Today’s finals held in the harbour right in front of the packed grandstand provided a thrilling afternoon’s spectacle as the Women’s finalists battled for the title, demonstrating once again how match racing is an an exciting spectator sport for both sailing enthusiasts and non-sailors alike.

The Match Race Girls have been in Perth for about a month, cumulating in an intense two weeks of competition which has seen them compete in more than 40 individual matches. Coming ashore the girls commented “It’s been a great two weeks, but hard work. We’re really pleased with the way we’re sailing at the moment and our performance at this regatta, we’re quick, but today we made some mistakes in getting penalties which is quite frustrating. Without them we’d have been looking very strong today and the scoreline could have looked quite different. We’re looking forward to building on this and competing next year at the Olympics.”

Read more about the day’s racing at the Skandia Team GBR and Perth2011 sites, and there’s also been considerable interest in the news. Video highlights and a full report from the girls to follow later… for now there’s some celebrating to be done :)

It was a very long day on the water but finally we got some great racing completed outside the harbour/docks where we have been racing all week. Tomorrow it looks like we’ll be outside again so all change from the last two weeks but Kate, Annie and I can’t wait to take it on!

Cheers for supporting,

Lucy x

Tomorrow it will be our turn in Group B to finish our round robin and with 5 races left for us to complete, it will be an important day. The goal is to finish in the top two in our group so that we secure our own spot in the quarter final, though there’s potential for an equally close finale to the round robin with several teams tied at the moment. It will not be easy so fingers crossed… follow the results and updates on matchracingresults.com.

In our day off today while Group A were racing we managed to catch up with one of our sponsors Sperry Top-Sider, who kindly gave us all a bag of goodies… thanks Sperry!

So if all else fails, maybe Annie has a career on the shopping channels…?!

Cheers,

Lucy

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

Follow @SkandiaTeamGBR on twitter for the daily “mystery photo” and to keep up to date with all the news from the team.

You should only need one guess for today’s santa…

The Match Race Girls will start their round robin tomorrow… stay tuned!

Video below taken last night as we passed through the racing area on our way from Freshwater down to Freemantle

Rather than send boats out here to train in we decided to charter the dutch boats and we had a really good week of training with a practice regatta in the middle which we won, yey! Prizes were awarded by the USA team and were boomerangs!

We managed one day off in the middle of it all and paid a quick visit to Penguin Island which I LOVED, also got in a spot of shopping of course!

Generally its quite windy out here but the forecast is looking a little lighter over the next few days in true ‘It’s not normally like this’ fashion. We will keep you posted though with results and stories along the way.

Lucy x

Two weekends ago the South West Shingles YC, a select invitation-only group of esteemed yachtsmen and seafarers who have all experienced notable calamities afloat, kindly organised their annual regatta and end of season dinner in the form of a fund-raising event to support our Olympic Campaign. After a busy afternoon of seven short sharp races in a fleet of J24s from Parkstone YC the members and their guests enjoyed an entertaining dinner at the Royal Motor YC during which a raffle and auction was held. We’re hugely grateful to SWSYC Commodore David Latchford for not only organising the event, but encouraging so many local businesses, individuals and organisations to so generously donate a wide variety of items for the raffle and auction, ranging from fine wines and restaurant vouchers to sailing, rugby, flying and shooting days, and a number of artistic works including the star lot an original oil painting by Duncan Macgregor (no relation!). Much fun was had by all, and the level of support was really quite overwhelming. Many many thanks to all who came and contributed to raising a significant sum, which will go a long way to help cover some of our costs in the run up to the Games.

Last week we were in France at a grade 1 event in Saint Quay Portrieux, on the North Brittany coast. Fourteen top women’s teams took part in a pretty packed schedule, starting with a single full round robin over the first three days. Conditions were fairly light, and we put in some pretty long days on the water, however our efforts were rewarded by finishing second in the round robin on 9 wins and 4 losses. Proceeding directly to the quarter finals, we dispatched Rita Gonçalves (POR) 3–0, before facing Anne-Claire Le Berre (FRA) in the semi-finals which we again convincingly won 3–0. In the finals we were up against our long-term rivals, the French team of Claire Leroy who have been one of the most dominant competitors over the years. Racing was nip and tuck throughout, we had a strong start going 2–0 up, before they clawed it back to 2–2. In the deciding final match we came away with the all important win to take the overall title :)

This week we’ve not been on the water, but catching up with the never-ending admin and gym work. On Tuesday Lucy and Kate joined fellow Team Volvo for Life sailors Ben Ainslie, Paul Goodison and Nick Dempsey at Apple’s London store on Regent Street for the launch of the new Volvo Sailing App. Available on iTunes for the iPhone and iPad, the new app combines the latest news and events, a basic guide to Olympic Sailing for non-sailors, and top tips from the experts for those looking to improve their sailing techniques.

Meanwhile Annie has been putting our brand new V70 to good use, towing a RIB down to Barcelona where we’ll be training against the Russian team for ten days. Check out our facebook page for photos of Annie’s trip including crossing the Millau Viaduct. Many thanks to Volvo Cars UK for their continued support, they’ve also just re-launched the VolvoCarsSailing.co.uk website which is well worth a visit.

Next week we’ll all be in Weymouth again, for a detailed review of our performance in the last quarter with all the coaching, technical and support staff. Fitness tests here we come! Then off to catch some sun in Barcelona… :)

We’ll leave you with this little promo tape of the TVfL sailors selected for the 2012 Games.

Cheers,

Lucy, Annie and Kate x

At a live press conference in London 11 sailors have been confirmed as the first athletes selected for Team GB in 2012. Annie, Kate and I are incredibly proud to stand alongside reigning Olympic Champions Ben Ainslie (Finn), Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (Star) and Paul Goodison (Laser), and joining Nick Dempsey (RSX Men), Bryony Shaw (RSX Women), and Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (470 Women) to be part of what is such a strong team. Kate and I are also apparently going to be the first two sailing sisters ever to compete for Great Britain at the Olympics!

Live interview on BBC News —

The announcement of our selection is an exciting and important step on the road to 2012. After many years of hard work the realisation that our life-long dream of representing the country at the Olympic Games is going to happen is still sinking in. However it also focusses the mind on the task ahead, there’s a lot of work still to do — our goal has always been not just to go to the games, but to go and win a medal!

Read the full press release on the Skandia Team GBR website and more info about the selections on the Team Volvo for Life blog, and the Match Race Girls Facebook page.

Lucy, Annie and Kate x

Yesterday we lost our semi against Laurie Jury (NZL) who went on to win the event. We raced for third today against Henrique Haddad (BRA), though unfortunately despite winning both starts our lack of 60 something kilos meant we couldn’t hold off the Brazilian boys upwind and lost the petit finals 2–0 to finish 4th.

The video below shows just how brutal the conditions were today. Unfortunately it only highlights the finals matches — our petit final matches were interleaved with the finals — but you can see how exciting the match racing is when the breeze is up, especially in the Women’s Elliott 6m which we usually sail and will be the boat used at at the Olympics next year.

We’ve had great racing against the guys in the Open division this week, and some very close matches… we’re bruised and battered, but it’s been a lot of fun!

Mad dash to the airport now to get flight back to London… stay tuned as we have an exciting week in store!

Lucy x