Not A Lot Of Wind Today. Image copyright Molly Vandemoer, August 2010.
by Anna Tunnicliffe
It was a heart breaker of a race for us in race 5 of the quaterfinals against William Tiller from New Zealand at the Knickerbocker. We lost the race by inches and were eliminated from the regatta finishing 5th overall.
The day started early for us and went for a long time as the wind shifted considerably, causing the race committee to cancel races and move a lot of marks. Tiller won the first race of our series this morning after we were on the outside of a big puff. We followed all around the course and reeled him in on the last run but ran out of room. In the next race, the wind made a major shift right after the start allowing us to make the mark without having to tack and the race was called off. In the re-match of that race, he earned a penalty in the prestart, but we led around the course and took a comfortable run. We also won the third race by a few boatlengths too, to take the series up 2-1 to us. He evened the score in the fourth race when he just got inside room at the leeward mark and took over the race to make the score 2-2.
In the final race, we led off the line; we led around the whole course. On the final run, we wanted him to gybe so we threw in a fake gybe. He fell for it, but unfortunately, the wind swung a bit too putting him on layline for the finish. We gybe and closed the distance between us, and both boats floated across the line with just inches separating the front of our spinnakers. It was a heartbreaking loss as we had sailed the whole race so well, but we made an error and it cost us.
So we finished 5th overall. It's a one-place improvement from last year, which is good. We have learned lot from this regatta, and are excited with how certain aspects of our game are going. You can check the scores online at the regatta website.
We now have a week off before we get together again in Sheboygan for our next event, the Buddy Melges Challenge, a grade 1 women's event in Elliot 6m's.
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 Tunnicliffe
Knickerbocker Cup
