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	<title>470 Team USA &#187; General News</title>
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	<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting</link>
	<description>470 Sailing for the 2008 US Olympic Team</description>
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		<title>470 Team USA Loses the Olympic Trials</title>
		<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/12/17/470-team-usa-loses-the-olympic-trials/</link>
		<comments>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/12/17/470-team-usa-loses-the-olympic-trials/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:29:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>470 Team USA</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/?p=757</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Friends, Well, we were hoping to write with better news&#8230; We lost the Olympic Trials on a tie-breaker. The other American team, Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan, finished 12th, and we placed 15th. We were three points ahead after Sail for Gold in June, but the tie-breaker goes to the top team here at [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dear Friends,</p>
<p>Well, we were hoping to write with better news&#8230;  We lost the Olympic Trials on a tie-breaker.  The other American team, Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan, finished 12th, and we placed 15th.  We were three points ahead after Sail for Gold in June, but the tie-breaker goes to the top team here at the Worlds.  Thank you very much to Coach Nigel Cochrane for stop-notch coaching since March.</p>
<p>We want to thank you all for your support during the five and a half years that we have been campaigning together.  Together, with your help, we accomplished much!  We won a World Championship in 2008, won the World Cup in 2011, and are currently ranked first in the world.  While we wish the destination had been different, we are proud of the journey that we have been on together.  We are now retiring from Olympic campaigning, and are looking forward to having some more time at home with friends and family.</p>
<p>The World Championships started on a tough note for us.  We placed 28th and 28th in the first two races, and were 27th overall.  Clark/Lihan were far ahead of us in 5th place overall.  After Tuesday and Wednesday, Days 2 (6th and 19th) and 3 (5th and 12th), we had clawed our way back up to 14th place, and Clark/Lihan had slipped back to 16th overall.  Our starts had been great, and our boatspeed upwind and downwind were alright.  We had a rest day on Thursday, and charged our batteries knowing that it would be tough racing on Friday and Saturday.  On Friday, Day 4, we placed 16th and 20th.  Not great.  </p>
<p>With two races left in the Worlds / Trials, we had slipped 15 points and three places behind the other Americans.  However, there were a lot of boats very close to us: two French teams and the Dutch were just in front of Clark/Lihan, the Aussies were tied with Clark/Lihan, and a good Japanese team was in between us.  We knew that we needed two good races today, and we also needed to hope that the other teams finished the way we needed them to.  After Race 9, the first race of the day today (Saturday), we were still barely winning the trials.  The Dutch had extended on Clark/Lihan, and the Aussies had passed them.  But, the two French teams had deep finishes and had slipped closer to Clark/Lihan.  We had gained distance on the teams behind us, but a Swedish team was only 10 points back.  We knew that if we were able to keep Clark/Lihan behind the Aussies and French, and if we were able to finish within 10 points of the Swedes, we would win.  We tailed Clark/Lihan at the start and started just to the right of them, forcing them to have a bad start.  We tacked on them for the first half of the first upwind, but had to stop because we could see the Swedes were winning the race, so we knew we had to sail well.  One of the French teams was close to us, but the other one was no where to be seen.  Bummer.  Clark/Lihan passed us downwind, but we passed them back upwind.  The French both made a heroic comeback, but they didn&#8217;t make it far enough.  Clark/Lihan passed the French team by only 2 points to place12th overall.  And we were still stuck in 15th.</p>
<p>We would like to thank the sponsors and supporters of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex.  We would also like to thank the many individuals who give generously to support our olympic sailing campaign, and to our personal sponsors Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the Stage Harbor Yacht Club, Kaenon and Samson Ropes.</p>
<p>Best,</p>
<p>Erin and Isabelle</p>
<p>US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics </p>
<p>Campaign for 2012 Olympic Games<br />
www.470TeamUSA.com<br />
www.facebook.com/470TeamUSA</p>
<p>erin@470TeamUSA.com<br />
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>470 Team USA Update &#8212; A 28, 28 on Worlds Day 1 puts us in 27th overall&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/12/12/470-team-usa-update-a-28-28-on-worlds-day-1-puts-us-in-27th-overall/</link>
