http://www.sailgroove.org/rss/recent-blogs http://c0179261.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/587902_PYY2XCQjOWzZj8qV16Em_m.jpg http://www.sailgroove.org/rss/recent-blogs en-us Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:18:08 GMT Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:18:08 GMT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40739-US-Sailings-2011-Rolex-Yachtswoman-Of-The-Year

January 11, 2012

Miami, FL


Team Maclaren received some great news today. Anna was awarded US Sailing’s 2011 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Yearaward. The announcement was made earlier today after a panel of journalists evaluated the resumes of all of the nominees. The team would also like to extend congratulations to the Rolex Yachtsman winner, Bill Hardesty.
 



Team Maclaren: Molly Vandemoer, Dave Dellenbaugh, Debbie Capozzi, Anna Tunnicliffe

Photo: (copyright) Dana Paxton/USSTAG 2011



 

"I am very honored to have won US Sailing’s 2011 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year award. It is a great aknowledgement of  Team Maclaren's success in 2011. Molly, Debbie, Dave and I worked incredibly hard to achieve our 2011 goals, and we are now focusing on our 2012 goal - winning a gold medal in Weymouth." 

The awards will be presented during a luncheon on February 22 at the St. Francis YC in San Francisco, CA.

In the meantime, Team Maclaren has started training again in Miami, FL, to get ready for the second stop of the ISAF Sailing World Cup, US Sailing’s 2012 Rolex Miami OCR Regatta. We are here training, in the mornings, with Team Audi Match Race and doing afternoon races with Team Mulder from the Netherlands. So far, the sailing has been beautiful, and productive, with both sunny days and lighter air, and cloudy skies, big winds and a nice chop. More and more teams are gradually showing up after taking a much needed break after the World Championships in Australia only 3 weeks ago. The first day back in the boat wasn't too bad fortunately, although now, a few days later, it feels much better. 

We are looking forward to the next couple of weeks of training as we start to work on our weaker areas, identified during the Worlds. We will write another blog before the regatta to let you know how practice and regatta preparation is going.

We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Siderfor their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,


Anna

Team Maclaren


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
]]> Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:29:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40739-US-Sailings-2011-Rolex-Yachtswoman-Of-The-Year http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40354-Im-Out An Airport On The Way Home

December 19th, 2011




Oh, a report from last Laser regatta. Oh yeah, the one I just did. Forgot about telling a final story of sailing in a boat I love but was a royal pain in the a** to sail well.

Leaving Perth

Photo: Anna Tunnicliffe 2011







I have had a love-hate relationship with the Laser. I have always needed to go fast in a sailboat and the Laser took the edge off that need, most of the time.


I was 'gyming' (going to the gym) to build muscle like a steroid freak, eating to the point where I couldn't sleep all through the night because I had to wake up and eat a bar or have a 1200 calorie shake, biking with so much discipline I didn't know if I spent more time looking at my power-tap (power meter) or where I was going; it was totally my life. The objective was to log something towards the campaign everyday, as my wife, Anna Tunnicliffe (2 time world sailor of the year), said to me about a year ago, and I've lived that way ever since. My mission: to go to the Olympic games as a serious player in a class in which, in the gold fleet at any World Cup event, all 50 guys could win a race!


So now that I got that off my chest I'm going to tell you what happened on the water the first two races in gold fleet, my day-off in the jury room for two different presentations of the same story and the outcome of the last day.


The first race was overcast with 12 to 14 knots of wind blowing parallel to land. It was a low pressure system with normal characteristics of instability - wind shifts up to 40 degrees and no consistent pattern. So it was a 'head-out-of-the-boat' day looking for pressure, not knowing if a lift was coming or a header. The pin-end of the line was super congested; I saw that as restricting my options so shifted up the line 20 boats.


Off the line, we went just as the next pressure hit. It was a 30 degree knock and everyone to leeward of me tacked but the 10 guys on my hip remained on starboard pinning me. I decided it wasn't worth tacking and ducking them quite yet because I figured they would all realize that we needed to go and eventually they did. I tacked into a tough lane but because of the huge lift I had to stay. Then on the other side of the course, the guys who started at the boat end of the line and tacked immediately to port, got a 30 degree righty and as they all tacked back, I found myself at the bottom of a pyramid after 2 minutes of sailing, saying to myself, "I have a lot of work to do!"


Hiking as hard as I could, my hiking strap started to rip apart. The stitching that holds the foam part, the bit you hike from, to the webbing, would rip every time I straight legged, making it harder and harder to hike because the foam moved aft in the boat leaving only the seat belt webbing top layer. My boots constantly rolled the webbing bit into a mini-sushi roll at the end of my toes, resulting in me having to stop hiking, unroll and re-adjust to high on my boot again. With the shifty conditions, it sucked massive donkey b**ls (made my life very difficult), having to tack 15 times on many big shifts. I really feel for the Volvo Round The World guys having to move sails on a busy squall day! Haha. Rounded in the 30's. On the second and third beats my hiking strap got worse but I fought hard not to lose any more spots.


Arthur helped me refuel, get up to the line and then taped the foam underbelly of the strap forward again with electrical tape. I started looking for the equipment boat but the foxtrot flag went up so got under way and had to deal with it.


Next up most of the fleet started at the boat, lining up for the next pressure which was middle right so I started just below the pack from the boat thinking to bank if the shift was a lefty and get into same pressure, but if a righty, would bank in next lefty. It was a 40 degree righty that stayed the whole first leg putting me in the 20's at top mark. Started to make my move downwind but on the second and third beats, the strap/tape job failed and the strap got worse. So now I had nothing to hike on but the middle, which was way too far back given the terrain/choppy conditions. It was not fast. A long hard battle to take home a 34 and 35.


When I got ashore I filed for redress for equipment failure. Got the run around town as to where the forms were and eventually managed to return for the hearing at 5. I had a full international jury consisting of judges from Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands and UK. They said that my form was in their hands 9 minutes late and as such, redress may not be valid. I brought in Jean-Luc, Chief Measurer for Lasers to give pertinent information that the hiking straps had had some problems before and that there was no notification to competitors that we could use our own straps. The jury ruled in favor of my redress - average points for three races, one from this day and the next two races to be sailed. (They said they could not give average of regatta because qualifying series was less competitive so that wouldn't work.) So I had to keep one of my scores for that day and hoped I could get great scores on last day to bring my average down.


Then in the morning of my day off, I got an email that the jury was reopening my case for some reason. I got word that Clay Johnson filed for redress saying that his strategies were changed now because of my redress. His case was quickly dismissed, but during his presentation he took the opportunity to say that I knew that we could change our hiking straps, which I did not. He further told them that Chris Dold, whose boat was next to mine had his strap changed while I was there. Dold attested that I was not present at that time. Mike Kalin said I was in the boat park but that didn't make me present when someone is working on their boat. It was unbelievable the depths the jury went to while interrogating everyone, the measurer and me included, about where I was and how hard it is to sail with a broken strap. Jury called only me in for the verdict; no new facts were found and the decision was left as it was so I went home to eat leaving Johnson there not knowing the verdict. I thought that was hilarious. He had brought me in there for no reason but then I got the last laugh about that. What a fiasco!


Into last day of racing and anything could still happen. The low pressure system was still lingering making the possibility for the strong sea breeze the Aussies call "The Doctor", nigh on impossible. It actually never really made it to the regatta at all which was unfortunate, as we had all trained for it. But anyways. Rob Crane had a few points on me and Johnson was at 40 points but that's not a lot in a strong 50-boat fleet. Arthur towed me out early along with Matt Wearn, the young Aussie kid otherwise know as Wormdog, to see if we could find some patterns in the very light developing sea breeze.


Everyone seemed a bit weary on the line not knowing how this one would pan out. Five to seven knots with random patchy wind made for tough racing for everyone to the point that the whole fleet got mixed up. The fleet started to spread out near the top where left side looked good and the right got pressure late. This made the reach leg very tight and evenly spread out the fleet on the downwind. My speed had been improving the whole event downwind and I climbed into the teens by the second weather mark. I played the left because the pressure was consistently visible over there. Passed a few more to mid teen finish. Johnson was close at the beginning but got caught in congestion. That sort of situation makes for very difficult sailing because there aren't the good passing lanes upwind and downwind and he finished around 40th. Crane had positioned well for the first beat and kept it together to win the race.


So it came down to the last race. Would it be Crane, Johnson, or me going to the Olympics? Not thinking of the end result, Arthur and I continued to observe the development of the wind, looking for patterns. I decided to start a quarter of the way up from the pin-end. Thought the group I was in was a bit close to the line and not wanting to be over, I held back a bit but then had a difficult time holding my lane off the line. Held for a bit until the other boats on my hip bailed out meaning I didn't have to duck a massive pack. (That's the worst.) Found myself clear soon after the start but in the middle of the course which previously had been a scary place to be (all shifts and pressure usually coming in from a side rather than down the middle). Got the tail end of the left pressure riding into the mark and then slightly stronger right pressure, putting me in 30's. Took stock and put some goals in mind for the race. Paul Goodison, Beijing gold medalist, was a few boats in front of me. Knew if I could just hang with him I would catch up some. Passed him on the run and some others. Had the perfect lane. Tom Slingsby was three boats ahead now. Just needed stay with him and would, for sure, catch up. Wind built to 13knots now. Hiked as hard as I could knowing this could well be the last Laser race of my career. Finished. A few behind Slingsby and closed to 17th, I believe.


