August 3, 2009

Tokyo, Japan

Yesterday was the final day of racing at the 2009 Radial World Championships held in Karatsu, Japan. it was a week of increasing wind, waves, and tight competition. I sailed a pretty good event and came away with the Bronze medal. Winning the event was Sari Mutala from Finland and silver went to France's Sophie de Turckheim.

The event started with lighter winds ranging from 8-12kts and the fleet split into two groups. There were mixed results at the begining of the event, but as the wind picked up, the front runners came to the front more consitently. we had three days of qualifying races (6 races) and three days of finals races (another 6 races). I was in second place for most of the event with the leaders rotating around me. I sailed a very consitent qualifying series with my worst race being a 6th, and then had two second places, a fourth, 10th, 11th, and a 15th in the finals. The scoring for a Laser Worlds allows for two drops after 10 races, however only one drop is allowed from the finals series, which unfortunately for me meant that i could only drop a 6th as one of my races.

The racing was simple although very physical. if you got a good start, you tacked when you could, headed to the right corner in your lane, tacked on layline and hiked hard into the mark. Although this sounds simple, it was a lot of work. On day two of the event, the swell picked up to be quite large, and you were sailing into it on starboard tack and sideways to it on port tack. Port tack was hard, because it was just after the start and you had to hike hard to hold your lane and get punched on the fleet. Just as you started to feel comfortable in your position, it was time to tack and battle the swell that wanted to push you off layline. But it was great racing, and a great workout...just what laser sailing should be.

Yesterdays racing was in 15-18kts, and Sari wrapped up the win with a race to spare. The last race came down to a battle between Sophie, Me and The Netherlands Marit Boumeister for second and third place. Sophie had a three point lead on me and I had a five point lead on Marit. I knew that i had to finish top five in the race to wrap up the bronze but would try my hardest to put boats between me and Sophie. After a great start and having Sophie in my window on port tack, i tacked just shy of the layline thinking i would lead the pack up to the mark gaining on any small lefties we would get. Unfortunately, the righties were bigger and the boats inside got more of a gain than those just to leeward. I ended up loosing Sophie as she put her bow down and rolled over the top of me as i pointed to get around the mark. I still rounded in the top six and knew that although it would be tough, i could still possibly catch her. I didn't loose any distance on her the entire race, but she was hiking hard and held me off to the finish to claim the silver medal. Marit was charging behind me too and finished the only one position behind me.

The conditions were much windier than I was expecting, but i'm very happy that i could hang with the taller girls in the breeze despite my lack of training in it.

Now, its on to some match racing! I am very much looking forward to taking a short break from the Radial and diving into the match racing for a couple months, with my next regatta being the open grade 2 Knickerbocker Cup event in New York.

I would like to thank my sponsor Carmeuse for their continued support of my campaign for the 2012 Olympics in London. I would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics for their support.

Sail Hard,

Anna