		<comments>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/12/12/470-team-usa-update-a-28-28-on-worlds-day-1-puts-us-in-27th-overall/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:47:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>470 Team USA</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/?p=755</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Friends, A 28, 28 on Monday, December 12th, Day 1 of the 470 Worlds puts us deep &#8212; in 27th overall. We had a tough day: we were not the fastest boat on the racecourse, and we had lots of little things go wrong. It&#8217;s a long regatta with lots of racing left, and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dear Friends,</p>
<p>A 28, 28 on Monday, December 12th, Day 1 of the 470 Worlds puts us deep &#8212; in 27th overall.  We had a tough day: we were not the fastest boat on the racecourse, and we had lots of little things go wrong.  It&#8217;s a long regatta with lots of racing left, and time for us to move up the scoreboard!  For complete scores, you can visit the regatta website: http://www.perth2011.com/competition/PERTH2011/SAW005000/results  For you night owls and insomniacs, you can also watch our racing live.  Our next racing is at 2:30 pm Tuesday in Perth, which is 1:30 am EST.  For some brief details on today&#8217;s bloopers, read on&#8230;</p>
<p>As usual, whenever the regatta starts, the conditions are different than they&#8217;ve been for the training.  We have been in Perth for four weeks, and it rained today for the third time in those four weeks.  We sailed through a rainstorm during Race 1, and had thunderstorms just to the south and west of us.  Usually in sailing you sail away from the lightning bolts, but today we were sailing towards the lightning!  Because the thunderstorms brought more wind and shifted the wind towards them&#8230;  We sailed in a 16-20 knot south-easterly that was blowing off the land.  The breeze was puffy and shifty.  We were sailing windward-leeward courses, three times around, with a starboard reach to the finish at the end.</p>
<p>In Race 1, we had a great start, were lifted right off the start, and rode that lift left.  There was much better pressure on the right, and the right was ahead of the left at the first mark.  We battled in the pack for the whole race, and lost lots of little battles to finish 28th across the finish line.</p>
<p>In Race 2 we again had a great start towards the boat end of the line.  We played the first couple of shifts well, and were in approximately 12th as we approached the top 1/3 of the beat.  We were on port and Isabelle misjudged a port-starboard crossing.  We fouled, and spun immediately.  We put our heads down and kept working hard.  As we doused the first spinnaker at the first leeward mark, we accidentally ran over our starboard spinnaker sheet.  This is really slow because the spinnaker sheet must be untied from the spinnaker and led around the jib before it can be retied.  Isabelle untied the spinnaker sheet from the trapeze, Erin cleaned up the spinnaker sheets, and then as we rounded the windward mark we had to tie our spinnaker sheet back on as everyone around us set.  Not fast!  Oh well.  The same thing happened to us back at Kiel Week in June, and we were much faster at fixing it this time.  The third blooper of the race was that Isabelle knocked the lens right out of Erin&#8217;s sunglasses.  That has NEVER happened before in 6 years of sailing together.  Luckily the lens fell into the bottom of the boat, but Erin couldn&#8217;t wear her sunglasses for the rest of the race.  It makes it much more difficult for Erin to see the sails (and everything else).  Re-assembling Erin&#8217;s sunglasses on the trapeze wire is above Isabelle&#8217;s paygrade <img src='http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' />   We battled again for the entire race, but seemed to lose the little battles again.</p>
<p>We would like to thank the sponsors and supporters of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex.  We would also like to thank the many individuals who give generously to support our olympic sailing campaign, and to our personal sponsors Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the Stage Harbor Yacht Club, Kaenon and Samson Ropes.</p>
<p>Stay tuned for lots more racing!  One good race at a time, starting tomorrow! </p>
<p>Erin and Isabelle</p>
<p>US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics </p>
<p>Campaign for 2012 Olympic Games<br />
www.470TeamUSA.com<br />
www.facebook.com/470TeamUSA</p>
<p>erin@470TeamUSA.com<br />
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Ranked 1st in the World, World Champs Preview!</title>
		<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/12/06/ranked-1st-in-the-world-world-champs-preview/</link>
		<comments>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/12/06/ranked-1st-in-the-world-world-champs-preview/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:57:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>470 Team USA</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/?p=749</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Friends, Exciting news! As of November 23rd, we are ranked first in the world in the ISAF rankings! You can click HERE for the ISAF news release, as well as the complete ranking. Despite our silence since Sail Melbourne, we have been working hard. We have been in Fremantle, Australia since November 17th, preparing [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dear Friends,</p>