I left nothing on the table and am holding my head high from how far I've come since January. It's been an honor to work with Arthur Brett. He is a wise man, who coaches with egoless eyes, has tremendous passion for sport, and has helped change and shape me as a person to be the fighter that I am now and the better sailor. Taking the grand-picture-of-life perspective is the best recipe for coping with the emotions of not making the Olympic spot. And being a veteran of the Olympic sailing life, it's now the journey of what I do with myself in the future that in the end matters, not the 'being compared to others'. They are all just parts of one's self floating in Mother Nature's soup of what we call sailing.


I am in a good place. Yes, I have waves of 'what if ...' but after writing all this, I'm moving on to bigger and better things like A-cat's, match racing my wife, big boats, moth sailing, and being happy with the sport I love! I'm out.




Photo: copyright Richard Langdon/OceanImage

 

 

 

Thank you to all my sponsors: Handy Storage, Zhik, Kaenon, Almaco, to you, my readers, and particularly my parents, for always supporting my Olympic dream and journey.



See you on the water,


Brad

www.FunkSailing.com

]]> Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:57:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40354-Im-Out http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40307-Team-Maclaren-2011-ISAF-Sailing-Womens-Match-Racing-World-Champions December 16, 2011
Fremantle, AUS

We Won!!  We won the 2011 ISAF Sailing Women's Match Racing World Championships this afternoon after defeating Team Macgregor, GBR.

 

Team Maclaren USA (centre), Team Macgregor GBR (left), Team Leroy FRA (right)

Photo: copyright Richard Langdon/OceamImages 2011




We had four very good and tight races that provided great spectating for the crowds. All the races were very close, but ultimately we came out on top all four races.

  The first two races came down to penalties that Team Macgregor got, either in the pre-start or on the race course.    (Photo: copyright Richard Langdon/OceamImages 2011) 

After the third start, Lucy had a couple of lengths lead that she extended on us. Up the second windward leg, we caught back up and rounded right behind her at the top mark. Downwind, as we sailed in very close quarters, we drew a penalty on her and won that race too. The fourth race was similar, only the positions were opposite. We had the great lead off the line, which she closed up on the second lap. Downwind, going for the finish, we sailed clean of penalties. Lucy got a puff and a surge of speed as we closed the line but we just managed to squeak ahead and the race ended with us crossing the line, literally, only inches in front of her.

 We are so excited to have won. This is Molly's and my first World Match Racing title, and Debbie's third. The girls did an amazing job around the course and put us in great places. (Photo: Dana Paxton/US Sailing)

Tomorrow we have to put the boats to bed in a shipping container before we head back to the USA for the holidays.

 In addition to our sponsors, we would like to thank, Rich, Nick, Liz, and Greg from Sail Sheboygan for all of their hard work with the fleet of Elliott 6m's this week.  Also to Terry Kohler for his donation of the fleet for this event. And thank you Perth for a wonderful event. And to Coach Dave Dellenbaugh.
 

We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Siderfor their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,


Anna

Team Maclaren


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

          
 

Top Left: Team Maclaren with Coach Dave Dellenbaugh (photo: Dana Paxton/US Sailing)

Top Right: Team Maclaren Leads Team Macgregor Towards The Finish Line (photo: Richard Langdon/OceanImages)

Bottom: Team Maclaren With Dean Brenner, USSTAG Team Leader (photo: Dana Paxton/US Sailing)
 ]]> Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:24:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40307-Team-Maclaren-2011-ISAF-Sailing-Womens-Match-Racing-World-Champions http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40287-A-1st-And-A-Mess
December 14, 2011

Fremantle, AUS



Day 3. A race counts if the PRO sees fit, even though the racers want to abandon the race!

 

Brad Is #055

Photo: copyright Mick Anderson/SAILINGPIX.DK

 


The reason I say this is because during our first race today, I had climbed to 15th by the first leward mark. But then 40 degree shifts began to materialise with very little visual on the water; at least not enough to give time to position for them so dropped to 23rd.



Arthur (coach) helped me to keep my composure and had me focus on my strengths. I realized that this next race may be one of the most important Laser races in my career, so I said, "I'm gonna have fun no matter what happens". Planned my first beat, using the last 2min before the gun to observe the fleet ahead which was showing a big up-angle on port, indicating left shift and pressure. Was fifth boat up from pin and nailed the start in 10 to 12kt. Second at top mark; maintained until second weather mark when I passed the Swede downwind and held him off on the third beat and last run. Felt good to win one; it's been a long time and everything just flowed. And what's funny is I told myself 30 seconds after the start, "I'm gonna f***in' win this race".



Into gold fleet; two races then a layday. G'night. Never give up; never surrender!


You can follow the sailing via the live blog and check on the results at the regatta website: Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships (http://www.perth2011.com/) (FYI: Perth, AUS is 13hrs ahead of EST in the States or UTC+8hr)


Thanks to all my sponsors: Handy Storage, Zhik, Kaenon, Almaco, to you, my readers, and particularly my parents, for always supporting my dream of being an Olympic medalist in the Laser.


If you are able to donate to my campaign and become an integral part of, and share in, my journey, donations/contributions would be very much appreciated. They should be made payable directly to either The Sailing Foundation of New York(tax deductible) memo'd Brad Funk, or to Brad Funk (please contact me directly). Thank you in anticipation.



See you on the water,


Brad

www.FunkSailing.com



]]> Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:08:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40287-A-1st-And-A-Mess http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40286-Eight-Hours-Three-Races-Into-The-Semi-Finals December 14, 2011
Fremantle, AUS

For most fleets racing today, the courses were very shifty and tricky, but the match racers got a great surprise. After a very long postponement, we were moved out of the river to sail in steadier winds. And steadier they were! relative to the inner harbor course on which we have been racing for the last week and a half. With the wind having more of a runway, the race committee could keep up with the 20-30 degree shifts over the normal-sized race course, and were able to get the races off very quickly. We were up against Team Souter, AUS, in today's quarterfinals and came out on top winning the series 3-0. 


  

Photo: copyright Paul Kane/Perth 2011
  

Our closest race with Nicky was the final race. We ended up with a penalty coming out of the dial up, so we knew that we had a lot of hard work ahead of us if we were to still win the race. We got off the line on the favoured side and led up the first beat. Halfway up, however, she wound inside of us and we had to tack and duck her (ie she had passed us). Eventually, as we drew near the top mark, we were able to get the lead back. Downwind, we sailed it just right and pinned her to the right of us, holding her past the leeward mark. This gave us enough room to spin our penalty but she just squeezed inside of us at the mark. We nailed a great rounding, rolled right into a tack, and then came back again on starboard, enabling us to force them to leebow us (tack under us) and then we held them out to the layline. We now had the lead and were able to extend into the first shift and puff downwind and went on to win the race and thus the series. Tomorrow we will race Team Skudina, RUS, in the semi-finals.

We are looking forward to racing again tomorrow. We are again on a different course, but one that is outside of the river.

You can check on the regatta website for results and a live blog: Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships (http://www.perth2011.com/) (FYI: Perth/Freemantle is 13hr ahead of EST in the States or UTC+8hr)

We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Siderfor their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,


Anna

Team Maclaren


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


]]> Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:17:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40286-Eight-Hours-Three-Races-Into-The-Semi-Finals http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40269-Had-A-Flashback-On-Day-2
Fremantle, AUS

December 13, 2011



Finally in bed. Hard day. Day 2 wrap-up - squirly wind and waves; finished with a 5th and a 9th.




Brad Is #55

Photo: copyright Mick Anderson/SAILINGPIX.DK





Cloudy and swirly 8 knots of wind was the order of the day for the first race. In the 30's at the top mark first time round. Conditions were such that I had a flashback to Tenerife, Spain and last month's training with Rasmus and Javier where they taught me how to surf in exactly the same waves that were presenting now. I let it flow and rounded 12th at the bottom. Shifty pressure up the next beat but 'head out of the boat' vision allowed me to climb to 8th then 3rd, settling at 5th and holding to the finish. I'm happy with the result and moving on to next race.


Started below Tom Slingsby, who is winning the regatta, and in my opinion is the fastest Laser sailor alive so far. In the 15 knots of wind, held my own on starboard, the lifted tack, until we got headed close to layline. I tacked first and rounded in 3rd. We had the outer loop. On the reach across, we extended from the fleet a bit and by the jibe mark, all top 5 were within 3 boat lengths of each other. Now somehow, all got pressure except me and they moved away from me down the run. I fought hard but on the third beat, I overheated and fell back to 9th.



Overall I'm very pleased with the day and recovering very well! Off to sleep. Never give up; never surrender!


