Dear Friends,

With only the medal race to go, we are still WINNING THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS! After a great day on the water placing 3rd and 5th, our lead has stretched from 6 to 16 points. The Italians are in 2nd, 16 points behind us, and the Dutch are in 3rd, 23 points behind us. Going into the medal race, we are guaranteed 2nd place at worst. The medal race is amongst the top 10 teams, counts double, and can not be discarded. As long as we finish better than 9th, or the Italians finish worse than 2nd, we will win! Stay tuned! The medal race is scheduled for 2 pm local time tomorrow, Wednesday, so that is 10 pm EST Tuesday.

With the points so tight going into today’s racing, we knew things were going to get mixed up. Our plan was to have two good races, keep doing what we have done. We figured that we would look good on the score-board if we finished top-five in both races, ideally beating the Dutch, Italians, and Australians.

For complete scores, please visit the regatta website:

Before the first race, conditions looked very similar to yesterday, light and shifty. We had a great start towards the pin, left, end of the line and worked the left side of the upwind. That strategy was great, and we rounded the windward mark in 1st! The wind built as we sailed downwind. The 2nd place Swedish team was able to challenge us at the leeward mark, and got around just ahead of us. The British team also passed us, and we rounded the second windward mark in 3rd place. As the wind had built, the Dutch and some other teams started catching ground. We had a great last downwind, just staying ahead of the pack behind us, and crossed the finish line 3rd! All of the podium players were behind us, so we knew we had extended our lead. To make things even better, we learned that the Dutch were over early at the start (OCS) — all of a sudden things were looking great!

We tried to calm our nerves, and adjusted the boat for the building 15 knot breeze. Only one more race left before the medal race! Again, we reminded ourselves to aim for top five. We got a second-row start in the middle of the line, but still managed to keep our lane until we found a header we wanted to tack on. We were going really fast, and as soon as we got a lane to ourselves and sailed for about three minutes, things started looking great! The wind was becoming unstable, we were towards the right side of the course, and the left was looking scary — boats on the left kept showing big left wind angles that did not last very long. We played the shifts well at the top of the upwind, and rounded the windward mark approximately fifth. The Italians were in front, the Dutch just behind, and the Australians were nowhere to be seen. Downwind we were going very well, and pulled away from the pack of boats behind us. We were still 5th at the leeward mark, just on the heels of the 4th place team. We started playing the shifts up the second beat, when Erin reminded us that all we had to do was stay as close to the Italians in front of us as possible, and keep an eye on the Dutch and Australians and keep them from getting away from us. We followed the Italians out to the left side of the upwind where the men’s boats racing on a course further left were showing an even bigger left shift. The Dutch cooperated nicely, following us, while the Australians, further behind, tacked away towards the right. A big left shift rolled in, putting us 4th at the windward mark, just behind the Italians. We followed them around the course, almost passing them at one point, but ultimately letting the French get in between us.

At the end of the day we really could not believe how well our day had gone. Tomorrow we just need to keep doing what we have been doing all along. Start well, play the shifts, and, most importantly, minimize risk relative to the Italians. Everyone in the medal race is going to try to win it, so no one can go after us hard.

Stay tuned!

Best,

Erin and Isabelle

470 Team USA
www.470TeamUSA.com

erin@470TeamUSA.com

isabelle@470TeamUSA.com