<p>Exciting news! As of November 23rd, we are ranked first in the world in the ISAF rankings!  You can click <a href="http://www.sailing.org/37425.php" target="_blank">HERE</a> for the ISAF news release, as well as the complete ranking. </p>
<p>Despite our silence since Sail Melbourne, we have been working hard.  We have been in Fremantle, Australia since November 17th, preparing for the World Championships.  These World Championships are the combined World Championships for all Olympic classes: Erin carried the US flag at the opening ceremonies on December 2nd, racing for the match racing started on December 3rd, but our racing doesn&#8217;t start until December 12th.  So, we&#8217;re still at it on the water, working hard!  For some great photos of our training, view our <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/470TeamUSA/2011WorldChampionshipsFremantleAustralia?authuser=0&#038;feat=directlink" target="_blank">PICASAWEB ALBUM</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/IMG_5926.jpg"><img src="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/IMG_5926-225x300.jpg" alt="" title="IMG_5926" width="225" height="300" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-750" /></a></p>
<p>Fremantle is famous for it&#8217;s windy seabreeze.  On a typical summer day (because it is early summer down under), the wind starts filling in from the southwest at about 12:30.  By 1:30 pm it is blowing 18 knots, and by 2:30 it is 20 knots.  The seabreeze is so reliable that it&#8217;s called the Fremantle Doctor.  So, we&#8217;ve been gearing up for big breeze! </p>
<p><a href="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/DSC_0084.jpg"><img src="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/DSC_0084-300x198.jpg" alt="" title="DSC_0084" width="300" height="198" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-751" /></a></p>
<p>After arriving in Fremantle on November 17th, we started the Australian Nationals on November 20th.  We raced for three days until we retired from racing when we discovered that our boat was seriously damaged: four ribs in the bow of our boat (out of approximately seven) were either cracked, broken, delaminated, or all three.  We had been steadily losing rig tension, and our mast pre-bend numbers were changing every day.  Not fast.  Luckily we found an outstanding boatwright to patch our ship, and we were back on the water on November 25th after only two days off.  Back at full tension!  See below for a photo of us enveloped by a wave in 20-25 knots!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/DSC_0092.jpg"><img src="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/DSC_0092-300x198.jpg" alt="" title="DSC_0092" width="300" height="198" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-752" /></a></p>
<p>Everything is coming together for this one, important regatta.  We are happy to have coach Nigel Cochrane here working with us, as well as the rest of the USSTAG support staff including physical therapists Mark Kenna and Shawn Hunt.  Our boat goes through measurement on Saturday, December 10th, and racing starts on December 12th.  We will do our best to send out updates, but you can also follow our progress on our website, the <a href="http://www.perth2011.com" target="_blank">REGATTA WEBSITE</a>, and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/470TeamUSA> target=&#8221;_blank&#8221;>&#8221;FACEBOOK</a>.</p>
<p>We would like to thank the sponsors and supporters of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex.  We would also like to thank the many individuals who give generously to support our olympic sailing campaign, and to our personal sponsors Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the Stage Harbor Yacht Club, Kaenon and Samson Ropes.</p>
<p>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, 150 E. 73rd St., Apt. 6D, New York, NY 10021-4362.  Or, donate directly through our website.</p>
<p>Best,</p>
<p>Erin and Isabelle</p>
<p>US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics </p>
<p>Campaign for 2012 Olympic Games<br />
www.470TeamUSA.com<br />
www.facebook.com/470TeamUSA</p>
<p>erin@470TeamUSA.com<br />
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>We are ranked 1st in the world!</title>
		<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/23/we-are-ranked-1st-in-the-world/</link>
		<comments>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/23/we-are-ranked-1st-in-the-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:53:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>470 Team USA</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/?p=745</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As of November 23rd, we achieved the #1 ranking in the world in the Women&#8217;s 470! Click HERE for the ISAF website!]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As of November 23rd, we achieved the #1 ranking in the world in the Women&#8217;s 470!  Click <a href="http://www.sailing.org/37425.php" target="_blank">HERE</a> for the ISAF website!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>A 2nd in the medal race moves us up to 4th overall at Sail Melbourne!</title>
		<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/12/a-2nd-in-the-medal-race-moves-us-up-to-4th-overall-at-sail-melbourne/</link>
