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-Team Go Sail Finishes 6th at 470 European Championships: Thessaloniki, Greece
-Team Go Sail Wins Medal Race at European Championships!
-Up Next: 470 World Championships- Cascais, Portugal July 1-14
We’ve just wrapped up the 2007 470 European Championships hosted by the Nautical Club of Thessaloniki, Greece. In this ISAF Grade C-1 Event, we spiked to a sixth place finish out of the 48 boat women’s fleet. The highlight of our regatta was winning the infamous Medal Race on the final day of the regatta featuring just the top 10 boats! We were the only USA team, men or women, to reach the medal race and the only US women to qualify for the Gold Fleet! Overall, we made huge strides in our upwind tactics and strategy. Our light to mid velocity boat speed in choppy seas was finally back after struggling a bit through some of the early Spring events. For more of the racing details, please read on! For complete results and photos, please visit the event website: http://www.ncth.gr/470/
Pre Regatta Training:
We departed the USA on May 23, flying to Toulon, France. We picked up the US Team “Euro Diesel Van” and trailer and drove to Ancona, Italy where we caught an overnight ferry to Igoumanitsa, Greece. Once on the Greek side of the Adriatic, we enjoyed a 5 hour white-knuckle drive through the mountains to Thessaloniki. Complete with 10% grade inclines, 180 degree hairpin turns on a road barely wide enough for a cattle cart, we were just praying for our manual van to drag our heavy load in first gear without stalling out!
Once safely in Thessaloniki, we had 8 great days of training with our coach and Czech training partners. We rigged up a new mast, slightly stiffer in the mid-section compared to the mast we’ve been using all Spring. We’ve been a little dissatisfied with our light air boat speed and thought a stiffer mast might be the answer. It turned out to be the right call. Another main focus area during our training races was upwind strategy and boat placement in the top third of the beat. We’d been running into problems in bigger fleets with getting strung out to the layline, leaving no options. Instead, we worked on anticipating shifts and tacking before the crowd does, leaving us a better lane. Again, this translated very well for us in the regatta.
Qualifying Series:
With 48 Total entries in the women’s fleet, we had a three day, 6 race qualification series to divide the fleet into Gold and Silver divisions. Thessaloniki is situated in a gulf at the top of the Aegean Sea. Local sea breeze out of the South-South East are the prevailing conditions during the summer, usually filling in around 1-2PM at 6-8 knots. The breeze usually builds to 10-13 knots, backing left by late afternoon. Air temps around 80 degrees and strong sun have you begging for a refreshing wave in the face! Huge advancements during training in our trim had us going high and fast, able to hold lanes and sail off the hips of leeward boats. We posted a 14, 4, 4, 8, 9, 10 in the qualifiers to enter the Gold fleet in 15 th place overall. Our boat speed finally felt like it had in Miami in January. Our starts are still shaky and this will be a focus area for Pre Worlds training.
Final Series:
On the first day of finals racing, the fleet was chased back to shore by an ugly squall just before the first race. After enjoying some Tzatziki for lunch ashore, the fleet launched again for early evening racing. In the aftermath of the storm, the wind was very unsettled from a strange direction. We saw numbers on the compass upwind we usually see on the runs and puffs were random as the wind gradually shut down during the first race. To make matters worse, we were yellow flagged by the jury downwind for pumping the sails. A 720 later, we finished in 21 st, our drop race. We bounced back to score a 9 in the next race, but fell to #16 overall after the day’s events. With one day of finals racing left, we had some distance to make up in order to make medal race.
The race committee was determined to get three races in on the last day of fleet racing. The sea breeze was in, the waves were up and, luckily for us, the pumping flag was flying! With 10-13 knots, it was the best day of racing we’d seen. Consistency was the secret of the day. We scored a 13, 5, 9 on the day, which was nothing stellar. Looking at the boats around us in the standings, most had a very inconsistent day and scores were bouncing everywhere. Our efforts were just enough to pump us to 10 th place and a spot in the medal race!
