Elliott 6M « GBR Match Race Girls - Women's Match Racing Olympic Campaign

A long day on the water at the Worlds

Wednesday 7th December, 2011

After getting just one flight of match racing completed yesterday before the thunderstorms and near gale conditions rolled in, Group B were back out on the water today with a lot on to catch up. The first flight was away at 10am, and the final matches of the day were finishing as the sun set.

We had another pretty good day, winning three of our four matches. In the morning we had light and very shifty breeze, first up we were against Petra Kliba (CRO) before inflicting a pre start penalty against Tania Zimmermann (PER) in our second. So a good morning, 2–0 up and a break until mid afternoon.

Our closest match of the day by far was against Renee Groeneveld (NED) in which we didn’t have a great start and set off slightly behind giving them the all important covering position. The sea breeze had finally materialised, though not quite as strong as outside the harbour, pretty gusty and probably averaging about 17kts. Because of the direction and confines of sailing in the docks, the course was even shorter than usual and extended to three laps making it all a bit crazy! We managed to keep it close, despite our match getting tangled up with the others on the course, and made great gains down wind on the final run. A photo finish, and an agonising pause as the committee boat decided which flag to raise indicating the winner… though sadly it was not to be and the win went to NED.

We finished off the day with a win against Genny Tulloch (USA). Day off tomorrow while Group A race, before finishing our group on Friday. Top two from each group go through to the quarter finals, looks like it’ll be close in both groups!

Yesterdays video report doesn’t feature much sailing, but has an interesting piece on the two AUS match racing teams.

Cheers,

Lucy

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Tags: 2011, Elliott 6M, Perth, World Championships

Uncooperative weather in Perth

Tuesday 6th December, 2011

We were supposed to sail another four matches out of the 10 flights scheduled at the ISAF World Championships, however the weather had different ideas!

Unlike our first day of racing, plagued by a lack of wind, and yesterday’s perfect conditions where Group A got in a full 10 flights, today we were met with ominously dark skies and a forecast which in the words of the race committee “isn’t looking good”! The first flight was completed in a gusty 17kts, but all further matches were postponed and the match racers sent back to harbour late morning due to the worsening weather — winds over 30 kts, heavy rain, and electrical activity likely to produce lightning storms. None of the other classes managed any races today, with all racing cancelled early afternoon.

So after suffering 35+ degree temperatures over the last week we’ve spent today waiting while sheltering from the downpours, a bit of hail, and some pretty impressive thunder and lightning… I thought the point of coming half way round the world was to leave all the cold and wet behind back home! Anyway, we’d better make the most of it, so heading off to explore Perth in the rain…

Yesterday’s video round-up focusses on the Women’s RS:X windsurfer and Men’s 470 class, with our Skandia Team GBR team mates putting in strong performances.

We were originally due to alternate with Group A again tomorrow, but as we’re now quite behind in the schedule the race committee has decided that we’ll be on again to try and catch up with the Group B round robin, so stay tuned and see how we fair tomorrow :)

Cheers,

Lucy, Annie & Kate x

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Tags: 2011, Elliott 6M, Perth, World Championships

A solid start at the Worlds

Sunday 4th December, 2011

Today we sailed the first four matches in our defence of our World Championship title, coming away with three wins and one loss which is quite pleasing given the conditions we had. It was a tricky day today – even when we were a couple of boat lengths ahead, the races were never over, you were always having to look behind you.

Light and shifty winds prevailed all day, with the legendary “Freemantle Doctor” see breeze failing to materialise once again. Our first match was against the Spanish crew, helmed by Silvia Roca, followed by a second win over Denmark’s Trine Abrahmsen.

Our third match was against the host nation’s Olivia Price, after a close pre-start we were in control but both of us were just over the line. As we both went back back we had to dip the Australians and so set off on the back foot up the first beat. It was pretty frustrating as it was a wacky, shifty race to the point where we had a 180 degree wind shift with our spinnaker up on the second beat and finished upwind… so that was a bad race really in terms of the course, but not too disappointing and I suspect that everyone will have a race a bit like that at some stage.

Racing in the inner harbour is an interesting choice of venue, as it’s still a fully operational commercial dock… we have to keep stopping to let container ships go by! But there’s a really good atmosphere ashore with a grandstand and tenting to keep the spectators out of the baking sun, the racing is super close so everyone’s getting an amazing view and the crowds have been out in force.

At the moment the biggest challenge for us is the heat, and it is a really dry heat. We had a tacking duel in the first race and I think we all felt quite dead after that. There is a lot of chop from pleasure bots and the venue is tight so it does change the game and probably makes it harder for the people who are normally dominant to stay as dominant. But it is the same for everyone and overall – three wins and one loss – it was a good day for us, and as long as you win more than you lose I think you are doing well with the conditions.

Our fourth match was another win against Anna Kjellberg’s Swedish team, but the two matches scheduled for us this afternoon against Croatia and Peru were postponed as the wind disappeared so we’ll resume those on Tuesday as Group A are back out tomorrow.

Tomorrow staying out of the sun will be our main aim, we’re finding it pretty hot out here so making sure we stay hydrated and active is important so that we are ready for when we go back out there. There is a lot of racing still to do and if the conditions stay like they have been there is going to be a long battle ahead.

They’re broadcasting a half-hourly daily show on TV summarising the days events, and as this weekend it’s only been the Women’s Match Racing there’s a lot of good coverage. Check out today’s episode below, though unfortunately the match they feature of us is the only we lost, typical!

You can also watch yesterday’s episode here, featuring the action from Group A.

You can keep up to date with the results on matchracingresults.com and the Perth 2011 event website. Check back on Tuesday when we’ll be sailing again in Group B.

Lucy, Annie and Kate x