You can follow the sailing via the live blog and check on the results at the regatta website: Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships 
(http://www.perth2011.com/) (FYI: Perth, AUS is 13hrs ahead of EST in the States or UTC+8hr)


Thanks to all my sponsors: Handy Storage, Zhik, Kaenon, Almaco, to you, my readers, and particularly my parents, for always supporting my dream of being an Olympic medalist in the Laser.



If you are able to donate to my campaign and become an integral part of, and share in, my journey, donations/contributions would be very much appreciated. They should be made payable directly to either The Sailing Foundation of New York(tax deductible) memo'd Brad Funk, or to Brad Funk (please contact me directly). Thank you in anticipation.



See you on the water,


Brad

www.FunkSailing.com



]]> Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:23:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40269-Had-A-Flashback-On-Day-2 http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40253-Day-1-Down-Under-At-The-Worlds
Fremantle AUS

December 12, 2011




It's been a while since my last report and yes I have been living and breathing Laser life since the Olympic test event! I'm at the Worlds in Perth, Australia and first day is down, finishing with a 6 and 33.




Photo: copyright John Payne 2011 (library)




It was not a typical day in Freo, as the locals call it, with storms and a different wind direction than the usual sea breeze. First race, I have a good start a quarter the way down from the boat and wind was consistent with the homework I had done before the start. This put me in 3rd at the top mark. Dicy pressure downwind put me back some boats but was able to hold a 6th all the way around the track.



Wind was predicted to swing right some and started to see the trend so positioned myself on the line for it but at a minute to go to the start, the wind shifted left 15 degrees and fleet just all tacked to port, now the favored tack upwind. It was a three lap race course and next two beats I tried to get a clean lane. However, I was in the 30's and found it hard to pass boats with all the chop and all the good lanes were taken. That's the game in the middle of the fleet, congested roundings whereas the front pack just leaves everyone; they have the smoother water and cleaner wind.



Looking forward to tomorrow. Lots of great, hard racing to do. Never give up; never surrender!



You can follow the sailing via the live blog and check on the results at the regatta website: Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships (http://www.perth2011.com/) (FYI: Perth, AUS is 13hrs ahead of EST in the States or UTC+8hr)



Thanks to all my sponsors: Handy Storage, Zhik, Kaenon, Almaco, to you, my readers, and particularly my parents, for always supporting my dream of being an Olympic medalist in the Laser.



If you are able to donate to my campaign and become an integral part of, and share in, my journey, donations/contributions would be very much appreciated. They should be made payable directly to either The Sailing Foundation of New York(tax deductible) memo'd Brad Funk, or to Brad Funk (please contact me directly). Thank you in anticipation.



See you on the water,


Brad

www.FunkSailing.com

]]> Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:50:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40253-Day-1-Down-Under-At-The-Worlds http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40249-Seeded-Second-In-The-Quarterfinals December 12, 2011
Fremantle, AUS

It was a short day of sailing today for the gold group round. We started the day with the 1-2, 3-4 seeding races. We were in the 1-2 seeding against Team Leroy from France. We had a a rough day losing the series 2-0 to take the #2 seed heading into the quarterfinals.


 

Photo: copyright Mick Anderson/SAILINGPIX.DK
 


The conditions were tricky, light and extremely shifty as showers moved around the area. We made a few mistakes that cost us the races. We were a little frustrated with our mistakes but learned valuable lessons from them heading into the quarterfinals.

The top four teams are waiting for the repecharge round to finish and the remaining four teams for the quarterfinals to be decided. We will end up racing the team that finishes third in the repecharge (ie 7th seed in the quarterfinals). The plan is for them to finish up tomorrow. Also tomorrow, the gold group will be allowed to practice in the river so we will also be ready for Wednesday's racing.

I will Tweet tomorrow which team we will be racing on Wednesday. You can check on the regatta website for results and a live blog: Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships (http://www.perth2011.com/) (FYI: Perth/Freemantle is 13hr ahead of EST in the States or UTC+8hr)

We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Siderfor their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,


Anna

Team Maclaren


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


 ]]> Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:29:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40249-Seeded-Second-In-The-Quarterfinals http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40210-Halfway-Through-Gold-Round December 9, 2011

Fremantle, AUS




Our original scheduled start time of 3:15pm was pushed back quite quickly today as the wind took its time to fill. Eventually, two hours later than planned, racing got underway for group B to finish their round robin and for us to start the first series in the gold round. By 5pm we were in the boats getting ready to race the second place finisher of group B which turned out to be Team Mulder from The Netherlands. We had a good series with them and managed to come out on top winning 2-1.

 


 

Photo: copyright Mark Dadswell/Getty Images AsiaPac
  

Our first race of the series went to them. We earned a penalty in the pre-start for not completing a tack. She had asked for room to tack at an obstruction and both boats crossed head to wind, but never completed the tack. Eventually she lost her bow and drifted into us, but because we were still a tacking boat and she was not on a tack, we earned a penalty. This ruling took us by surprise, and got us off our game a little. Off the line, she took the right side and we struggled to get around her on the left. She grew her lead and despite our efforts to catch up, we couldn't quite get there.




Race 2 went much smoother for us. We won the right side off the line and forced her to the left obstruction. From then on, we were able to pick our way around the course and grow our lead to win the race and tie the series 1-1.




The last race was a close race. She earned a penalty in the pre-start for a port-starboard incident, and we were able to pin her against the committee boat at the gun to gain a 4 length lead immediately. She did a great job of closing the gauge on the upwind leg to be about one length behind at the top mark. Downwind, we held her off and pinned her to the right of the leeward mark. She took the opportunity to spin her penalty turn, but in doing so she lost some distance and we legged out a couple of lengths on her. Again, the upwind was very tricky, but we were able to hold the lead at the top mark and despite a big push from her downwind, we maintained our position to win the series 2-1.



 



 

Channel 10 Recording Boat Preparation Before Leaving Harbor

Photo: Dana Paxton/US Sailing 2011




 

This win means we now race the winner of the other series, Team Leroy from France, for the 1,2 seeding spot going into the quarterfinals. At this time, we are not sure when we are racing again, but some time soon the race committee will fit in our series amongst the repecharge series; a 16-boat round robin to determine the other four quarterfinals' teams.

You can check on the regatta website for results and a live blog: Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships (http://www.perth2011.com/) (FYI: Perth/Freemantle is 13hr ahead of EST in the States or UTC+8hr)

We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Siderfor their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,


Anna

Team Maclaren


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
]]> Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:01:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40210-Halfway-Through-Gold-Round http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40199-Team-Maclaren-In-QuarterfinalsUS-Qualified-For-Olympics December 8, 2011
Fremantle, AUS

After a rough start to the day, dropping the first two races, we rallied back this afternoon with 5 wins to take our overall record to 11-3 and a win in the first round robin. The win in the round qualifies us for the quarterfinals. It also guarantees us a top eight finish in this regatta which means we have qualified the USA for the 2012 Olympic Games.



Photo by Paul Kane/Perth 2011 © Paul Kane

The racing all day was tough and tricky with the wind filling in down the river and around the buildings that line the docks' sides. It took us a while to find our groove upwind and we struggled to make the first crosses in the races. This led to two losses before we sat out for four flights. After we regrouped, we had five hard races ahead of us. We had debriefed our morning's effort and pinpointed the areas we needed to improve or slightly change, and set-to working on these. We had five very close, but great races.



Our closest race was against our training partners, Team Audi Match Race from Finland. We had a split start, with us on the left and them on the right. Upwind, the lead flip-flopped a few times, but we were able to take the lead at the top mark. Downwind, we had a good fight and were able to pin them to the left of the leeward mark to make sure we led around the buoy. Upwind, we again traded the lead, but were able to get them again just at the top mark. Downwind, once again we had a very close battle, this time pinning them to the righthand side of the line. They evenutally broke the overlap on us requiring us to sail to the finishline, but the reach was so tight that they couldn't get around us and we took the race.




The points in our group were such that there was a four-way tie for first on 11 points (we came out on top after the tie-breaks). Only the top two from our group advance automatically to the gold round; the next eight teams head to the repecharge to duke it out with the 3rd-10th places from group B for the final four spots for the quarterfinals. Out of our group, Team Skudina, RUS also advance to the gold round and also qualify their country for the Olympic Games too. Tomorrow, group B will finish their round robin and the top two teams will join us and the Russians in the gold round, a seeding round for the quarterfinals. This will start tomorrow afternoon after group B RR finishes.

You can check on the regatta website for results and a live blog: Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships  (http://www.perth2011.com/) (FYI: Perth/Freemantle is 13hr ahead of EST in the States or UTC+8hr) 

We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Siderfor their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,


Anna 

Team Maclaren


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
]]> Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:44:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40199-Team-Maclaren-In-QuarterfinalsUS-Qualified-For-Olympics http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40085-3-0-After-A-Tricky-First-Day December 4, 2011

Fremantle, AUS


Yesterday was the first day of racing at the Perth 2011 ISAF World Sailing Championships. We had a great start with three wins in our three races.



Photo: Perth 2011 ISAF World Sailing Championships Day 1
 

I apologize for the delay with the blog but we didn't get off the water until 7:15pm last night and then had to do our recovery program, which in itself led to a late night. Oh, and we tried to get into the INXS concert, playing at the regatta village, in our sailing gear right after getting off the boat...needless to say, we weren't allowed in.

