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

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.