Archive for July, 2010

US Women’s Match Race Champions!

We just finished up four days of racing in Sheboygan, WI where we won the 2010 US Women’s Match Racing Championship and defended our title from last year! In addition to being our national championship, this was an important event for us because it gave us a chance to get racing experience in Sonars in preparation for the World Championship this September, and the win qualified us to represent the United States in the 2011 ISAF Nations Cup in Sheboygan next September. Our team for this event was Genny Tulloch, Alice Manard, Karina Shelton, and Lindsay Bartel. The competition included Sally Barkow, Katy Lovell, Maegan Ruhlman, and several top collegiate sailors and recent grads that are relatively new to match racing but already showing a lot of potential.

The conditions in Sheboygan were less than ideal for the first three days of racing, with fog, light air, and thunderstorms hampering the racing effort. Although the race committee did a very admirable job of getting in as many races as possible, we were only able to complete one and a half round robins in the first three days. We had some close matches in the round robins and used that time to work on our teamwork and communication since we had never sailed together as a team. We went 10-1 in the round robins, with our only loss to Sally Barkow and her team in the first round. That put us in second place after the first stage, and put us up against Stephanie Roble’s team in the semifinals.

Fortunately the conditions for the semis and finals on Sunday were much more cooperative! The breeze started out at about 3-6 knots with pretty big shifts and puffs across the course. We had a close prestart in our first semifinal match against Steph’s team, but managed to pull ahead on the first beat and stayed ahead to the finish. In the second race, we led them around most of the course and were about 4 boat lengths ahead half way down the last leg. A big wind shift and an error on our part brought them right back into the race, and they were able to roll over us right at the finish line to take the race. It was a tough one to lose, but we were ready to take them on again for the last semifinal match. In the third race we executed our prestart strategy well, and led them off the line and around the course to advance to the finals against Sally’s team.

The finals were first to 3 points, and we knew it was going to be a hard-fought series no matter what. The breeze was up to about 5-8 knots for our first race, but was still pretty shifty. We got a penalty in the prestart, but managed to win the boat and get the right side of the course, which is what we wanted. We rounded the windward mark ahead and maintained our lead on the run, which left us on the final beat, ahead but with a penalty outstanding against us. We covered Sally out to the right side of the course and managed to gain just enough lead that we were able to spin our penalty turn on the starboard layline and still barely lead her into the windward mark. We held onto our lead down the final run to go up 1-0.

During the boat swap the breeze started building, and by the start of the second race was up to 10-12 knots. In both the second and third races, we trailed off the starting line and Sally was able to use her upwind speed in the steadier and windier conditions to stay ahead of us around the course. That put us down 1-2 and in a must-win situation for the fourth race. In race four we came off the line fairly even, but Sally was able to get just out to the right of us and had a one boatlength lead at the windward mark. We managed to close the gap down the run and ended up to leeward of them on starboard heading out toward the layline. Just before the layline we did a double-gybe; Sally meanwhile gybed to port and we had to avoid her, which ended up earning a penalty for her. We took her past the layline and then led around the leeward mark. We maintained our lead up the next beat and stayed just ahead of her on the final run to take the fourth race and bring the score to 2-2.

With 10 minutes to spare before the deadline for racing to end, the race committee started up race five of the finals. We wanted the right side of the course and executed our pre-start strategy well to end up with a split start with us on port tack at the boat and Sally on starboard mid-line. The upwind leg was a drag race out to the right side of the course, and we were able to be bow out just enough that she couldn’t leebow us on the starboard tack layline. We led out of the windward mark by a boatlength, but Sally’s team was able to pull up to us and overlap us to leeward as we approached the leeward mark. But they held us up past their proper course, earning another penalty, and we were able to round the leeward mark just barely ahead. On the final beat we again protected the right side and led by half a boatlength at the windward mark. With a penalty outstanding against them, we were in a strong position and were able to gybe to starboard at the layline to the finish and take the win. It was an exciting series and we were  thrilled to come away with the win!

We’d like to thank Sail Sheboygan and the Sheboygan Yacht Club for putting on a great event, our housing hosts Mike and Stephanie Larson, the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, Kaenon Polarized; and Gu.

Final Kiel Week Wrap-up

I’m home again after almost a month away, a broken computer, and some very limited internet access (both in Europe and in the US). The good news is we finished fourth at Kiel Week, I had a great time in Newport over the weekend fleet racing Melges 24s after all the match racing, I  took my computer to the Mac store yesterday (hope to get it back next week!),and I now have almost a week at home before leaving again!

For a final wrap-up of Kiel Week: teammate Alice Manard and I were fortunate to have Jenn Chamberlin as our new middle, and after a great week of training at the Chicago Match Race Center and some travel difficulties on Alice’s end, we setup at the USTTAG Base in Germany for the 6^th event of the 2010 World Cup. Twenty-four teams qualified for the event, and when we won our initial grouping we advanced through to an automatic spot in the quarterfinals, and Gold Round Robin Racing. The week was light air, but the match racers completed almost all of our racing while the other fleets were mostly postponed. We enjoyed the benefits of being close to land and on short courses; even if it made for some very shifty races, some big chop as the other fleets towed in and out, and some late nights.

In the end we were seeded against #1 World Ranked British team of Lucy Macgregor for the quarterfinals, and were initially down 1-2, sailing late into the night on Tuesday. With all the races needing to be done before 3 pm the next day, the Race Committee had us out early, and we won our two do-or-die races against Lucy to advance to the Semifinals against Claire Leroy. The conditions had us close to the shore with a very shifty and puffy offshore breeze, and it was often who won the start and got to the first shift would be able to control the race. We were happy to have done that to Lucy’s team, but then unfortunately lost the next 2 races to Claire off the line. The third race we led around the course but she got some better shifts on the final upwind, was close on our tail at the weather mark and was able to gybe inside at the mark and pass us on the downwind, sending us to the petit finals, against our own American teammates, Team Tunnicliffe.

The duke-out for bronze was interesting, with Anna’s team winning the first race but as the clock ticked down there would only be time for one last race, so whoever won the final race would win the bronze. We saw pressure coming down on the left, won the pin and tacked on the left shift, leading them by three boatlenghths or more. But as we approached the weather mark the race committee abandoned the race due to the windshift, and rushed us back to restart. Unfortunately the next race went to their team, with us getting a penalty right at the start for tacking too close with them at our stern, so we ended up fourth for the event.

For a first time sailing with a new teammate we were pleased to have finished fourth, having won our initial round over Claire Leroy, and defeated Lucy Macgregor in the quarterfinals. We left some to be desired in the final races, but very much know what we can continue to improve upon. We’d like to thank USSTAG—it was a great week for our entire American team at Kiel, with 7 teams in the top five, and was a great time for all of us staying together at The Farm. We’d also like to thank the St. Francis Foundation and the Ragnot Amateur Sailing Associatiaon for their support, our suppliers GU Energy and Kaenon Polarized, and Fried Elliott for his wonderful pictures from the week. From here we go on to defend our title at the US Women’s Match Racing Championship next week in Sheboygan, WI, in Sonars, then continue to have a very full summer after that, leading up to the Women’s Match Racing Worlds in September in Newport, RI.

Best,
Genny