Medal Race:
Only the top 10 boats, scores count double, cannot be dropped. Entering in 10 th place means you’ve got nothing to lose- it’s all upside- and we took full advantage! Off the start and away from the crowd, we were able to take a nice, clean lane to the left side of the course. Thanks to the swarming media, spectator and jury boats zooming around the course area, sailing in packs was slow. We decided to go straighter with our mast to give us more punch in the mainsail through the chop. We rounded the first windward mark of the three-lap windward/leeward course in 3 rd place. Positions were tight and boat speed downwind allowed us to break away. We were second by the leeward gate only to the Australians, with Japan close behind. Upwind we saw a puff on the left while Japan went right, a move that put us solidly ahead. There was so much chop we were actually able to surf and pump the rig upwind! We found a great mode, rounded the next windward mark in first and never looked back. We got a big horn as we crossed the finish line and looked at the rest of the fleet to assess our chances of moving up. The win was enough to get us SIXTH overall, a huge leap from entering 10 th!
Largely, we are very happy with a sixth place finish at a Europeans. However, we could not help but wonder….. if our 14 in qualifiers had been a 10, our 21 in the finals had been a top 15….We are knocking of the door of the top 5 which is very exciting!
We now have 10 days off at home before departing for Cascais, Portugal for the ISAF Combined World Championships.
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-Team Go Sail Places 15 at Princess Sofia Trophy, Spain
-Semaine Olimpique at Hyeres, France up next!
Palma de Mallorca, Spain plays host to the Trofeo Princesa Sofia each year. 1500 Olympic Class sailors usually enjoy the spectacular conditions on the Bay of Palma with warm, sunny conditions and great afternoon sea breezes. Unfortunately this year we were not so lucky. The race committee struggled to complete 7 races over six days. Light, fluky winds dictated most of the racing with cold temps, lots of rain and even a hail storm! We clawed our way to a fifteenth place finish after a very slow start and even had a chance to make the medal race….until the final day of racing was cancelled. For more of the racing details, please read on.
Day #1, April 1, 2007
April Fools!! 270 470’s launched with the usual first day jitters. After two attempted starts in the men’s fleet and 8 hours of floating, racing for the day was cancelled around 5:30pm
Day #2
After waiting almost 2 hours on the water for three men’s fleets and two women’s fleets to start we finally got our first race off in a light and shifty breeze. We had trouble getting out of the blocks in the first race and missed a huge 40 degree shift on the first beat, leaving us 24 across the finish line. We botched the second start as well but sailed smart and fast to a 7. With a split women’s fleet, our numbers were not too flash. After two races we were back in 32 overall---we had some work to do!
Day #3
Finally some breeze! The race committee was determined to use the first good conditions to rip out three races. 14-18 knots off the land was shifty but at least the trapeze wires were getting a workout. Our starting woes continued for two out of the three races of the day…however, we did manage one magic start. We held a great lane exactly where we wanted to go with speed. We rounded the top mark in the top 5 and picked off two boats downwind for a 3 in the race. We had a 16, 3, 13 on the day and moved to 24 overall.
Day #4
The qualifying series ended after yesterday’s racing so the 68 boat women’s fleet was now split into a Gold and Silver fleets with 34 boats in each. After waiting over two hours for the men’s fleets to get off, we finally started our first Gold fleet race with very light wind. We got out of the blocks well and made a decision to work left for better pressure. Wrong decision as the wind veered right. We rounded the windward mark in about mid fleet but showed a little flash downwind to work back a bit. We finished in 14 as the sea breeze attempted to build for the second race. We had our best start of the regatta and great speed off the line. In much more typical Palma conditions, there were small oscillations to play upwind and waves to ride downwind. We were solid with a 4, moving us to 15 overall. In just 5 races we moved from 32 to 15 overall, 7 points out of the top ten. We were shocked that the race committee sent us in after just two races and probably the best conditions of the regatta. They cited that the forecast for tomorrow was good so “no need to cram now”. If they only knew...
Day #5
Cold, raining, and no wind for 7 hours of waiting on the water. We even endured a hail storm. Sailors were coming up with very creative ways to stay warm. $500 spinnakers posing as tents! We never got a chance to make those 7 little points happen as racing was canned at 5 pm.
