News/Results Latest News Tied in the Battle for First |
Title Sponsor
Supporting Sponsor
Team Suppliers
Supporting Clubs |
| Tied in the Battle for First | | Print | |
|
San Diego, Calif. After two days of racing at the U.S. Olympic Trials for the Tornado Class there’s a certain symmetry to the scoreboard that Johnnie Lovell and I plan to address tomorrow. With four races sailed, Advanced Equities I is tied on points with Robbie Daniel and Hunter Stunzi. We are 2-1-1-2. They are 1-2-2-1 but they are in first place after today, based on the tie-breaker rule that awards the top place to the most recent first finisher. Our starts have involved match race tactics against Robbie and Hunter and in the first start today we got the better of them and led off the line and stayed in front, maintaining a loose cover to win comfortably. The maneuvering got more intense for the second start and we were able to pin our opponents out at the leeward end of the line while we started on port. They extricated themselves and got off the line OK but we had the lead at the weather mark and stayed ahead for the first run as the breeze began dying. They overtook us on the second run as the gradient wind fought with the sea breeze but we made a big gain on the last weather leg and rounded the top mark a minute ahead. As Robbie started the run and we positioned ourselves defensively to leeward of him, he jibed into a huge blast of wind. Next minute he was trapezing under spinnaker straight for the finish line in 15 knots of breeze while we struggled to fly a hull in six knots. It was an amazing switch. His winning margin was almost as big as ours had been at the top mark. Aboard Advanced Equities II, Sarah Newberry and Craig Wierda were still trying to find their comfort level in the fresh breeze of the first race and were caught on the wrong side of a couple of shifts to finish sixth. In the second race they were third around the weather mark, behind Robbie, and stayed at the front end of the fleet until the offset mark where their rudders stalled and Sarah went for a brief swim. She was still connected to the boat by the trapeze and quickly scrambled aboard to continue racing. They finished overlapped with third place finisher Colin Merrick to take fourth place. The forecast for tomorrow is for lighter breeze. Sarah and Drew are looking forward to that more than we are. We consider ourselves an all-round boat and crew but we’re more comfortable as the wind gets stronger. Our host club is the San Diego Yacht Club. We’ll be racing out on Coronado Roads every day through October 14, with the 10th set aside as layday or makeup day. We’ll have a daily update for you here, plus full Tornado Trials Results. The photos featured here are courtesy Carl Hancock. More excellent photos can be viewed on the SDYC Photo Gallery. Be sure to visit our website at www.t-squaredracing.com. Our sponsor, Advanced Equities, is at www.advancedequities.com. Sail fast, |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|