| Happy With A 1,2 On 1st Day, Largs | | Print | |
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July 9, 2010
Largs, Scotland
I had a great start to racing at the 2010 Radial Worlds here
in Largs, Scotland. I finished day
1 with a 1, 2 to be tied for first overall with Marit Bouwmeester from Netherlands. Close behind us by one point is my USSTAG team mate Paige
Railey with 4 points.
Crossing The Finish Line In Second
Photo: (c) Joanna Tunnicliffe, July 2010
We woke up this morning to misty rain, and about 8
kts of
breeze blowing off shore. We
headed out to the race course around 10:45 for a noon start. I was assigned to the blue fleet for
today’s racing, which meant that I was second start. As
the fleet headed out, the wind slowly built up to about
14-16kts for the first race. I had
a terrible start in the first race, but managed to find a lane quite
quickly
and hiked hard. The wind was forecasted to shift right through the day,
so I
was happy to be heading to the right side of the course.
At the top mark I was 3rd,
and rounded the bottom mark in 2nd. Upwind,
I passed the other boat and took the lead at the top
mark and held on for the rest of the race, with Marit on my tail.
It Got Cold And Really Wet Between Races
Photo: (c) Joanna Tunnicliffe, July 2010
In the second race, I had a great start. The wind had shifted about 90 degrees
at this point, and had also picked up to the high teens. I pulled out on the fleet off the line,
and tacked to cross the fleet. The
only person I didn’t cross at the time was Marit, and had a close duck
on
her. She ended up tacking on my
hip a little later, and I thought I was setting up the beat well as I
was
leading her and the fleet back to the right side. But
I led it too far, and the boats on my hip started to
wind a little and gained back the distance I had just pulled out. I tacked up before it was too late and
rounded just on the tail of Marit and Sarah Lihan from the USA. Downwind, the three of us battled it
out until I got a yellow flag penalty for body pumping. I
managed to do my 720 penalty turn
quite fast and rounded right behind Sarah at the bottom mark. On the second upwind, the wind died and
started to get very shifty. After
getting a bit out of phase in the bottom of the beat, I settled down and
played
the shifts correctly at the top to round the mark 2nd with a bit
of a
lead on 3rd. On the top reach, the wind
was still very puffy and I managed to stretch out to about 20
boatlengths on
the boats behind me. That said,
Marit did the same to me, so I was pretty much settling for second place
at
that time, which I was happy to take.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the day. It is a good way to start the regatta,
and I’m having a lot of fun sailing.
Tomorrow’s forecast is for similar conditions only slightly more
rain I
think. But as long as there is
wind, I can handle the rain. You
can check the results out on the regatta website .
Sail Hard, Anna Team Tunnicliffe |