		<comments>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/12/a-2nd-in-the-medal-race-moves-us-up-to-4th-overall-at-sail-melbourne/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:31:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>470 Team USA</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/?p=741</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Friends, A 2nd in the medal race today, Saturday, moved us up to 4th overall at Sail Melbourne! Today&#8217;s race was sailed in 7-9 knots, essentially the same velocity as Race 10 yesterday. The flag allowing unlimited kinetics was flying, which always makes for more exciting racing. We had a great start at the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dear Friends,</p>
<p>A 2nd in the medal race today, Saturday, moved us up to 4th overall at Sail Melbourne!  Today&#8217;s race was sailed in 7-9 knots, essentially the same velocity as Race 10 yesterday.  The flag allowing unlimited kinetics was flying, which always makes for more exciting racing.  We had a great start at the pin, left, end of the line: Erin executed perfectly, timing our acceleration just right to put us right at the pin at go.  Immediately after the start Isabelle worked hard, pumping the rig from the wire, giving us extra height and pinching off the boat immediately above us.  We were second at every mark through very tight racing.  During the second upwind we put tight leebow tacks on other teams approximately six times, allowing us to sail the lifted tack, and sending the other teams back into the pack of boats on a header.  On the last downwind we had three teams challenging from behind, but we were able to stay in front of them.  We were very happy to cross the line in 2nd place, and move up to 4th in the regatta!  While we are disappointed with our results in the middle of the regatta, we are pleased to have finished on such a strong note.  We would like to thank Jonathan Farrar, Isabelle&#8217;s husband, for coaching us at this regatta. </p>
<p>We would like to thank the sponsors and supporters of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex.  We would also like to thank the many individuals who give generously to support our olympic sailing campaign, and to our personal sponsors Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the Stage Harbor Yacht Club, Kaenon and Samson Ropes.</p>
<p>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, 150 E. 73rd St., Apt. 6D, New York, NY 10021-4362.  Or, donate directly through our website: www.470TeamUSA.com</p>
<p>Stay tuned for racing reports from the Australian Nationals, in Perth from November 20-24!  </p>
<p>Erin and Isabelle</p>
<p>US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics </p>
<p>Campaign for 2012 Olympic Games<br />
www.470TeamUSA.com<br />
www.facebook.com/470TeamUSA</p>
<p>erin@470TeamUSA.com<br />
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com<br />
Erin and Isabelle</p>
<p>US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics </p>
<p>Campaign for 2012 Olympic Games<br />
www.470TeamUSA.com<br />
www.facebook.com/470TeamUSA</p>
<p>erin@470TeamUSA.com<br />
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Back up to 5th after 5 days of racing at Sail Melbourne!</title>
		<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/11/back-up-to-5th-after-5-days-of-racing-at-sail-melbourne/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:25:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>470 Team USA</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/?p=739</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Friends, It has been a long two days since you last heard from us on Wednesday: we had three long, wacky races on Thursday, where we placed 7th, 7th, and 5th in the women&#8217;s fleet. Today, Friday, we placed 6th in Race 9, and then finally had a better Race 10, placing 3rd in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dear Friends,</p>
<p>It has been a long two days since you last heard from us on Wednesday: we had three long, wacky races on Thursday, where we placed 7th, 7th, and 5th in the women&#8217;s fleet.  Today, Friday, we placed 6th in Race 9, and then finally had a better Race 10, placing 3rd in the women&#8217;s fleet and 5th overall.  We have only the medal race left tomorrow, Saturday.  Racing starts at 1 pm Melbourne time, so 9 pm EST on Friday.  Stay tuned!  We can move all the way up to 3rd, or all the way down to 7th&#8230;  For complete scores, please visit the regatta <a href="http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/37486/Overall_5_1.html" target="_blank">WEBSITE</a>.  For details from the past two days of racing, please read on!</p>
<p>Races 6-8 held on Thursday were tough races for us.  Each race was sailed in a range of 6 to 16 knots.  At points in each of the races we were looking good, and then made one mistake that compounded into a couple more mistakes: in Race 6 we were 5th at the first windward mark, passed boats on the first downwind, but then had a terrible leeward mark rounding where we rounded outside of a pack of boats and then went the wrong way&#8230;  In Race 7 things were again not looking too shabby until we got completely out of phase on the second upwind, sailing mostly headers.  It was a long day: we launched for racing at 1 pm, and did not get back on land until 7:15 pm.</p>
