Hello race fans,

For those of you just joining our mailings, welcome! You can view yesterday's regatta update on our website: www.470TeamUSA.com.

We just finished our second day of racing at the US 470 Nationals. We have moved into second place in the women's division, overtaking the Canadians who represented Canada at the 2004 summer Olympics. The Swedish team, the 2004 Olympic Bronze medalists, remains in first, increasing their lead to 13 points ahead of us.

Today was a three race day, like yesterday, but sailed in slightly less breeze. We had about 8 knots in the first race, 10-12 knots in the second and 12-14 knots in the third race. In the first race we won the pin end of the starting line and were able to tack and cross the fleet a short time after the gun. We then made it towards the right side of the course with good speed. The only team ahead of us at the top mark was a Japanese men's team who were the Bronze medalists in the 2004 summer games. We had some boat handling issues setting the chute and got rolled by another Japanese men's team. But then on the run we had good speed and were surfing the waves well and had caught back up to the leaders. Again, though we had some boat handling problems dropping the spinnaker and rounding the gate. We were third initially up the second beat but got passed by the top US men's boat as we were trying to clean up our spinnaker mess. We were able to hold that place for the rest of the race and finished a solid 4th which was our best finish so far. The race gave us a lot of confidence because we were up with some of the top men's teams in the world and going well. We knew we were only loosing ground in our mark roundings! and execution of maneuvers that will clearly come in time. The long time off the water at our jobs and school is definitely showing in our racing.

At the start of the second race the wind velocity picked up and we de-powered our sails and raked our mast back for the race. We liked our strategy in the first race and tried to repeat it. We had another good start and were going left. Little did we realize that there was a land effect on the breeze on the right side of the course that would pay off big. We rounded middle of the fleet and spent the rest of the race struggling in the pack. We also hadn't straightened the lower portion of our mast enough and were suffering in height, so we constantly found ourselves having to re-establish our clean lanes. The race ended in a disappointing 12th pla! ce finish, right behind several women's teams we need to beat.

Race number three was a similar story to race number two. Although we knew we needed to get to the right side of the course, we had some trouble getting there in the first beat, which put us well behind the leaders. Our speed and tactics were descent around the remainder of the course, while our boat handling continued to have a few kinks in it. The final straw was a giant kelp bed that appeared out of nowhere as we approached the last windward mark. Unable to completely avoid it, we sailed through part of it and a piece of kelp the size of a small tree knocked the rudder up about 20 degrees. In some boats that may not be a big problem, but in the 470 it's huge. For the remainder of the race Erin struggled to keep the boat at speed, but in the end the added helm cost us two more boats. We ended up 10th that race, right behind the Canadian and Japanese women's teams.

Tomorrow we have two races scheduled, and in all likelihood we'll have conditions similar to the past two days. It will be a stretch to catch the Swedish girls in only two races, but we'll certainly give it our best.

Cheers,

Erin & Alice