Knickerbocker Cup: Steady Start for Team Tunnicliffe

by Anna Tunnicliffe

Today was the first day of racing at the 2010 Knickerbocker Cup. It was a great day of sailing, with a total of 13 flights sailed. Our team sailed 8 races total, ending the day with a 5-3 record.

We started the day's racing with five races. We had some great races, and ended the morning 3-2. After a couple of hours break while the other teams raced five races, we headed out around 4 pm for three more races in which we ended with a 2-1 to take our total to 5-3. The first two races in the afternoon group were very close races.

Our first race was against Reuben Corbett from New Zealand. Up the first beat, he drew a penalty for a port/starboard incident where he didn't make it across us on port. We focused on staying close to him during the race, but staying out of trouble. On the last downwind leg, with us maintaining our position close behind him, it was a game of slowing down but being ready to make our move for the finish line. We waited patiently, picked the right time to jump and ended up winning the race.

In the second race of the afternoon, we raced Dave Perry. He rounded the top mark a boat length ahead of us, but we kept fighting hard to keep it close. At the top mark second time around, he had about a two boat-length lead. We sailed the shifts well downwind and managed to affect his wind enough to catch up to him. Three-quaters of the way down the leg, we closed to about half a boat length from him. He gybed and we matched his gybe. He stayed deep out of the gybe and so did we. We managed to affect his breeze a little more and then we rolled over the top of him. We advanced on him and got into the zone of the pin end of the line, where he fouled us and we went on to win the race.

Tomorrow we start the day with three races, and then sit out for the next six while everyone else finishes up the round. The top 8 teams will advance onto the quarter-finals after the round robin is completed.

We would like to thank Carmeuse and Trinity Yachts for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympics in London. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their support.

Team Tunnciliffe
Knickerbocker Cup