Anyway, on to racing. We started our day with weigh-in at our yacht club. Then there was a meeting for all match race competitors at 10am. Following the meeting, the first eight teams from group A headed to the boats and sailed out to the river. We were not scheduled to race until 3pm, so we headed home for a bit before returning to the docks to watch some races.

We finally got into our boats around 4pm but then waited for an hour as the wind switched directions, and two cargo ships left the harbour. So racing got going around 5:15pm. We had three three-lap races across the river and shipping channel. The wind was quite squirly as it dropped down over the sheds on to the river but it certainly made the racing very exciting. We also had a cargo ship limiting the space we had in the start area, keeping the prestarts close and tight.

Our first race was against Lotte Meldegard, DEN. We had a good pre-start and won the pin end as she went off the line at the boat end. We took the first cross by a few lengths and took the race. The next race was against Jinnie Gordon, CAN.  We led the race off the line, and as we were heading up for the third lap, they went to the finish line. Because they only sailed two of the three laps, we won that race too.

Our final race was against Renata Decnop, BRA. We didn't have the best start, on her hip on port off the line, and were forced to tack away. We found the next left hand shift and closed the gap, ducked her and took the right. We hit the next right shift and rolled over her on starboard as she tried to leebow us. She kept it close on the first downwind leg as she got the puffs right before us and closed in on us but on the second beat we were able to leg it out and slowly stretched the distance between us to take the race. 

Today is a day off for us as group B starts racing. However, apparently there was a ship fire last night just up from our boat yard, so racing was been delayed 45 mins. We are off to watch some of their racing when it gets underway and to cheer on our USSTAG teammates, Team Tulloch.

You can check on the regatta website for results and a live blog: Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships   (http://www.perth2011.com/) (FYI: Perth/Freemantle is 13hr ahead of EST in the States or UTC+8hr)  

We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Sider for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,

Anna 
Team Maclaren

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


 ]]> Sun, 04 Dec 2011 12:06:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/40085-3-0-After-A-Tricky-First-Day http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39999-Prep-DoneAll-Starts-On-Saturday-3-December-2011 December 1, 2011
Fremantle, Australia

We wrapped up the practice regatta on Tuesday afternoon in perfect conditions. We sailed a good regatta and finished 2nd overall. We had great racing against all teams in conditions that varied from 2-10kt, auto tacks in a dying gradient breezes, up to 20-25kt sea breeze.



Elliott 6m's Logo'ed Up And Ready To Roll (Well, Race)

Photo: Women's International Match Racing Association 2011

  
  

We had eight teams total sailing, although the day before one of the boats broke a rudder so only seven could sail at a time and on the last race of the day a boat lost its rig, so a few races went unsailed, but everyone seemed to enjoy the idea of the regatta.

We took yesterday off and didn't do anything sailing related besides hitting the gym in the morning and seeing the PT post gym. It was the relaxing day that we needed before the start of racing on Saturday at noon.

Today we had a short practice and completed registration. Tomorrow is the opening ceremony in Perth and then it will be final preparations for racing.

You can check out the regatta on the regatta website before it starts and while it is happening. Perth 2011 ISAF World Championships (http://www.perth2011.com/) 
(FYI: Perth/Freemantle is 13hr ahead of EST in the States or UTC+8hr)

We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Siderfor their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,

Anna 
Team Maclaren

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



 ]]> Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:30:00 CST http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39999-Prep-DoneAll-Starts-On-Saturday-3-December-2011 http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39346-We-Won October 30, 2011
Miami, FL



We won! We had two windy races today to wrap up the series 4-0 over Team Tulloch this morning at the US Olympic Trials Part #1. We have qualified for the second trials in May in Weymouth UK, the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships, and the first three of the 2012 ISAF World Cup events.
 




Team Maclaren Celebrating After Winning The Trials Part #1

Photo: copyright John Payne 2011

 


We woke up to rain and wind this morning but were excited to sail in conditions different to those that we had seen all week. We headed out in 15-17kts which quickly increased to 20kts+ half way though the first race. The wind was blowing from the north east (off the key) so we thought that the water would be somewhat flat. But we were quite wrong. There was a nice chop which developed quite quickly and sharply and it made upwind sailing quite challenging, but downwind a lot of fun.





Team Maclaren Pounding The Waves Ahead Of Team Tulloch
Photo: copyright John Payne 2011

 

The first race started with us leading Team Tulloch off the line on port tack. We got into a tacking dual off the line and they ended up closing the distance between the boats. We leebowed them on port tack and they held for a few seconds before tacking away. We followed their tack but they bailed on their tack half way through and tried to come back on port as we tacked to starboard. They ended up getting a penalty and we were able to pull ahead at that point as they were a little slow from the move. We rounded the top mark with a two length lead that, once we got our kite up and going, we extended to about 8 lengths. As we rounded the bottom mark the gap closed as Tulloch was still blasting downwind and we were pounding into the waves upwind, but we still had a four length lead on which we were able to extend going down the last downwind leg.



The second race started with us on the left of the line and Tulloch on the right. We tacked up to them and went to duck them, but they leebowed us. Unfortunately for her, she hit some bad waves as she started to tack and was slow in her tack so ended up getting a penalty for tacking too close. We split a little to the left before tacking back to port as she split to the right. When we next came together just low of starboard layline, we had advanced enough on her to place a very good leebow. We were able to pinch her off and get a couple lengths lead around the top mark. From there both boats surfed downwind very quickly. We stayed ahead on the beat and pulled out an extra length so that we crossed the finish line on a plane to win the race, take the series and win the regatta.



We are very happy that we did so well in this regatta. All of the teams sailed very well, and having teams like Team Barkow (ISAF rank #3), Team Tulloch (ISAF rank #11), and the up and coming teams such as Stephanie Roble, to battle, makes us better sailors all the time. We put in a lot of training time and would like to thank all of our training partners over the past couple of months, especially Team Audi Match Race (Team Finland). We also want to thank our coach, David Dellenbaugh, for all of his help, and thanks to everyone for their good luck emails and texts. You can check out the results at the regatta website (http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Events/2011WMRTrials.htm).






Team Maclaren With Coach Dave Dellenbaugh

Photo: credit John Payne/copyright US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics





Next we have two weeks off, well at least from Elliott 6m sailing. Molly is heading home to see her husband and dog, Nelly. Debbie is heading back up to New York to close her ice cream store for the season. I'm heading to the BVI's tomorrow morning for the Bitter End YC Pro-Am Regatta for a week. Then we are all heading to Puerto Rico in November for the 2011 ISAF World Sailor of the Year awards, then home for a couple days before we are off to Australia for a month of training and racing.



We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Sider for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,


Anna
Team Maclaren


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


]]> Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:38:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39346-We-Won http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39345-2-0-In-The-Finals-Last-Day-Tomorrow


October 29, 2011
Miami, FL



It was an intense day of sailing today at the US Olympic Trials Part #1 in Biscayne Bay, FL. After trailing in the series 1-2 at the end of yesterday against Team Barkow, we had a lot of work to do to secure a win in the semi-final series. But we sailed hard and well and came up with three wins in three very tight races to take the series 4-2. This advanced us into the finals against Team Tulloch and we are currently up 2-0.





Team Maclaren Closely Watched By The Judges

Photo: copyright John Payne 2011

 



 

It was amazing sailing all day long. Both of our competitors gave us tough races, with us both behind, ahead, and with penalties. In the semi-finals races, our last two races were the hardest.







Close Quarters' Maneuvering

Photo: credit John Payne 2011, copyright US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics



In the fifth race of the series, we were trailing Sally by about one length for the whole race, but we were able to close the gap between the boats on the second beat. We had been in an intense tacking dual, again, for most of the beat, with us on the left and her on the right. She placed a leebow on us with three lengths to starboard layline. It was touch and go as to whether or not we could hang on her hip given the waves, but we managed. She luffed us as we got to the layline, but stalled too much as we tacked away to starboard, allowing us to take the lead around the top mark and go on to win the race and move the score to 3-2 in our favour.


The last race was by far the closest race of the day, however. We started to windward of her on the line and held her to the port layline. We tacked on layline and had about a length lead around the top mark. We gybed in what we thought was a good place, but she sailed behind us, caught a wave and surfed in to leeward of us on starboard so now we were pinned. At some point she was going to have to do two gybes to establish luffing rights to be able to hold us above the leeward mark towards which we were currently heading. She went for the gybe and I got a little excited and gybed us into her resulting in us getting a penalty. We were, however, able to hold onto the lead at the bottom mark. Up the second beat our goal was to extend as much as we could so that we could try to spin a penalty. We couldn't get quite enough distance and had to close the game back up again at the top mark so we could try to draw a penalty on her.



