| A Win In Calpe | | Print | |
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May 8, 2010
After four days of learning the boats,
adjusting to new crew numbers, and tricky wind and sea conditions, Team
Tunnicliffe finally knocked off last year's champion to win
the finals 3-1 at the XII
International Women's Match Race Criterium.
Molly, Liz, Mary, Debbie, Anna (Team
Tunnicliffe) At The Awards Ceremony
Photo: (c) JLStudio, May 2010It was a beautiful day of sailing with a building sea breeze all day. With the building breeze, the wave state built too which made controlling the boat speed upwind quite tricky, but the downwind waves were a lot of fun to surf.
Our day started
against Australia's Katie Spithill. We started the semi's yesterday
and were tied at 1-1 going into this morning. In the first race, we
drew a penalty on her upwind for tacking too close. She led us around
the course and tried to draw us in on the final downwind leg, but we
managed to hang back enough until we could pass her and win the race.
In the second race, we led around the mark but made a mistake downwind, and she passed us. We couldn't get her back and she went on to tie up the series 2-2. In the final race, we led her off the line, and maintained the lead all around the course to take the win to advance to the finals against France's Claire Leroy. Claire won her semi final match up against Spain's Tamara Echegoyen 3-1.
After Crossing The Finish Line For The Win
Photo: (c) JLStudio, May 2010
In the finals, we were behind in the first race until the last downwind leg, where we managed to pass her and take the first win of the series. In the second race, she led off the line, and went on to win the race. By race three, the wind had picked up quite a bit. We started to the right of her, and held her off on the first upwind. The wind shifted slightly right during the race, and we were able to maintain the lead barely downwind to make the series score 2-1. In the final race, we split from them off the start line, us going right and them going left. We had a two-boat length lead at the top mark and sailed smart to take the series 3-1.
You can check the results
at the regatta website. |
Representing the USA, Anna Tunnicliffe won the Gold Medal in the Women's Laser Radial dinghy at the 2008 Olympic Games in Qingdao, China. Anna was the ISAF world's Number One-ranked women's Radial sailor from April 9, 2008 to May 2010. She was voted 2009 & 2011 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year. Now Anna, skipper of Team Maclaren, has teamed up with Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi to take on the world and go for Gold in 2012 London Olympic Games in Women's Match Racing and the team is currently ranked #1 in the ISAF WMR rankings.