BEIJING -- Dean Brenner knows the reaction from some quarters of the U.S. sailing community.

"We've gotten some e-mails and seen stuff on web sites," the chairman of the U.S. Olympic Sailing Program said Saturday. "A lot of people are really anxious, saying the U.S. team failed."

One gold medal and one silver for American sailors in 11 classes -- not exactly a bounty of precious medals, considering the U.S. sailing team brought home 9 medals in 1992. But it was bested at the Beijing Olympics only by the lavishly-funded team from Great Britain (six medals, four gold) and Australia (three medals, two gold).

ASSOCIATED PRESSZach Railey wom silver in the Finn dinghy. He spent more than 10 weeks sailing at Qingdao since 2006."We had a gold and silver at Athens (in 2004) and a gold and silver here, and some people look at that and see no progress," Brenner said. "I disagree. You can always be better, and we hope to be, but with the short-view mirror, I'm much more positive than negative."

HIGH WINDS

Anna Tunnicliffe won a gold for the U.S. in Laser Radial, and Zach Railey got a surprise silver in the Finn dinghy.

The Yanks had some close calls, too. Chris Rast and Tim Wadlow were sixth in a 19-boat fleet; Sally Barkow, Deborah Capozzi and Carrie Howe finished seventh in the 15-boat Yngling class. Fifty-eight-year-old John Dane III, the oldest member of the U.S. Olympic team, and Austin Sperry were second early in the Star fleet competition before fading to 11th.

"Halfway through the event, we had a shot at four or five medals, and if that happens, everyone thinks it's a great Olympics," Brenner said. "But then some people had a bad second week. That happens. There are no guarantees in sailing."

Sailors seemed to expect the unexpected in the regatta off the coast of Qingdao, about 300 miles from the center of the Olympics in Beijing.

"It was challenging, but every country coming in knew it would be," Brenner said. "Light winds with a lot of current and really hot with a lot of ocean swell. It was a challenge, no question."

It became a bigger challenge when unusually heavy air arrived at the end of the first weekend. Dane and Sperry built a Star boat specifically for light wind. Johnny Lovell and Charlie Ogletree designed a Tornado sail specifically for light air. But too many days had wind of 7 to 15 knots.

"We had six races in good breeze," Tunnicliffe said of the Laser Radial fleet. "Four less so. The last couple of years here we had at least two or three days on shore, waiting for a breeze. This year we had only one."

And the heavy air? Well, it worked out for Tunnicliffe.

"It was nice," she said. "The waves were very big and it was a lot of fun to sail that way under pressure. Stretch our legs out."

TRAINING

Brenner said the U.S. team came as ready as it could be. Railey said he spent more than 10 weeks sailing at Qingdao since 2006.

"We're really happy with our preparation," Brenner said. "We provided more support by several multiples than our athletes have ever enjoyed before; spent more than enough time here; felt like we had a good read on the event and the conditions"¦.The regatta was just difficult. A lot of strong sailors from a lot of good sailing countries went home and felt worse than we did."

Said Tunnicliffe: "I think everybody was very excited two of us came away with medals. We're a very young team. We're excited at how we performed and feel like we have a strong future."

Tunnicliffe, 25, rallied on the final leg of the medal race to overcome a restart and finish second, securing her gold medal.

"The individual recall flag was put up so I went back to re-start. Better to be safe than sorry, but it wasn't me," she said. "But I put myself behind the two boats with a shot at gold."

Her astute read of sailing conditions allowed her to save her gold. She sensed a shift in the wind and positioned herself to take advantage of it on the final leg.

"I thought it might be a 10- or 15-degree shift in wind, but it was a 30-degree shift and it lasted the whole leg and moved me back up the fleet."

Needing to finish at least fourth, she finished second and said, "I am overwhelmed with emotion. It's a dream come true."

But for other U.S. Olympic sailors, times were tougher. Lovell and Ogletree were 15th in the 15-boat Tornado fleet; Nancy Rios was 26th among 27 on the women's RS:X (windsurfing); and Benjamin Barger was 26th of 37 in the men's RS:X.

20-YEAR PLAN

Brenner acknowledges his team was uncompetitive in several classes. But addressing those shortcomings is where U.S. Sailing's "20-year plan" comes in.

"This was a broken program four years ago, by any measure, and you don't fix something this big in four years time," Brenner said. "You fix some things, then go for more. We have a long way to go to be where we all want to be."

Brenner points to improved funding -- "up 350 percent during the quadrennium" -- and a focus on developing young sailors willing to make long-term commitments to the sport.

He said the U.S. Olympic sailing program had a budget of nearly $4 million this year, compared to about $1 million in 2004, and spent some $10 million in the four years leading to Beijing.

Railey said he got $150,000 from U.S. Sailing, which allowed him to spend more time on the Finn and less time on the fund-raising circuit. "It was a huge help," he said.

However, U.S. spending pales in comparison to the investment Great Britain made in its Olympic fleet. Brenner says he has "heard numbers" suggesting the Brits lavished $50 million on their sailors since Athens, the money coming from a national lottery.

FUNDING THE PROGRAM

U.S. funding comes from the U.S. Olympic Committee (about 40 percent, down from 80-90 percent four years ago, Brennan said) and privately raised funds from individuals and corporations such as Salt Lake City-based AlphaGraphics, the team's title sponsor.

Brenner said perceptions that U.S. seamanship is eroding are not accurate, and based on an era when gifted amateurs ruled the waves.

"To look back historically, the U.S. was the king of the hill, and was for the longest time with a totally amateur program," he said. "In 1992, we won nine medals in 10 events with an amateur, part-time group -- and then the world started to change.

"We got two bronze in 1996, but the model didn't change. It was business as usual in 2000 and there was an uptick to four medals, but you look at who won them you see names like (Jonathan and Charlie) McKee and J.J. Isley and Mark Reynolds, world-class sailors who knew how to get it done. They were not the product of a great program, they were great sailors performing well.

After another two-medal performance in Athens, Brenner said U.S. Sailing realized that "the world had changed and we had not changed appropriately with it."

The old system, which Brenner characterized as a series of four-year plans for part-time sailors who made random decisions to start or stop racing, needed to change, he said.

He came in with a new leadership group, in 2004, and they decided the U.S. Olympic sailing program had to be torn down and reconstructed. He believes a corner has been turned, even if the medal count remained unchanged from 2004.

"You just try to go into the Games competitive in as many events as possible," Brenner said. "The more of those you have, the more likely you'll be to win medals. We made progress in that area this time. Coming in, we thought we were a serious contender in at least three classes and had a chance in a few more. In 2012, we'll want it to be even more."

That Olympic regatta for the London 2012 Games will be held off the coast of Weymouth, England. It may be only 10 classes; the Tornado multi-hull is expected to drop off the schedule.

RAILEY LOOKS AHEAD

Look for big things, said Zach Railey.

"It's a huge mistake for people in the U.S. to say the U.S. sailing team is not successful," said Railey, 24. "People look at the medal tally and it didn't go up from 2004, but the thing about this team is that 14 of us had never been to the Olympics before. And the core majority of this team is going to come back for 2012 and 2016.

"U.S. Sailing has given us the opportunity to be Olympic athletes and give us the support that we need. First time it's happened in U.S. history. Focus on where this team was at eight years ago, and where it is today, and the future of U.S. sailing is the best it's ever been.

"The U.S. team is going to be really good in the future. I guarantee it."

Paul Oberjuerge is the former Sports Editor of the San Bernardino Sun. He is in Beijing to cover the Olympics.