We have just finished up the sixth stop on the World Cup Tour in Weymouth England, at Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta. We were seeded into Group A for the first two days of racing. After being over early in the first race we regrouped and finished 5-2, meaning we were second in our group and qualified for the Gold Round.
On day three, our course was moved inside the breakwall where it was windier with more waves. We only managed to do two of the three scheduled races due to boats breaking. We won our two races and called it a day. Day four we sailed the remaining three races of Gold and won them all. Winning the round with an undefeated record of 5-0.
Day five was a long day. We left the dock at 9am and came in around 5:30pm. First up were the quarterfinals. We were seeded against Silja Lehtinen from Finland. The day began with a lighter and shiftier breeze. In the first race, the Finnish started right to windward of us near the pin. We were in a pretty large left shift so when we matched her tack it was the long tack and we struggled to hold. She rounded ahead, we caught up but it wasn’t enough to pass her. We adjusted our strategy a little after that and made sure we were using our fleet racing skills as well as our match racing skills. We won the next three races by starting well and sailing the shifts.
In the semi finals we faced Lucy Macgregor and her British team. The breeze picked up and the breeze was not as shifty as it was earlier. Lucy and her team did a great job of timing their starts, which meant we were either too early or too late. In the first race, we got two penalties at the leeward mark for not giving her enough room and hitting her. In the second race, we had a good start and were able to stay ahead the whole race. In the third race, Lucy had a penalty. She completed her penalty at the final windward mark forcing us to gybe right after rounding. About half way down the leg we got a little close and the back of our main touched their spinnaker and since we were the windward boat we got a penalty. So we were locked in to windward of her with a penalty on the final leg. We tried to create some space to gybe but it wasn’t enough and during our gybe our spinnaker hit them, giving us a second penalty. In the fourth race, she controlled us very well in the prestart and we got a penalty for not keeping clear. She led us off the line and was able to stay ahead. We lost the series 1-3. After talking about it, we realized that during this series we were not as conservative as we normally are, and it showed with all the penalties we received.
In the petit finals we sailed Claire Leroy from France. We improved our timing on the starts and lead off the line. It was light and shifty and Claire was able to catch up by playing the right side of the course. We got within 2 lengths at the leeward mark and she lead back to the right side. We extended to the left and got a shift that put us right back in the race. We were able to stay ahead of her and finish ahead. In the second race, we had a split start with Claire headed out to the left side. We tacked to stay with her and played the shifts from there and won the race and the series.
We are happy with our 3rd place and look forward to going back to Weymouth at the end of July for the Test Event. We would like to thank the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics and our coach for the event Dave Dellenbaugh for all their support.
