Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Mendelblatt getting into Olympic form

By DAVE ELLIS
Published July 12, 2006

Mark Mendelblatt, 33, with crew Mark Strube of West Palm Beach, sailed to victory on his Olympic Star class boat in the Kiel Race Week in Germany. Kiel Race Week, one of the largest and most prestigious regattas worldwide, serves as practice for the Olympic classes.

Mendelblatt learned to sail at the St. Petersburg Sailing Center and had early success in sailboat racing. Numerous titles in the diminutive Optimist Dinghy and a stellar college career at Tufts culminated in Mendelblatt representing the United States in the 2004 Olympics in the Laser dinghy.

The Laser is a 14-foot craft that has few options other than the stock boat, leaving it up to the lone skipper to do well. The Star, however, is a 22-foot keel boat that has been called the "Stradivarius of sailing craft" because of the complexity of getting all the rig systems correct for each wind condition. Mendelblatt made the switch soon after the Games.

The new Olympic racing system has a series of races to determine the top 10 contenders. These finalists race together for one last race, which has double points that are then combined with a racer's cumulative score. Entering the finals there were five boats that were mathematically able to win Kiel week.

The final race was held in light air with a short course due to time limitations. Mendelblatt had raced short courses in college, knowing who he had to beat to get maximum points over his competition. He placed fourth in the double-points final race, but ahead of the other four challengers to the title. This placed him in a tie with Brazil's Robert Scheidt. Ironically, Scheidt also had transferred to the Star from the Laser, where he is a six-time world champ and Olympic gold medal winner. Mendelblatt and Strube won the tiebreaker to be crowned champion.

JUNIOR NATIONALS: The annual U.S. Sailing Junior Championship was held at Grosse Pointe Yacht Club in Michigan June 22-29.

St. Petersburg Yacht Club sailing team members Chris Vetter and crew Kelsee Connon won the 29er division despite not having experience in the boat. The 29er is a new high performance skiff, a scaled-down version of the Olympic 49er. It is faster and more difficult to sail than the college 420 that Vetter and Connon sail on Tampa Bay.

When asked why they made the switch to the 29er, Vetter said, "We had heard that the 29ers are faster. They're just so much fun."

Sarasota's Zeke Horowitz tied for the lead in the Laser fleet after a light air regatta. But Royce Weber of Surf City, N.J., won the tiebreaker when the last race was cancelled due to lack of wind.

Mitch Hall of Seminole finished fifth in Laser with Fred Strammer seventh out of 37 boats. They are coached in Clearwater by Ian Lineberger. "We really trained them hard for this event," Lineberger said. "I'm really proud of what they have accomplished."

Connor Blouin and crew Nicole Popp of Davis Island Yacht Club placed fourth out of 36 boats in the 420 class.

CATAMARAN RACING: Lower Boca Ciega Bay off Gulfport Yacht Club was the venue July 1 for tight racing for a dozen performance catamarans.

Robbie Daniel, Olympic contender in the Tornado, introduced a new Capricorn, an unusual craft that has twin hulls that appear as if they are placed upside down. The bows have a reverse angle. The waterline of the bows is wider than the top, making it a wave-piercing boat.

In three light air races Daniel and crew Tina Pastorr placed second to a Marstrom A-Cat. Third was Jennifer Lindsey on her A-Cat. Fourth, after handicaps were applied, went to Bob Johnson on an original Hobie 14, a rarity in this performance fleet.

Sunday, 17 catamarans raced off Dunedin Causeway into the Gulf. Stu Smith raced his Dart to lead the small boat division while Rey Johnson raced his G-Cat 5.7 to the larger boat honors. Mike Calley won the spinnaker division on his M-6.0.

[Last modified July 11, 2006, 23:05:50]