U.S. Olympic Sailing Trials : San Diego’s Reynolds Breezes as First-Day Winners Make It Look Easy

SAN DIEGO —  On a day that was almost perfect for sailing, Mark Reynolds of San Diego sailed almost perfectly.

Leading all the way, Reynolds won the first race Tuesday in the Star class of the U.S. Olympic yachting trials off Point Loma.

Ed Baird of St. Petersburg, Fla., was nearly perfect, too, in winning the Soling race.

The sailor with the lowest point total in the 10-race trials will earn the lone berth in each class to represent the United States at the Olympic Games, Sept. 17-Oct. 2 in South Korea.

Reynolds won the opening race in the 1984 trials but was unable to maintain the lead and finished third to Bill Buchan, the eventual Olympic gold medalist, and Paul Cayard of San Diego.

“This year, things are different,” said Reynolds, 32. “This year, we have a new boat.”

Reynolds and his crew, Hal Haenel of Hollywood, sailed a new Star to second (behind Cayard) at this year’s world championships, then won the spring championships.

They’re hot right now and proved it immediately in the trials opener under sunny skies in moderate winds of about 10 knots.

“We were fortunate to get a good start,” Reynolds said. “We had clean air, and a couple minutes into the race, we were stuck out there (in front). We got the lead and just had to protect it.”

At the first windward mark, Reynolds led the fleet of 26 boats by about 10 seconds.

He then turned the race into a rout. At the second mark, he was in front by 30 seconds and simply had to avoid disaster the rest of the way. He led by as much as 90 seconds and just tried to maintain in the final two legs to win with ease.

“We were being conservative,” Reynolds said. “We had enough of a lead that we could make sure nothing weird happened.”

Nothing did, and Reynolds ended up beating Stephen Gould of San Francisco by about 55 seconds. He received no points in the low-point scoring system. Gould and his crew, Greg Sieck of New York City, received three points.

Vince Brun of San Diego took fifth (10 points) and Cayard was 10th (16 points).

Only eight of the 10 races will be counted, as sailors will discard their two worst finishes.

Baird was just as dominating in the Soling.

After starting third in the fleet of 22, Baird and his two-man crew of Jim Brady of Clearwater, Fla., and Rick Pitcairn of Houston moved quickly to the front and held a one-length lead at the first mark.

Baird steadily increased the margin through each of the remaining five legs and beat Gerard Coleman of Newport, R.I., by about two minutes.

“Our goal was to finish fourth,” said Baird, 30. “Our goal wasn’t to win, it was just to do well. It turned out we snuck in there.

“We’re optimistic. We’ve been ranked second for a year, so we feel we have as good a shot as anybody.”

Notes

Four protests were filed in the two classes, but race officials said rulings will not be available until today. One protest was against Paul Cayard, who may have tacked too closely to another boat at the first windward mark. . . . All of the boats registered in the Soling fleet finished. Two Star boats did not start, and the boat of Lee Kellerhouse from San Diego did not finish because of a broken shroud. . . . The Soling skippered by Bruce Chandler from Balboa Island is named Seoul Train. . . . Both races started without a general recall, which is unusual in fleet racing. . . . The 10.8-mile Olympic trials course is made up of a triangle followed by three legs--windward, leeward and windward again to the finish.