TEAM GO SAIL FINISHES 18th AT 2005 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP -- AMANDA REPRESENTS US SAILING TEAM AT NAUTICA EXPO IN SHANGHAI, CHINA
Team Go Sail competed in the 2005 470 World Championships, hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club on the beautiful San Francisco Bay. Although the scenery was beautiful, the San Fran Bay served up its usual challenging conditions with heavy winds, spring tides, choppy water and plenty of container ship traffic. Wind conditions ranged from 15 knots to 32 knots but most of our racing took place in the 17-25 knot range. Race Days 1-4 provided a 5+ knot flood through the Golden Gate Bridge! This created a race where getting off the starting line at the right place and making it to the left shore was everything. Sailing up the middle of the course meant certain death, as the current was just too strong. Everyone had to rush to the left side, which was more protected from the flood by the shore, overstanding the windward mark by 100 yards. The key was to then reach across the current to make the windward mark. Downwind lasted all of 2 minutes because you were moving with the current. We had big problems getting off the starting line in these conditions and had some deep finishes early in the regatta. In addition, we had a breakdown in the second race of Day #1, resulting in a DNF. After 6 races, we were sitting in a dismal 27th place overall.
Then the tides started to turn---literally! With the worst of the spring tide behind us, we picked up the pace in the second half of the regatta and scored some solid finishes. With a few races in a light ebb tide, the race turned more tactical and more dependent on boat speed--two of our strengths. Gasp, there was even a right hand side of the course to play! We were much more successful downwind as well, using our speed and tactics to make some big gains in the breeze. With a better performance in the final 3 days of racing, we pulled ourselves from 27th place all the way up to 18th--and our first top-20 finish ever at a 470 Worlds. We finished 1st out of all women on the US Sailing Team. We still feel we are worthy of a top 15 finish and realized that getting off to a slow start hurt badly. The strong floods exposed our main weakness and the area we need to improve most right now: the start in a big fleet. We felt our upwind speed was good but not great and we need to improve in order to be more competitive with the top 10 boats. We were very happy with our downwind speed, and decisions. Our boathandling downwind and on reaches in 20 knots has improved dramatically.
In late September Amanda was invited as one of two US Sailing Team members to represent Nautica and the US Team in Shanghai, China. Nautica ran an impressive event to mark the beginning of Nautica's support of The Chinese Olympic Sailing team. The main event attracted all the executives of Nautica USA and China, and a few hundred spectators. This short trip to China was an excellent opportunity for Team GO Sail 2008 to pick up contacts that will help our team prepare for the upcoming regattas in China, 2006 - 2008. On the last day, Nautica gave us plane tickets to make the one hour flight up to Qingdao Where the sailing events of the Olympics are to take place. We had half a day to check out the sailing site, see where possible places to stay were and be tourists in an amazing city.
Wedding Bells rang this past weekend as Amanda tied the knot with Greg Nissen on October 1st! Rumor has it that Amanda's wedding dress was made from some of our used 470 Sails.
What's next???
after taking this little break from sailing, We are off to San Francisco to prepare for the first ranking event for the 2006 US Sailing Team. National rankings are determined from your results in a series of 3 different regattas. The first of those for the 2006 team is this October 28-30 in San Francisco. We are currently ranked #1 in the US for the 2005 season and our goal, obviously, is to retain this first place ranking into 2006. Stay tuned for that important result!
TEAM GO SAIL 2008 FINISHES 2nd -- TOP AMERICANS AT 2005 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP-- TEAM ENTERS FINAL PREPERATION FOR WORLDS
Team Go Sail competed in the 470 North American Championships this week, hosted by the Bay View Boat Club in San Francisco, CA. This event marked the start our full-time campaign for the 2008 Olympics and proved to be a great warm-up event. We ended up 2nd place overall in the women's event, losing out to a very experienced Argentinean team. However, since they are not native North American's, the title of North American Champs was bestowed on us!
Sailing conditions were great on the East Bay of San Francisco with winds ranging from 7-20 knots across the 4 day regatta. Overall, the Argentineans, who have competed in two Olympic Games and currently trying for their third, were slightly more consistent around the marks in the varying conditions. Still shaking some of the cobwebs out, we took a major digger downwind in a big puff and went over. We finished 12th that race which turned out to be our drop, while the Argie's were only dropping a 5th.