<p>We woke up this morning determined to do better and shake things up.  The forecast was calling for a light westerly backing left to a light southerly seabreeze.  The first race started well!  We played the shifts up the middle-left of the racecourse, and approached the windward mark in 5th place, but in a big pack of boats.  We were sailing an inner loop, and the pack of boats that we rounded with reached high towards the downwind right side of the racecourse.  We thought they were sailing a lot of extra distance, so we gybed away, hoping for a clean air lane where we could sail downwind more directly towards the marks.  This proved to be a terrible decision: we went slowly after gybing in no wind underneath all the other boats, two shifts went against us, and pressure filled in from the other side&#8230;  Again, a good race turned badly because of one bad decision.  We had good boatspeed and caught a lot of distance on the fleet in front of us during the second upwind, but could not pass any women&#8217;s boats.  We were  disappointed to cross the line in 6th.</p>
<p>The start of Race 10 was postponed due to the shifting wind, and we had a lot of time in between races to prepare.  We got lots of wind readings and practiced our maneuvers and got ready to race!  We had an OK start in the middle of the line, played the first couple of shifts, and all of a sudden found ourselves in a good righty!  Surprising because the wind had been steadily shifting left all day long.  We stayed on starboard, lifted in the right shift for a couple of minutes, passing the left side of the racecourse.  We played the shifts well, and approached the windward mark in the top 6 in the race!  We had good speed on the first downwind, and were in approximately 4th at the leeward mark, behind the Australian and Japanese women&#8217;s teams, and the Japanese men&#8217;s teams.  We caught distance on these boats during the second lap, but could not pass any of them.  During the third lap we continued to gain distance on the three boats in front, and extended from the boats behind, playing the shifts well up the middle and protecting the top left side of the racecourse that now had better pressure.  Things got confusing on the last downwind: the race committee had signaled a mark change, so we were all looking for a black mark that was no where to be seen.  We finally saw some yellow marks off to port, and reached up towards them.  In this confusing finish one men&#8217;s boat passed us, so we crossed the line in 5th place overall, and 3rd women.  That was more like it.</p>
<p>We would like to thank the sponsors and supporters of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex.  We would also like to thank the many individuals who give generously to support our olympic sailing campaign, and to our personal sponsors Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the Stage Harbor Yacht Club, Kaenon and Samson Ropes.</p>
<p>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, 150 E. 73rd St., Apt. 6D, New York, NY 10021-4362.  Or, donate directly through our website: www.470TeamUSA.com</p>
<p>Stay tuned for the medal race!</p>
<p>Erin and Isabelle</p>
<p>US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics </p>
<p>Campaign for 2012 Olympic Games<br />
www.470TeamUSA.com<br />
www.facebook.com/470TeamUSA</p>
<p>erin@470TeamUSA.com<br />
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>A 4th place on Day 3 moves us down to 5th (but tied for 3rd) at Sail Melbourne</title>
		<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/09/a-4th-place-on-day-3-moves-us-down-to-5th-but-tied-for-3rd-at-sail-melbourne/</link>
		<comments>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/09/a-4th-place-on-day-3-moves-us-down-to-5th-but-tied-for-3rd-at-sail-melbourne/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:48:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>470 Team USA</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/?p=737</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Friends, A 4th place in the only race today, Race 5, slips us back to fifth, but tied for third on points. We started a second race today, but the race committee cancelled it as winds were gusting close to 30 knots. Points are very close in the women&#8217;s fleet as we have all [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dear Friends,</p>
<p>A 4th place in the only race today, Race 5, slips us back to fifth, but tied for third on points.  We started a second race today, but the race committee cancelled it as winds were gusting close to 30 knots.  Points are very close in the women&#8217;s fleet as we have all been trading races in the wide range of conditions.  We are only five points out of 1st with half of the regatta left to sail, plus the medal race.  For complete scores, please visit the regatta <a href="http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/37486/Overall_5_1.html" target="_blank">WEBSITE</a>.  For details from today&#8217;s racing please read on!</p>
<p>The forecast for today had a very large range: 12-25 knots, with thunderstorms all day long.  We thought that the higher velocities would be associated with passing storms, and that the wind would back off in between those storms.  Things certainly turned out differently!</p>
