Allison Jolly

Judging from these Olympic trials, there are no more than 10 serious Flying Dutchman sailors in the United States, which is about nine more than in a non-Olympic year. "And the guy that wins had better win a gold medal for the rest of us," Mike Loeb, Flying Dutchman veteran, said Friday. Even in such a small class, the 36-year-old real estate salesman from New Haven, Conn., probably won't be the one.

When Allison Jolly won the United States' only gold medal at Pusan, South Korea, in 1988, she made the point that American women will be taken seriously in Olympic sailing. Note the names Courtenay Becker and Wendy Thomson, who won their fleets impressively in three days of the 30th annual Olympic Classes Regatta at Long Beach, which concluded Sunday. In '88, Jolly, who lives in Long Beach, won the new women's 470 class with Lynne Jewell as crew, but she didn't compete in her hometown event.

At age 30, Scott Steele has been dragging his silver medal around the boardsailing course this week, trying to keep up with the next generation. "I'm still looking for a good race," Steele said Saturday morning as the U.S. Olympic trials approached their midpoint. He got it Saturday afternoon, posting his first victory in four races, although he still trails co-favorite Mike Gebhardt, 22, and two teen-age hotshots in the series.

The road to the Olympics is filled with tears, triumphs and torture. It means giving up a career, a social life and outside interests, but that's only half the battle. The other half is the cost. Sailors Lynne Jewell of Studio City and Allison Jolly of Valencia are willing to pay the financial and personal price to sail in the 1988 Olympics. "There are two ways to finance an Olympic campaign," Jewell said. "Either you go knock on doors and get someone to donate money or you are born into it."

U.S. Olympic sailors are competing mostly against a team that isn't even at Pusan, South Korea: the 1984 U.S. team. None of the 1984 sailors who won 3 gold and 4 silver medals in the 7 classes returned for these Games, but their standard continues to haunt their successors. After a mediocre start Tuesday, the '88 team sailed better Wednesday and ranked first in 2 classes and second in 2 others after 2 of 7 races. That's not bad, but it's not up to the '84 standard.

Courtenay Becker, J.J. Isler, Jody Swanson, Dawn Riley, Cathy Chapin, Jackie Golison--those names might soon be as familiar in sailing as Topsiders and Catalina. Female sailors have earned respect in this country. Allison Jolly and Lynne Jewell won America's only Olympic sailing gold medal in severe conditions at Pusan, South Korea, in 1988. The others will compete in the U.S. Women's Championships Saturday through next Tuesday at Coronado.

Navy Lt. Brian Ledbetter of San Diego has qualified for the U.S. Olympic sailing team, while John Shadden of Long Beach and Allison Jolly of Valencia are close. Ledbetter won Thursday's Finn race at Marblehead, Mass., his fourth victory in eight races, leaving him with an insurmountable lead going into today's final race. The trials at Newport, R.I. were canceled because of fog for the second time in three days, all but assuring Shadden and Jolly of the U.S.

All the Tornado catamaran sailors here for the Olympic trials miss Randy Smyth, the way the heavyweight boxers of the world would miss Mike Tyson. "I am disappointed," Gary Knapp insisted after finishing second to Pete Melvin of Long Beach in the first race Wednesday. "It's certainly in (the team's) best interests to have our best representative go from the country, and Randy would certainly be a key player.

Most racing sailors agree that on-the-water judging is the best thing to happen to the sport since fiberglass, since it eliminates the tiresome process of protest hearings late into the night to settle petty disputes. Perhaps no competitor has a better grasp of the complex rules than Dave Perry, the 1983 and '84 winner of the Congressional Cup. He has written books on the subject.

During the 20 years that Gail Hine has been sailing, she has seen the number of female sailors increase steadily each year, but Hine believes there is plenty of room on the ocean for more women. That is why Hine is organizing Southern California's first women's sailing convention, a one-day event open to all Southern California women interested in sailing. The convention, to be held next Saturday in San Pedro, is sponsored by the Southern California Yachting Assn.