Our start was looking good until a slight misjudgement by me meant we had to tack and not take the full bias off the line. We gained all the way upwind and ended up giving Anna a penalty but not being in a particularly good position. With a really close downwind Anna was able to take her penalty and still come out ahead. Despite pushing hard the whole way round and after countless tacks and gybes we were unable to pass and finished half a length behind to lose 3–2 down and placing us into the 5th–8th play-off… gutted!

Having sailed so well today and come back when it was all against us it is a disappointing end to our regatta. In the two races to decide places 5th–8th we sailed well and finished both ahead by some margin, but unfortunately we were fighting for the wrong places by then!

The semi finals followed our quarters and tomorrow Leroy (FRA) will race Souter (AUS) in the final and the petite final will be Groeneveld (NED) against Tunnicliffe (USA).

Overall in terms of how we have been sailing we are very pleased, however unfortunately this time the result has not represented that and at the end of the day that’s what counts but there is plenty to take away from the regatta, reflect and improve on, so that in 2 years time we are fighting for the medals!

Thanks for the support, Lucy x

However after a session in the protest room this evening, the damage that our point deduction was given for was proven not to be as a result of our incident, and so the 3/4 point penalty has been reversed.

So we need three straight wins tomorrow to go through to the semis… bring it on!

Lucy

A little wait onshore then we were back out for the first three races of the gold fleet against Groeneveld (NED), Tunnicliffe (USA) and Barkow (USA). All very close races in really tricky conditions so we were pleased to finish with two wins against the Americans and one loss.

Tomorrow we’ll have two more races to finish the gold fleet then will start the quarter finals, so fingers crossed!

There’s pretty good coverage on the skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk website, serving a combination of twitter updates, on-line radio, GPS tracking and a live video stream, so there’s plenty to keep you entertained!

Lucy

At about 5pm we were sent out and have been racing this evening, however despite the race committee’s best efforts at  20.30 the breeze finally died (having had 0–30 knots throughout the day) and we were unable to complete the final race of our round robin. In the races we did manage to sail, against the Spanish, Russians and French, we won all three to secure our spot in the gold fleet along with Tunnicliffe who we will race tomorrow morning.

Great feeling for us to qualify for the quarter finals, we are sailing well and feel there is plenty left in the tank.

For now though, time for bed!

Lucy x

Unfortunately with the groups going on rankings all three GBR boats have ended up in the same group so despite it being an international competition, our first two races were against the teams of Wilson and Archer. A close race for us first off got us into the swing of things and we were pleased to finish with three straight wins when the first round is so important for us in progressing through to the later stages of the event.

Le Berre (FRA) and Tunnicliffe (USA) also won all three of their races in our group so it will all come down to tomorrows racing to see who gets through to gold fleet. We’re scheduled to have our final four races in this group tomorrow about midday.

Take a look at the event website www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk for full results .

Lucy

In the recent release of the Women’s Match Racing World Rankings we were thrilled to hold on to our no 1 spot and we are now really looking forward to racing on home waters again. Currently we are training alongside 500 optimists doing their National Championships and I don’t think WPNSA is going to get quieter any time soon!

Lucy

2010 will be busy year for us starting with a weeks training in Palma and then straight off to Miami to prepare for the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta, the first event in the 2010 ISAF World Cup Series. Following Miami we’ll be back to Palma for training until the European season begins with Princess Sofia Regatta at the end of March. There are a total of 6 World Cup events which we will compete in, the series finale being in the 2012 Olympic venue at Weymouth for the Sail for Gold Regatta in August. As well as the World Cup events our other focus for the year will be the ISAF Women’s World Match Racing Championships to be held at Rhode Island, New York in September.

Having finished 2009 ranked #2 in the World and winning the ISAF World Cup Series, Annie, Ally and I had a fantastic year and intend to keep that momentum through to 2010 with aim of topping the World rankings and winning the World Cup Series again. With the support of Skandia Team GBR, The City Livery Yacht Club, Jenkins Marine, Morris Lane and Spinnaker Yachts we can’t wait to get back on the water and continue our campaign to winning Gold at the Olympics in 2012 – Just 936 days to go!

Happy sailing, Lucy x

After finish racing on Saturday, it was straight into the winters programme at 09.00 on Monday morning! Having competed in 11 International and more Domestic events since January, its time for us to focus on some training at last! Up to Christmas we’ll be based down in Weymouth working with a squad of other British teams. Our main focus for the period will be getting used to the boats in both the boat handling and speed sense, not focusing on Match Racing tactics too much for now. Included in our programme will be plenty of land based fitness training (bring on the hiking bench!) and we’ll be looking to do some fundraising to ensure we can complete a World Class training programme. We’ll hope to finish this period of training with a test in Melbourne, Australia for the first round of next years ISAF World Cup Series.

Finally a quick thank you to all our supporters over the last 8 months, watching us from rocks, on the TV, or on the internet and a huge thank you to the local buisnesses for their support including Jenkins Marine and Quay Sails.

Back to Weymouth for us on Monday morning…think of us as it gets colder!

Keep sailing!

Lucy x

Despite today’s frustrations losing the finals, Annie, Ally and I have had a great week, and put in a really solid performance. Our silver this week at Skandia Sail for Gold stretched our lead in the final standings of the ISAF World Cup Series and shows the strength of our team.

For now sleep, but more to follow tomorrow!

Lucy