NBC’s Olympic Games Coverage Overlooked Strong U.S. Team

One of the United States’ strongest performances in the Olympic Games, as usual, was in sailing. Too bad NBC missed it.

Despite its jingoistic bent and 40 hours of live sailing coverage available from the world television feed, NBC showed not a single blip of the action just off the beach at Barcelona, where U.S. sailors won medals in nine of the 10 classes--one gold, six silver and two bronze.

Videotape was used to review a last-race protest against J. J. Isler of San Diego and crew Pam Healy of Pt. Richmond, Calif., in the women’s 470 event. The tape showed no foul, leaving Isler and Healy with the bronze medal.

The final count:

Gold--Mark Reynolds of San Diego with crew Hal Haenel of Los Angeles in Star class.

Silver--Brian Ledbetter of San Diego in Finn; Randy Smyth of Mary Esther, Fla., with crew Keith Notary of Merritt Island, Fla., in Tornado catamaran; Morgan Reeser of Miami with crew Kevin Burnham of Coral Gables, Fla., in men’s 470; Paul Foerster of Heath, Tex., with crew Steve Bourdow in Flying Dutchman; Kevin Mahaney of Bangor, Me., with crew Jim Brady of Annapolis, Md., and Doug Kern of Austin, Tex., in Soling, and Mike Gebhardt of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., in men’s sailboard.

Bronze--Isler and Healy in women’s 470 and Julia Trotman of Syosset, N.Y., in Europe dinghy.

Only women’s boardsailor Lanee Butler of San Juan Capistrano was shut out, placing fifth despite winning two races.

Missing gold medals may have been disappointing for world champions Isler-Healy, Foerster-Bourdow and Mahaney-Brady-Kern, but it was especially so for Smyth, also a silver medalist in 1984 at Long Beach. Smyth dominated the early races and led comfortably with only the seventh remaining; then two days in a row, he was deprived of victory while leading when the four-hour time limit expired in light wind.

In the third try at running the last race, Smyth misjudged his timing at the start and had to scramble from 20th place to finish 11th, which was two spots too low to avoid falling behind France’s Yves Loday in the final standings.

Host Spain’s Olympians were offered $140,000 for each gold medal, and its sailors won four--Jordi Calafat and crew Francisco Sanchez in men’s 470, Theresa Zabell and crew Patricia Guerra in women’s 470, Jose Van Der Ploeg in Finn and veteran Luis Doreste and crew Domingo Manrique in Flying Dutchman.

Other golds: France’s Franck David and New Zealand’s Barbara Anne Kendall in boardsailing, and Norway’s Linda Anderson in Europe class.

Rod Davis, the American expatriate who was the skipper of New Zealand’s America’s Cup entry, won a Star silver with crew Don Cowie--a remarkable feat in the world’s strongest one-design class for someone who had not sailed a Star intensively until the last two months.

Sailing Notes

MATCH RACING--The richest purse in sailing--besides that for Spain’s Olympic team--has drawn the seven top-ranked competitors plus three alternates to the Mazda World Championship off Long Beach from Tuesday through Aug. 23. Competing for the $32,000 first prize, out of a total purse of $135,000, will be, in order, defending champion Chris Dickson of New Zealand, Peter Gilmour of Australia, Peter Isler of San Diego, Russell Coutts of New Zealand, Eddie Warden-Owen of Wales, Paul Cayard of Italy and Ed Baird of St. Petersburg, Fla. Declining invitations were Rod Davis of New Zealand, Jesper Bank of Denmark and Jochen Schumann of Germany, ranked eighth through 10th. They were replaced by Roy Heiner of the Netherlands, Chris Law of the United Kingdom and Kevin Mahaney of Bangor, Me., who are 11th through 13th. Mahaney, an Olympic silver medalist, might have liked a rematch with Bank, who beat him out of the Soling gold medal at Barcelona. From 95 to 98 races will be run within view of shore at Bluff Park on Ocean Boulevard, near the Queen Mary.

Stars & Stripes strategist John Bertrand is competing with America’s Cup skippers Dickson, Gilmour and Marc Pajot in the $90,000 Merit Cup in Japan this weekend. They’re rotating aboard the first two of three IACC boats built by the Nippon Challenge. Seven of Bertrand’s crew of 16 are from Cup winner America 3, six from Stars & Stripes. . . . The 26th Governor’s Cup for young sailors is scheduled at Balboa YC from Thursday through Aug. 23 in Santana 20s. . . . The Ficker Cup sail-off for a slot in next spring’s Congressional Cup is scheduled Sept. 10-13 off Long Beach

ULDB 70S--Ed McDowell’s Grand Illusion won the ULDB 70 class in last week’s 20th Santa Barbara-to-King Harbor race to strengthen its lead in the season series. Winds were light. The first four sleds finished within three minutes shortly before 11 p.m. that Friday, then the wind died to leave the smaller classes straggling in until midday Saturday. . . . By contrast, the sleds’ Aldo Alessio Memorial race last month from San Francisco to Long Beach was one of their wildest. The 70s were surfing ahead of winds exceeding 30 knots for 12 hours, clocking speeds in excess of 24 knots. Mike Campbell’s Andrews 70 Victoria lost its mast, and the winner, Jim Ryley’s SC70 Mirage, survived a shattered spinnaker pole. The 70s next race at Cabrillo Beach YC Aug. 22-23.

EVENTS--The annual All-Catalina race for Catalina-built boats 22 to 44 feet will be held today off Long Beach, featuring an inverted start without handicaps. . . . About 15 venerable 32-foot Pacific Class boats are running their 60th national championship out of the San Diego YC this weekend. They don’t use cotton sails anymore, but class rules still dictate wooden hulls and spars, and most of the crews of four are as old as their boats. PC fleets are based in San Diego and Marina del Rey. Kent Miller of MDR is defending champion. . . . The Windjammers Yacht Club’s annual 24-Hour Sabot Race to benefit the Boys Club of Venice starts at 10 a.m. next Saturday. Juniors and seniors will sail laps for pledges. . . . Representing Southern California among 50 junior women (18 and under) sailors in the U.S. Sailing/Rolex National Championship at Chicago this week are Angel O’Mahony of Culver City, Christy Mahaffey of Playa del Rey, Erin Collins of Balboa, Shelley Caplan of Huntington Beach, Katie Prigmore of Tustin, Stacy Straw of Woodland Hills and Andi Barton of Balboa Island. . . . Peter Wells of La Canada, Rob Dean of Newbury Park, Jason Artof of Westlake Village, Tim Wadlow and Preston Holdner of Del Mar, Jeff Umansky of Bonita and Aine McLean of La Jolla are in the boys’ juniors at Newport, R.I.