September 30, 2011
Annapolis, MD
Racing started just after 9:30am in a nice 6kt breeze at the 2011 Santa Maria Cup. However, the 6kts was short lived as the wind died to nothing just as the second set of flights of the day ended. It wasn't until around 3:45pm that the wind began to increase again from almost 180 degrees to what it was before. And it continued to build to a nice 12kts for the final two flights of the day. We had a good day and won our quarterfinal 3-1 over Silva (ARG) and are now 1-0 in the semi finals against Dellenbaugh (USA).
Annapolis, MD
Racing started just after 9:30am in a nice 6kt breeze at the 2011 Santa Maria Cup. However, the 6kts was short lived as the wind died to nothing just as the second set of flights of the day ended. It wasn't until around 3:45pm that the wind began to increase again from almost 180 degrees to what it was before. And it continued to build to a nice 12kts for the final two flights of the day. We had a good day and won our quarterfinal 3-1 over Silva (ARG) and are now 1-0 in the semi finals against Dellenbaugh (USA).
Photo: (copyright) Walter Cooper 2011
We led our first race off the start line and slowly increased our lead around the course to take our quarterfinal score to 2-0.
In the next race, we called a switch on which end of the start line we wanted to start because of a shift that looked as though it had come in and settled. However, it ended up not being the right call and Silva got a 4 length lead over us immediately. We did a good job in the dying breeze to catch up and at the top mark expected them to do a particular move but they didn't. Instead, they set a great mark trap on us which ended up with us getting a penalty. We were now three lengths behind as we headed downwind, but we made a good call as to when to gybe and caught up to one length behind by the bottom mark. Up the second beat we were able to catch up and pass them which gave us an opportunity to try and force a penalty on them; in essence, to cancel out ours.
As we started the downwind leg, the wind died to about 3kts and the boats were going very slowly. We pushed the race all the way out to the right hand side of the course looking downwind, and then gybed to come back to the course. We were able to pull ahead enough to enable us to spin at them (in dial up mode). This caused them to dial up too. However, we had a little too much speed coming at them and we tacked through before we got them head to wind. It was initially OK becuase now we had just spun our penalty, but they had a slightly better set of their kite than us and were able to get going again faster and led us into the line by a length. It was close race and Team Silva did a good job at making it very difficult for us after we got the penalty and to put a point on the board in the series.
Then we sat for a very long time! The wind filled and died and filled and died. Eventually, the cold front got close enough and the wind started to fill from the north west and to fill fast. The race committee did a great job at setting up the course and getting our next flight of the quarterfinals underway. We were the only pair still racing at this point as the other matches had concluded their series 3-0. We started the race in a controlling position, taking an early lead and led the race to the finish to take the series 3-1 moving onto the semi-finals against Team Dellenbaugh.
We only got in one race for the semi's. We had a good start and forced the race early to the right corner of the upwind leg. We led into the top mark and were able to hold the lead at the bottom mark, extending the lead upwind after playing the small shifts well. Racing will continue tomorrow, the last day of competition, in the forecasted 15-25kts and cold temperatures. You can check out the results and follow 'live' updates at the regatta website: http://www.santamariacup.org/index.asp
Then we sat for a very long time! The wind filled and died and filled and died. Eventually, the cold front got close enough and the wind started to fill from the north west and to fill fast. The race committee did a great job at setting up the course and getting our next flight of the quarterfinals underway. We were the only pair still racing at this point as the other matches had concluded their series 3-0. We started the race in a controlling position, taking an early lead and led the race to the finish to take the series 3-1 moving onto the semi-finals against Team Dellenbaugh.
We only got in one race for the semi's. We had a good start and forced the race early to the right corner of the upwind leg. We led into the top mark and were able to hold the lead at the bottom mark, extending the lead upwind after playing the small shifts well. Racing will continue tomorrow, the last day of competition, in the forecasted 15-25kts and cold temperatures. You can check out the results and follow 'live' updates at the regatta website: http://www.santamariacup.org/index.asp
As always, Team Maclaren would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Sider for their continued support of the team's campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. Thank you also to US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. And a special big thank you to Boatyard Bar and Grill for their support of the team during this event. Also, thank you to all private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to their campaign should be made payable directly to either The Sailing Foundation of New York (tax deductible) memo'd Anna Tunnicliffe, or to Anna Tunnicliffe.
Sail Hard,
And as usual, don't forget, email us your questions and comments. We love getting them and sharing our love of sailing and women's match racing.
Anna: 4D's: "Dream,Desire,Dedication,Discipline"TM
Team Maclaren: 3P's: Passion...Performance...Perfection...TM