After we rounded the top mark, both boats slowed a lot and I thought we had enough distance between us so that we could spin it. We gybed around and went into our tack. As it turned out it wasn't enough distance and she was able to sail over the top of us and set her spinnaker. We set right behind her and were able to surf a wave back up to her. Now going downwind, we got into an intense gybing/luffing dual and at some point, we broke to the course left and she to the right. We were now laying the pin end of the finish line and were about three-quarters of a boat length ahead of her. She sailed up to us to try and close the gauge but we surged ahead on a wave and were able to just cross the line to take the series 4-2. It was a very intense and nerve-racking race, but the team did a great job keeping everything, including me, calm and close so we could stay alive. We were very excited to qualify for the finals becuase it means we qualified for a spot for this year's World Championships in Perth, Australia in December. The USA only gets two spots which go to the top two at this event.



 



After about a 20 minute break, we got back to racing, this time against the winner of the other semi-final match up, Team Tulloch. Genny and team also rallied today with three wins to take their series 4-2 after being down 1-2 after yesterday.               

Team Maclaren Leading Team Tulloch To The Finish   (Photo: copyright John Payne 2011)




Initially, in the first race, we were a little slow up the first beat until the second half of it where we were able to catch back up, and right at the top were able to draw a penalty on Genny. The race continued with Genny in the lead and us trailing closely. The last downwind leg was a game of slowing again, until half way down she got a second penalty and we were able to go ahead and set our spinnaker and take the first race in the series. The second race was much closer with the lead changing three times up the first beat. We took the lead around the top mark and led down the first downwind leg. She got a penalty for rule 42 (propulsion) on the downwind leg. We held the lead around the bottom mark and were able to extend a length on the second upwind leg after yet another intense tacking dual. Downwind, the wind was picking up and we locked into some nice waves and a puff, and surged ahead to take the race and up the series score to 2-0. The finals is again a first-to-four point series so racing will continue tomorrow. The forecast is for big winds and maybe a bit of rain.



You can follow updates and see results on: Twitter (@USSTAG); or the regatta website (http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Events/2011WMRTrials.htm); or at Match Racing Results Service: US Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta http://www.matchracingresults.com/2011/us-olympic-team-qualifying-regatta/


We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Sider for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,

Anna
Team Maclaren

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


]]> Sat, 29 Oct 2011 19:29:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39345-2-0-In-The-Finals-Last-Day-Tomorrow http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39340-Day-3-Hot-Humid-And-1-2-In-The-Semis October 28, 2011
Miami, FL



It was a day of ups and downs on the water, but we made the semi-finals and are currently 1-2 against Team Barkow. In the other semi-final match up, Team Roble is 2-1 over Team Tulloch.





Team Maclaren (Photo: copyright John Payne 2011)




The conditions today were HOT!  The temperature was up and so was the humidity as rain showers grazed by the course. The wind was lighter than we have seen, at around 4-8kts most of the day, but mostly steady. The race committee got the racing underway right at 10am this morning and didn't really break until we had knocked out three semi-final races, save for one 20 minute period when the rain could took all the wind away and made it swing through about 80 degrees.



We first finished up the round robin with three races. Our first race was against Team Hayes which we led from the start to finish. The next race was against Team Tulloch. After an even start, she had the initial advantage up the beat and rounded the top mark ahead. Downwind we were able to get just in front of her at the bottom mark and we rounded in the lead. We still held the lead at the top mark with her about one length behind us. We sailed for a while and then gybed. We were able to get our breeze out in front of her, but she did a good job of dragging the race high and keeping it going. As we entered the pin end of the finish line, she was just able to scoop inside of us and roll over us on the last roll to cross the line just ahead of us.

 



The next race was with Team Barkow. It was a similar story. We held the lead off the line and all around the course, but gybed just a little too late on the downwind leg and this time they were able to get over the top of us and we couldn't quite hold them off as we crossed the finish line. This gave us a 5-2 record in the second round and an 11-3 overall record tied with Sally but losing the tie breaker. Genny won the round and was able to choose her opponent between us, Sally and Stephanie Roble. Genny chose Stephanie, and we were paired with Sally.



We got straight into the semi's and finished the first three flights. It is a series of first-to-four points, so there was a lot of racing scheduled. The first and second races were very similar to each other. We had the lead up the first beat and a couple length lead at the top mark. Downwind she was able to close to a length behind us. Up top again, we still had a length lead but after a gybing dual, she was able to crush our breeze and squeeze out in front at the finish to take a 2-0 lead in the series. In the last race, the story was reversed. She held the lead and downwind we were able to catch up and just as we heading to finish line, she luffed us without rights and earned a penalty and we took that race to put a point on the board and keep the series to 2-1. (Photo: Team Maclaren vs Team Barkow copyright John Payne 2011)



Racing continues tomorrow morning. The racing is very tight, very intense and very good.



You can follow updates and see results on: Twitter (@USSTAG); or the regatta website (http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Events/2011WMRTrials.htm); or at Match Racing Results Service: US Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta http://www.matchracingresults.com/2011/us-olympic-team-qualifying-regatta/


We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Sider for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our campaign should be made payable directly to either The Sailing Foundation of New York (tax deductible) memo'd Anna Tunnicliffe, or to Anna Tunnicliffe.



Ed Note: Apologies to Kaity Storck - I sent out the email yesterday with her name spelled incorrectly.


Sail Hard,


Anna
Team Maclaren


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



]]> Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:54:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39340-Day-3-Hot-Humid-And-1-2-In-The-Semis http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39325-USSTAG-WMR-Olympic-Trials-Day-2 October 27, 2011
Miami, FL

Another beautiful day on Biscayne Bay allowed the race committee to complete seven flights and get the day done around 3pm. Team Maclaren had a great day and came off the water with a 4-0 score line to add to yesterday's 6-1 day. Team Barkow also went 4-0 and overnight leader Team Tulloch had a 3-1 day. The scores are close with three more races left in the round robin.





Photo: (copyright) US Sailing AlphaGraphics 2011




We had a relaxing start to the day again, sitting out the first flight. We then sailed one race, sat out one more then sailed three to finish our day with a bye in the last flight of the day too.







Our closest race was our first race of the day against Kaity Storck and team. We wanted the right of them off the start line, and got it, but shortly thereafter the wind went left and they crossed us by two or three lengths. Kaity did a great job at keeping us behind them up the first beat. We were able to catch up to them by the top mark and round just behind them. We had a slightly better spinnaker set than them and were able to soak to inside of them on the downwind leg. When it came time to gybe, we were just able to get over the top of them, but they was able to keep the pressure on for the whole downwind leg so that it made it hard for us to get to the leeward mark zone. We just squeezed in and were able to make it and take the lead as we rounded the leeward mark. Upwind, we had to pay attention to and maximise on the wind shifts, while at the same time, keeping Kaity and team behind us. (Race Committee : Photo: (copyright) US Sailing AlphaGraphics 2011)



We were able to extend to a four length lead on the upwind leg. Rounding the top mark we gybed into a left hand shift, while Kaity continued straight and sailed for the puff on the right hand side of the course. We gybed over to connect back up to them meeting up with the puff just in time because they had closed the gap to about two lengths. From there, we headed into the finish line.

Tomorrow we will continue with the round robin and then start the semi finals. The forecast for the rest of the week looks great now as the hurricane has now decided to stay away from the US altogether.



You can follow updates and see results on: Twitter (@USSTAG); or the regatta website (http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Events/2011WMRTrials.htm); or at Match Racing Results Service: US Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta http://www.matchracingresults.com/2011/us-olympic-team-qualifying-regatta/



We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Sider for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,


Anna
Team Maclaren


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

]]> Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:22:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39325-USSTAG-WMR-Olympic-Trials-Day-2 http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39317-Day-1-Round-1-Sees-Team-Maclaren-6-1

October 26, 2011
Miami, FL

Racing at the U.S. Olympic Trials Part 1 got underway this morning at 10am in Biscayne Bay. The temperature was perfect with a pleasant 10-14kt north easterly blowing for most of the day. The race committee finished the first round robin which included ten flights, and seven races for each team. We finished the round second with a 6-1 record behind Team Tulloch who went 7-0. Right behind us was Team Barkow with a 5-2 record.





Photo by Lindsay Valasek 2011

 


 

We had a relaxing start to our day. We had a bye in the first race, raced one race, and then had another bye before we had six races straight. It was good to get in the flow of races; after the fourth flight the day seemed to go quite quickly. We had a few good races towards the end of the day.



Our first close race was against Team Dellenbaugh who led us around the most of the first lap after we were over early in the start. We climbed back up the first beat to be only two lengths behind, and were able to make a pass at the bottom of the first downwind leg to take control of the race and take the point at the finish. Our next two close races came against Genny Tulloch and Sally Barkow. With Sally's team, we led them off the line by a length or so, and held that lead until the second upwind leg. We missed a shift and allowed them to catch back up to us, but we were able to open it up again at the top of the leg and hold on to the finish.
 