In addition, we were very excited about our performance relative to the rest of the American teams. We achieved a #1 ranking in the US earlier this year at the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. These North American's was the first time all top domestic teams were back out on the same race course since then. We were the only American team in the top three overall and we beat the next best American team by 13 points! For complete results, please visit: http://www.470classnachampionship.org/ We would especially like to thank the members of the Bay View Boat Club for their unbelievable hospitality and careful planning for this regatta. The US 470 fleet is lucky to have local clubs like this support our events!
A wise man (as in Sarah's Dad) once said,"You are only as good as your next race." The NA's proved to be a great warm-up regatta, but the main event starts next week: 470 World Championships at the St. Francis Yacht Club. We are now fully focused on this event and expect big wind and great racing on the Western San Francisco Bay!!!
Happy Sailing and Enjoy the final weeks Summer!
Final Report Kiel Week 2005 (06-26-2005)
TEAM GO SAIL EARNS FIRST TOP TEN INTERNATIONL FINISH-- FIVE OF NINE FINISHES IN THE TOP 4.
The final day of racing of Kiel Week was like so many events this year.... delayed with lace of wind. After towing out to the race course, our race committee squeezed in one race before the 2:30pm last race cut off time. Team GO SAIL 2008 finished 2nd in the final race and 8th in the overall standings.
The women's fleet started 2nd and our race strategy was similar to the boys fleet who started in front of us-- go right for the best pressure. We rounded the top mark in the top ten. Downwind we stayed out of traffic and improved our place to 6th around the leeward mark. On the second beat we played the pressure on the right while aggressively protecting the left side of the course where there was great angle. We again moved up and rounded the weather mark in 3rd. On the final run, our fleet caught up to the Men's Gold fleet, making it very hard to sail downwind in a now 60 boat fleet. We chose again to stay out of traffic and were rewarded, catch one of the boats in front of us, giving us a second place finish.
We are happy with our results at this event. Our overall finish position does not reflect our ability at this event to consistently place in the top of the fleet. We believe, once training full time our mistakes that caused our bad races will easily disappear. Our next event is the North American Championship in San Francisco, CA followed by the World Championship also in San Francisco. We have 3 training camps planned between now and then, we will focus on starting and speed testing.
Kiel Week- Race day 4 (06-25-05)
currently we are in 8th place with 8 races sailed, posting a 3, 18, 20th today.... we move down in the standings, but are still happy with our racing performance.
racing so far has been in very light air, today was forcasted for 20 knots...we saw 4 to 5. We opened with a strong race, but in the second race a mid-fleet finish was all we could muster after a break down that put us in last. Our 3rd race was a hard one from the start. Getting cought on the wrong side of a shift off the line we found no clean air, and played catch up the entire race.
Tomorrow is our last day of racing, the points are still close, with all drops counted we still have the ability to move back into fith.
Kiel Week- Day 1 (06-23-05)
Racing stated yesterday for the 2005 Kiler Woche regatta in Kiel, Germany. Luckily, the weather thus far has been very un-Kiel-like with lots of sun and warm temps.
The first day of racing featured a marathon: departure from the docks around 11:30AM, 1 hours sail out the course, 4 races, a 1.5 hour sail back into the harbor and finally dragged the boat out of the water around 10PM!
Overall, we were very happy with our first day of European racing in 14 months. We finised 2, 4, 2, 16 out of 32 boats. However, we later discovered we were actually OCS in the third race. The conditions ranged from 10-15 knots for most of the day with a nice wave to work with downwind. During the final race of the day (or shall we say night!), the wind dropped considerably and shifted hard towards the right. Our 16th place finish in the last race clearly depicts how we were on the wrong side of that shift!
Still, we were happy to establish ourselves consistently in the top of the fleet for the majority of the day. After 1-2 more races today we will get a drop race for our overall scoring. Eleven more races are scheduled for the regatta....Stay tuned!!
Europeans Final Report (06-16-05)
The Europeans have ended, and we finished 2nd in the Bronze fleet. there was no sailing on the final day do to the lack of wind, so we had no chance to make up the 3 point gap to first. We packed up the boat in the first sun of the regatta, and headed out that next morning to Kiel Germany for our next event.
We enjoyed a 12 hour trip to the boarder following small roads since there was no major highway. The chance to check out the country side was a nice change from the usual trips on the super highway.
