The US crew of Nick Scandone and Maureen McKinnon Tucker stormed home to a further two wins in the SKUD 18 on Friday, September 12, to march to an almost guaranteed gold medal.
They boast a nine point lead over their nearest rival with only one day of racing and the likelihood of only one race remaining.
"I'll believe we've won gold when I have it around my neck," said a happy but unsure Scandone on coming ashore Friday afternoon. "This campaign has taken teamwork; it takes two people to win," he said.
It was a day of mixed fortunes.
Dan Fitzgibbon/Rachael Cox (Australia) and John McRoberts/Stacie Louttit (Canada), second and third overall for the series coming in to Friday's races, had their share -- the former finished ninth in Race 7.
The Canadians, who have moved up to second overall, had an eighth in Race 8, but it was enough to knock the Australians down to third overall.
McRoberts describes the later part of his day: "We got a bad start in Race 9, then on the first windward leg had to do a penalty turn, but we are confident of winning silver."
Fitzgibbon thinks Australia could win silver: "Our aim is still silver despite our poor Race 7 in which we had a bad start and then got caught on the wrong side of a big shift."
On the penultimate day of racing, Scandone and McKinnon Tucker were about as impressive as you could get in both Races 7 and 8. Their winning margin was 10 seconds in the earlier race, but they hooked into a lift in good pressure in Race 8 and could not be caught, sailing to a one minute 32 second victory -- a slaying.
Race 8 was the ultimate in shifts; light fluky airs and changeably breezes that kept the Race Committee busy during the day.
The conditions were a major factor in the many place changes that occurred throughout the race, as first Alexandra Rickham/Niki Birrell (Great Britain) and Bento Amaral/Luisa Silvano (Portugal) chased the US crew, then later in the race, eventual second placegetters Sin Ying Loke/Al Mustakim Matrin (Malaysia) and the third-placed Australians, but to no avail.
Racing started later than planned as the fluky light airs only steadied shortly after 12:00 p.m. A planned third race was abandoned when breezes faded as the fleet finished Race 8.
Saturday is the final day of the series and, while the American crew looks safe, a second race drop will come into force following the ninth race, so there are no guarantees.
(BOCOG September 13, 2008)