Our race with Genny's team was a race of lead changes. Up the first beat, she had the lead but we kept it close to round right on her tail downwind. We made the pass downwind to have a length lead around the bottom mark. Upwind however, we lost the lead as the wind got quite squirly and she read the puffs very well. But as quickly as we lost the lead we got it back only to loose it again shortly thereafter. We rounded the top mark again on her tail and matched her gybe downwind. We rolled over the top and broke the overlap requiring her to sail her proper course once it re-established. Her game from there was to do a quick double gybe to regain luffing rights, and our game was to defeat the double gybe. As it turned out, the play happened and there was contact between the two boats' spinnakers. At that point, the game was left in the umpire's hands; one of us was going to get a penalty and it could go either way. Unfortunately for us, it didn't go our way and despite our efforts to make another pass on her, we couldn't get around her and we lost the race. It was a tough one to lose as we sailed quite well, but it led to an interesting debrief discussion with the umpires after the day of racing was done.  
 

Tomorrow's schedule is to continue on with the second round robin. We don't know how much of it we will complete; a lot is dependent on the forecast as to whether or not the hurricane will hit us on Sunday (fingers crossed it doesn't).
 
You can follow updates and see results on:
Twitter (@USSTAG) or
the regatta website (http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Events/2011WMRTrials.htm) or
at Match Racing Results Service: US Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta   http://www.matchracingresults.com/2011/us-olympic-team-qualifying-regatta/


   
We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Sider for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,

Anna
Team Maclaren



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


]]> Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:31:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39317-Day-1-Round-1-Sees-Team-Maclaren-6-1 http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39305-US-Olympic-Trials-Part-1-Team-Maclaren-Ready-And-Waiting

October 24, 2011
Miami, FL

The U.S. Olympic Trials Part 1 are just around the corner. We have been training hard for the last two months and are ready to start racing on Wednesday morning. Since the Santa Maria Cup at the beginning of this month, we have been training with Team Audi Match Race (Finnish team) out of Key Biscayne YC.
 




Photo: courtesy of (copyright) Maclaren 2011





We have had great conditions, everything from light air to heavy air, hot and dry to mild and very wet! With some tropical systems moving through the area earlier this month, it mixed up the conditions for us to practice in which was great so we could cover all parts of our sailing. We have focused on fine tuning the game and have worked with multiple coaches over the month including, Tuds Owen (Team Audi coach), Dave Dellenbaugh (our coach), and Ed Baird. The reason we have switched it up was to get multiple perspectives on the game. 

The training has prepared us for this upcoming event in which the top four teams will qualify to race for the second and final part of the US Trials to be held in May in Weymouth, England. But to test how much we had learned, we competed in our usual 'Championship'; a competition between the Finnish team and us which we hold at the end of each training session with them.

The 'KBYC Championship' was held on Sunday morning. This time it was a first to three point series. The racing was very close with Team Maclaren coming out on top with a 3-1 scoreline.

 
Our closest race was the third race of the series where they led us off the line. We were able to get inside them at the top mark, and then the lead changed three times downwind. Upwind, we were able to get the right side of the course and managed to hold them off by a boat length to up our series score to 2-1. We then went on to win the final race which was also close, but not as many lead changes around the course. On Saturday night, we had made a trophy for the series, so later on Sunday evening we had a prizegiving where the trophy was presented. The whole thing was all in jest, but we started this championship last December when we started training together and have continued it since. 

The Fins left today and we were sad to see them go, but we are very thankful to them for coming over for a month and working hard to get us ready. We also would like to thank Tuds and Ed, and of course, Dave, for coaching us this last month.

Tomorrow is the registration for the regatta where we will register, weigh-in and go out for a short practice. Later in the evening there will be the opening ceremony at Key Biscayne YC, and then racing starts on Wednesday morning at 10am. There are eight teams registered for the event. The format calls for two round robin, semi-finals, and finals over five days. You can follow along at the regatta website, which I will post in tomorrow's blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

 
We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Sider for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,

 
Anna
Team Maclaren

 
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




]]> Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:17:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/39305-US-Olympic-Trials-Part-1-Team-Maclaren-Ready-And-Waiting http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38646-Team-Maclaren-2011-Santa-Maria-Cup-Champions

October 1, 2011
Annapolis, MD



Team Maclaren won the 2011 Santa Maria Cup today 3-1 over Team Bossard from France. The wind was up in the mid-teens from the north west, the temperatures were mid 50's, and the sailing was great. And to top it all, Liz Lewin, our 4th crew member, was awarded the Eleanor Ruth Wilcox Memorial Trophy for Top Bowperson and overall best smile.





Photo Credit: Walter Cooper / waltercooperphoto.com
 



Our day started with the conclusion of the semi final matches against Team Dellenbaugh (USA). We had two very good starts against them and were able to hold a steady lead from the top mark onwards to take the series 3-0 after our one win yesterday afternoon. 
 
The finals were a first to three point series too and we were up against Julie Bossard and her team from France after they defeated Sharron Ferris-Choat 3-1 in they semi final match.

 


                                                               Photo Credit: Walter Cooper / waltercooperphoto.com




The first race was a very close race all around the track. We started even on the start line, and when the two boats came together half way up the leg, we placed a leebow in a good position, but our jib sheet over-rode on its self and we slid sideways as we sorted it out. This put us two lengths behind at the top mark. Downwind, we caught up to them by the leeward mark and rounded inside of them after they had a bad rounding. We tacked away though because we couldn't hang very long on their hip and when we came back together, they had the cross by one length. Up the rest of the course we slowly pulled them in by playing the small shifts. But again just before the top, we had a jib sheet issue on a tack and lost a lot of distance. Around the top mark, we were about four lengths behind but the girls did a great job of getting the boat going fast and we caught up to a photo finish at the finish line. Apparently we lost by a foot or so, but it gave us confidence that we had the speed to win the series, we just had to sort out our boat handling. We sat down after the race and discussed what we needed to do differently and apparently, it worked. From then on, all around the course, we had great speed and great boat handling, and won the next three races by a few lengths at the finish line.  


Photo Credit: Walter Cooper / waltercooperphoto.com



 



It was a very well run regatta and we would like to thank the regatta sponsors, the race committee, umpires, and the volunteers for their time in getting a great regatta completed with no rounds having to be eliminated. We would also especially like to thank Boatyard Bar and Grill for their support of us during this event. You can check the scores online at the regatta website: http://www.santamariacup.org/index.asp.

 

From here, we leave for Florida to meet up with Team Audi Match (from Finland) to start Elliott 6m sailing again as we prepare for our US Trials at the end of this month. We are looking forward to the warmer weather and some great training.
 


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. 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,


Anna
Team Maclaren


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




]]> Sun, 02 Oct 2011 12:22:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38646-Team-Maclaren-2011-Santa-Maria-Cup-Champions http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38640-1-0-In-The-Semis-2011-Santa-Maria-Cup 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).
  




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 

 
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,

 
Anna
Team Maclaren

 
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




]]> Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:32:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38640-1-0-In-The-Semis-2011-Santa-Maria-Cup http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38629-2011-Santa-Maria-Cup-Began-Today September 28, 2011
Annapolis, MD

After a slow start to the day, due to lack of wind, we began to head out to the race course around 10am for the start of racing at the 2011 Santa Maria Cup here in Annapolis, MD. It was a slow sail out to the race course, but the wind slowly filled in and was solid by the time racing got underway around 11am. The race committee did a great job of keeping up with the shifting breeze, its increases and decreases, and all the boat rotations to get in 8 flights (each flight consists of 4 races) by 6pm when they called it a day. Team Maclaren had a good day and finished with an 8-0 record leading into tomorrow's racing.

 



Photo: (copyright) Walter Cooper 2011





Sailing began a little adventurously for us, however. On the sail out, we noticed that the forestay looked to have something sticking out from it up near where it connects to the mast. At first we thought it may be a small piece of string, but we concluded from its lack of movement that it was probably a strand of the forestay wire unraveling. We flew our break down flag as we approached the racing area and asked for a bosun's chair, but there was none on the water. So Debbie and I tied the spinnaker halyard into a chair and I climbed the mast to cut off the strand of forestay so it wouldn't rip our kite. We managed to sort it all out, and then we got down to the racing.
 
We had a couple of close races today, but nothing really too exciting. The course had mostly steady winds, so the boats were always within a few lengths of each other which ensured that making the correct decision was a 'must' with little chance of recovery from a mistake.  
 
I think the forecast for tomorrow is similar to today's, so hopefully we will get a lot more racing. I think the intended plan is for us to finish up the second round robin and start the quarterfinals. You can check out the results 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,

 
Anna
Team Maclaren

 
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



]]> Thu, 29 Sep 2011 06:44:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38629-2011-Santa-Maria-Cup-Began-Today http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38628-Anna-Nominated-As-Finalist-For-ISAF-World-Sailor-Of-The-Year September 27, 2011
Annapolis, MD

Great news for Team Maclaren!!! Anna was nominated for the 2011 Rolex ISAF World Sailor for the Year. The announcement was made earlier today when the final list of nominees was released. The winner will be selected from this list of 4 sailors on November 8th at the ISAF annual meeting in Puerto Rico. The nominees are selected based on their performance from September 1, 2010 through August 31, 2011. The public is encouraged to nominate athletes based on their performance and a selection committee selects the top resumes and nominates them as finalist for this great award.