Now I am in Kiel Germany, getting everything set for when sarah arrives on the 21st. so far the boat is unpacked, and I have a nice long list of boat work in font of me, including some more work on the rudder!
I will update again when we start racing! results for the europeans (scroll down to the bronze) http://www.euro470.pl/?content_id=172 next events web site: http://www.kieler-woche.de/eng/segelsport/startregattas_eng.htmEuropeans- Race day 5 (06-12-05)
we are now in our second day of racing in the bronze fleet. we have sailed 2 races in 2 days, so there has been lots of waiting in cold weather. we have finished 2nd and 3rd in the races, wich now puts us in 5th in the Bronze. the wind has been very shifty.
we have 2 more days of sailing, I have a feeling that we will be sailing 3 races tomorrow. Just 6 points out of first, our goal is to win the fleet.
I am going to go and warm my hands up and get some dinner!Europeans- Race day 3 (06-10-05)
check the regatta results out at : Europeans race results
so, the first day of the regatta did not go as we planed, some of our parts did no make it to poland in time for racing and we were left sitting on the sidelines for the first day. Currently, we are in 62nd place after missing the first 3 races. today, the 10th, the final fleets have been decided, we will be sailing in the bronze fleet.
in good news, the boat is ready to go for when Sarah arrives to Germany. Dave and I have had some great racing in the Mens and Mixed division, highlighted with a top ten finish yesterday. I am transfering out of FJ mode into 470 sailing mode again!
470 Europeans, Poland- Report 1 (06-07-05)
I have just flown in to Poland from the College Nationals which were in Austin TX. Sailing for Connecticut College I finished 3rd in A division and our team finished 5th overall. It was a good regatta, but a tricky lake to sail on.
I am currently getting ready to compete in the 470 European Championships. I will not be sailing with Sarah in this event because she has work, but she will join me for Kiel week in Germany on the 20th of June. For this event I am teaming up with Dave Hughes (the crew of the top men's team) to sail in the Men's and Mixed division. Racing starts on the 8th for us, so stay tuned, I will be updating our progress via email!
Dear Supporters- (04-01-05)
After earning the #1 spot on the US Sailing Team for 2005 by winning the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta, Team GO SAIL 2008 was invited to compete in the ABeam Cup in Sajima, Japan. This event was a Women's Regatta by invitation only and consisted of the top 6 Japanese teams as well as the #1-ranked teams from Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand and the USA.
After a 15 hour flight we landed in Tokyo, greeted by some of the Japanese coaches and event organizers. We hopped in a car for the 1.5 hour drive to the regatta site in Sajima. Day one featured boat selection, rigging and a bit of practice time on the water. Each foreign competitor (foreign meaning non-Japanese teams), was assigned a chartered boat provided by Yamaha 470, rigging and a new North Sails spinnaker. We were permitted to use our own main sail and jib. With the help of our translator, we were able to rig and get on the water by the end of the first day. We had great conditions for practice with 15-20 knot winds and a nice, rolling sea swell. Everything was going smoothly until we encountered problem #1: the adjustment line on Sarah's trapeze wire was too small for the cleat provided; therefore, the line slipped and completely backed out of the pulley system--dropping her into the water like a pile of rocks! Amanda, being the thoughtful skipper she is, circled back around and picked her crew up out of the bobbing waves to resume practice. We lined up with the Canadians and Japanes for some upwind speed testing and were feeling fast...until we encountered problem #2: large, hidden pens of fishing nets under the water. We figured that we were safe sailing next to the Japanese because hey, they have to know their home waters, right? Wrong- we didn't see the nets and their floats until our centerboard pop up after hitting one! The only way to exit "the ring of terror" was to run over the nets again, somewhat dangerous in the building swells and seas. After this, we called it a day and headed in for the scheduled Japanese Smorgasbord.
Racing started the next day in very light winds and large, messy chop left over from the 40 knot winds which howled all night. The Japanese were dominant in these conditions, claiming the top 5 places in each of the first three races while the foreign teams struggled to find boatspeed in the unfamiliar chartered boats. The second day of racing contained lots of waiting for wind. Sajima was smack in the middle of a large high pressure system, preventing any gradient winds from filling in. At least the sun was shining as we enjoyed Japanese-style lunch with chopsticks on shore. We finally got four races off in the after noon: the first three in light conditions again and the fourth in a nice 10-12 knots. Feeling more comfortable with some breeze, we found our boatspeed and played the shifts well, finishing 2nd. We sailed in with the sun setting behind the visible Mt. Fuji. The final day of racing was, as you might have guessed, light wind again. We floated around on the water for 2 hours, then got the final race of the series off in less than 5 knots.
