Zach and Jonas

After spending the better part of the past four years together training in for the 2008 Olympics in the Finn class, Zach Railey and Jonas Hoegh-Christensen decided that the best thing to do after the Olympics was to, believe it or not, spend some more time together. So when the 24-year-old Railey was invited to attend the Bitter End's Pro Am for the first time, there was no doubt whom he would bring along as his guest. Most people bring family or significant others, Railey brought his training partner.

Stuart Streuli

Finn silver medalist Zach Railey (second from right) and training partner Jonas Hoegh-Christensen (third from right) and their crew prepare for the second session of racing on Day 1 of the Bitter End YC's Pro Am Regatta with a round of Mudslides.

For Hoegh-Christensen it was a perfectly timed trip. The Danish citizen and two-time Olympian, starts a "real job" on Monday, working for the concert promoter Live Nation. The job, according to the affable redhead, involves developing partnerships with corporations that sponsor Live Nations concerts. While he has no music business experience, after an 8-year Finn campaign, he has plenty of experience asking people for money. That, apparently, was enough for Live Nation. Now, he said with a laugh, instead of the positive karma of helping out a struggling Olympian, he can offer something tangible in return, like VIP passes for AC/DC.

The contrast between the two sailors' Olympic experiences in China couldn't be more dramatic. Hoegh-Christensen entered the regatta as a favorite. A former Finn Gold Cup champion, he hadn't finished outside the top five in the Finn regatta in two years. Railey, on the other hand, had just one major podium finish on his resume. In the months leading up to the regatta, Hoegh-Christensen received a lot of press around Denmark as one of the country's strongest bets for a medal.

When he rounded the first mark of the first race in first place, Hoegh-Christensen says he thought to himself, "this is going just as I hoped." However, the Qingdao regatta, especially for those classes that sailed early in the fortnight-plus-three, was very fickle. In the first four races, Hoegh-Christensen spent more time ahead of Railey than behind. However the American came out of it with a 2-5-2-2 scoreline and an obvious path to the silver medal he would eventually win. For the Dane it was 14-6-16-14 and his chances of a medal were all but erased. He sailed as well as anybody over the remainder of the regatta, which was shortened from 11 races to eight, but could only climb as high as (TK). If he harbors any residual frustration about the regatta, he hides it well. He may well return to the Finn at a later date. In the meantime, he's got a new job to look forward to, and plenty of big-boat sailing on offer.

I spent Thursday morning sailing with the two Finnsters. After a dismal performance during the first day of Pro-Am sailing—which may have be at least partly due to a poorly tuned boat—they we eager for redemption. With 11-year-old Nick Baird providing a constant stream of advice, Railey and Hoegh-Christening picked their way through some very tricky conditions to score a 2-2 on the day.

I didn't know much about Zach Railey before going to China. But the more time I spend with him the more I'm impressed. His commitment to Finn sailing and the U.S. Sailing Team Alphagraphics is strong. He realizes the wonderful opportunity that accompanies a silver medal, especially at 24, in his first Olympics, and he's determined to use it to grow both himself and the team as a whole. After sailing I sat down with Railey for an interview. You can listen to that here.

Midway Report

We're halfway through the 2008 Pro-Am Regatta at the Bitter End YC on Virgin Gorda in the BVI. Unlike many of the other events I've covered of late, this one doesn't really lend itself to web coverage. It's all about being here. But since I'm here, and presumeable, you're not, I'll try to give you a picture of the action.

On Sunday Tom Leweck of the Scuttlebutt Sailing Club hosted the elimination round of the club's annual inshore sailing championships in Lasers, Hobie Waves, and Hunter 22.5s. Monday was the offshore portion, a down-and-back race from the Bitter End to the Baths, with the scoring done on overall time. I sailed with Dawn Riley and we had a quite spirited battle all the way down in IC 24s. Paul Cayard's team nipped us at the line. However, while we were second, the spread between first and last was so thin it didn't amount to much of an advantage. On the return trip, Cayard, Dave Ullman, and Bruce Kirby took advantage of a lefthand shift as we closed in on the channel in North Sound and separated from the rest of the fleet. Kirby almost pulled of the victory, but Cayard took the win in Leg 2 and, with wins on both legs, the overall title. The most impressive part of the race was watching Cayard go into Volvo Ocean Race mode and jury rig the spinnaker haylard and topping lift to fix a busted diagonal shroud. To do so he had to climb on the gooseneck, toss the halyard over the leeward spreader, then retrieve it with a spinnaker pole. He did it like he's done it a hundred times.

Tuesday was the first day of Pro Am Racing. The resort guests make up the crews for the eight pros here (Cayard, Riley, Ullman, Kirby, Ed Baird, Rod Johnstone, Keith Musto, and Zach Railey) and are rotated around during the five sessions. The sailing is done in IC 24s, just jib and main. It's low-key, but you wouldn't know it from the smiles and chatter of the teams when they hit the dock.

Baird showed that he hasn't lost any of his keelboat skills during his multihull immersion program.

Stuart Streuli

He won the first five races before finally proving himself mortal in the sixth. Racing will continue on Thursday morning and all day Friday. Today is a layday, fortunately as there is surprisingly little wind on the Sound today.

After racing Leweck hosted an impromptu forum, featuring Baird, Cayard, Railey, and Ullman. Baird and Cayard gave their thoughts on the current state of the Cup. Click on the links to here what they had to say. Oh and one final thing, I'm 95-percent sure, that Baird was joking about Cayard's hair. But you can judge for yourself at right.