GBR Match Race Girls » Bermuda Gold Cup

Waiting for wind on day 3

Lucy — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:40:44 +0000

It’s day 3 of the Argo Group Gold Cup and the final day of the round robin stages with one race in each group left. Yesterday was a slightly frustrating day for us where we did a lot of the hard work well but lost two races on execution errors. With two great starts and one which was shaping up to be another good one..until we were over the line…we are happy with many areas of our racing but need to iron out the mistakes where possible. With everyone being close on results in our group there is still a slim chance that a win today would get us through to the repechage. We need a few more races between the others to go our way so fingers crossed because on this race course, anything can happen! The event website will continue to run the blog throughout the day to keep you up to date.

Argo Group Gold Cup — Day 1 video

Ian — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 10:29:21 +0000

There is another press release and video report from the Gold Cup in Bermuda.

The Match Race Girls are scheduled to have four more matches today, which should start around 1pm BST. Real-time updates and live video feed at wmrt.com

Argo Group Gold Cup — Day 1

Ian — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:35:44 +0000

The Match Race Girls competed in three matches today in the Argo Group Gold Cup, including the very first match of the event, though sadly that turned out to be a loss against Bjorn Hansen (world #9).

The second match against Phil Robertson (#21) was extremely close, as you can see in the video below, however despite leading around the course Robertson’s experience and familiarity with the IOD yachts kept him close enough to the girls to prevent them taking their pre-start penalty just before the finish.

Match 3 was against Mathieu Richard, world #3, the top seed and current MRWT leader. The press release says it all… Macgregor takes Mathieu Richard’s Scalp in Bermuda :)

http://www.wmrt.com/news/98-argo-group-gold-cup/11371-lucy-macgregor-takes-mathieu-richards-scalp-in-bermuda.html

And on to the Argo Bermuda Gold Cup

Lucy — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:38:53 +0000

It has been an amazing couple of weeks for us, becoming World Champions was an awesome end to what has been a successful but tricky year. The Worlds was a big focus for us so in many ways marks the end of our main season, but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped racing!

After a week of holiday for Annie and I in New York we are now in Bermuda preparing to race in the Argo Bermuda Gold Cup, the penultimate event on the World Match Racing Tour. Sailing in the IOD boats they have here, a classic 1930s design 33ft sloop, and racing against the top men’s teams from around the world (including our coach, Ian Williams) will be somewhat different from our Elliott 6m racing but a great experience and I’m sure there are many valuable lessons to be learned.

We have been training over the last couple of days and have our final practice today with our crew for the week Peter Martin and Chris Britten, two local guys which is a bit of a change from our usual all female team! With 22 teams competing the format will be similar to the ISAF Sailing World Cup events we do in the women’s tour, three groups from which the top two go through to the quarters and the next two through to the repechage round.

There will be a huge amount of coverage of this prestigious event, keep an eye on wmrt.com, and as ever we’ll keep you posted!

Lucy

Argo Group Gold Cup Preview Video —

Invitation to Bermuda Gold Cup

Ian — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:58:16 +0000

I’m excited to announce that we have been invited to compete at the Argo Group Gold Cup, one of the most prestigious events on the men’s pro World Match Racing Tour. We’ll be heading out to Hamilton Island (Bermuda) in October to give the men a run for their money, along with the top US women’s match racing team skippered by Beijing gold medallist Anna Tunnicliffe.

Peter Shrubb, Commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, explains

“The men are really going to have their hands full with these two women who are really going to add some excitement to this event. I think we could see some major upsets this year!

Macgregor has established herself as a reckoning force in women’s match racing having captured national and European titles to rapidly rise through the ranks to the top of the women’s world rankings.

We have eight of the world’s top ten men’s match racing teams and with these two women’s teams I am really looking forward to see how this whole thing pans out.”

We’ll be racing in the International One Design (IOD) class, a beautiful classic yacht from the 1930′s, though a far cry from the modern light-weight racing yachts we’re used to sailing! With a heavy displacement, large rig, and long overhangs these boats will be a challenge to sail, both physically and in adapting to the differences in their handling, especially in pre-start manoeuvres.

Nevertheless we’re extremely excited to have the opportunity to sail against the best men’s teams in the world, including fellow Skandia Team GBR member and triple gold medallist Ben Ainsle who will be returning to defend his title after wining the event last year.

Bring on the sunshine, and the competition!

Lucy