Team GO SAIL 2008 ended up 6th overall, 2nd among the foreign competitors. Overall, the sailing wasn't great, but the relationships and connections we formed with the teams present will be valuable for the future. We now have friends and consistent training partners for future events abroad. We wrapped up our trip by spending the final night and day in central Tokyo before flying back to New York. Accompanied by our translator, we hit up a Karaoke club with the Canadians and Kiwi's, followed by a tour of Tokyo the following day.
A special thank you to Abeam Consulting for sponsoring the event, the Japan Sailing Federation, Yamaha 470 and everyone who organized the regatta to make it such a great event! It was amazing!
The next few months are busy as Amanda prepares for some Spring College Sailing, followed by graduation. Team GO SAIL 2008 plans to compete in Kieler Woche- Kiel, Germany at the end of June. In July we train in the NY/NJ area in preparation for the 470 North American's and World Championships in San Francisco later this August.
HELLO FROM TEAM CLARK AND MERGENTHALER!, (02-04-05)Welcome to Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler's 470 Olympic Campaign for 2008 in the 470! I am working on updating the web page to include our most up to date information. please stay tuned:
After three weeks of sailing in France, we are temporarily back on US soil! On a general scale, the trip turned out to be a big success and certainly a valuable experience. After flying from New York to Milan, Italy, we picked up our rental car at the Milan-Malpensa airport and made our way to the Nautivela boat factory where our boat was stored since last September. The first hour on the road was a laugh a minute as our rental car was a stick shift. Before leaving, we put in some practice hours on the road to learn how to drive a manual transmission (thanks so much to those who sacrificed their cars!). Still, the Europe highways can be pretty intimidating for a new stick shift driver. We had some Italian ladies in a van laughing and pointing at us as we stalled three consecutive times on the ol’ Autostrade!
After loading the boat and all the equipment on the car, we set off from Nautivela in Milan to drive south through Italy and, eventually, to Hyeres, France. The road was beautiful- first cutting through mountains, then hugging the cliffy coast of the Mediterranean.
We arrived in Hyeres with seven days to practice before the regatta began. On the first day, a storm came through with 40 knot winds and huge waves blowing from the east. This foiled our plans put our mast up, much less go sailing! Without sailing, we decided to take a tourist drive to nearby St. Tropez and St. Raphael, which were also beautiful! On the next day, the winds calmed down and the sun came out, revealing that even southern France can have beautiful weather during the Spring.
We had six good days of practice, mostly in light to moderate conditions, usually sailing against the other US 470’s that were there. On the last day of practice, the infamous Hyeres mistral wind was present and gave us a good 20-22 knots to work with. Much to our delight, our practice in Miami was shining through, as we were one of the only US boats to keep our mast pointing in the right direction while going "half wild" downwind. Our speed was great and our boat handling was superior to the other women, resulting in us not flipping.
Actual racing for the 35th Annual Semaine Olympique Francaise began on April 26th in 30 knots of breeze from the Mistral. It was a wild and crazy day for two races where even finishing the race was a challenge. During the first race, we were headed downwind with the spinnaker flying. The 2000 Olympic gold medallist team was just in front of us, also sailing downwind. We decided, just as they did, that it was time to gybe to make the layline for the leeward mark. After practicing so many heavy air gybes in Miami, we pulled off the maneuver smoothly and successfully, all while keeping the boat in the upright position. The winners of Gold, however, were not so triumphant as their boat wiped out, mid-gybe, sending them flying into the water. We sailed past the carnage to beat them in the race. Even the best in the world were having serious problems racing in this condition and we were psyched to have a great day!
The second day of racing saw 20-25 knots out of the east, which generated 5-6 foot waves. Again, downwind was a challenge for most and the racecourse was littered with flipped boats, broken masts and ripped kites. We survived without any damages and managed to avoid swimming in the Mediterranean. During the second race of the day, we were having a good race in the top 15...that is, until we got to the leeward mark. We were surfing on a wave with great speed, approaching the mark when the boat next to us lost control on the wave and flipped on top of us. Luckily, there was no damage and no injury but our mark rounding and top 15 status in the race were lost. To top it all off, the skipper of the flipped boat approached us after racing and wanted us to pay for the damage to her boat! This issue is still pending.
