Yachties' hopes of silver scuttled

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

All it took was one little rogue wave to drown the Olympic-medal dream of Kiwi yachties Melinda Henshaw and Jenny Egnot.

The pair were elated when they crossed the finish line first in their 470 dinghy race on Monday - a win to put them in the silver medal spot.

But what followed was despair, confusion and tears as the New Zealanders were told they had been first over the startline as well - a little wave sneaking up and peeping the bow of their boat across the imaginary line, a second before the starter's gun.

They were slapped with a disqualification, plummeting to 10th overall. After another bad result, they were left with no show of salvaging a medal.

On Monday night the women were in disbelief at how two days of misfortune had dissolved three years of toil and hope.

The day before, they had been at the front of the fleet when their headsail collapsed and they capsized the boat.

"This morning we believed so strongly that we were in with a chance for gold," said Egnot, sister of 1992 silver medallist, Leslie.

"Now we almost want to pack up and go home before the last race."

It must be even more cruel knowing that another New Zealander has claimed their medal.

Going into the final race tomorrow, Jenny Armstrong, who sailed for New Zealand at the 1992 Olympics, is guaranteed a medal - sailing for Australia.

The Kiwis were oblivious to their indiscretion at the startline, until their coach John Clinton, pulled alongside afterwards with the bad news.

"Five minutes later he came back and said, 'No, you're still first, they got it wrong'," Henshaw said. Clinton then confirmed the worst.

"I told him where to go - I was pretty emotional," said Henshaw.

The Kiwis had to turn around and sail again, still holding a slender chance to pull themselves back up.

This time they were too conservative at the start and never recovered in the tricky winds, finishing 16th of 19 boats.

"The pressure was too much, it was hard to focus after what had just happened," Henshaw said.

Their despair touched all of the New Zealand sailing team on Monday, most of whom had disasters of their own.

Young Finn sailor Clifton Webb was leading his first race of the day when on-water umpires waved a yellow flag in his face - penalising him for rocking the boat.

Webb was forced to carry out two 360 degree turns for illegally trying to propel the boat with his body and dropped back to 15th at the finish. On Monday night he was 13th in his fleet.

Promising Star sailors Gavin Brady and Jamie Gale took their plight to the protest room on Monday, complaining that an official boat had got in their way when they were in second place.

They were forced to gybe to avoid a collision, allowing the rest of the fleet to sail past them. The Kiwis were left in ninth place overall after four races.

Dan Slater and Nathan Handley finished their first Olympics in eighth place after the final race of the 49er skiffs on Monday - a solid result but not what they wanted.

Rod Davis, Don Cowie and Alan Smith will have their first race for a week on Tuesday when the Soling quarter-finals fire up.

The Kiwis got a free ride to the matchracing top six after finishing second in the fleet racing phase.