January 25, 2012
Miami, FL

It wasn't a great day on paper today for Team Maclaren as we finished up our last four races of the round robin with a 1-3 record, but it was enough to squeak us through to the quarterfinals.

Photo: copyright John Payne 2012

We sailed some very good races, and our last two came down to a boat length at the finish, but unfortunately, it was not us that was in front at those times. We opened the day up with two races, had a bye for two races, and then raced the two final races.

Our first race was against our training partners Team Audi Match Race. We had a good first leg, but right at the top, she split right right and we split left. We tacked just short of a puff and she got a nice righty which allowed her to take a few lengths lead that we couldn't pull back. The next race we won against Canadian Jinnie Gordon.

After our break, it was two more races to finish the round. Our first race was against Team Skudina from Russia. We had a great pre-start against them, but lost the lead at the bottom mark. Upwind we were able to catch up and almost get around them at the top, but just fell short. Downwind, we had a good battle with them, but they were able to get across the line just ahead of us and take the win.

Our final race was the most fun and most exciting race of the round. It was against our USSTAG teammates, Team Barkow. The start was a pretty even and up the beat, both teams were neck and neck, with us on the right and them on the left. The last shift of the leg was a leftie and she rounded just in front of us. We had a good downwind leg and were able to get an inside overlap right at the zone and round inside of them at the bottom. Upwind, again, both boats were neck and neck and once again we fell victim to a left shift which was unfortunate, as we had them pinned going out to the port layline. The result of the shift meant that we had tack away and she was able to pin us to the starboard layline and ultimately round just ahead of us at the top mark. Downwind was an intense gybing dual with lots of luffs. We lost out right on the finish line but fortunately the scores for the round worked out that we still advanced through to the quarterfinals.

We were rather bummed with the scoreline today, but had a good debrief with coach Dave Dellenbaugh; we talked about our mistakes, and where we need to make improvements. It wasn't that we sailed badly today, we just made mistakes that gave our opponents the opportunities they needed to take the lead. Sometimes you have to lose in order to learn, but tomorrow we will move on and focus on what we need to do to win this new series.

We have to wait for group B to finish their remaining 3 flights, first thing tomorrow, before we know the pairings for the quarterfinals. The series is a first to 3 point series.

You can check the scores at the regatta website (http://rmocr.ussailing.org/) and racing is also live on Twitter.

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, Chicago Match Race Center and Sperry Top-Siderfor 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.