Many thanks to the Stonington Harbor Champions Fund, and all the individuals who have made our campaign possible. Also, thank you to our product sponsors, Kaenon and Harken.

Very, very, very best,

Erin and Isabelle

470 Team USA
www.470TeamUSA.com

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

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:


http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/11221/overall_2_3.html

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

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

We had another good day today. We sailed three races: the last qualifying race, and the first two races for Gold Fleet. We finished 2nd in the qualifying race, moving up to 3rd overall in the standings. In the Gold Fleet racing this afternoon, we finished 8th and 3rd, and remain 3rd overall. Nice! We are only 6 points out of 1st place, but the top boats are starting to stretch out from the fleet. For complete scores please visit the regatta website:

http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/11221/overall_2_3.html

For photos, please visit this website:

http://470.org/fotos/worlds08/

We launched at 10 a.m. for the last race of qualifying. It was overcast this morning, and the forecast was calling for a cold front passing through that would FINALLY bring the breeze into the upper teens, but not for the first race which was sailed in 6-8 knots. During the starting sequence there was a large left shift, so we started at the pin, left, end of the line with most of the other good boats in our group. Our whole group tacked immediately and crossed the right side of the line. We continued to work the left side on the upwind, finding a little more shift and pressure. We rounded the first windward mark in 4th place. The breeze continued to shift left, and we moved into 3rd on the next downwind by going faster than the boats around us and knowing where the next mark was. We held onto 3rd for another lap, and moved into 2nd on the last downwind by staying in better pressure and hitting a large 30 degree shift. A good start for a long day!

We sailed into shore so that the Gold and Silver Fleets could be split, and were pleased to see that we had moved into 3rd overall! The top three teams at this regatta get a big dot to put on their sails. We had earned our first dot ever! The red looks good, but we are itching to trade it in for a blue or yellow!

We re-launched at 2 p.m. in breeze that was still soft. At this point we were starting to wonder if the high teens were ever going to materialize! We did not have a great start to the first race of Gold, and bailed out early, heading towards the right. We came back in a right shift and were looking surprisingly good on the other boats. As we crossed towards the left, the boats that dug further right than us did well. We caught a little left shift at the end to put us in the thick of the pack at the windward mark. We rounded in about 12th and lost a couple of boats going downwind. By the time we got downwind to the leeward mark, the wind had built dramatically to 18 knots. Everyone was caught off-guard and had to struggle with boats that were set up for 8 knots. We survived as well as anyone did, and caught a lot of distance on the second lap. Coming into the last leeward mark, we were just behind a pack of boats. Despite the fact that it was very windy, there had also been a big left shift which would make the finish reach easier. As windy tight reaching is one of our strengths, we were confident that we could hold to the finish. Of the pack of seven boats that rounded in front of us, only two others also held their spinnakers. We made it through underneath all of the boats that only had jibs, and rolled one boat with a spinnaker as they almost capsized. In the span of 200 yards, we had gone from approximately 14th to 8th.

In between races, we were happy to see the wind continue to build to approximately 22 knots. We got our boat set up for the breeze, and won the boat, right, end of the line. We were going very fast in the puffs, played the shifts well, and got to the windward mark in 3rd behind the Dutch and the French. The three of us set our spinnakers early on the top reach, and went tearing away from the rest of the fleet. We held even for the rest of the race, and crossed the finish line 3rd.

One of the hardest parts of the day was making it back on shore. We launch from a nice beach with a long, shallow grade, which is good when there are no waves. Coming in at the end of the day in breaking waves was a lot hairier! We almost capsized twice, but made it on shore intact.

Keep your fingers crossed for us — it has been working so far! The forecast for the next two days should be windier, and we are looking forward to making the most of it.

Best,

Erin and Isabelle

470 Team USA

www.470TeamUSA.com

erin@470TeamUSA.com

isabelle@470TeamUSA.com

Happy Australia Day!  Today is Australia’s National Holiday, celebrating the day in 1788 when Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet of eleven convict ships from Great Britain, arrived in Sydney Harbor.  

The weather forecast today, Saturday, January 26th, was not favorable for racing.  It was a bright and sunny day with two winds opposing each other.  The strong northerly gradient breeze driven by pressure faced off against the usual sea breeze, producing something of everything. As the US Sailing Team’s weather forecaster said, “Good luck.  You are on your own today.”
We launched at 12 noon in a 15 knot northerly.  We had two races that were abandoned 1/2 way up the first leg, with the boats on the left working the south-westerly sea breeze and the boats on the right working the north-westerly gradient.  We were postponed ashore at 2:30, sent out again at 3:30 right in the path of a big thunderstorm.  The fleet boycotted the launch, hoping the race-committee would come to their senses and not send us out in the path of the storm.  Thankfully they did, and we were again postponed ashore at 3:50.  Racing was FINALLY cancelled for the day at 4:45 as the competitors were enjoying the view of the thunderstorm sweeping past the racecourse.
Qualifying continues for one more day, and we will have one race tomorrow.  The men finished their qualifying series, and have been split into Gold and Silver fleet.
Below is a photo of us finishing 2nd in the first race of the regatta:
For other photos from the regatta, you can visit the 470 Class Website, although the one above is the best one of us so far!  
http://www.470.org/-Photos
Keep thinking fast (and smart) thoughts for us!