<p>The first race started with rain clouds still overhead, in an extremely puffy, shifty northerly.  The starting line and first upwind were tucked up right next to shore, so the wind was extremely unstable.  In the first upwind we saw wind from a 30 degree range, and anywhere from 8 to 14 knots.  We got a decent start, but had trouble playing the shifts up the first upwind, and rounded the first windward mark mid-fleet and in 4th place for the women.  A couple of boats passed us on the tight reach, and we dropped back to 5th in the women&#8217;s race.  The weather started clearing during the second lap of the race, and the wind picked up to 14-16 knots and stabilized a little bit: we only saw 15-20 degree shifts.  We had a great second upwind leg, and passed boats, both men and women, moving into 3rd place for the women.  We kept gaining distance and were almost up to 2nd place in the women&#8217;s race on the third (and last) upwind when we missed a large right shift at the end of the last upwind leg.  We got passed on the last downwind, and crossed the finish line in 4th.</p>
<p>By now the weather had totally cleared, and we were expecting the wind to either hold or abate.  As we prepared for Race 6, the second race of the day, we saw a large line of wind coming in from the west.  We adjusted our settings, and barely made it back to the start in time.  As soon as the race started it was breeze on!  20-25 knots!  We rounded the first windward mark in the top 12, in approximately 4th for the women.  We had a screaming jib reach towards the outer loop, and gained distance on the boats in front of us.  We had a great set onto the downwind in a solid 25 knots of wind.  We had good speed, and sagged low inside the two boats in front of us.  At least one boat had capsized in front of us, and two boats behind us.  Just as we were prepping our gybe onto port to go back towards the mark a large puff hit &#8212; probably close to 27 knots.  We waited for that to blow through, and then nailed our gybe.  As we approached the leeward mark in approximately 9th place, 3rd place for the women&#8230; the race got cancelled.  We all turned around and headed upwind and home to the harbor.  </p>
<p>A very lucky thing happened to us as we were about to drop our mainsail before turning into the docks: one of our boom vang blocks broke!  It snapped right off the shackle that was attaching it to our boom!  The block broke at the perfect time: had it broken any earlier it would have been difficult for us to make it all the way home.  And, had we taken our mainsail down, it would not have broken until tomorrow, or another race day.  We repaired our boom vang, checked our boat thoroughly, and headed home after racing was canceled.  A series of thunderstorms blew through this evening, and we were certainly happy not to be out on the water for those.</p>
<p>We would like to thank the sponsors and supporters of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex.  We would also like to thank the many individuals who give generously to support our olympic sailing campaign, and to our personal sponsors Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the Stage Harbor Yacht Club, Kaenon and Samson Ropes.</p>
<p>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, 150 E. 73rd St., Apt. 6D, New York, NY 10021-4362.  Or, donate directly through our website: www.470TeamUSA.com</p>
<p>Stay tuned for the second half of the regatta!</p>
<p>Erin and Isabelle</p>
<p>US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics </p>
<p>Campaign for 2012 Olympic Games<br />
www.470TeamUSA.com<br />
www.facebook.com/470TeamUSA</p>
<p>erin@470TeamUSA.com<br />
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com</p>
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		<title>A 2nd and 6th on Day 2 moves us up to 3rd overall at Sail Melbourne!</title>
		<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/08/a-2nd-and-6th-on-day-2-moves-us-up-to-3rd-overall-at-sail-melbourne/</link>
		<comments>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/08/a-2nd-and-6th-on-day-2-moves-us-up-to-3rd-overall-at-sail-melbourne/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:00:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>470 Team USA</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/?p=734</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Friends, A 2, 6 in the two light air races today moves us up to 3rd overall in the women&#8217;s fleet. For complete scores, please visit the regatta WEBSITE. For details from today&#8217;s racing, please read on! We were postponed on land briefly while we waited for the wind to fill in. Both races [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dear Friends,</p>
<p>A 2, 6 in the two light air races today moves us up to 3rd overall in the women&#8217;s fleet.  For complete scores, please visit the regatta <a href="http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/37486/Overall_5_1.html" target="_blank">WEBSITE</a>.  For details from today&#8217;s racing, please read on!</p>
<p>We were postponed on land briefly while we waited for the wind to fill in.  Both races today were sailed in a very light south-easterly.  In Race  3, the first race of the day, we started towards the pin, left, end of the line.  We initially had poor speed, but changed some settings and started going better.  We saw better pressure on the left side of the course and sailed that way.  The pressure came with a left shift, putting us in good shape at the first windward mark.  We were in approximately 8th overall, and 2nd of the women.  We passed some boats in front of us, and held off some fast men behind us, and crossed the finish line in approximately 6th overall and 2nd women, just behind the 5th place boat / 1st women.</p>
