SOUTHERN FRIED NIGHTMARE

Sailing, with the second-largest number of competitors (455) and nations (79) after track and field, had its own opening ceremonies, which didn’t go as planned.

About 8,000 people paid up to $350 each to attend the event Saturday night at a park in Savannah, Ga., 250 miles from Atlanta. While master of ceremonies Walter Cronkite made introductions, a drenching electrical storm broke loose to end the show.

Most nervous were the racing judges, seated together and trapped on the top row of metal bleachers when everyone was told to vacate because of the lightning.

Tom Ehman of Michigan pulled out his cellular phone and left a message at his home: “I told [wife] Leslie and [daughter] Meg how much I loved them, and if they never heard from me again they could know that I went out in a blaze of glory--freshly showered and probably with a new hairstyle.”