychological tool. `In that race, I was second to the first windward mark but had to do a penalty turn and then fight back from sixth,` said Linton, who remains seventh overall. `Finally I'm starting to do something! I've decided to treat today and the next two days like a whole different regatta from last week.`

Laser sailor Ben Richardson (Gloucester, Mass.) also had a bad race followed by a good one today. At the top mark in race one, he missed his hiking straps and went overboard while his boat flipped. A 14th became his throwout race. `In the second race I was eighth at the windward mark and just went shockingly fast on the downwind legs and finished fourth, so I felt good about that.` As for chances of making his way to the bronze-medal position, Richardson believes he is still in the running. `I got this far behind in the first half of the regatta by finishing around fifth and sixth while someone else was finishing around second, so I can feasibly gain in the regatta's second half by taking seconds while someone else gets fifths and sixths.`

Hobie 16 sailors Paul and Mary Ann Hess (Napa, Calif.) kept their fifth-place position with finishes of 8-8 today.

Racing resumes tomorrow and concludes Sunday, when medals will be determined in all classes. Two races minimum are planned for each day. Additional information is available at www.ussailing.org/Olympics/PanAm/

Source: US Sailing - Jan Harley