August 1, 2011
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Team Maclaren has just wrapped up a great week of sailing in Weymouth, UK.  We headed over there on July 23 to do a week of training with Audi Match Race Team (Team Finland :Silja, Silja, and Miksu), Team New Zealand (Stephanie, Jenna, and Susanah), and our USSTAG teammates (Sally, Maggie and Alana).  It was a pleasant week with only one day starting a little on the chilly side, but ending like the rest, with sunshine and nice breeze.

We headed into the week with hopes of working on light air sailing. And our hopes were answered with a forecast that  brought winds from 0-9 kts. We really utilised our time in Weymouth by spending a lot of time on the water, around 4-5 hours a day for six days, and with us running in the morning before, and hitting the gym after, sailing. Even though the winds were quite light, we were very tired by the end of the week but came away satisfied with our training. With four teams participating, we were able to rotate our training partners regularly so we wouldn't get used to one person's favourite moves. Our biggest focus for the week was light air downwind sailing, and we made some big strides in that area. It is the trickiest part of the game, I think, because the plays you use when it is windier are much different than those you use in light air, so having this forecast all week long allowed us to really focus on the light air downwind plays. 

I will write blogs from the slalom and hopefully have some great pics for you too.

We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, and Chicago Match Race Center for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support. Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our campaign should be made payable directly to either The Sailing Foundation of New York (tax deductible) memo'd Anna Tunnicliffe, or to Anna Tunnicliffe.

Sail Hard,

And as usual, don't forget, email us your questions and comments.  We love getting them and sharing our love of sailing and women's match racing.