<p>In Race 4, the second race of the day, we had a poor start at the right end of the line, and were forced to tack a couple of times before finding a clean air lane.  We rounded the first windward mark approximately mid-fleet, and in 4th place for the women.  We had a great first downwind leg: at the end of the top reach every single other boat gybed, but we held on starboard a little bit longer, finally gybing back in a clean air lane underneath the pack.  We made huge gains, and rounded the leeward mark in approximately 6th overall, moving up to 2nd or 3rd for the women.  Sweet!  And then things got really funky&#8230;  The breeze died even more, and we went right to what we thought was better pressure.  We passed the boats in the middle of the upwind, but the boats that went hard left passed us all.  We were back to approximately 10th, 6th place for the women.  In the second and third laps we gained distance on the leaders but could not pass anyone, and held even to cross the finish line in 6th overall for the women.</p>
<p>We would like to thank the sponsors and supporters of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex.  We would also like to thank the many individuals who give generously to support our olympic sailing campaign, and to our personal sponsors Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the Stage Harbor Yacht Club, Kaenon and Samson Ropes.</p>
<p>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, 150 E. 73rd St., Apt. 6D, New York, NY 10021-4362.  Or, donate directly through our website: www.470TeamUSA.com</p>
<p>Stay tuned for more racing!  Tomorrow&#8217;s forecast is calling for thunderstorms, so hopefully we&#8217;ll get our races off!</p>
<p>Erin and Isabelle</p>
<p>US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics </p>
<p>Campaign for 2012 Olympic Games<br />
www.470TeamUSA.com<br />
www.facebook.com/470TeamUSA</p>
<p>erin@470TeamUSA.com<br />
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com</p>
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		<title>A 4,3 puts us in 4th (tied for 3rd) at Sail Melbourne!</title>
		<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/07/a-43-puts-us-in-4th-tied-for-3rd-at-sail-melbourne/</link>
		<comments>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/07/a-43-puts-us-in-4th-tied-for-3rd-at-sail-melbourne/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:32:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>470 Team USA</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Email Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/?p=730</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Friends, Hello from the other side of the world! We are currently in Melbourne, Australia, 16 hours ahead of EST. This time change makes for some weird time-warps! When you wake up on Monday morning and read this e-mail, we will likely already be fast asleep (8 am EST is midnight for us in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dear Friends,</p>
<p>Hello from the other side of the world!  We are currently in Melbourne, Australia, 16 hours ahead of EST.  This time change makes for some weird time-warps!  When you wake up on Monday morning and read this e-mail, we will likely already be fast asleep (8 am EST is midnight for us in Australia).  The Sail Melbourne Regatta started today, Monday, November 7th.  A 4, 3 in the very small women&#8217;s fleet (only seven boats) puts us tied for 3rd, but losing the tie-breaker in 4th.  We are racing with the 15 boats in the men&#8217;s 470 fleet, so it makes for a 22 boat racecourse even though we are only scored against the 7 women.  For complete scores, please visit the regatta <a href="http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/37486/Overall_5_1.html" target="_blank">WEBSITE</a>.  Sail-World.com has just published a very nice article about us: click <a href="http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/Perth-2011---US-Womens-470---Maxwell-and-Farrar-%27In-the-Passing-Lane/90386" target="_blank">HERE</a> to read it.  For details from our campaign, and today&#8217;s racing, please read on!</p>
<p>We have been in Australia since Wednesday, November 2nd.  Getting here was an adventure unto itself!  We were originally meant to fly on Qantas, leaving the U.S. on Sunday, October 30th.  A labor dispute on Qantas Saturday morning, October 29th, grounded all of Qantas ENTIRE fleet worldwide.  Our flights to Australia were cancelled, and we spent hours on the phone on Saturday trying to sort everything out before ultimately purchasing new tickets on Emirates.  We left JFK on Halloween, Monday, October 31st, and flew to Melbourne via Dubai.  JFK to Dubai was about 11.5 hours, and then Dubai to Melbourne was a 13 hour red-eye, landing in Melbourne Wednesday morning.  See below for a photo of our TV monitor just as we land in Dubai on Tuesday morning, half-way to Australia.<br />
<a href="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/IMG_0326.jpg"><img src="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/IMG_0326-300x183.jpg" alt="" title="IMG_0326" width="300" height="183" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-731" /></a><br />
What a grueling trip!  From the time we left Erin&#8217;s home in Connecticut until the time that we arrived at the house we are staying at in Melbourne was about 37 hours.  See below for a photo of us training on Port Phillip Bay, with the Melbourne skyline in the background.<br />
