The Princess Sofia Regatta started off with us seeded into the B group. We began sailing in the middle of the day on Monday with the breeze blowing from the East over 20 knots, gusting to 29. We sailed our three races and called it a day. We ended up winning our group with a record of 7-0 and moved onto the Gold Round Robin to determine seeding for the quarterfinals. In the Gold round, we struggled with our starts and ended up with a record of 1-4. We finished 5th in the Gold Round and were seeded against the British Team for the quarterfinals best of five series.
In the quarters, we managed to get our moneys worth and took it to five races. We really focused on improving on starts and our downwind strategy.
In the Semi Finals, we raced against our USSTAG teammates Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer, and Debbie Capozzi. The first team to win three races would advance to the Finals. The racing against them was tight and heated. Going into the fifth and final race, we had two wins and Team Tunnicliffe had two wins. In the final race, we rounded barely ahead on the last leg of the race course. We matched the other team gybe for gybe. Towards the finish we split off for the favored end and won the race, advancing into the finals.
In the finals we faced the Finnish team. Again the first team to win three races would win the entire Princess Sofia Regatta. We led the first race until halfway down the final leg. We gybed deep. When we came up, the Finnish team was advanced on us and rolled us into the finish line. After this disappointing start to the finals we regrouped. We knew that we were faster around the race course, so we rethought our strategy for the 2nd race. We led all the way around for the second and third races. In race four, we started at the boat on port to leeward of the Finnish. They maintained their lead until the final upwind leg. We changed our tacking a little and gained on the last third of the upwind leg. We were gaining on the Finnish team the entire time. We tacked and followed her around the mark onto the final leg of the race. We had a great set, matched her gybe, and rolled her. We were able to get clear ahead. When the Finnish team reestablished the overlap, they sailed us above our proper course and received a penalty from the umpires. We gybed away and finished at the pin, winning the event.
Next up we have a four day training camp in Weymouth, England. Then we travel to Hyeres, France for the next World Cup event.
We would like to thank the US Sailing team AlphaGraphics and our coach for the event, Dave Dellenbaugh, and coach from afar Dave Perry, for all their support.
