Olympic Games 1996

Report from Savannah -- a Wild Week!

On Saturday, July 6th security became very tight and alert when the Olympic Venues officially opened. When Matt Anderson, a Puerto Rico Mistral sailor tried to pass the Day Marina to get to his practice board on Williamson Island, the Olympic Security Patrol wouldn't let him pass without accreditation. In fact he was surrounded by six armed patrol boats with an armed military helicopter overhead. They detained him a half hour before they escorted him away to the Island. When Jim Young, the Swiss coach stopped his van near the Village in order to take a picture, a powerful loudspeaker on top of the Village told him to move on immediately. At the same time as the loudspeaker message, a lot of police started running toward him. Jim said he moved on fast and that the picture is probably blurred.

On Monday, July 8th the Finns were drawn by numbered balls and issued at the Sheraton hotel site of the Olympic Marina. At this time Hurricane Bertha was passing just north of Puerto Rico which delayed the arrival of part of the Puerto Rico delegation.

By Tuesday, July 9th the Olympic issue Finns begin to appear on the Day Marina and the racing area at sea. The Day Marina is in four sections. The first section is five barges tied together in line on which are trailers that house Medical, repair and other facilities. This line of five barges also acts as a breakwater for the prevailing waves coming down Wassaw Sound. The other three sections are fingers of barges wired abreast on which each Team has a space under a tent for their gear and space to store their boats. Hurricane Bertha was tracking directly at Savannah.

Mid morning of Wednesday, July 10th a decision was made that since Hurricane Bertha was still tracking directly at Savannah a hurricane plan would be put into effect. Moving boats to the Day Marina was stopped. The Day Marina had every thing staying tied down and the place secured by 4 PM. The tents at the Olympic Marina were struck down and the Sheraton site shut down by 6 PM. Boats were chased in off the water in mid afternoon which included a dozen Finnsters. Coach boats were pulled out of the water and stored in safe places. A warning went out that Tybee Island where many are staying, Wilmington Island where the Sheraton is and Skidaway Island where many others are staying should prepare to be evacuated inland on the 11th if Bertha continued on its' present course.

Today, the Day Marina and Olympic Marina are shut down for the day. A weather briefing said that a cold front which had turned Bertha north was going back north itself. The probability that Bertha would go directly over Savannah was less than 20% but winds in out lying squalls passing over Savannah could go to 40 or 50 knots, the storm surge would be 1 or 2 feet occurring in the evening at high tide and waves would increase to 15 or 20 feet offshore while waves near shore would be seven or eight feet and waves in Wassaw Sound would be four feet. Because of the lowered probability of a direct hurricane strike, work crews were putting the tents back up at the Olympic Marina and everything is expected to be running normally tomorrow.

At this moment, 3 PM on Thursday, July 11th, the sky to the East is a dull gray and a rain squall on the horizon. The sun is filtering weakly through breaks in the fast moving cumulus. The wind is a steady 25 knots and increasing. The surface of the sea confused white breakers against gray water with a greenish tinge.

All those that have received the Olympic issue Finns say that they are very well made and a delight to sail. One sailor, who owes alot of people alot of beers, broke his Finn's deck by putting the mast through it when he didn't tie the mast in.