[Times art: Rossie Newson, Gail Novak, Don Morris]
Sources: Athens 2004 Organizing Commitee for the Olympic Games, ISAF Athens 2004 (www.sailing.org) click for graphic
Olympic boat classes
Sailboard
Yngling
Laser
470
Finn
Europe
49er
Star
Tornado
An hour before today's Laser Class sets sail, Mark Mendelblatt will develop a strategy.
The St. Petersburg native will monitor the changes in the wind direction. He also will watch for the velocity and variations in current.
Based on those observations, Mendelblatt will decide to favor one side of the course because it has more wind.
All this is done before getting to the most important part of the race: the start.
Mendelblatt knows a good start can propel him into an untouchable position, or at least give him a better shot at a top finish.
"The start can really be a difference-maker," Mendelblatt said. "I see it as one of my strengths. It's been a good friend of mine through the years."
After making preparations, Mendelblatt waits for a series of sound and visual signals from the race committee boat that counts the time down to the start.
The goal is to be just behind the starting line at full speed as the countdown clicks to zero and the starting gun is fired. Sounds easy, but as many as a hundred or more boats are trying to do the same thing.
The fleet will be much smaller at the Agios Kosmas Olympic Sailing Center in Athens. No country may enter more than one boat in any event. Greece, the host country, is the only one to receive an automatic entry in each event.
Nevertheless, the five minutes or so before the starting gun at the 2004 Games will still be a massive free-for-all in which boats randomly zig and zag around as they jockey for position.
"All the starts are the same," said Jim Harley, executive director for U.S. Sailing. "The start could be important, but it depends on the wind strength and how many times each boat will tack."
Mendelblatt said the start matters more when there is less wind.
"So much depends on the conditions," Mendelblatt said. "If you get behind right away and there is bad air and the good lanes are taken, it's going to be hard to catch up. If there is a really shifty breeze, then it's not so key. For fast guys, the start doesn't really matter if it's windy."
Because the wind plays such a vital role, Mendelblatt tries to determine which end of the line is favored with respect to the wind conditions and his competitors. He does this by feeling the wind on his face, looking at a flapping sail or studying the ripples in the water.
But Mendelblatt has to be careful. If he starts too fast, he runs the risk of jumping the starting line early. A false start means the sailor has to start again.
"I can remember false starting last year," Mendelblatt said. "That was the first time I had done that in years. I try to pride myself on not being over that often."
A false start isn't as detrimental in fleet racing, the format used in the Olympics. Each event consists of an 11-race series, except the 49er class, which has 16 races. Boats are awarded points based on their finish. For example, first place gets one point, second place gets two and so on.
Entrants are allowed to discard their worst result. The winner is the boat with the lowest score at the end of the series.
But as the series ends, the boats still in contention try to outsmart the field with clever tactics, particularly at the start.
That's what happened in 1996 when Brazil's Robert Sheidt, who was already in the lead, ran the starting line early to bait Great Britain's Ben Ainslie into a false start.
"You see people trying some different things, but that kind of stuff usually happens when two boats are matched against each toward the end," Mendelblatt said. "It's common in the last race. At that point, it's every man for himself. If you've got nothing to lose, then it's time to take a chance and push the line a little harder.