Team Maclaren - Molly (left), Deb (middle), Anna (right)

Photo: (copyright) Amory Ross/Sperry 2011

 


Anna has been a nominee three times now, and won the award in 2009. She said "It is such an honor to be nominated for this award. The nominees for 2011 have had amazing years and it's truly a surprise to be on the list with them." Although she is nominated as an individual, she chalks up her successful year to her team mates Molly and Deb. "Molly and Deb have been a huge part of this year's success. Everything we did this year was a combo of the three of us; there is no one standout person on our team. Team Maclaren has been putting in an incredible amount of time both on and off the water and to be nominated for this award in recognition of our hard work is very satisfying." says Anna.

 Photo: from Team Maclaren Facebook Page




Other nominees for this year's award are:

Dee Caffari (GBR) - Record Breaking Round The World Yachtswoman
Sarah-Quita Offringa (ARU) - Double Professional Windsurfing Association World Champion
Alexandra Rickham (GBR) - ISAF Sailing World Cup Champion and IFDS World Champion 
 

For now, however, the team is still preparing for the upcoming US Olympic Trials part 1, to be held Oct 25-30 at Key Biscayne YC, Miami.

 
As part of their preparation, the team is joined again by Liz (Bower) Lewin as they will be competing, starting tomorrow, in the Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis, MD. This is a grade 1 event with eight teams from five countries. You can follow along on the regatta website, and nightly blogs will be posted on the team's website. Team Maclaren would like to thank The Boatyard Bar and Grill for their support of the team during the Santa Maria Cup.

 
As always, Team Maclaren would very much like to thank their 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. 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,

 
Anna
Team Maclaren

 
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

]]> Thu, 29 Sep 2011 06:39:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38628-Anna-Nominated-As-Finalist-For-ISAF-World-Sailor-Of-The-Year http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38506-Team-Maclaren-At-Chicago-Match-Race-CenterISAF-WMR-ranked-1 September 18, 2011
Stanford, CA

It's been a while since we've written, but Team Maclaren has been busy training hard in Chicago at the Chicago Match Race Center. We have had two sessions so far there and have one more coming up. We are currently on a four-day break, before we hit the water again on Tuesday. We also had some great news; when the new ISAF world women's match race rankings came out for September, they showed us at #1.
 




Perfect Conditions For Training At Chicago Match Race Center

Photo: (c) Team Maclaren 2011



 
Our training started just a few days after we returned home from the wedding of our fourth team member, Liz Lewin. We all arrived to Chicago on the 8th of this month to start a four-day training session with Claire Leroy and team from France. It worked out very well as they were on their way up to Sheboygan for the Nation's Cup and we were looking for some good training. The conditions the first day in Chicago were quite rough. We had winds in the high teens and huge swells coming in and bouncing off the sea wall, providing the sailing area with quite a washing machine effect. But after that day, the wind died down, the sun came out and the training was beautiful. We spent a considerable amount of time focusing on specific parts of the race, and we feel the training was very productive.

 
We had a one-day break, where the girls played tourist in Chicago and I went on the water to watch/coach my husband, Brad Funk, and team in his match race event in which he finished up second. But the next day we were back at our training around noon, this time with Taylor Canfield, Steph Roble and Maggie Shea. Sailing against these guys was very different than the previous week. We primarily focused on starting and it was great practice to sail against someone whom we don't normally race. Seeing slightly different moves and hearing different thoughts on approaches was very interesting and again very instructional. Taylor, Steph and Maggie gave us their time to come and train and we would like to say a huge thanks to them for coming out, even when the temperatures dropped at the end of the week into the 50's as the high.

 
So now we are on our break. Debbie is at home in Long Island, and Molly and I are at her home in California. I am coaching the Stanford Laser sailors as they get ready for their qualifier next weekend. On Monday night/Tuesday morning, we all head back to Chicago for our final session there for the year. This time we will be sailing against Phil Robertson and team. Phil is ranked top 10 in the ISAF Open Match Race rankings and is also a Match Race Tour card holder. He coached our team in Kiel, Germany earlier this year, and we are now looking forward to sailing against him this coming week.  

 
From there we have about two days off before we head to our next event, the Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis, MD. There we will meet up with the Audi Match Race Team (our Finnish training partners), race the regatta, and then head down to Florida to do some training for the rest of this month and beginning of October as we get ready for the first part of our Olympic Trials.

 
We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Sider for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,

 
Anna
Team Maclaren


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




]]> Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:19:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38506-Team-Maclaren-At-Chicago-Match-Race-CenterISAF-WMR-ranked-1 http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38313-Good-Results-Today-One-More-Day-To-Go August 31, 2011
Rochester, NY

It was a great day for Team Maclaren today at the US Sailing's 2011 RIWKC.  We entered the day five points out of the lead, and sailed to a 2, 1, 3 finish to bring us up to tied for first place with Sally Barkow and team.
 




Coming Into The Offset Mark
Photo: (c) Rolex/Daniel Foster 2011



The boats left the dock again this morning around 8:30 to head out to the race course for a 10am start. As we sailed out, the wind died, and looked terrible for a couple of hours. Finally around 11:15, it started to fill in, but was still rather shifty for the race committee to start us, but by noon, the conditions were looking great for racing.
 
We had a great start in race one near the middle of the line. We were punched out on the fleet and were able to sail where we wanted up the first beat. We rounded the top mark in third place, and were able to pass a boat downwind and move to second and secure that finish for the race.    
 
Race two again began with a great start. We headed to the top mark playing the shifts as the fleet tried to sort themselves out. We rounded the top in about 5th, and sailed a great run to move into first place. Upwind, we pulled ahead of the fleet with just one other boat left with us. The other boat managed to get around us just at the top, but we were right behind them and we knew we could make a move downwind. We sailed the shifts and pressure downwind until we were about even with them and then waited for the right moment to make our move on them. We gybed at them and forced them to the side of the course so they had no options left. We were able to pass them then and went on to win the race.
 
The last race of the day was a bit closer at the top mark with a lot of boats rounding at once. We had a good rounding and again sailed a good downwind leg, but got ourselves on the outside of the correct gate mark and had to round in 4th at the bottom. We fought hard up the second beat to stay in touch with the second and third placed boats to give us a fighting chance with them on the downwind. We were able to pass one boat downwind and finish the day with a third place.
 
We are very happy with the day and are looking forward to the three scheduled races for tomorrow, the last day of competition. The conditions currently look good and racing is set to start at 10am.
 
You can check the scores online at the regatta website: US Sailing's 2011 Rolex International Womens' Keelboat Championship: http://riwkc.ussailing.org/RIWKC_Home.htm
 


 We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, and Chicago Match Race Center for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,
 
Anna
Team Maclaren





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





]]> Thu, 01 Sep 2011 05:26:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38313-Good-Results-Today-One-More-Day-To-Go http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38293-Getting-Back-Into-Fleet-Racing-Mode August 30, 2011
Rochester, NY

We completed 5 races today at the US Sailing's 2011 Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championships. We finished with a score line of 1, 10, 2, 8, and 7 to leave us in 4th overall.



Photo: (c) Rochester YC 2011


We headed out to the race course around 8:45am and started on time at 10am. The conditions this morning were 10-12kts and semi steady breeze relative to how the day ended. By the last race, the wind had swung 55 degrees to the right with both big left and right shifts and the wind dropped to 5-7kts.

The racing was tight all around the course. It took us a race or two to fully get back into fleet racing mode, but eventually we grasped the one hour, long course racing.  

It has been a long day doing 5 long races, so we are very tired and have an early push off the dock tomorrow morning. You can check the scores online at the regatta website: US Sailing's 2011 Rolex International Womens' Keelboat Championship: http://riwkc.ussailing.org/RIWKC_Home.htm

 
We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, and Chicago Match Race Center for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,

 
Anna
Team Maclaren
 

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




]]> Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:44:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38293-Getting-Back-Into-Fleet-Racing-Mode http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38275-No-Wind-No-Racing-At-US-Sailings-2011-RIWKC  

August 29, 2011
Rochester, NY

Today was the first official day of US Sailing's 2011 Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championships, but unfortunately there was no racing.





Photo: (c) US Sailing's 2011 Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championships

 
We headed out for the race course around 10am to get in a couple hours of practice before the scheduled start at noon. However, as we left the harbor, the wind died and it took us an hour to sail to the course. And all day long the wind phased in and out but never brought forth more than 4kts.

The race committee did get a chance to get in two practice starts which allowed them to practice their communication, since they weren't able to get out and practice yesterday either.



We are scheduled to start racing tomorrow morning at 10am. You can follow the regatta at the regatta website.US Sailing's 2011 Rolex International Womens' Keelboat Championship: http://riwkc.ussailing.org/RIWKC_Home.htm

 
We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, and Chicago Match Race Center for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,

 
Anna
Team Maclaren

 
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


 

]]> Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:51:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38275-No-Wind-No-Racing-At-US-Sailings-2011-RIWKC http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38260-Settling-In-Before-US-Sailings-2011-Rolex-International-Womens-Keelboat-Championships
Rochester, NY

Team Maclaren arrived in Rochester NY at 1am this morning for the US Sailing's 2011 Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship (RIWKC).