7 races in 6 days was a little frustrating but we took some very good lessons away from the regatta. We need to make starts a priority and will keep plugging away in this area. Once off the line we are making good decisions and our speed is very good. Things looked grim after two races, but we kept our heads on and ground back to a respectable position. Although we are a bit disappointed with our finish, we thought of something refreshing: Two years ago, we would have been happy to finish 15 out of 68 at the Princess Sofia. The performance bar is rising each day and it’s very exciting. On April 16 we head to Hyeres, France for a few days of training followed by the Semaine Olimpique Francais, an ISAF Grade 1 event.
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-Team Go Sail Places Second at Cascais International Regatta in Portugal!
-Sixth Place at Abeam Cup- Sajima, Japan!
-Princess Sofia Trophy up next in Spain
The 2007 international circuit officially kicked off with our trip over many seas during the past 4 weeks. We departed the USA on February 27 for Sajima, Japan for the Abeam Cup Women’s 470 Invitational. Top teams from 8 countries were invited to race with the very strong Japanese Women’s National Team. We placed sixth overall and third amongst foreign competitors. More of the race details below!
From Japan, we flew straight to Cascais, Portugal for a training session followed by the Cascais International Regatta. This was a great chance to get the lay-of-the-land, as the 2007 World Championships are this July at the same venue. We placed second in the women’s fleet at 10th overall in the combined men’s/women’s fleet. For more of the action, please read on.
Japan:
Photograph: FICC/Nao Kumagai
The Abeam Cup is a truly unique regatta that is as much fun as it is competitive. 8 international teams are invited by the organizers to sail against the Japanese women for the week. All boats, masts, rigging, spinnakers (and sushi) were provided by the regatta so it is also a chance to test some different equipment. We saw a variety of conditions ranging from 4 knots in a sloppy sea swell and lots of current to 65 knots and 10foot waves as a Spring storm pushed through.
Photograph: FICC/Nao Kumagai
Most of the race days were light and frustrating, excellent practice for conditions in Qingdao, China! We focused mainly on tactics, as boat speed in the borrowed boats was a challenge for everyone. The Japanese teams ruled the event and reinforced the depth of their National program. This was also a great chance to form a bond with the Japanese teams as their women placed second and fifth overall at the 2006 World Championships! We now have a new, very fast group of training partners at upcoming events.
The adjustment from Japan to Portugal was a little demanding but we were eager to get back in our own boat and on the water! We had a new boat, new mast and new boom all sailing together for the first time so our focus was to work out all the kinks as quickly as possible. Most of the training period was under 10 knots with steady breeze. However, the “wow” factor was the plus 15foot sea swell rolling in from the Northwest (opposite the breeze) at around 30mph. It was an interesting phenomenon trying to sail in these swells: at the crest we were completely overpowered and flat out while the boat was starving for power in the troughs. US Coach Skip Whyte worked hard with us to develop our tacks in these conditions.
As soon as the racing started, the swells diminished and the sea breeze came it. We had two days of racing in 15-18 knots and great waves---perfect conditions and downwind was a treat! We tested a new jib design throughout the racing and overall speed was good. The final day of racing was absolutely epic. The first race started in 25 knots and built to 30 by the end of the race. The wind blew straight off the land so there were mega headers and lifts all around the course. By the start of the second race there were puffs above 35, but the race committee didn’t even blink! We congratulated ourselves for staying upright on the first run and had a great race going…..until we were blown over by a huge header sailing upwind. Righting the boat was a chore but we wrestled her up and kept right on going. Only 15 out of 26 boats we were able to finish the race as the course was littered with turtled boats, broken parts and ripped kites. The Austrian women sailed a whole beat with a severed top triangle of their spinnaker dangling from the top of their mast! Of course there were sailors stories galore when we all returned to the harbor. Overall, the sailing conditions in Cascais are incredible and we are very excited about going back for the Worlds this July!
We have 6 rest days at home before heading back to Europe for the Trofeo Princess Sofia in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Stay tuned!
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- Team Go Sail 3rd Overall at 2007 Rolex Miami OCR
- Ranked #1 on 2007 US Sailing Team!
- View Medal Race video report by Gary Jobson www.jobsonsailing.com
Racing at the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta concluded Saturday, January 27th. This was our second ISAF Grade 1 regatta of 2007 and already our second bronze medal of the year. The OCR was also the final of three ranking events to determine the 2007 US Sailing Team. We swept the series, earning the #1 spot for the third year in a row, an accomplishment we are very proud of! and we are very excited to report back with another podium finish!
