Dear Friends,

Since you last heard from us when we were sitting in 29th, the regatta has finished here at Hyeres with two more days of racing. On Wednesday, April 25th, we sailed two races in more of the same, light air, conditions. Our plan had been to have two solid finishes, and we did just that. A 15th and 16th put us in 18th on the score board – right where we wanted to be going into the last day of racing.

Hyeres conditions finally arrived yesterday, Thursday, April 26th! We sailed two races in 18-22 knots. This is the windiest racing we have done as a team, and it showed – in the first race we were in 11th when we capsized 200 yards from the finish. By the time we righted our boat, we had slipped to 47th. In the second race we were again in a good position, 15th, when we capsized only 100 yards from the finish. Double ouch! We recovered quickly to 36th. For all you avid sailors who want to hear gory details of the wipe-outs, please buy us a cool, refreshing beverage next time you see us, and we’ll tell you all about it! Overall, we finished 26th, when we could have finished 10th with our 11 and 15. Despite all this, we remain the best American women’s team.

For complete scores, please visit the event website:
http://hyeres.ffvoile.net/results/470w.htm

While we are mildly disappointed with finishing 26th, there were many bright moments. Without the two capsizes, we would have finished in the top ten. We were racing against a larger fleet than we are used to, 60 boats, while we usually race against only 20 to 30 boats at a time , and the large fleet tactics are different, with a heavy emphasis on clean lanes off the starting line and managing risk in relation to the distribution of boats on the course. We are continuing to refine our teamwork, and still thrilled at our progression towards the Olympics.

This regatta was especially exciting because it was our first regatta with coach Peter Alarie, who will continue working with us through the Olympic Trials in October. Peter’s extensive experience in many boats, including the 505, has been extremely valuable. We have been working to refine regatta preparation, as well as spending a lot of time reviewing photos and video. Today we went out for another training session, determined to work the capsizes out of our system while the memory of the points lost was still palpable.

Tomorrow we begin a short break from sailing. These will be our first days off from training in over 2 weeks. In the last month we have only had 3 days off from training during which we traveled from Palma, Spain, to Hyeres, France. Since we left our desk jobs, no other team has been working harder than we have. The coming break will let us regroup and organize for our next long trip to Europe starting on May 7th where we will go to Cascais, Portugal to train at the site of the World Championships. We will also race in the Portuguese National Championships. After Portugal we’ll move our boat to Thessaloniki, Greece where we’ll train and then race in the European Championships.

Thanks again to everyone for the support. We’d like to especially thank our sponsors RBS Greenwich Capital, Stonington Harbor Yacht Club, Kaenon, Harken, Samson Ropes, and the US Sailing Team.

Best wishes,

Erin and Isabelle

www.470TeamUSA.com

erin@470TeamUSA.com
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com