One of the toughest decisions in small-boat racing is finding a partner who shares your level of commitment.
“If you are not obsessed to the same degree, there are going to be questions,” San Diego's Molly O'Bryan said last week.
O'Bryan and Belvedere's Molly Carapiet were having commitment issues with their sailing partners last year when they discovered one another.
“We started talking and we realized we were on the same page,” O'Bryan said. “I'd known Molly for a while when I was coaching (sailing at the U.S. Naval Academy) and Molly was a student at Yale.
“When we started talking, we realized we both wanted to focus harder on the goal.”
That goal is the 2008 Olympics in China.
And last week, after less than a full season together, the two Mollys were ranked No. 3 in the women's 470 dinghy class on US Sailing's national sailing team.
The ranking is important since a top-three ranking carries financial backing. US Sailing will pay for the cost of shipping the two Mollys' boats to a series of international events leading up to the U.S. Olympic Trials in October in Long Beach.
“It's a major plus,” said O'Bryan, 27, a product of one of San Diego's leading sailing families. “If you are not among the top three, you have to do everything on your own.”
As O'Bryan spoke, she was preparing to board a flight to Portugal, where she and Carapiet, 23, will train for four European regattas before she returns to San Diego in June to wed John Vandemoer. After a three-day honeymoon, O'Bryan will return to Portugal for the 470 World Championships.
Committed?
“Molly and I are so much more committed as a team than we were before,” O'Bryan said.
O'Bryan is well into her third decade in sailing. She was sailing on her family's Cal 29 as far back as she can remember. And her competitive sailing started in San Diego Yacht Club's junior program at age 7.
In high school, she sailed for the University of San Diego High and crewed on the team that won a national title in 1996. She represented the United States in the Youth World Championships in 1995.
At the University of Hawaii, O'Bryan was a three-time All-American, won the women's intercollegiate national championship in 2001 and was named the university's Female Athlete of the Year in 2002.
In addition to coaching at Annapolis, O'Bryan won three women's national championships since graduating from Hawaii as both crew and skipper. This is the second time she has been ranked among US Sailing's top three, the first time as a 470 skipper in 2003 and the second time as a crew to Allison Jolly last year.
“The late change surprised some people, but Molly and I are so much on the same page. We're so much more focused as a team than we were before. When your sailing partner naturally agrees on how you view training and everything else that goes into the sport, it makes it so much easier.”
Carapiet, serving as skipper, and O'Bryan finished third in three straight major regattas since they started racing together last summer.
“But we're still improving,” O'Bryan said. “I think we're going to make big gains. I think we have as good a chance as anyone at winning the Olympic berth.”
O'Bryan said she's not ready to definitely call this her last Olympic campaign.
“I really enjoy competitive sailing,” she said. “If the right opportunity was there again, I probably wouldn't think twice.”
Anderson-Mitterling/Hughes No. 1
A total of seven sailors with San Diego ties are on US Sailing's 2007 team.
Ranked No. 1 in their class is the two-man, 470 dinghy combination of Coronado's Mikee Anderson-Mitterling and crewman David Hughes of San Diego. San Diego-raised skippers Andrew Campbell (the single-handed Laser) and Tim Wadlow (49er skiff) are ranked second in their classes.
In addition to O'Bryan and Hughes, two other crewmen from the area are on ranked US Sailing teams. Graham Biehl of San Diego is crew to second-ranked Stu McKay in the men's 470 class and Coronado's Zack Maxam is crew to third-ranked Dalton Bergan in the 49ers.
Warpath scores big
Warpath, the Farr 40 co-skippered by the San Diego father-son team of Fred and Steve Howe, was named the Boat of the Week at the annual Acura Miami Grand Prix.
Warpath came from behind to top some of the world's top international crews in the event that doubled as the Rolex Farr 40 North American Championships.
“It came down to the last beat of the last race,” helmsman Steve Howe said.
With finishes of 10th and 13th in the first two races off south Florida, Warpath won two of the next four races but still trailed entering Sunday's final Round 2 races. But a second and a fifth earned Warpath the victory in the competitive nine-race series.
Seeing Stars
Reigning world champion Hamish Pepper of New Zealand won the Star Bacardi Cup, which also was sailed out of Miami last week.
San Diego's George Szabo, with Magnus Liljedahl as crew, was the top American finisher in 13th. Mark Reynolds (Hal Haenel) was 18th and Vince Brun (Doug Brophy) was 21st.
Bill Center: (619) 293-1851; bill.center@uniontrib.com
