This second video from OffshoreRules shows us overtaking Claire Leroy in a tussle at the windward mark in one of our semi-final matches.

After the first two races we were 2–0 up and feeling good, but the conditions were very tricky with us rarely being more than two boat lengths apart. In the third race however after a great first beat we once again led round the first windward mark, but were given a (slightly debatable) penalty on our rounding. From there Tunnicliffe sailed well to stay ahead and get a point on the board. The next two races continued to be close with us winning the starts but struggling to gain any distance up or down wind. With Tunnicliffe winning the 4th race it was 2–2 and all down to the final race which was extremely close literally down to the final 20 meters to the finish line where they eventually beat us by half a boat length.

We are of course really gutted and disappointed not to have won the gold, however Annie, Ally and I have had a really fantastic week and have shown the world that we’re the team to beat. Anna and her team sailed the boat really well today and I’m told the racing between us was great to watch!

Thanks for all your support and we’ll keep you posted on our next move!

Lucy x

We’re really pleased with how we’re sailing, and with how we are still chipping away at improving our tactics, speed and boat handling. The forecast is for us to have a bit more wind tomorrow from our 10 knot average today and after a very close semi final that went to 5 matches, Tunnicliffe’s team (USA) came out as our opponents for tomorrow.

Our aim for this event was a medal which we’re delighted to have achieved, but with that now secured, tomorrow is all about winning! Fingers crossed!

Lucy x

Check out the event website and Skandia Team GBR website for up to date results and a few words from Annie! There are a load of videos at sailgroove.org and they may well have live coverage of the finals tomorrow.

By 2.00pm we were out racing again against the relatively known quantity of Meldgaard’s team, as we had not sailed against them so far at this event. As they are a very experienced Match Racing team and with the wind around 8–11 knots, we knew the racing was likely to be close and it would be hard to gain any distance round the course. Two good starts gave us the jump however, and we were able to cover them around the course to win both races sailed. Although we were keen to continue racing and try and finish the job there and then, the race committee decided to call it a day and leave the remaining quarter final matches until tomorrow. Hopefully we can finish the job in just one more match tomorrow and start preparing for the best of 5 semi finals where we would be up against either Barkow or Leroy… but lets not jump ahead too soon!

In the other pairings, Tunnicliffe (USA) leads Whitty (AUS) 2–0, Souter (AUS) and Osbourne (NZL) are tied 1–1 and Leroy (FRA) leads Barkow (USA) 2–0.

Forecast is good again for tomorrow… bring it on!

You can follow the results from about mid-afternoon UK time on the event website, or check up on the latest video diary update from Annie below.

The conditions today were fantastic, although it was a little chilly at our 8.00am briefing, the land soon warmed up and the 7-10 knot northerly breeze provided good close racing amongst the fleets. Our first race was against Tunicliffe and after leading in to the start in the last minute we were able to secure a strong windward position and match their first few tacks to then gain a comfortable margin for the rest of the race. Next up were the Kiwis and a fairly even pre-start led to us winning the side we wanted but unfortunately pulling the trigger a little early and starting over the line! A quick dip however and we were still hot on their heels up the first beat. Good speed helped us close the margin slightly and then a solid lee-bow tack by us, slowed them and meant on the next tack up to the starboard layline we were crossing their bow. Conservative sailing from then on gave us our second win of the day with one more race to go. The Australians won their group in the first stage so we knew they could be tough competition and with quite a random pre start it was still any one’s game until a call by the umpires (possibly wrongly?) went against them. We were then slightly on the back foot behind them with only 45 seconds until the start and not much time left to kill but a great execution coming up on the starboard layline with her below meant we started on the right, up to speed and with all our options. Matching their tacks up the first beat allowed us to pull ahead more and then extend on every leg to the finish.

Tomorrow the race committee will look to finish all four groups, the repechage, gold, silver and bronze fleet, allowing them to go into quarter finals on Friday. We’re really happy with how we have been sailing so far but are  making little mistakes so will definitely be looking to work on those areas tomorrow before Friday’s playoffs.

Until  tomorrow, bye for now!

We are definitely through to the quarter finals, but will start a gold group round robin tomorrow to determine the positions for the quarter final play-offs. We’ll keep you posted!

Lucy x

After a really good race against Mandy Mulder’s team (NED) where we gave them a penalty on the first beat, the rumours of a big storm spread and we were brought in off the water for an hour and a half before finally getting out again around 3pm for 3 more races. Our next win was against the Finnish team of Chita Wahlroos, and then we had some excitement in our third race when during the pre-start Uli Schuemann’s team (GER) got stuck on the anchor of the committee boat and then later in the race were black flagged (disqualified) to prevent further damage to their boom which was damaged in the hit. So a quiet race for us there, and then into our final race of the day against the American team helmed by Katie Lovell. During the pre start we were able to give them a penalty and then with Ally calling us up to the line we had a good start and extended from there!

Tomorrow the Race Committee will start group C first for 4 matches and then we’ll be out again from around 11.00 for the final 3 races of our round robin. With 3 teams all on 4 wins at the moment, I’m sure it’ll be an exciting day!

For full results go to http://rmocr.ussailing.org/Results.htm, or look out for updates on the RolexMiamiOCR Twitter feed.

We’ll let you know how it goes!

Lucy

Video diary:

Our training over the last week in the American boats and in this venue has been really useful, and we have gained a lot from it even though we had very light conditions towards the end. After a couple of days rest and relaxation we can’t wait to get racing, which starts on Monday, however before that each team has two official practice sessions, along with registration, weigh-in, etc to completed over the course of the weekend.

Lucy

Currently we’re chartering a boat for practice here, getting used to the conditions (and the climate, slightly improved from the UK!). We’re training against the other GBR team of Katie Archer, Nicky Muller and Lauren Martel, and have three more days of practice until racing starts on Monday.

There will be 24 teams from 16 nations competing from the 25th through to the 30th. With 206 matches scheduled in total it is going to be a busy week for all, in the first stage the fleet will be split into three round-robin groups of 8 boats. We’ll keep you posted!

Lucy