**We had a nice cross-class dinner after the first day of sailing with the Lightning team and Clay Johnson. **I learned that Farrah Hall, the U.S. boardsailor went for a run while waiting for her redress hearing. Boardsailing must be one of the most intense physical activities on the planet, and Farrah goes for a run to cool down! I explained to Jay Lutz that if I ran from our dinner table to the restaurant door I would probably go into cardiac arrest. I guess I’m getting old, or maybe I’m flat-out already there, but being on the water for 6 hours in 90+ degrees takes a lot out of me.
Another competition going on in the midst of the Pan Am Games is the country pins. All of the athletes are given about 20 pins which have a national team decal. The idea is that you exchange pins with athletes from other countries. I am failing miserably on this front. I imagine that the pin exchange is a great introduction to meet people if you are single. I am not single, and I’m a bit shy by nature. So far, I have a couple of Mexican pins that I got from one of their American coaches I was already friends with—pathetic, I know. I gave a pin to a waiter today just for getting me some parmesan cheese, and I gave another pin to a waiter with the promise of a Puerto Rican pin in exchange tomorrow.
We headed out on the water today with a big yellow circle on our main sail as the regatta leader—the 2nd place team carries a blue circle, and 3rd has a red one. The breezed behaved totally different than the first day. It died towards the end of the first race and shifted over a 100 degrees right. We ended with a 2-3 on the day which we feel should have been at least a 2-1 so we’re a little bummed out. We’re tied for the lead with Brazil with lots of sailing left.
Scott Vadala, one of the overarching Team Leaders for the U.S. Olympic Committee came out on our coach boat today. It was his first time observing sailing and he was blown away at how long we are out there. He told me he has a new found appreciation and respect for our sport.
Today they changed our start order so we were last instead of first. It was a lot of fun to watch our teammates in the Snipe and Lightning start and to be able to cheer for them. They both had strong days and are in the lead. Elsewhere, Clay Johnson made a big move up to 2nd in the Laser, and Farrah Hall had a 2-5-2 to move up to 3rd—three races on a board in one afternoon, unbelievable!
Yesterday’s results (and the overall results) can be found here (now in English!)
Top 5 Medal Count as of Wednesday Morning
US – 63
Brazil – 30
Canada – 30
Mexico – 29
Cuba – 17