<a href="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/SANY0203.jpg"><img src="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/SANY0203-300x225.jpg" alt="" title="SANYO DIGITAL CAMERA" width="300" height="225" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-732" /></a></p>
<p>The Sail Melbourne Regatta is the first of three regattas that we will be sailing in Australia.  The second is the Australian Nationals November 20-24th in Perth, and then the last, and most important, is the World Championships (and Olympic Try-Outs) December 12-18th in Perth.  The only regatta whose results matter are the Worlds!  he first two are very good practice opportunities, especially interesting because we are sailing in a mixed fleet against both men and women, even though we are only scored against the women. </p>
<p>Today&#8217;s forecast was for a light southerly, so we went to the gym this morning to maximize our training.  The racing today was much better than anticipated!  We sailed two races in a building southerly: the first was in 7-9 knots, and the second was in 8-10 knots.  In Race 1 we got a bad start towards the pin, and had to tack onto port off of the right shift.  We could not find a clean lane of wind on the first upwind, and slipped further and further behind the leaders.  We rounded the first windward mark mid-fleet, but in 4th place for the women.  The Aussies, Japanese and German women were ahead of us, and we were duking it out in a large pack that included the other American women and the Ukrainians.  We had a good top reach, rolling the boat in front of us and holding off the boat that came charging in from behind.  We passed a couple of boats throughout the race, but not enough to pass any of the other women that were in front.</p>
<p>In Race 2 we had a great start at the boat, right end of the line.  We started in a large right shift and held our lane for about 2 minutes before getting pinched off by the boat below us.  We initially had good speed compared to them, but then we bobbled in a couple of bad waves and they moved forward on us.  We were doing alright on the right side of the racecourse until a large left shift at the top of the first upwind put the left boats ahead of us.  We rounded the first windward mark in the top half, 3rd for the women, slightly better than the previous race.  We passed boats throughout the race, catching a lot of distance on the women in front of us, but we could not pass any of them.  In both of the races today we had great last leeward mark roundings onto the tight reach!  In the second race we were just behind the South African team.  As we approached the last leeward mark both of us were on port, and we had to gybe towards the mark, before gybing around the mark onto the right reach.  Both of us gybed onto starboard simultaneously, with us gybing above them and overlapped.  We were able to pull ahead and break the overlap, gybe around the mark without giving them room, doing essentially a reach to reach gybe, and hold off the South Africans and the other teams around us.</p>
<p>We would like to thank the sponsors and supporters of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex.  We would also like to thank the many individuals who give generously to support our olympic sailing campaign, and to our personal sponsors Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the Stage Harbor Yacht Club, Kaenon and Samson Ropes.</p>
<p>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, 150 E. 73rd St., Apt. 6D, New York, NY 10021-4362.  Or, donate directly through our website: www.470TeamUSA.com</p>
<p>Stay tuned for more racing!</p>
<p>Erin and Isabelle</p>
<p>US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics </p>
<p>Campaign for 2012 Olympic Games<br />
www.470TeamUSA.com<br />
www.facebook.com/470TeamUSA</p>
<p>erin@470TeamUSA.com<br />
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com</p>
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		<title>Perth 2011 &#8211; US Women’s 470 – Maxwell and Farrar ‘In the Passing Lane’</title>
		<link>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/06/perth-2011-us-women%e2%80%99s-470-%e2%80%93-maxwell-and-farrar-%e2%80%98in-the-passing-lane%e2%80%99/</link>
		<comments>http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/2011/11/06/perth-2011-us-women%e2%80%99s-470-%e2%80%93-maxwell-and-farrar-%e2%80%98in-the-passing-lane%e2%80%99/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Nov 2011 10:55:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>470 Team USA</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/?p=716</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Click HERE for a great article about us as a team by Shauna McGee Kinney on Sail-World.com.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Alt_mxwell_kinsolving1.jpg"><img src="http://www.470teamusa.com/wordpresstesting/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Alt_mxwell_kinsolving1-300x199.jpg" alt="" title="Alt_mxwell_kinsolving1" width="300" height="199" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-718" /></a></p>
<p>Click <a href="http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/Perth-2011---US-Womens-470---Maxwell-and-Farrar-%27In-the-Passing-Lane/90386" target="_blank">HERE</a> for a great article about us as a team by Shauna McGee Kinney on Sail-World.com.</p>
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