Overall, January was a great month for us:3rd Place at the 470 North Americans (ISAF Grade C-1 event)
3rd Place at the Rolex Miami OCR (ISAF Grade 1 event)
#1 Ranking on the US Sailing Team 2007
Qualified to represent USA at the Pre Olympics- Qingdao, China 2007
The points were very tight entering the final Medal Race of OCR, which features only the top 10 boats. Points count double and cannot be dropped. Entering the race in 4th. We wanted to attack 3rd place, but not lose sight of 5th and 6th. Tricky dynamics made more complicated by the racecourse, which was set up right under Virginia Key, overwhelming motor boat chop and 5-6 knots with 30+ degree shifts.
photo: GTS Photos
We lost our lane off the start and immediately tacked to port to work right. There were several large shifts up the beat and the 10-boat fleet rounded the top mark in a tight pack We were stuck near the back, but had good wheels downwind. We had a brilliant gate rounding around the starboard side, which popped us to 2nd. Most of the fleet got tangled and rounded the other side, working left. In clear air, we saw pressure on the right and kept our lane going out on port. We tacked over to head back in a nice right puff and it was an almost rock star moment. Almost. Then things changed. The fleet got a 35 degree lefty with great pressure. We were strung out to dry and it was ugly!
But all was not lost. We had the 3rd place boat in the regatta under us. We decided to hold a loose cover, hoping the points would work out in the overall standings. This proved to be our smartest move of the regatta. We finished in 9th for the race, keeping our main competition in 10th. We ended the regatta with 73 points each, but the medal race was the tie breaker! After 12 fleet races and the medal race, there were 4 boats within 2 points of each other, tie breakers determining places 3-6! Close call and we are thrilled with another 3rd place finish.
Up Next: Abeam Cup, March 1-8 Sajima, JapanThanks to our sponsors: Snapper Rock, Native Eyewear, Atlas Gloves, The Pirates Lair, KINeSYS Sunscreen, GTS Photos. Thank you coach Skip Whyte for helpful advice throughout the regatta and Team 1734's Jeff Cumming for excellent on the water support.
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-Team Go Sail Places 3rd Overall at 2007 North American Championships
-First North American!
-Rolex Miami OCR up next: January 22-27, 2007
Happy New Year! After training for three weeks in December, we kicked 2007 off with the ISAF Grade C-1 North American Championships this weekend in Miami. The star-studded fleet featured the top 5 boats in the World, a reigning repeat world champ, and reigning European champ. We are happy to report we finished 3rd overall and 1st North American finisher. For more details, please read on...
Day #1: Races 1-3; Finishes: 3, 9, 6
Things are always a little jittery on the first day of racing. We had a solid first race, keeping pace with the “big girls” in 17-18 knots of Easterly Biscayne Bay breeze. Staying in phase with the 7-10 degree shifts was the secret to the day. In the second race, we got caught severely out of phase and couldn’t find the pattern, resulting in a 9th (eventually our drop race). We concentrated on the compass for the final race of the day, had a clean start and finished a solid 6th. After three races we were in 5th overall and determined to come back stronger on day 2!
Day #2: Races 4-6; Finishes: 1, 3, 1—Winners of the day!!!
The Easterly pressure gradient produced another spectacular day of racing with 14-18 knots. We arrived at the race course an hour early to get a firm grasp on the compass numbers as we felt hitting the shifts was the key to more consistent finishes. We knew our settings from the previous day were spot-on and speed was on par with the top girls. After the first start we lost our lane and were forced right early, often a bad way to start a race. Luckily we saw a right shift coming down the course so we put the bow down towards it and nailed the puff perfectly. We lead around the top mark and never looked back. For race 2 we chose a favored pin end start, fought off a leeward boat to hold our lane to the left side of the course and worked with the top 5 boats up the beat. The lead flopped a few times in some very close racing and we battled a tight final reach to finish 3rd. In the final race of the day, it was all downwind speed. We rounded the windward mark in 6th place and set the kite downwind. The 1.2 mile leg went something like this: Pump, Pump, PUMP, take it low, Pump, heat it back up, Pump, Pump, PUMP, low, Pump, heat it up...
