Keep sailing!

Lucy

We are now training in Weymouth over the next two weeks, then after a short Christmas break we’ll be preparing for the first event of the 2010 ISAF World Cup Series in Miami. Plus, in the mean time, we’ll be shipping the RYA Elliott 6Ms out to Palma so that the team can train out there during the spring while the freezing cold and short days take over here! So it’s a busy period of planning and preparing for 2010 and our next few months of hard training before the European season begins once more.

Being so long and narrow you can see how quickly the bow and stern can swing round, and just how wet these boats can be! In our role as observers (positioned further back behind the camera man) clinging on was at times pretty difficult… but an amazing experience :)

The December issue of Yachts and Yachting magazine carries an in-depth article on Lucy and her team, and the new Olympic Discipline of Women’s Match Racing.

Find out what the Match Racing circuit is all about, catch up on the girls’ progress, training and aspirations, and see the new Elliott 6m boat which has been selected for the London 2012 Olympics at Portland and Weymouth.

Y&Y is available now from all good news agents, or as an online eZine subscription.

I was lucky enough to be asked to join the umpire team for the event as one of the five observers. The role of the observers is to stand at the back of the racing yachts radioed up in communication with the umpires, and to call the boat’s heading and whether or not we are overlapped with the other boat in tight situations. Sounds easy right? Well it isn’t too bad until you add in the need for us to hang on for dear life as the transoms are swung on full lock by the helmsmen and the scoop fills up with water from the wave that has just passed over your head!

Our final role is to call if and when there is ever any contact between yachts, or as I had it yesterday, between stern and the committee boat (the good thing is it is generally not hard to tell because if there is contact, it’s often going to happen very close to where your standing!).

Despite the occasional fear, so far it has been an amazing experience seeing how the teams work together and operate these power houses of yachts and to see the options the afterguard take in each tactical situation — sometimes not a world apart from the Elliott 6M racing we’ll be back to at the end of the month!

The event website www.louisvuittontrophy.com has up to date information on results, and good live coverage of the racing, but I will try and keep you posted on my experiences too!

Some photos of the action below… the rather fetching fluorescent arm-bands are to help the umpires see our signals!

Lucy

Having lost the first match in the finals against Sally Barkow, Team Lucy Macgregor then went on to win the next three in a row to take the title 3–1. Congratulations for not only a great result against top international competition, but also in achieving this with the quite remarkable consistency of conceding defeat in only one match throughout the entire event.

More to follow I’m sure…

Following the completion of the round robin the race committee went on to complete the semi-finals which we won 3-0 against Anne-Claire Le Berre and her French team. Tomorrow sees us racing the first-to-3-point final against American Sally Barkow and her all British crew, including Lucy’s usual crew member Annie Lush.

The whole team are delighted with our progress so far, with more left in the tank for tomorrow.

An early night now ready for some competitive racing tomorrow!

Nicky and the Team. xxx

With top international teams competing from 8 different nations, including the more local Korean and Japanese teams, the Busan Women’s Match is a great event to come to and something of a different experience from the European events! Joining me this time is Ally Martin, Jody Slater and both my sisters, Nicky and Kate, on the 30ft asymmetric K30 boats, designed specifically for this event.

Unfortunately we’ve been struggling to find internet connection here, but online now so here’s a quick recap so far…

The round-robin stages started on Saturday, however the wind failed to materialise in the morning when our group was scheduled to be out, so no racing for us. As a result we were first out yesterday, confidently winning 5 out of 5 matches. Today has been another successful day, though with racing taking place as close into the beach as possible for all the spectators it is a tricky race area, with the wind disrupted by hi-rise buildings on the shore. This was especially noticable today when we had anywhere from 10-20 knots combined with frequent, random, 40 degree shifts hitting us with very little warning! However we were pleased to win another 3 matches today against the Dutch, Finnish and Japanese teams, so after the third day of racing we’re looking strong with straight wins so far in the first round robin stage. We have only 3 more races to complete in the round robin tomorrow morning, against 3 of the higher ranked teams.

Forecast is for a little less wind tomorrow, so hopefully we will all finish the round robin stages. Due to the uncooperative weather on Saturday it is likely the organisers will go straight to a semi-final knock out stage then the finals on Wednesday, the final day of the event, so we’re aiming to continue our good form and secure a top 4 position in the round robin tomorrow to go through to the semis.

We’ll try and keep you posted!

Lucy x

Saturday saw the breeze drop from 8 to 5 knots throughout the day but it was plenty to get in the double round robin which we were pleased to sail through without loosing a single race. With the other three teams close on points, we ended up racing Charlotte Lawrence in the first to 3 point semi finals. With strong starts and good pace particularly up wind we held the advantage for the afternoon finishing the day 2-0 ahead in the series but close racing in the other semi lead to them finish drawn at 1a piece overnight.

The forecast for Sunday was not particularly good with what little wind there was forecast to drop to nothing and swing 180 degrees so the race committee were keen to get out early. In our first race, despite have a strong position with 15 seconds to go, we spent the next 10 going sideways and started on the back foot against Charlotte but a slip up by her gave us a clear lane of breeze up the first beat and put us in a strong position to overtake downwind…3-0 and through to the finals! In the other semi final racing remained close with Archer just taking the win to put her 2-1 ahead. Although another start took place for them the harbour soon turned glassy and it was back to shore to wait for wind. At 1.15 the other Olympic Classes were cancelled for the day but our Race Officers were determined and sent us back out to try again by 1.30. Because they were running out of time they decided to abort the semi final between Archer and Ayton where it was, putting Archer through to the finals with us. With very fickle shifty breeze we were able to start racing and we were pleased to sail well to comfortably win three races on the trot and win the weekend having not lost a single race! In the petite final although Ayton’s team looked strong at 2-0 ahead, Lawrence came back strong and won the next three races to claim the third spot overall.

Thanks to Bird and Kate for sailing with me for the weekend, they were fantastic and I find it really useful to sail with different people on occasions because I never know what I might learn!

Having had the last two days off from sailing (just doing all the paperwork that goes with the sailing!), it is back to Weymouth tomorrow to train for the rest of the week through to Tuesday next week. Next we will then be heading off to Korea for their second ever Women’s Grade 1 Match Racing event, the Busan Women’s Match.

After Korea I’m going straight to Nice, where I’m excited to say I’ll be an on-board observer as part of the Umpire team at the Louis Vuitton Series (in other words hanging on to the back of the America’s Cup Yachts for dear life!). This will be an fantastic experience and a great opportunity to see many of the world’s best sailors at this pinnacle of professional Match Racing.

Thanks again to all our supporters including Jenkins Marine, Quay Sails, Morris Lane and Spinnaker Yachts.

Yes it’s getting cold, but… keep sailing!

Lucy x