Having started on the back foot going 0–2 down, the GBR girls fought back using all of their match racing experience and employing some aggressive tactics to bring it back to 2–2. In the last winner-takes-all deciding match Team Macgregor were ahead, but alas it was not to be as Anne-Claire Le Berre picked up some extra breeze to take the win and the overall title. GBR 2nd, Echegoyen (SPA) 3rd, Bekatorou (GRE) 4th.

More from the girls soon… or check out the full video coverage of the finals (01:28:54)

The first two races were very close with us behind to start with but then taking the lead on first run in both races and gaining from there. In the second we gave ourselves a bit of a head start by getting a penalty against them prestart and leading off the line to finish 3–0 ahead. There was a slight pause in our sail in while the Aussies protested the race committee however that was soon dismissed.

Tomorrow we’ll have the semi finals where we will face Sofia Bekatorou of Greece, and then hopefully the finals! The other semi is Tamara Echegoyen (Spain) -vs- Anne-Claire Le Berre (France).

Looking forward to tomorrow, there may well be live GPS tracking and/or video on the event website, and updates on twitter.

Lucy x

Stay tuned… follow the updates on twitter or check out the Delta Lloyd Regatta website.

This morning we kept a clean sheet after defeating Ekatrina Skudina (RUS), Anna  Kjellberg (SWE) and Sofia Bekatorou (GRE) in conditions we’ve been looking forward to since the European regatta season started! We’re currently leading the gold group round-robin as the only team on three wins, and are waiting to go and sail our final two gold fleet races.

Ally x

Today our two wins against the teams of Silvia Roca (Spain) and Julie Bossard (France) and one loss against Anna Kjellberg (Sweden) has left us tied at the top of Group A, and although we’ve finished 2nd in our group on the tie-break more importantly it is enough to put us through to the gold fleet and a guaranteed place in the quarter finals. While Annie is umpiring in Sardina at the Louis Vuitton, Ally and I are working hard with Nicky getting used to sailing with each other so the gold fleet racing will be a perfect opportunity to refine some of that before the quarter final knock-out rounds.

Looking like a bit more breeze tomorrow, hope so at least!

Lucy x

Ally, Nicky and I are in Group A so were on first this morning on a very shifty and choppy course. Despite a few shaky moments where we were trying to get used to sailing together, we were pleased to finish with three straight wins in tricky conditions. However just when we thought we were done for the day at midday, an announcement was made that they would try and get us out again after the other two groups, so after a few hours wait and time for the breeze to build to about 15 knots we were out again to race the Brazilian team.

An even start led to a drag race to the windward mark and them just getting room on us for the rounding. A poor bear away from them allowed us inside on the hoist but we were not close enough to prevent them gybing at us on starboard so we had to match them and avoid their luff. Within a couple of lengths we were able to break the overlap and eventually had the slightly risky (but right!) option to gybe across them on port. Once reaching into the leeward mark clear ahead, we had a good drop and sailed away from there!

Tomorrow we’ll be on second to finish our round robin, its still close in all the groups so we’ll keep you posted!

Lucy x

While Annie is off ‘observing’ as part of the Umpire team at the Louis Vuitton Regatta in Sardina — a fantastic opportunity again to be on board with some of the most experienced match racers in the World — it gives Ally and I a chance to work on some of our more personal goals and in particular the communication between us.

It is another good line up for the fourth ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta here in Medemblik, Holland and we’re looking forward to the start of racing tomorrow!

Lucy x

They’ve produced the following coverage of the 5th and deciding match of the finals between the British and German teams, tied on two wins apiece before this winner takes all showdown, and subsequent on-the-dock interview with the winning skipper Lucy Macgregor.

With the breeze building to 12-15knots and the hundreds of passing boats creating mountains of chop, conditions were tricky for our first to 3 point final against the German team helmed by Ulrike Schuemann. In general although we had control throughout most of the pre start, we were not always able to transfer this into enough control at start time and after winning the first match we were OCS and then overtaken on the final downwind to go 2-1 down. The pressure was now really on as we had to win the next two matches to win the final. In the penultimate race we were a little slow off the line and held out to the starboard layline with few options to pass. We remained close but unable to pass on the downwind and following upwind then a good spinnaker set meant we won the inside line downwind and were able to slow the German team enough to catch up and pick the correct layline to the finish bringing the scores back to 2-2.

After four very close races it was now all down to the final match. Winning a slim advantage in the final start the tables were turned from the previous match and we were able to hold the German team out to the port layline on the first beat. Although they were only half a boat length behind on the downwind we remained ahead but knew we need to try and extend upwind as the opportunities for the behind boat passing downwind were so great. By extending slightly it gave us a little more of a cushion for the final downwind and despite me falling over round the windward mark Ally and Annie gave us a great set to extend a little more. The German team led the first gybe early, but too early in our opinion so we held slightly before matching them down to the finish. After five such close matches we are delighted to have won the Gold in tricky conditions against great competition. We now look forward to our third World Cup event, Kiel week later this month where we will experience the Elliott 6m for the first time.

Next weekend however we will travel to the venue for our European Championships this year, Middelfart, Denmark to compete in an open Grade 3 event in the DS37 boats we’ll race our World Championships in at the end of July.

Special thanks to Jenkins Marine for their continued support.

Lucy x