GBR Match Race Girls

Today the schedule focussed on mini round robins to determine 5th to 8th place amongst the losers of the quarter finals, and 9th — 13th from the remainder. Our fellow British competitors Team Mary Rook finished 7th.

One flight of the semi-finals was held, in which we went 1–0 up against Anne-claire Le Berre. The semi-finals will conclude tomorrow morning, followed by the finals and petit-final.

Another good day on the water today, starting with two wins in our remaining round robin matches to finish on 9 out of 12, along with the highly experienced teams of Ulrike Shuemann (GER) and Annelies Thies (NED) who have both represented their countries at the Olympics in the Yngling class.

After the tie-break rules were applied, we emerged 1st in the round robin, followed by Ulrike 2nd and Annelies 3rd. As winner of the round robin, Annie, Ally and I were paired against the 8th place finisher, our fellow compatriots and training partners last week, Mary Rook, Bethan Carden and Lauren Martel. In a first-to-three quarter final we defeated Team Rook 3–0, progressing through to the semi-finals tomorrow where we shall face Anne-claire Le Berre.

Internet access is difficult, but here is a quick update –

This morning gave us light and shifty breeze, settling to a steady 10 knots in the afternoon. We’ve now won seven out of our ten matches, which puts us 2nd at the moment behind the Dutch team of Annilies Thies, so we’re hoping to stay on track for making it through to the quarter-finals after the round robin is completed tomorrow.

Forecast for tomorrow is looking good! :)

Today saw the start of the second Women’s Match Racing event of the ISAF World Sailing Cup series, at the Delta Lloyd Regatta at Medemblik, The Netherlands. Strong winds prevented several classes completing their scheduled races, however the Women’s Match Racing went ahead as planned close to the Regatta Centre, giving spectators a view of this new Olympic discipline.

We were due to sail in only three of the flights scheduled today — as usual there are more teams than boats available — but unfortunately these were spread throughout the day meaning it was a bit on/off with delays between our matches. Tomorrow should be better and let us settle in a bit more, with more races scheduled for Annie, Ally and myself.

However it’s been good to get out there and get the first day out of the way. Despite the conditions and my limited experience in helming the Yngling we got round the course pretty well, and today was definitely more about boat handling than a typical match racing day because of the wind. We’re pleased to have won two out of our three matches today, giving us a solid start, and we’re looking forward to building on this tomorrow.

More soon…

Lucy