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

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.

One flight of the semi-finals was held, in which we went 1–0 up against Anne-claire Le Berre. The semi-finals will conclude tomorrow morning, followed by the finals and petit-final.

After the tie-break rules were applied, we emerged 1st in the round robin, followed by Ulrike 2nd and Annelies 3rd. As winner of the round robin, Annie, Ally and I were paired against the 8th place finisher, our fellow compatriots and training partners last week, Mary Rook, Bethan Carden and Lauren Martel. In a first-to-three quarter final we defeated Team Rook 3–0, progressing through to the semi-finals tomorrow where we shall face Anne-claire Le Berre.

This morning gave us light and shifty breeze, settling to a steady 10 knots in the afternoon. We’ve now won seven out of our ten matches, which puts us 2nd at the moment behind the Dutch team of Annilies Thies, so we’re hoping to stay on track for making it through to the quarter-finals after the round robin is completed tomorrow.

Forecast for tomorrow is looking good! :)

We were due to sail in only three of the flights scheduled today — as usual there are more teams than boats available — but unfortunately these were spread throughout the day meaning it was a bit on/off with delays between our matches. Tomorrow should be better and let us settle in a bit more, with more races scheduled for Annie, Ally and myself.

However it’s been good to get out there and get the first day out of the way. Despite the conditions and my limited experience in helming the Yngling we got round the course pretty well, and today was definitely more about boat handling than a typical match racing day because of the wind. We’re pleased to have won two out of our three matches today, giving us a solid start, and we’re looking forward to building on this tomorrow.

More soon…

Lucy

The first event the Elliott 6s are due to arrive for is Kiel next month and therefore the decision was made to run the Delta Lloyd Regatta in Holland next week in Ynglings. For the last two weeks we have therefore been training in Ynglings in Poole. Although Annie has remained in the middle trimming, with me moving from bow to helm since 2007 and Ally never having set foot in a Yngling before, the training has been very useful not only to get used to sailing these boats but also to continue getting used to match racing with just three crew, not something done much on the current circuit.

The Delta Lloyd Regatta will be the second time the new Olympic discipline match racing will join the other classes in an ISAF World Sailing Cup event. This will be my fourth visit to Medemblik having been once in a Mirror, once in a 470 and last time in the Yngling. We are expecting a good entry this year and Annie, Ally and I are looking forward to racing together again. We’ll keep you posted with how it goes!

Enjoy the sun!

Lucy