Shifty, light to moderate winds and choppy water dominated the final three days of racing. The biggest challenge for us was to get off the starting line in the first row with clean air. 55 boats on a starting line only big enough for 30 made this extremely tricky. A poor start would automatically put us in the bottom half of the fleet (and it did just that in several races). We experimented with a few starting techniques, knowing this regatta was meant to be a learning experience. For example, we tried starting at the un-favored end of the line because it was easier to get clean air and the ability to tack when we wanted. Starting at the lower end with a good lane beat the boats starting at the favored end in the second row. By the final day of racing, our starting was much improved.
In the light and choppy conditions, we also had a few problems with our boat speed downwind. It was difficult to pump onto the big, rolling waves with less wind velocity. We found that sliding your bodyweight around in the boat was a key ingredient to catching waves and keeping boat speed up.
We finished 30th out of 55 in the women’s fleet, a result we are not at all satisfied with. This regatta outlined what our strengths are and what still needs to improve. Our upwind boat speed in light and heavy wind was very good. Most of our problem was tactical, "sailing fast in the wrong direction." We plan on racing as much as possible, not necessarily in the 470, while training in the US this summer. We feel that racing any boat, so long as the fleet is competitive, will help our tactics to improve. In addition, starting in the European fleet demands a more aggressive acceleration off the line and the ability to maintain a clean lane. In our next European event in Holland, our focus will be on starting and positioning for the first 5 minutes of the race. Given the level of talent in the international women’s 470 fleet, a top 15 finish in a race is not possible with a poor start. Overall, we feel that the hours we spent on boat handling in Miami paid off; now, we need to get our tactics up to speed!
We are already looking forward to our next event, the SPA Regatta, in Medemblik, Holland May 21-25. Before leaving for windmill land next Saturday, May 17th, we will spend some time on Shelter Island putting together our new boat and hopefully doing some sailing. Much thanks to Sarah’s dad, Bill Mergenthaler, for helping to arrange shipping for our new 470 from Italy to New York!!!!
In other news, our latest fundraiser is underway- "Team Clark-Mergenthaler" tee shirts and hats are on sale for $15 each. Our shirt sizes range from XXL-Small and Ladies’ sizes Small, Medium & Large. Hats are one size fits all. Anyone interested can contact us via email:
Sarah’s email: sarahmergenthaler@hotmail.com
Amanda’s email: ac@amandaclark.org
Thank you all so much for your support!
Happy Sailing & Happy Mother’s Day,
Sarah Mergenthaler
Amanda Clark
USA 1736
Hello Everyone, (3-25-03)
This will be our last email from our training site in Miami. That′s right, it′s time to get used to the cold again before we head over to our first spring event in Europe. In our final week of practice we continued to move in the right direction and we had great wind to work with! We are now fully confident in our heavy air gybes, which was our biggest area of weakness prior to coming down to Miami. We spent several days working in 15-20 knots of wind where we sailed upwind for an hour, then turned right around and sailed downwind, gybing at least 20 times per leg. Doing this three times in a row turned our arms into spaghetti, so we usually called it a day after 3-4 hours! We have also become quite adept at dodging the afternoon thunderstorms on Biscayne Bay. As the heat builds, almost everyday produces 2-3 thunderstorms. Our goal was to get out on the water as soon as the seabreeze filled in and sail until the thunderstorms hit.
One afternoon last week, we were enjoying a nice session in great breeze when one of our grumbly pals decided to build over the Southwest side of the bay. We knew we needed to get out of it′s way. The problem was that sailing back to home base, the US Sailing Center, meant sailing directly into the storm.
We were a good 4 miles out on the bay, so we decided that sailing for Key Biscayne Yacht Club out on the Key was a better choice. We docked our boat at KBYC, took the sails down and watched the storm pound the land across the bay. Finally the storm cleared through and, in true Miami fashion, we could already see the next storm building behind the first. We had about a 20 minute window to sail back across the bay to the Sailing Center and the wind had picked up to 25-30 knots. Luckily, the winds shifted after the storm and made for a perfect jib-reaching angle to get us across. We set out across the bay and what a ride it was! At points, there was nothing more than the last bit of stern left in the water as the boat held on a screaming reach for the 3 mile sail across the bay.
