News / Results Silver Lining in Medal Race Victory 
| Silver Lining in Medal Race Victory | | Print | |
|
Hyeres, France We closed out the 40th Semaine Olympique Françoise by winning the double points Medal race and taking the Silver Medal for the series. The best way to describe this regatta was "extremely challenging". It started out with strong Mistral winds and massive rough seas, we lost a day of racing due to too much wind and almost missed another because of no wind, and we finished up in fickle breezes that replicated "Qingdao-like" condition we all expect to find at the Olympics. 
Photo by Linda Wright The Medal race started in a dying Northerly wind that switched to a light seas breeze. The Committee was eager to get the race off even if the conditions were barely acceptable because of the pressure to end the series with the tightly schedule short Medal races. At the start a big left shift came through so the question was with a short first leg would it hold or oscillate back to favor the right. Unable to tack to go right after a clean start we soon found out the right was favored with a huge shift and we missed out on our one opportunity to get right, so we hung on as best we could to round near the back of the ten boat fleet. Instead of jibing at the windward mark onto the now heavily favored course to the second mark with meant following everyone else, we instead elected to set and delay jibing to stay out of the pack and all their bad air and jockeying for position that would happen coming into the next mark. It worked to perfection and we rounded second closely behind Sarah Ayton. Now fully committed to the right-hand side up the next leg we were a little surprised that Sarah didn't cover us and let use freely sail to the right. When we tack for the mark she was still in front until it shifted more right and we just nipped her at the mark. With a well execute jibe set to the spinnaker and heading directly to the finish line there were no opportunities for her or anyone to pass us as we limped home in the dying breeze. We tied Sara on points for the regatta but won the tiebreaker to take home the Silver Medal. With only 104 days left until the Olympics there is still much to do and we plan to spend a great deal of time in China training and testing, but this was a great result for the team and gives us confidence as we move closer the Olympic regatta. The full results online. Semaine Olympique Française website - http://sof.ffvoile.net. Please spread the word with your friends and fellow sailors to Join the Team to receive our regular updates and, if they wish, to make a donation. Our Join the Team page uses the secure Kintera support software which allows users to sign up for updates, make donations, and easily invite friends and fellow yacht club members to become involved. There is a live display showing a running total of all donations. You can even start your own fundraising team. The current top team is Bee Anderson's Old Grands. Please check it out.
Carrie Howe |
