-Team Go Sail takes Second at 470 International Spring Cup

-French Olympic Week Begins April 20

Dear Supporters,                                                                                                    April 15, 2008

We have been in Sanary Sur Mer, France for the past two and a half weeks training and competing.  Sanary Sailing School hosted the 33^rd Annual 470 International Spring Cup, where we took second place in the Women’s Division. 

Training:

Our delayed container from Melbourne finally arrived in France mid-March.  We landed in Nice and eagerly unloaded the boat we hadn’t seen since late January.  The objective of our training camp was to test two new masts in consideration of sending them to China.  Unfortunately, we saw 18-30 knots for 90% of our training period.  On day 3 of training, we were going full wild downwind in a massive puff.  Coach Bunny was set to observe the spinnaker drop, acting as leeward mark “just” 100 meters in front of us.  We never got to him- Instead, the bow dug hard into a wave and we pitch-poled, somersaulting bow-over-stern.  It was an epic crash, which left our mast in three pieces.  Fortunately, we were not hurt and there was only minor structural damage to our boat.&n bsp; On the downside, we lost what we already knew was a good mast and had to start our evaluations all over again on our second new mast.  The rest of training stayed windy and we made great inroads with our heavy air speed, especially in huge waves!  We will post new pictures from this training camp on our website.

Spring Cup Racing:

This regatta was a great opportunity for us as we got the rare opportunity to race with the international men’s fleet.  We were hoping for some China-like conditions, but the wind howled all week long.  We had several days of 18-25 knot on-shore winds with 6 foot waves.  Timing of a gybe on the wave was crucial!  We also had two days of 20 knots directly off-shore, which was much flatter but very shifty. Overall, we took some great tips from the heavier, stronger men’s teams on big wind techniques.  We also worked hard on starting in relation to being able to carry out our pre-race strategy. 

The third and final stop of the road-warrior circuit was St. Petersburg YC on Florida’s west coast.  This is traditionally the biggest event of the three as it’s 3 full days of racing.  This year’s Winter Lightning Championship drew 70 boats!  The first day of racing was cancelled due to no wind but competition heated up on shore with the giant jenga matches.  We saw near perfect racing conditions on the second day with 15-20 knots and typical Tampa Bay chop.  We had problems hanging with the “big boys” in the heavy stuff as we were sailing very light.  Hiking as hard as humanly possible, we were all point and no fast-forward.   We finished place 22 overall.

Overall, the Lightning experience was very positive.  We got a great chance to take our “470 blinders” off and focus on racing from a different perspective.   The talent and experience in the Lightning fleet is impressive. We learned so much from watching and talking with some of the top teams, including 2008 US Sailing Rolex Yachtman of the Year Jeff Linton  and 2007 Pan Am Games Medallist David Starck.  Talk about mentors!  The ending highlight of the trip was winning the perpetual Humphrey Newcomer Award for the highest finishing first-timer on the Southern Circuit. A huge thanks goes out to: Steve Warren for loaning us his very fast boat, Dave Whelan and George Francis for being our third crews, Bill Merg for loaning us his massive suburban to tow the Lightning over 2900 miles and the whole Lightning class for their generosity and hospitality.  It was an honor to race with them!

We head to France this week for the 470 Spring Cup in Sanuray Sur Mer, follwed by the French Olympic Week in Hyeres.  This should be a great month of training and competing and we are itching to get back into the 470!

-Team Go Sail Takes Third Place at Lightning Mid Winter Champs

-Eight Overall at Lightning Southern Circuit,

-Team Go Sail wins Humphry Newcomers Award

March turned out to be a month of surprises for us.  We planned to train in Palma de Mallorca, Spain for two weeks, followed by the Princess Sofia Trophy.  However, we got a call a few weeks prior to our departure date bearing bad news: the container carrying our boat from the Worlds in Melbourne was severely delayed arriving in Barcelona.  There was no way we could expect our boat in time for any sailing in Palma.  We scrambled for a week to find a charter 470, along with all the bits and pieces necessary to get on the water.  When we realized it was next to impossible to piece together a decent boat with borrowed gear, we decided to find “alternative” sailing here in the USA.  Enter the Lightning Southern Circuit, a Lightning Class tradition for over 40 years.

We have raced Lightnings in the past and have always found top-notch competition and a very deep, talented fleet.  The class is chock full of everything from professional sailors to weekend warriors and is famous for it’s casual, family-friendly atmosphere.  We made some phone calls to local New Jersey Lightning gurus and within one day we had a brand new boat and sails, generously on loan from Steve Warren.

The Lightning Southern Cicuit is a three-event regatta over 9 days.  The first stop was Savannah Yacht Club for the Deep South Regatta.  Racing takes place on a shifty river with lots of current.  No compass is necessary as the important shifts are more than visible to the naked eye.  The real challenge is navigating the race through the maze of the 50+ boat fleet on the narrow river.  There were some great mark roundings with 20 boats fighting to get around at once, cross-current in a 30 degree shift.  This was great practice for China!  Another highlight at the Deep South was Amanda winning a knot-tying contest at the event social event.

Stop #2 was Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami for the Mid Winter Championship.  We’ve had lots of racing experience in Miami so we were feeling a little more confident on tactics than we did in Savannah.  We had the jets on for the first day of racing in the 53 boat fleet.  We registered a 15, 1, 1 with blazing boat speed in the light wind and flat water.  We hung on to third place overall for the regatta after five races.  Too bad Sarah couldn’t have as strong a result in the annual Lightning hula-hooping competition!...

Happy New Year!!!  We wish everyone smooth sailing in 2008!