GBR Match Race Girls

Annie, Ally and I are very pleased to have come away from our second ISAF World Cup event with another medal and to have improved the colour to Gold!

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

In the semi-finals Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Ally Martin defeated the French team of Anne-Claire Le Berre, Myrtille Ponge and Alice Ponsar 3–1.

The finals, between Macgregor and the German team of Ulrike Schuemann, Kathrin Kadelbach and Julia Bleir went down to the wire, with the British prevailing to a 3–2 win to take Gold at the Delta Lloyd Olympic Classes Regatta and the overall lead in the ISAF Sailing World Cup Series.

Full report to follow.