Dear Friends,

Great news!  After our two races today, an 18 and a 1, we moved up to 2nd on the scoreboard!  With only the medal race to go tomorrow, we are 9 points out of first, so are excited to try to keep moving up.  The medal race is the last race of the regatta, among the top 10 teams, which counts double and can not be discarded.  It is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. GMT tomorrow, Saturday, morning.  For GPS tracking of the race and for complete scores, please visit the regatta website: http://www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk/2010 For details from today’s racing, please read on!  You can also visit the ISAF website for a nice mention of our double wins yesterday:  http://www.sailing.org/33715.php

Today was another light, shifty day, a northerly, and we knew that today’s racing would be as tricky as yesterday’s was.  We had seen a  very large range in the wind before racing, and didn’t know what the wind would do during the race.  We started towards the pin and played the left side of the upwind because we could not get to the right.  The wind was dying as we approached the first windward mark, and we spotted a little bit of wind left of the mark.  We stayed on the left and rounded the windward mark in the top ten.  On the first downwind we held even.  On the second upwind we again worked the left side of the upwind, lost boats initially and then made a large comeback at the top of the upwind, rounding the windward mark in approximately 8th again.  On the top reach and downwind we initially passed some boats, moving into 6th.  We did not cover the fleet behind us, and they came down with wind that was filling from behind.  At the last leeward mark and the run to the finish we were just outside a large group of boats, and lost many boats on our way to the finish, crossing the line in 18th.  Despite the fact that 18th wasn’t great, the only team around us that beat us was the spanish team that was winning going into the day.  An 18th had moved us into 3rd place, with another race to sail!

The second race was crazy!  It lasted about 80 minutes, during which we had 7-9 knots building to 14-17 knots, dying to 4 knots, and then building again to 6-8 knots.  Crazy!

In between races, the breeze started to build and shift left a little bit.  The race committee moved the mark 25 degrees left, which we thought was two far especially given that rain clouds were approaching the racecourse from the right.  As our race started the wind shifted right significantly.  We played the middle of the upwind, and approached the windward mark in about 12th as a rain storm hit.  Most of the boats around us gybed at the mark and headed high.  We stayed low and passed a couple of boats, rounding the leeward mark in approximately 7th.  In the meantime the wind had built to 14 to 17 knots.  We had great speed and played the shifts up the middle.  As we sailed upwind, the wind started… dying!  Shocking!  By the time we reached the windward mark in 5th we were sailing in only 7 knots.  As we headed downwind the wind kept dying.  We moved into 2nd by the reach mark, and then did our best to stay ahead of the boats sailing  behind us.  This downwind was a real knuckle-biter as we ghosted along in about 4 knots.  We managed to move into 1st by the last leeward mark.  When we gybed onto the reach, real wind started to fill from behind, bringing in a large pack of boats from behind.  We crossed the finish line barely still in 1st, just clear ahead of a pack of 10 boats.

We knew we had a good day, and were thrilled to see ourselves in 2nd on the scoreboard with only the medal race to go.  Three 1st place finishes in the past four races was really remarkable!

Thank you to our larger team!  To the many individuals who give generously to support our olympic sailing campaign, and to our sponsors who support our effort.  The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics sponsors: AlphaGraphics, Rolex, Atlantis, Sperry Topsiders, and Harken.  And, our personal sponsors: Kaenon and Sampson Ropes.

All donations to our campaign are greatly appreciated, and check donations are tax deductible.  Please mail checks to: Sailing Foundation of New York, c/o Isabelle Farrar, 326 East 82nd Street, Apartment 5C, New York, NY 10028.  Or, donate directly through our website:www.470TeamUSA.com

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s results!

Erin and Isabelle

US Sailing Team Alphagraphics

Campaign for 2012 Olympic Games
www.470TeamUSA.com