Aug. 9, 2008
QINGDAO, CHINA - Two of the Lady Monarch alums kicked off the sailing events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Saturday with two races in the Yngling class. Sally Barkow ('02-Nashotah, Wisconsin) and Debbie Capozzi ('03-Bayport, New York) finished with a 14th place and a 2nd place effort with teammate Carrie Howe in the first two Yngling races. The event will have eight more races before the medal race on August 14.
The winds at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center were shifty and became increasingly more difficult throughout the day. The first race saw the USA Team struggle to a 14th place effort out of 15 teams, but they turned it around in the second race, finishing second overall. The 15 points is good for the team to be in 9th out of fifteen Ynglings.
The former Monarchs' American team finished 4th and 5th respectively in the 2007 and 2006 pre-Olympic events at Qingdao.
The British team leads the fleet with five points followed by the Canadians with nine total after two races.
Results After Day One:
Team R1 R2 TOT1. Great Britain 2 3 52. Canada 5 4 93. Netherlands 9 1 104. Russian Feder. 3 8 115. Australia 1 11 125. China 7 5 125. Finland 6 6 128. Germany 8 7 159. United States 14 2 1610. France 4 15 1911. Spain 11 9 2012. Greece 10 12 2213. South Africa 13 10 2314. Norway 12 13 2515. Italy 15 14 29