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A Much Better Day : Day 2, Open Nacional Snipe Regatta 2011 Rega
Subject: A Much Better Day : Day 2, Open Nacional Snipe Regatta 2011 Rega
Send date: 2011-03-05 22:54:21
Issue #: 99
Content:
Team Tunnicliffe Update
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1

March 5, 2011
Vilagarcia de Arousa, Spain

Today was the second day of racing at the Open Nacional Snipe 2011 Regatta and it was a much better day overall for Molly and me, as well as being slightly warmer.  We started  with a 23, but ended the day with a 6, 10 in the 78 boat fleet to move up to 11th overall.
  
Light wind launching
Light Winds During Launching
   
Again, it was a tricky day, and it took us the first race to figure out what was going on.  We had a rough start and were a bit off the line. We did OK up the first beat but were in the high teens/low 20's and we hung there the rest of the race.
     
It was our first time sailing the olympic course (triangle followed by a "sausage" then to the finish) with a bit of breeze, and when we got to the gybe mark on the triangle, it was quite an experience.  We arrived at the mark with about 8 other boats, and managed to round from the outside of a pack to the inside of the pinwheel. The hard part for us was gybing our pole.  We had practiced it before the race, but when the situation presented and we had to focus on other boats, it got pretty exciting. But we managed to do it and emerged from the mark right where we wanted. We held our own for the rest of the race but picked up a piece of weed on the last beat which slowed us somewhat. And the beat turned into a rather one-sided 15 minute starboard beat to the finish. Unfortunately we lost a boat to finish 23rd overall.

However, we then got our act together and decided to work on getting great starts.  We had noticed around the bay that there were multiple wind farms up on the hills; since there is great wind most of the time, it is a great place for them.  We used the windmills for sighting the line and got more comfortable with our positioning on the start line. The plan paid off and we did have a great start at the boat end of the line. We got a left shift shortly thereafter, so we tacked and had 80% of the fleet up on our hip.  We held with our patience and sailed the shifts with which we were presented and rounded the top mark in about 7th.  We sailed very well and managed to establish our place as 6th for the race and covered the boats behind us up to the finish. 

After the race, as we sailed back to the start line, I just happen to comment that we would be done at a reasonable hour today after getting off the water at 6:30pm yesterday.  But of course, it was as if I jinxed the wind, because moments later, the wind started to shift back and forth over a 60 degree arc.  We tried two starts before we finally got one off.

The first attempt ended in a postponement as the wind shifted right and 20kts blew through the course.  It took everyone by surprise and the noise on the start line of the sails luffing was incredibly loud.  But afterwards, everyone was smiling and laughing about it.  The second start attempted ended up being a general recall. So the Race Committee implemented a black flag start (instant DSQ if over the line); the third attempt was successful and we finally got off the start line.

We had a great first beat, and played the shifts well. We rounded the windward mark in about 12th, and continued to play the tricky conditions around the course.  We lost some boats up the beginning of the last beat, but crossed over to where we saw the wind and a shift and managed to gain them all back to cross the line in 11th. But due to a black flagged boat finishing ahead of us, we were scored 10th.

We were very happy with how the day ended and are much happier with our sailing.  Tonight the regatta is invited to a dinner at a local restaurant, so at 9pm we get picked up in a bus to head over there. We have one more day of racing tomorrow and hopefully we will get in three races.  You can check the scores online at the regatta website.

We would like to thank Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, and 11th Hour Racing for their continued support of our women's match racing campaign for the 2012 Olympics in London.  We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their 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

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 Tunnicliffe: 3P's: Passion...Performance...Perfection...TM

 

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