Our Sailing Venue

Photo: (c) Team Maclaren 2011

 


We got on a plane yesterday after racing at the 2011 Buddy Melges Challenge, flew to Atlanta and then up to Rochester. It seems a very-out-of-the-way route, but it was the only way we could get here for today. We woke this morning and headed to Rochester Yacht Club for registration and weigh in. We weighed in first to make sure we made weight as a team, and then headed to breakfast. After we were fueled up, we found our boat and Allan Terhune. Big thanks to him, and North Sails and Maclaren, we were able to get our boat here, and mostly ready to go. We wrapped up registration, grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to our hosts' house. We (Molly, Deb and I) are staying with Patti and Pat, Sam, Nicole, and Bella Leva, and Liz Bower, our fourth, is staying with her parents, Sandy and Kirk Simpson. Thank you to both families for opening their homes to us.
 




Our Welcome From The Children At Our Housing

Photo: (c) Team Maclaren 2011
 


Because of the high winds today we weren't able to go sailing, so tomorrow morning we will get our chance to get out and do a bit of practice before racing starts. Racing is scheduled to start around noon. There are 28 teams registered from multiple countries. There is a deep field of competitors and we are looking forward to getting in the boat and doing some fleet racing.


 
You can follow the regatta at the regatta website. US Sailing's 2011 Rolex International Womens' Keelboat Championship: http://riwkc.ussailing.org/RIWKC_Home.htm

 
We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, and Chicago Match Race Center for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,
 
Anna
Team Maclaren


 
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




]]> Sun, 28 Aug 2011 17:00:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38260-Settling-In-Before-US-Sailings-2011-Rolex-International-Womens-Keelboat-Championships http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38259-We-Won-2011-Buddy-Melges-Challenge-Champions
Sheboygan, WI

We Won!  Today we won the 2011 Buddy Melges Challenge after defeating Team Le Berre 3-0 in the finals.
 




Photo: 2011 Buddy Melges Challenge Champions, Team Maclaren


(c) Team Maclaren 2011
 



It was another beautiful day of racing here in Sheboygan with warm temperatures and a steady northerly wind around 8-13kts. We sailed slightly longer races today since there was only the finals and petit finals racing to be concluded. The longer courses meant that we would get in good races. And we did.  
 


In race one and two we had very similar starts at the pin end of the line. We got in a tacking dual up the first beats and about half way up we crossed over to the righthand side of the course after playing the left early. We rounded the top mark with her right on our tail. The downwinds were fun and exciting.
 


In the first race, we dragged the race out to the righthand side downwind and eventually she broke the overlap as the outside boat meaning we had to gybe to the mark. We did gybe and she gybed too. She thought she had room at the leeward mark, but didn't really and after rounding inside of us at the mark, earned a double penalty and gave us a nice lead to take the first race in the series. In the second race, she wasn't as successful in breaking the overlap and we held her out until we were comfortable that we were ready to head for the mark. We gained a few lengths in this maneuver and a few more up the second beat to take the second race.

 



Photo: Buddy Melges Challenge. ISAF Grade 1 Women's Match Race. Sheboygan, Wisconsin USA 

Copyright Matias Capizzano
 


The last race didn't start quite as we had planned, with us to the right and slightly late at the boat, but we were able to get a good tacking dual going and picked the right times to tack with the waves and small shifts and at the top were able to get her on starboard and pin her to the port layline. Downwind, we had a good gybing dual, but managed to just stay ahead by the zone and extend to a nice three to four length lead up the second beat and take race 3 and the overall win!

The team, Molly and Debbie, and coach Dave Dellenbaugh, did a great job all week long with the conditions. We are very happy with how we sailed and are looking forward to our next Elliott training.

But now, we are heading to Rochester NY for the Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championships (RIWKC).  We are hoping that our flight will make it so we can get our boat ready tomorrow for racing on Monday.

 
It was great that Buddy Melges could come out and watch the racing earlier this week and ride with Dave in the coach boat.  He shared his thoughts and compliments with all the competitors after the day of racing. We would like to thank to Buddy for this great regatta being named after him.

You can check out the Buddy Melges results at the regatta link, and also follow along at the RIWKC at their website.

 
Our thoughts are with everyone on the east coast and that they stay safe.


 
We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, and Chicago Match Race Center for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,
 

Anna
Team Maclaren


 
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




]]> Sun, 28 Aug 2011 11:51:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38259-We-Won-2011-Buddy-Melges-Challenge-Champions http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38233-Fickle-Winds-But-Fair-Results August 25, 2011
Sheboygan, WI

Another long day of racing, and good results at the end for us. We won three of our four races this morning to advance to the quarterfinals as the third seed and are currently up 2-0 over Team Wang from China in the quarterfinals.
 




Photo: (c) David Bronson, Buddy Melges Challenge 2011


 

The day started with a nice 10-14kt offshore north westerly breeze which provided flat water with puffy and shifty racing before it slowly shifted to the right and got a little unsteady before settling in from the north east. The big swing to the right also brought in a big swell which seemed disproportionately large given the breeze in which we were sailing.

Our morning races were quite good races all around the course. We knew we had to do well in them to secure a good seed in the quarterfinals. We raced both the French teams and one of the Brazilian teams and after close first laps, we were able to hang onto the lead for the finish.
 


Our last race was against Team Souter from Australia. We didn't do a very good job in the prestart and were late to the start by about 20 seconds. We were able to hang for a while after the start, but the wind was going light and you had to hit the right side of the course. Unfortunately, although we had a good lane on port as we sailed to the right, we had to sail a couple extra lengths when we got to the right corner to ensure we would have a good lane back to the mark. This cost us a few lengths on them and they had about a five length lead at the top mark. Downwind, we made a move at the leeward mark and closed some distance to about two lengths, but the race committee shortened the course due to the dying breeze and we couldn't catch up.

Our record after those four races was 13-2. As it turned out, we were tied for second on this record, but lost the tie to Olivia Price since we lost to her yesterday. This seeded us as third and up against the Chinese team for the quarterfinals in a first to three point series.

When we started racing for the quarters', the wind had gotten very light and the sea was quite choppy. In the first race, we had a great pre-start, but punched the line a little too early and were OCS (as it turns out, it was only by an inch that we were over). It was a silly mistake that could have cost us the race, but the girls did a great job at finding the very light breeze and we had great speed and were able to pull back into the race. We managed to roll over Team Wang as she tried to leebow us half way up the beat. From there we extended to take the win and the first race of the series. In race two, we were both over, but that was just the way we set up for the start. We had them pinned high over the line, then came back late for the start, but with them behind us. Off the line, we forced them to the left and we kept to the right of them where there was a little more pressure. We again had great speed and were able to extend away and take race two.

Racing continues tomorrow morning in the first to three point quarterfinals series. The racing will be live on the regatta website along with up to date scores. Regatta website: http://www.sailsheboygan.org/BMC_2011.php.
  


We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, and Chicago Match Race Center for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,

 
Anna

Team Maclaren

 
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



]]> Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:39:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38233-Fickle-Winds-But-Fair-Results http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38226-A-Tactical-Day-At-2011-Buddy-Melges-Challenge August 24, 2011
Sheboygan, WI

It was another good day on the water for Team Maclaren as we increased our record to 10-1 overall with 4 wins and one loss today at the 2011 Buddy Melges Challenge.
 




Photo: (c) Dave Bronson, Sail Sheboygan 2011

 


We started the day similar to yesterday with sitting out four races before hitting the water. We had some good races, two of which were very close. We ended up winning one, and losing the other.

 
Our first close race was against our USSTAG teammates Team Tulloch. The race started about even, and up the first beat Genny got the lead with us right behind her at the top mark. Downwind, we got the pass and rounded the bottom mark ahead with her picking up a penalty on the downwind leg. Upwind, the race stayed close and with a small mistake by us, she was able to take back the lead. Downwind, it was a long slow leg to the finish as neither boat set their kites and kept their sails in tight (a tactical move) as we slowly drifted down the course in 10-15kts of breeze. We were able to hold behind her all the way to the finish without her being able to pull off her penalty and we took the win.

The second race was just as exciting. We had a great start against Olivia Price and team from Australia and extended out to a 8 length lead up the first beat. Downwind they pulled back about four lengths as they brought the first big puff down the course. Upwind, we defended the right but as it turns out, the left was a bit more favoured and they were able to catch up to us. We rounded the top mark with a length or so lead. Downwind she played hard and we ended up in a complicated situation that resulted in us earning one penalty and then another which meant we had to spin immediately and so we lost the race. It was a bit of a downer way to finish the day, but we sailed well all day long and picked the wrong side on one leg that cost us.
 
We are sitting in a good position with four more races left tomorrow morning before we head to the quarterfinals which they plan to start tomorrow afternoon. You can follow the racing live and check the scores on the regatta website: http://www.sailsheboygan.org/BMC_2011.php.

 
We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, and Chicago Match Race Center for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our 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,

 
Anna

Team Maclaren

 
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




]]> Thu, 25 Aug 2011 05:56:00 CDT http://www.sailgroove.org/blog/38226-A-Tactical-Day-At-2011-Buddy-Melges-Challenge