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Railey Right Where He Wants To Be

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The Associated Press

Published: August 13, 2008

QINGDAO, China - When Clearwater's Zach Railey was 8, he stepped onto a sailboat for the first time and discovered that was exactly where he wanted to be.

What Railey didn't know was that 16 years later, that passion would lead him into a high-profile Olympic showdown with one of sailing's superstars - Britain's triple medalist Ben Ainslie.

"He's a great sailor. There's no doubt about it," Railey said.

Before Finn-class racing began Saturday, the 24-year-old Railey wasn't mentioned among the hottest challengers to Ainslie, who has two Olympic gold medals and one silver. Now the two are battling it out at the front of the 26-boat fleet. Railey held a narrow lead overall Sunday after four races, then Ainslie took it over Monday.

"I'm not concentrating on beating Ben right now. I'm in second place, but I'm still only 15 points ahead of fifth place or sixth place," Railey told The Associated Press in an interview at the athletes village in Qingdao on Tuesday.

Sporting a two-day beard, Railey seems relaxed, enjoying a day off.

"Right now, it's not about Ben or the other boats," said Railey, who is ranked No.11 in the world. "This is about Zach and sailing the best regatta that I can."

The Olympic first-timer can only be called an overnight sensation if that night were 14 years long, starting with his international Optimist dinghy racing debut at age 10. A year later, at age 11, he was the youngest sailor to qualify for the Optimist world championships.

"My mom used to take us to the beach when we were little," he said. "We were 2 or 3 years old, we'd be on the beach all day long, from the time the sun came up until it went down."

His parents, Ann and Dan, weren't sailors, so it took the family dentist to help chart Railey's future, mentioning a summer sailing program for the then 8-year-old.

"When I first set foot into a sailboat, I got in the car after the first day, and I looked at my mom and I was, like, 'I absolutely love it.' I knew right then," Railey said. "I wasn't thinking about going to the Olympics. I wasn't thinking about races. I was just absolutely loved being in a boat and being on the water all the time."

He wasn't the only one.

Younger sister, Paige, also caught the sailing bug. A world champion in the Laser Radial class and 2006 ISAF World Sailor of the Year, the 21-year-old just missed a Beijing Olympics berth, finishing No. 2 at the U.S. trials.

"Our goal has always been to go to the Olympics together and win a medal," Zach Railey said. "We're both going to come back again for 2012."

TENNIS: Americans went 6-0 Tuesday, including a late-night victory by Tampa's James Blake, the lone remaining U.S. player in men's singles. He beat Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3.

"Hopefully it continues Wednesday and the next day," Blake said. "And hopefully some of us will hear the national anthem at the end of the week."

WINDSURFING: In men's windsurfer RS:X, Tampa's Ben Barger finished 24th in Race 3 and 26th in Race 4.

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