Amanda: It’s going to be a gybe, pole down, douse.Sarah: Sounds good, let’s hit this lay line.
Amanda: Ready to gybe!
Sarah: Hey, where did all the other boats go??
Amanda: I think we passed them about half a mile ago.
Sarah: Sweet!
And that was that—we loosely covered the fleet for the remainder of the race and held the World Champion Dutch off on the final reach for our second bullet of the day. Day 3: Races 7 & 8; Finishes 2, 8
The same gradient produced more of the same conditions and our hands were starting to feel a little sore. We thought the wind might drop off a little so we decided to drop the rake only ½ a pin. Halfway up the beat we realized this was a poor decision as we were a bit overpowered by an 18-knot puff! But tactics were more important, especially on the outer loop of the trapezoid, which was closer to land. The Dutch had superior speed and blazed to first. We battled the best of the rest this race and were happy to score a second.
Finally down that extra pin, race 8 proved tricky. We saw more pressure on the right off the starting line. We took a good number on port tack to the right side and things looked good... until we tacked back to the middle and saw the top of the fleet roaring off the left side in a huge lift. Watching them cross the bow was painful but we knew we could use our downwind speed to make up some of the loss. We picked up 3 boats downwind to round the bottom mark in 6th and passed one more upwind playing shifts well. We were all set to finish 5th in race until we ran into some trouble on the final reach. In an attempt to pass a German boat, we rolled over 100 yards from the finish line and got passed by three boats. We got going again quickly but the damage was done. We completed the first 8 races tied for third place overall with the Dutch, 4 points out of 2nd, 6 points out of 1st.
Day #4 was a non-event. Passing rain squalls prevented any consistent breeze from filling. A heroic race committee held us floating for 4 hours in a drizzle while the wind covered 180 degrees. At 2PM racing was abandoned and the regatta ended. We won the tie-breaker for third thanks to our two bullets on day 2, earning a podium finish in a very tough fleet.
We will spend the week training in Miami and repairing a few minor pieces on the boat. The ISAF Grade 1 Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta begins on Saturday, January 22nd and we want to be rested and fresh. Stay tuned for more results!
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Team GO SAIL WINS US OLYMPIC PRE TRIALS
Greetings from Long Beach, California, site of the Olympic Trials for Beijing, 2008. One year prior to the actual Olympic Trials, US Sailing hosts the Pre Trials as a test event. This gives the sailors a chance to practice and compete on the same waters at the same time of year. The Pre Trials also serves as the first of three ranking events to determine the 2007 US Sailing Team. We treated the event very seriously to give us practice for the real deal next year. After 10 hard fought races we finished 1st in the women's fleet, 1st US Women and 2nd overall in the mixed men's/women's fleet. For more details, please read on. For complete Results and Photos: http://www.ussclb.org/
We arrived at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club on October 19th to begin training. The Trials are hosted by ABYC and the US Sailing Center at Long Beach. During our training week we saw fantastic conditions ranging from 10 to17 knots of sea breeze, great waves, sun and warm temps. We focused hard on boat speed and upwind technique, specifically, keeping the boat dead flat through the wavy conditions. Thanks to our training partners from the Czech Republic, we felt confident in our speed going into the competition.
As sailing sometimes goes, we were not so blessed with racing conditions for the regatta. The Santa Ana winds coming from the desert inland fights the sea breeze just off the coast. The sea breeze always wins out but is slow to fill, weak and unsettled. The result: 2-6 knots with sloppy chop, ground swell and 20 degree shifts. Add the weekend motorboat traffic to the mix and you've got yourself some challenging conditions. To top it off, the Race Committee was under pressure to fire the races off in these conditions in an effort to mimic what we'll see in Qingdao for the Olympics.
10 races scheduled over 4 days meant long days on the water. We got off to a slow start on the first day with a 4, OCS, 6, leaving us in 8th place after day 1. We picked things up on day 2 by sailing a little smarter, more relaxed and staying on the correct side of the starting line and posted a 3, 1, 2. The drop was figured in which bumped us to a tie for first in the women's division and second overall.
