Melbourne, Australia - December 21, 2008 - I managed to come out on top of the Laser Radial Class at the Sail Melbourne regatta which finished yesterday after 11 races over the six days of competition. This was the first regatta of the ISAF Sailing World Cup and I am very excited to have won.

After the light conditions I reported on midway through the event, things got a lot more difficult and I had a bit of a tougher time. The breeze picked up at the halfway point and we raced in big seas and 15 to 20 knots of breeze for four races. Complicating things, I picked up a bug that went through the house where I was staying. By Friday night I was quite sick. Friday was the first day of big breeze. We had two races scheduled and I finished 10th and 7th in the combined fleet (6th and 5th in the women's fleet). At the end of the day I was still in the lead as my previous drop race had been a third placing. All the girls posted a mixed day of results, given that the boys in the fleet were now players, but Sara Winther, my roommate from New Zealand had the best score, followed closely by Aussie Gabrielle King.

Before we started racing on Saturday I knew that I had to finish with six points or less in the women's fleet to guarantee the win overall. I was doing OK off the line in the first race until both sides closed in and I was stuck in the middle. After that I battled hard with Tina Mihelic from Croatia for the fifth place women's spot and just managed to hold her off at the finish. 

The fifth place in the first race of the day meant that I had to win the next race if I wanted to seal the deal with a race to spare. I put a lot of effort into this race, beginning with a decent start. I was running low on energy, given that I'd lost my dinner from the night before, had about five hours sleep and couldn't stomach much that morning. But I knew what I had to do and I don't think I had ever in my life been in as much pain from hiking. At the top mark, I was second, behind Tina and then caught up with her on the downwind to round the leeward mark just behind her and closely followed by Gabrielle. 

I decided I had to sail the shifts smart and hike really hard. If I could stay close to them by the time we reached the top mark, I could make a move on them downwind. As it worked out, they ended up covering each other and missing the last couple of shifts on the windward leg. I rounded the top mark in first place and then led them to the finish. It was a good feeling crossing the line to know that as long as I hadn't started early, I had won the event.

The final race was on Sunday and as I had already won the Girls' Division, I went out to top the overall (men's and women's) leaderboard too.  I had a seven point overall lead going into the last race. I watched the full rigs race before us and saw clearly that the left side of the course was by far the favoured side and that the boats on the right were not looking good at all. So I had a decent start at the pin and led out to the left side, setting myself up to lead the left boats back into the mark. Of course, the right hand side came in very strong. That was a bit frustrating but it made for good practice to fight back. I'm not sure where I rounded the top mark as it got very light and shifty as about 15 boats come into it together. I think I gained a couple boats at that point but anyway I was still not in the top ten when I rounded.  I sailed a smart and fast downwind to pass about four boats, and a smart second beat to round the top mark in sixth.  I held on to that for the rest of the race and crossed the line with the overall win of the regatta too.

In the women's division, my score was 25 points, nine points clear of Gabrielle King, while Andrea Brewster from Great Britain was third with 40 points.

Winning this event and the opening leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup was a great way to start the season. And it has given me a great idea of what I need to focus on between now and the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta, which is the second event in the series.  Between now and then I have some training scheduled with my  US Sailing Team Alphagraphics teammate Paige Railey. I'm really looking forward to that.

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. Best wishes!

Sail hard,

Anna