Erin and Isabelle

470 Team USA

erin@470TeamUSA.com

isabelle@470TeamUSA.com

Well, we had a good day in really tough conditions!  We sailed three races today and finished 3rd, 7th, and 4th.  We hung tough upwind, sailing smart in conditions where we are not the fastest.  Downwind we motored!  Overall, we moved up to 5th but are tied for 4th with our Japanese friends from Sail Melbourne.  There is one race left in the qualifying series, and we’re only 6 points out of 1st place — awesome!  The points are still really close and the top of the fleet is all sailing well.  For complete scores, please visit the regatta website:
http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/11221/overall_2_1.html

Also, please visit the home page for Sail Melbourne where yours truly are front and center!  (The photo is from Sail Melbourne — it hasn’t been that windy yet on a tight reach at the Worlds!)
http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au/index.html

For details from today’s racing, please read on!  

The forecast for today was not good, but the clouds cleared early and we were excited for a sea-breeze to build by the end of the day.  Today’s racing was on a different racecourse, “Alpha”, where Gold fleet will be sailing.  The first race was sailed in 6-8 knots.  The starting line was shorter, so we were looking for low density.  We started towards the pin, and worked the left side of the course.  The pressure was always slightly better towards the left.  We kept digging left, and kept looking better and better on the fleet.  We rounded the windward mark 3rd and held there for the entire race, keeping the 4th place team slightly behind us.  Not a bad start to the day!

2:30 p.m. seems to be the magic time for the sea-breeze here in Melbourne, so in between races at 2 p.m. we were confident the breeze would continue building.  We depowered our boat, setting up for wind that never materialized.  The whole race was sailed in approximately 8 knots.  We started the second race in the middle of the line and did not have our usual jets upwind.  We played the shifts well, but rounded the first windward mark in approximately 10th in a big pack.  We lost a couple of boats in the next lap as we struggled slightly with both speed and positioning.  We rounded the last windward mark in about 15th.  Downwind, we turned on the afterburners.  Erin found perfect lanes steering us away from other boats, while Isabelle worked the waves better than she ever has (according to coach Skip Whyte).  As we sailed down the run, Erin started naming the boats that we were passing by riding waves low away from the pack.  As we rounded the last leeward mark, we were in 7th!  We had gained at least 300 yards relative to the boats around us.  Never had a 7th felt so good.  As we finished the race, we noticed that the committee was sending us on a third race — game on!

By this time it was clear that the sea-breeze was not filling with its usual gusto, so we again set up our boat for light air.  This proved to be the right decision: the race started in 8 knots which died to 4 knots by the end of the race.  During the starting sequence the boat became favored, so we took a second row start near the boat, right, end of the line.  We were the first boat to tack out toward the right side of the racecourse.  We were nervous about splitting so hard from the other boats, so took a five degree shift back towards the left looking good on the fleet.  The right continued to pay, but we worked the left side of the upwind losing out to the right.  We rounded the first windward mark in approximately 10th and more or less held there for the next lap.  The breeze really died out on the last run, but our speed did not.  We found a little bit more wind on the downwind right side of the run (upwind left side of the racecourse), and did well relative to the boats around us.  We did not realize how well we had done until we approached the last leeward mark in 5th.  We had two last good gybes, passing the 4th place boat, and almost getting to 3rd.  We were very happy with the 4th with which we crossed the line.

Overall, today was great because we did well in conditions that are not our strongest.  We are continuing to make good, conservative decisions on the racecourse.  We should have one more day of light air before the next cold front rolls in on Sunday, just in time for Gold Fleet.  Bring on the breeze!  

Thank you to our sponsors, the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club Champions Fund, Kaenon, and Harken, as well as all of the individuals who keep us on the racecourse.  We could not do it without you!

Best,

Erin and Isabelle

470 Team USA

www.470TeamUSA.com

erin@470TeamUSA.com

isabelle@470TeamUSA.com

We did it! We won the Sail Melbourne Asia Pacific Regatta handily, coming out on top of the 48 boat women’s 470 fleet, 16 points ahead of 2nd place! We finished XX in the medal race, in front of our Japanese competitors in XX.  This is our first international regatta win as a team, and we are looking forward to many more!

 For complete results please visit the regatta site:

 http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/6997/overall_3_1.html

Here we are on top of the podium, next to the 3rd place Italian team:

And again below, still smiling wide with coach Skip Whyte:

For more photos from down under, please visit our picasa photo gallery:

http://picasaweb.google.com/isabelle.kinsolving/470TeamUSADownUnderSailMelbourne

We are feeling great going into the World Championships.  We were successful in a variety of conditions, both windy and light.  We have four days before racing starts again on Thursday, January 24th.  We will measure our boat on Tuesday, January 22nd.  The long-range forecast for Melbourne is calling for windy conditions for the beginning of the regatta — just what we like best!

The regatta website for the Worlds is: http://www.470.org/worlds08/

Thank you again to the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club Champions Fund and to all of you who make our effort possible.  Special thanks to our product sponsors, Kaenon, Harken and Samson Ropes.

Best,

Erin and Isabelle

470 Team USA

www.470TeamUSA.com

erin@470TeamUSA.com


isabelle@470TeamUSA.com