Day 3 proved to be an agonizing affair. A 15-knot sea breeze was predicted and we were excited to move a little faster around the track. Glassy conditions persisted until after 1PM when a weak SE breeze filled at no more than 5 knots. We had a solid start and good speed up the first beat. We rounded the top mark in a tight pack with the top 3 boats. Alas, the wind started to die. The fleet condensed down the run and final reach with multiple position and lead changes. We were caught in a hole and fell to 5th place by the line. The fleet barely made the time limit of 90 minutes as the winner drifted across the line in 89 mins 30 seconds! After an hour and half of racing the top 5 boats all finished within 30 seconds of each other. Showing a little mercy, the RC decided enough was enough and sent us in for the day after only one race.
Clark & Mergenthaler winning Race 9 of the US Olympic Pre trials
Day 4: three races left to sail, we were in 2nd in the women's fleet trailing the 1st place boat by 3 points. Simply covering whom we needed to beat would not be enough- we had to put some boats between us. A little nervous in the first race of the day we rolled a 4th. The 4th place was good enough to gain us 1 point on our nearest competitor… now we were only 2 points out of the winning slot. Time and races were running out. The breeze was shifting all day but finally starting to build for the second race. As we learned in training, the breeze was filling to the right and looked more stable on the right side of the course. We hit the shift perfectly and lead the fleet around the rest of the course to post a 1st in race #9! We were now leading the women's fleet in the standings and just needed to stay ahead of the 2nd and 3rd place women in the final race to ensure a victory. The last race became interesting when we sailed to the wrong windward mark and had to set the spinnaker upwind to make the real windward mark (we were sailing to the "big boy's" mark where the 70 footers were racing off shore!). The good news is that both boats we needed to beat were caught in the same position as we held our cover. We all sailed ourselves to the back of the fleet but we just needed to stay ahead of the 2nd place boat. We were able to fend downwind and cross the finish in 7th place, enough to guarantee 1st in the women's fleet and 2nd overall in the mixed fleet!
A HUGE THANKS to the Bell family for housing us during the event! Thank you also to Mills Sails for our new mast covers, our Czech training partners, SnapperRock, Native Eyewear, Atlas Gloves, KINeSYS Performance Sunscreen, The Pirates Lair.
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-Team Go Sail wins race #9 at Worlds!
-11th Place at 470 World Champioships
Yesterday was the final day of racing for the 2006 World Championships in Rizhao, China. Our 11th place finish was our best ever at a Worlds and proves we are one of the top teams across international competition.
A major highlight for the regatta was winning race #9! We decided to move our mast butt and spreaders aft to maximize speed in the light winds and flat water. We knew the right side of the course was heavily favored thanks to 5 boat lengths of current per minute sweeping across the course. We got a great start at the boat and were one of the first to tack to port, easily leading the fleet. We decided to make the race interesting by hitting the windward mark. During our 360-degree penalty turn, the Danish and Japanese teams passed us downwind. There was almost a major freak-out moment on board USA 1736, but we saw a nice puff down the right side of the run and split from the fleet. When we worked back to the middle of the course, we’d regained the lead. It’s always a rush to cross the finish line in first at a World Championship…. We’ve attached a picture of our victory!
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After 10 races we were sitting in 8th overall and looking good to qualify for the medal race. During races 11 & 12, we had some problems with our speed and getting off the starting line and perhaps a little bit of nerves. We rolled a 16, 17 for the day and missed a spot in the top 10 by a mere 3 points. It was a crushing blow as we felt like we let the medal race slip through our fingertips. The final day of the regatta was a one-race day. We decided to put our frustration and disappointment aside in order to have a great last race. We were first to launch and the conditions were a beautiful 10-12 knots. We fine-tuned our set-up after struggling for speed the previous day. We raced to a 6th place finish, edging out a feisty Ukraine team on the final reach and held on for 11th overall.
Overall, this was a great event for us. We’ve come a long way since the Worlds last year in San Francisco and this was a much tougher fleet. Our 5 weeks in China draw to a close tomorrow when we fly back to the U.S. The boats are loaded into containers and on their way to Long Beach, CA for the Olympic Pre-Trials in October.