When we got back to the Sailing Center, we felt like heroes! All of the other sailors had dodged the storm and the intense wind, so when we got back to the dock everyone wanted to know "what it was like out there!" Luckily, a Star coach was crossing the bay at the same time we were and he happened to have a digital camera with him. He snapped some shots of our infamous reach and gave us the evidence. So, no one can tell us this was just another sailor′s fish story!
We depart from Miami on Thursday and should arrive home early next week. We′ll train on Shelter Island from April 7-9 before heading off to France on April 17th. Hopefully, we will bring the warm weather up with us!
Until next time,
Sarah & Amanda
USA 1736
Just a quick update on our campaign as of March 14th! (3-14-03)
We′ve been blessed with good wind and weather so far this month, which has enabled us to spend many, many hours on the water. We are predominantly working on short course sailing, working on boathandling and mark roundings in 15 knots of breeze. Yesterday we were fortunate enough to have 5 marks available on the water to create a trapezoid course with a start/finish gate. It was good to be going around the ol′ trapezoid again! We have also been putting quite a bit of emphasis on our starts and our routine checks before the start.
Last Monday, we spent the day working with Greg Fisher from North Sails. We took a rainy afternoon looking at sail shape and taking pictures of sail sets. Greg was most helpful and we are extremely lucky to have someone of his caliber working with us. This help is in connection with our sponsorship from North Sails Eyewear. Please keep an eye out in the May, June, July & August issues of Sailing World Magazine as we will appear in a half page ad promoting the North sunglasses each month! Much thanks to John Faus for getting this deal going!
Also, we have picked up support from the Westchester Company who manufactures the gloves we have been using for sailing. Although they are intended for gardening use, we have used the gloves for over a year and they are ideal for sailing a 470.....who would have thought! So, thanks to Gary Cohen of Westchester Gloves for supplying us with a case of our "secret weapon" gloves!
On the regatta circuit, we have solidified our plans to compete in the French Olympic Regatta in Hyeres, France from April 17-May 4 and the SPA Regatta in Medemblik, Netherlands from May 21-25. We are very excited to get back on the race course and looking forward to seeing our practice in Miami pay off. One minor detail will be getting used to sailing in slightly colder air and water temperatures! To ease into the cold, we are planning on departing Miami around March 28, giving us enough time to get back to the New York/New Jersey area before leaving for Europe. We plan on spending a few days practicing on Shelter Island from April 7-10- we guess this means dusting off our dry suits, fuzzy hats and ear muffs (we sure haven′t needed them down here)!
We are looking forward to getting back up North to be home for a little bit and we look forward to seeing many of you!
Happy Sailing,
Sarah & Amanda
USA 1736
Hello Supporters (2-25-03),
Well, the America′s Cup races have been consistently cancelled but we are still sailing! After a week of light winds following our US Team training camp with Skip Whyte, the wind has finally come back in. We′ve had a consistent 15-20 knot breeze for three days now and we are getting the hours of practice in breeze that we have been hoping for.
One of our major goals for this winter was to improve our downwind technique in breeze in the "wild" and "half wild" downwind modes. These "wild" conditions only work in big breeze where the crew cleats the spinnaker pole aft and goes out on the wire. Full "wild" means the skipper and crew both go on the high side while "half wild" entails the crew on the wire (the high side) and the skipper sits to leeward. The wild technique allows the boat to plane downwind and pass waves, keeping the bow out of the water more consistently. Additionally, the higher speed adds stability to the boat.
When we used to try to go "wild" we got a feeling of impending doom as the boat can do some pretty freaky things and gybing is like defying death. However, after our practices the past few months on this skill, we don′t need our swimmies anymore. Yesterday was one of our best practices ever in 18-20 knots. We got a great handle on the technique, completing about 50 gybes successfully without taking any dips in the pool. We are now looking to conquer the maneuver in more breeze and we look forward to that challenge.
On the land, we have been working hard to plan our Spring and Summer schedule. We′ve completed our travel plans for the French Olympic Regatta in Hyeres, France for April 24- May 2. We are considering the possibility of doing another event in the Netherlands in late May, but we need to raise more funds to do this. We have update our webpage with our detailed schedule (please click on the "schedule" link on the webpage) and we will modify our pictures and budget soon.
Training in Miami has been wonderful, but we are looking forward to getting back to the Northeast in early April to train before leaving for Europe!
