2009 « GBR Match Race Girls - Women's Match Racing Olympic Campaign

Korea Match Cup

Monday 2nd November, 2009

Hello from Korea! We’re here again for the Busan Women’s Match, where having won the inaugural event last year crewing for Sally Barkow, we’re here this year for a crack at the title in our own right :)

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

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Tags: 2009, Busan, Busan Women's Match, K30

Clean sweep of 12/12 wins at National Ranker

Tuesday 20th October, 2009

The final Women’s National Match Racing Ranker took place the weekend just gone. With three other teams competing, helmed by Katie Archer, Charlotte Lawrence and Sarah Ayton, I had a bit of a change for the weekend and teamed up with Bird Watson and my younger sister Kate.

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

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Tags: 2009, Elliott 6M, RYA Qualifier, Weymouth

What’s next?

Sunday 27th September, 2009

It has been a month now since our Elliott’s had their first dip in the water down at the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy and since then Ally, Annie and myself haven’t stopped! A weeks hard training getting used to the boats as much as possible led in to the National Championships (and my third National title). It was then straight into the the International event where we did not lose a single race for the whole event. Next up was the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, the first true test of Elliott 6ms, in the Olympic Venue and with all the top Match Races and ex-Yngling sailors. Here we were delighted to go through to the finals after an epic day of quarter finals against the Australians (which went to 4 races and then a re-sail), then semi finals against the French World #1 team (which went to 5 matches). However new conditions on Saturday for the finals against the Dutch team saw us disappointed to only manage the Silver medal loosing the finals 2-1. It’s hard to feel happy with a Silver when your gunning for the gold but we realise the three events for us have been fantastic and put us in a very strong position going into our winters training.

After finish racing on Saturday, it was straight into the winters programme at 09.00 on Monday morning! Having competed in 11 International and more Domestic events since January, its time for us to focus on some training at last! Up to Christmas we’ll be based down in Weymouth working with a squad of other British teams. Our main focus for the period will be getting used to the boats in both the boat handling and speed sense, not focusing on Match Racing tactics too much for now. Included in our programme will be plenty of land based fitness training (bring on the hiking bench!) and we’ll be looking to do some fundraising to ensure we can complete a World Class training programme. We’ll hope to finish this period of training with a test in Melbourne, Australia for the first round of next years ISAF World Cup Series.

Finally a quick thank you to all our supporters over the last 8 months, watching us from rocks, on the TV, or on the internet and a huge thank you to the local buisnesses for their support including Jenkins Marine and Quay Sails.

Back to Weymouth for us on Monday morning…think of us as it gets colder!

Keep sailing!

Lucy x

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Tags: 2009, Elliott 6M, ISAF Sailing World Cup, Skandia Sail for Gold, Weymouth

Silver and an ISAF World Cup victory

Saturday 19th September, 2009

After a couple of hours wait for wind, racing finally got underway in Portland harbour for our finals against the Dutch. Placed closein the south west corner of the harbour in a fickle sea breeze racing was tricky, close and frustrating! Unfortunatley after winning the first race, we lost the second so it was all on the third and last race. A great start where we controlled the Dutch and gave them a penalty led to a good position up the first beat until we were the wrong side of a shift at the top. Gains downwind gave us a great position up the second beat until again we lost in a header with no options allowing the Dutch to take their penalty and control the top of the final run, passing us and finally winning by a length at the finish.

Despite today’s frustrations losing the finals, Annie, Ally and I have had a great week, and put in a really solid performance. Our silver this week at Skandia Sail for Gold stretched our lead in the final standings of the ISAF World Cup Series and shows the strength of our team.

For now sleep, but more to follow tomorrow!

Lucy