Thanks to US Team coach Skip Whyte, Mikee Anderson-Mitterling, Dave Hughes, Native Eyewear, KINeSYS Sunscreen, Atlas Gloves, The Pirates Lair.
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470 World Championship Rizhao, China: Team GO SAIL in 8th place midway through regatta
-Team GO Sail qualifies for GOLD FLEET
With six races completed, we are in 8th place over all and tied for 7th place. The Gold fleet has been decided taking the top 30 women of the 60 boat women’s fleet.
Day one: Everyone sailed out an hour before the first start, excited to be using the trapeze wires which come with the 470 (but we were considering taking off due to lack of wind in all our recent regattas.) About 10 minutes to go to the start the committee put up the postponement flag. Everyone was not sure why they did it, until we were informed by our coach that they had set the course too close to the fishing nets that ran in long lines perpendicular to the current, making the entire left side of the race course unusable.
We trekked over with the race committee across the bay to set up again in hopes of getting a start off. Ha! Because we moved closer to shore, the wind was shifting 30 to 40 degrees every 10 minutes, making the weather mark and race course very hard to set. 2 hours later (now totaling 4 hours) of sailing around in perfectly good wind we got a race started. And what a start it was! We won the pin end, and looked great going up the first beat. With the course so close to shore it was hard to keep tabs on everyone and a few boats sneaked by us giving us a 5th place rounding at the weather mark. We finished in 2nd place making a three boat pass down the last run of the race. Race 2 was a solid race for us, we finished 10th giving us 8th for the day, a great start to the regatta.
Day two: A three race day, we carried a 4-5-5 for the day and moved into 5th place overall. We had great starts, solid speed and great decision making.
Day three: Today was a one race day with lots of action. Sarah made the highlights clip for the race with an amazing display of acrobatics from the wire. After getting dropped in the water on the first reach she managed to stay on the wire, keeping the spinnaker full, swing forward out of the water to land right back where she was standing! 45 Degree shifts made the racing interesting. We had a bit of trouble committing to a side and fell victim to the black hole in the middle of the race course. We finished a hard fought 13th in the race. Not stellar but certainly keeps us in the hunt in the overall standings.
Tomorrow the finals start. We have 7 races left to sail over the next 4 days. We are 4 points out of 5th place and we are 14 points out of first. Its is anyone’s game!
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-16th Place at Pre Olympic Test Event
-470 World Championships up next: Rizhao, China
The 2006 Pre Olympic Test Event ended on a somewhat frustrating note for us. The last three races featured conditions ranging from drifting in current stronger than the wind could move us all the way up to an overpowering 20-25 knots in 5-8 foot seas.
We had a great shot of making the top 10 and the infamous medal race going into the final race of the series. All we needed was an 8th or better. The rain fell, the breeze picked up and we were confident. Upon exiting the harbor we witnessed a miracle in the Qingdao conditions: real, actual white caps! Thanks to a low-pressure system moving over the race area, the breeze built to 20 knots for the start of the race. Several boats were flipped in the starting area, victims of the increasingly hairy conditions. The current was running directly into the wind, thumping up 5-8 foot waves. We decided they might need to rename this place “Qing-Wow”!
A clean start, nice speed up the beat and keeping sight of the first mark through the rain, fog and waves got us to the windward mark in about 7th. We set the kite for a wild ride downwind and jumped into half wild mode to keep us planing up and over the giant waves. The conditions were unforgiving for even a fraction of a mistake…. Half way down the leg, we caught a funny wave and the boat rolled over before we could react. Luckily nothing broke but it took some time to right the boat. We caught a few boats to finish 19th in the race; certainly not what we were looking for.
The conditions in Qingdao are trying and require much patience. Overall, we learned a great deal about the Olympic venue and the city of Qingdao. This is why they call it a “test event.” Today we are on the road moving to the location for the 470 World Championships in Rizhao, China, roughly 3 hours south of Qingdao. From what we’ve heard, there is more wind, less current and overall better sailing. Racing begins on September 7. We are looking forward to a great competition and another chance to test our skills!
Thanks to our coach, Skip Whyte, US Sailing Olympic Coordinator- Katie Kelly, Meteorologist Jennifer Lilly, Native Eyewear, Atlas Gloves and the Pirates Lair for helping us with this event!
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