Happy Sailing,
Amanda & Sarah
USA 1736
Hello everyone! (2-12-03)
We just want to update you on our campaign! Currently, we are still in Miami and thankful to be skipping out on a harsh Northeastern winter! As most of you know, we competed in the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta last week, our final ranking event before the trials next November. We entered the regatta with our sights set on winning the event however, due to a combination of some nerves, poor tactical decisions and some equipment failure, we ended up third in the Women′s fleet and 9th overall out of 23 (including the men).
Our first problem arose on the initial day of racing when our gaskets became detached and dragged behind us for most of the day. We spent some time on the previous day making repairs, but our efforts were unsuccessful.....not very smart! All four days of the regatta saw light and extremely shifty winds. Usually, we had great speed in light air, but we had trouble making tactical decisions and reading the shifts. One of our biggest obstacles was over-thinking a situation. More experience on the race course will remedy this. There were regular 25 degree shifts each race, which made catching one puff very important.
In addition, we felt that our downwind speed in chop and light air was lacking. It was very important in the light wind and choppy conditions to sail higher angles and move the boat around with body weight.
In the end, we rank third on the US Sailing Team. This was not where we had hoped to be at this point in our campaign, but with 9 full months to train we feel that we can prove that we are the best.
In the week following the regatta, we trained with the US Team coach and worked heavily on our downwind sailing in lighter air. We already feel that our boat speed in this condition is vastly greater than what we did in the regatta. We trained with the women′s team that finished second in the regatta and, as a judge of speed, we were clearly faster! We dominated the all-women′s training camp and left the month of January with confidence. In practice, we are continuing to work downwind, using lateral body movement to push the boat on and past waves. We are also spending lots of time on boat handling, using the time we have to train alone to focus on perfection in this area.
Interspersed with training, we are working on our Spring and Summer 2003 travel plans. We will be competing in the French Olympic Regatta in Hyeres, France from April 24-May2. Hopefully, we will also be able to fit the SPA Regatta, Medemblik, Netherlands, into our budget. After this, we will be returning to the domestic circuit to race in two events in Rhode Island in June. It is our goal to dominate the US events in preparation for the trials. This summer we will also be training out on Shelter Island and on the New Jersey shore before heading off to Cadiz, Spain in September for the World Championships.
To help cut travel costs, we are looking for anyone who has contacts in Hyeres, Holland or Cadiz for airfare, housing and car rentals. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated! We hope all is well and that the winter will thaw out soon! Our web page will be updated soon:
http://www.amandaclark.org
Happy Sailing,
Sarah & Amanda
USA 1736
Hello Everyone (1-22-03),
Hope that all is well despite freezing cold temperatures up north! We have enjoyed beautiful weather so far in Florida, but not much breeze! We spent the last two weeks a bit north of Miami. First, we participated in a US Sailing Team training camp in Ft. Pierce, sailing out in the ocean. Even though this practice did not translate to racing in the flat waters of Miami, it helped improve our boat handling skills in bigger waves.
The first day of the camp, not all of the sailors had arrived, but we made the best of some small group training in light winds. On the second day, everyone was able to come out sailing and we found we were one of the fastest teams of the day, men or women. The emphasis of the camp was on downwind tactics, and we made major gains on our boat handling. Upwind we worked especially on tactics and calling the wind. The third day was a carbon-copy of the second day, but on the fourth day the wind finally switched to an on-shore direction, resulting in 12-15 knots and a more organized wave pattern. This really gave us the opportunity to try some new techniques down wind as well as working on steering with our weight, not the rudder.
Overall, we felt the camp was valuable and a good opportunity to sail against the top teams in the US. We would like to give a huge thanks to the Muller family for housing us during the camp, especially for Mrs. Muller′s wonderful cooking!
Next, we moved a bit south to Jupiter, Florida to do some coaching and more training on our own. We did most of our sailing on the Inter coastal, but mainly took a breather from intense sailing before heading back to Miami for the final two weeks before the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. Another special thanks to the Modica Family, who housed us and took some great photos for our campaign! We will be updating our website soon with some of the new photos and new information (www.amandaclark.org).
Now we are back in Miami and training hard for the Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta which begins on January 28th. We will also compete in the Skipper Whyte regatta this weekend and our focus will be on starting and covering the women′s fleet. We want to use our speed to get ahead and stay ahead. We will also be emphasizing fleet management in preparation for the Miami OCR. We will keep you updated about these events!
