3 Olympians at 2008 USA Finn Nationals

3 Olympians on 2008 Nationals Podium

Dan Slater, Richard Clarke, and Zach Railey, who earned a silver medal in Quindao last summer, mastered the 33-boat fleet and SF Cityfront fall conditions to finish 1-2-3 in October’s national championship.

The wind increased each day of the regatta, most of the racing sailed in an oncoming flood tide, and the wind with enough south in it to send shifts off the Marina District on to the race course. Slater built his finishing score by mastering the countercurrent up the wall from Ft. Mason to Anita Rock as well as the shifts early on in the event. Slater and Clarke matched with 3 wins apiece as Slater was better until the last day when the stiffer breeze favored Clarke.

Clarke, a three-time Olympian for Canada and now Pegasus sailing director, used his frequent experience on SF Bay to only trail New Zealand’s Slater by one point for the series.

Zach Railey, who switched from Lasers to Finn after the 2003 CORK regatta, finished college at Miami, and then spent 2.5 years in a full out Olympic campaign to a silver medal, USAFA’s first since 1992, returned to California for sort of a homecoming after his successful trip to China.

Railey told norcalsailing.org: “This is the first U.S. event I’ve been able to do since the trials last October. We spent so much time internationally, training over there. It’s nice to come home and especially here at the St. Francis. It’s one of the best places to sail in the world.”

The first race was postponed for two hours awaiting the arrival of the westerly. On schedule, the seabreeze built and the course was laid. Sunny skies, light ebb at the start, and the regatta was on! Railey rang the first bell with a first place finish, so as to say “I’m in the house” to his sponsors looking on the races from the plate-glass window of the club’s grill room.

Veteran Finn sailor Darrell Pack, whose light-air prowess enabled his wins at the North Americans and Eastern Championships this past summer, finished in fourth just ahead of 2007 national champion Andy Casey. John Romanko led the current Canadian national team with an eighth, just behind master legend Henry Sprague and incoming USAFA So-Cal vice-president Andy Kern.

Aussie David Giles led SFYC Youth Director Forrest Gay to round-out the top ten.

On the second and third days of the regatta, the wind arrived on time and with increased velocity. PRO John Craig moved the course further east than usual, which made the weather legs heavily-favored along the Ft. Mason-Crissy seawall, the harbor jetty, and the rocks in front of the club. “Q” flag conditions prevailed for lots of those races which made for great gains made jibing downwind in search of streaks and waves and many downwind photo-finishes.