News / Results Team 7's Qingdao Olympic Blog What a Difference a Day Makes Olympic Sponsors
| What a Difference a Day Makes | | Print | |
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Qingdao, China - August 13, 2008 - After a day away from racing yesterday we came back to the race course off Qingdao today with renewed purpose and nailed a solid first place in light shifty conditions in what turned out to be our only race of the day. It felt real good. We now have a good grasp on third place overall, eight points ahead of the fourth-placed boat.
The day started a little more like the Qingdao we’ve been accustomed to in our prior visits, with overcast and haze, and a forecast of very light conditions. However when we got out on the course we were pleasantly surprised to find some nice breeze. The catch was that the race committee decided it was too unstable to start a race. The breeze was a solid five knots with 80 degree shifts. We were due to start at 1:00 pm but we were postponed until 3:00 pm, along with a few unsuccessful attempts to get a race off.  Dealing with the media -- Photo: François Richard When we finally started, the right side of the course looked good and fleet bunched up towards the committee boat. We got a wonderful start just to leeward of the main pack, cruising with speed and hitting the line right on the gun. Our coach Gary Bodie later told us it was the textbook-perfect start. There was an individual recall signal but we decided it wasn’t us and pressed on. Two other boats went back.  Sally -- Photo: François Richard The breeze had been filling in from the right each time it went light so we wanted to get right. That wasn’t hard because we were far enough to weather and in a really solid position to tack with the fleet when it went right and still stay safe to windward of everyone. At the top mark we rounded in third place which was exactly what we were looking for – a chance to get out of the traffic and into clear air.  Debbie -- Photo: François Richard We stayed in third most of the way down the run but were able to play a right shift and just get by the two boats ahead of us and take over the lead at the leeward gate. Now we had everyone covered and could sail low and fast. The only danger came from the boat that ultimately finished second. They went further right than the competition and pulled up two places from fourth to second on the second beat.
With a 30 second lead at the second windward mark we were able to extend on the run and record a winning margin of just over a minute. By then it was 4:30 pm. The breeze had gotten real light and the day was done. There is a slide show at the US Sailing site. You can also watch a slideshow of the eight photographs in the archive from Day One and Day Two. Go to http://www.sailing.org/olympics/news/24681.php. For results go to http://www.sailing.org/olympics/resultscentre.php and click on Yngling Women in the left-hand column. This site will also let you follow leg-by-leg results during each race. Carrie Howe
for Team Seven Sailing - |