Happy Sailing,
Sarah Mergenthaler & Amanda Clark
Happy New Year!
We would like to update you on the progress and direction of our campaign for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Earlier this Fall we competed in the Pre-Olympic Trials hosted by the Houston Yacht Club, Houston, Texas. As a quick summary of this regatta, we finished second American boat in the Women’s division. The racing was extremely tight as the final result came down to the last race. The first day we sailed in light to moderate offshore winds with a good amount of chop. After a mediocre day of three races, we were four points out of first and tied for third place. The second day was breezy after a front cleared through, bringing colder temperatures and 15 to 20 knots of offshore wind. We would have dominated the day with a second and first place finish in the women’s fleet, but we had a break down in the second race, causing us to drop out of the race. We were able to make the repair on the water and we came back to win the last race. Our speed and confidence increased as the day went on and we were the only women’s team not to capsize. The day ended with us tied for second and only one point out of first.
The last day of racing took place in 5 knots of wind and flat waters. The race was very strategic with the light wind shifting about 20 degrees. We took advantage of a right-hand shift and rounded the windward mark in first. Unfortunately, we could not gybe soon enough on the run and were passed by one boat. Throughout the race there were 5 lead changes. We had our race secure rounding the last weather mark in the lead, but due to a wind shift, the boats we needed to beat were able to sail lower than us on the reach, gaining an inside overlap and the advantage for the rest of the race. We finished the race in third, securing a second place finish in the ranking system.
Overall, we were happy with the way we sailed and to date it was our best all-around performance, showing vast improvements on what we learned in Europe. The closeness of the final points shows how close we are to being number one. On a side note, the 1988 Women’s Gold Medal team raced in Houston, beating many of the current campaigners. We showed that we were not intimidated and succeeded in beating them convincingly.
Currently, we are living and training full-time in Miami. Amanda has paused her academic career at Connecticut College for a full year to commit to the campaign. This month we will be training for the Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta in February, 2003. This is our final ranking event for the 2003 US Sailing Team, so we are putting much effort and focus into our preparation for the event. If you would like to receive email updates of our campaign, please email to ac@amandaclark.org .
We would like to thank you for your continued support and interest in our endeavor. Again, Happy New Year and fair sailing!
Sincerely,
Amanda Clark
Sarah Mergenthaler
USA 1736
2002 RIISA Regatta June 15th and 16th 2002 Barrington, RI
Hello Everyone,
Sarah (my new crew) and I just returned from RIISA, up in Barrington, RI. There were 12 470s which attended the regatta. In preparation for the event, Sarah and I spent the past week sailing together. this was the first period of time that we had worked together longer then just a weekend, so it was great to finally be able to work over some of the finer moves in the boat. We trained out on the Eastern End of Long Island from Saturday till Wednesday afternoon when we packed up the boat and moved up to RI Thursday morning. Practicing at the regatta site was good, because it gave us a chance to get use to the conditions that we might expect for the regatta. Unfortunately, as seems to be the usual theme, the conditions before the regatta were nothing like we saw during the event, but hey, what can you do.
The first day of the regatta saw moderate to breezy conditions, we had some unfortunate luck with our Jib Halyard, which snapped and went into the mast. We had to drop out of the first race, tow in, get it fixed and come back out to the race course. When we got back to the race course we found out that we had missed two more races. So, this put a pretty quick end to our chances of winning the event. We sailed the final two races of the day in 12 to 15 knots, we had excellent speed, but we made a lot of mistakes do to nerves.
Day two of the regatta saw glassy conditions for the first half of the day. finally the sea breeze filled in at 1:30 and we started race in 2- 4 knots of breeze. We lead the entire first race around the course, only to find out at the finish line that we were OCS. For the second race of the day we had another excellent first beat, putting us into 3rd around the windward mark. We lost distance do to a bad call I made on the layline for the bottom mark, but in no way were we going to let that be the end of the race for us. We ground back through the fleet to finish 4th.
All in all we were very happy with our progress made this past week. we feel confident that we can learn from our mistakes that we made this past weekend so that we get to the point that we are racing like we practice.
Our next regatta together will be the Pre European Championship, held before the Europeans, in Estonia. This should be a great chance for us to get all the bugs out before the big races begin.