Dear Friends,
Well, to make a long story short, we’re WINNING THE 470 WORL CHAMPIONSHIPS! We got a 1st and an 8th in the two races today, moving us into 1st by five points. Points remain close at the top. The Dutch in 2nd are five points behind, the Australians in 3rd are 8 points behind, and the Italians in 4th are 9 points behind. After that there is a big drop-off to 5th, with the French 29 points behind. We have three races left — two Gold Fleet races tomorrow, Tuesday, January 29th, and the medal race on Wednesday. For complete scores please visit the regatta website:

http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/11221/overall_2_3.html
Today’s races were sailed in light, shifty conditions, with the wind at 4 – 8 knots. Who would have thought these would become one of our strengths! The breeze had been very shifty throughout the morning as we warmed up. For the first race, the boat, right, end of the line was favored. The starting line was so short, that we knew we could start at the left end of the line without losing very much. As most of the fleet got hung up and went slowly at the right end of the line, we had a beautiful start at the left end of the line. We tacked and crossed the fleet less than one minute after the start, then went back left for more. We played the shifts well up the first beat, and were 1st at the mark, and never looked back! Nice!

Things got a little trickier in the second race. After seeing us win, the fleet had caught on to the fact that the left end of the line was not so bad. We had a decent start at the middle of the line, but managed to pinch off the boat above us and hold our lane. We played the first couple of shifts, and were again in the top group approaching the mark. A group of boats went left of us and got better pressure, to put us approximately 5th at the first mark. We held even downwind. On the second lap we got caught outside of a big left shift, and were miraculously only passed by four boats. We rounded the next mark in 9th, and held there downwind. Approaching the last leeward mark to the finish, the Chinese team in front of us refused to give us the room we were owed at the mark. We avoided the collision on the water and went behind them, but found retribution on land. Erin went into the protest room and threw them out, gaining us a valuable point relative to the boats around us.

Below is a photo of us tight reaching into the finish in race 7, from Sunday, January 27th:

By the time you get this update, there may be more photos of today’s racing on-line:

http://470.org/fotos/worlds08/
Stay tuned for racing! It is getting very exciting down here!
Best,

Erin and Isabelle

470 Team USA

www.470TeamUSA.com

erin@470TeamUSA.com

isabelle@470TeamUSA.com