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 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. 

 

Dear Supporters,

This is a quick update from Lake Garda, Italy, site of the 2008 470 European Championships.  After two days of racing, we are leading the regatta with a 4, 1, 1!  Conditions so far have been fairly light (5-12 knots), flat water and scattered rain showers everyday.  However, these factors have not detracted from the beauty of Lake Garda nor the host club in Riva del Garda.  It is one of the most beautiful places on the planet to sail!  We will send more updates as the week of racing goes on.  For details on the racing so far, please read on.

 

Day #1

The morning Northerly breeze died early in the day, giving way to a light Southerly.  We had a small postponement on the water as the wind settled in, but race 1 got underway close to schedule.  Because the lake is so deep, and the wind usually so consistent, there are permanent fixed marks the race committee uses.  The women's fleet started first on the outer trapezoid course.  There was a large left shift up the first beat to a course already skewed to the right.  This made the upwind more of a fetch.  The most important factor was staying in the pressure.  We rounded the windward mark in 4th place but caught a boat by the leeward mark.  Upwind on the outer, which is farther out in the middle of the lake, we thought we saw pressure towards the left.  This proved to be a costly gamble as boats in the top pack were able to work right of us.  We simply had less pressure than they did and we dropped back to 6th place at one point.  At the top of the cone we played a few shifts and worked back to 4th.  We held our place until the finish to open the regatta with a solid 4th.  An approaching rain squall killed the rest of the wind and the lake went to glass- end day 1.

 

Day #2

The RC wisely decided to race the fleet on a windward/leeward course today to avoid any problems with a skewed course.  We had plenty of time to test the course before the start of the first race and we were confident the right hand side had the best pressure.  Sometimes the angle coming off the left looked good as it was very close to the shore, but never as much pressure.  We won the boat at the start and quickly tacked to port in order to get to the right pressure.  We sailed almost to the layline, keeping a constant eye on the fleet to judge our pressure vs. theirs.  We rounded the windward mark in first but the competition was right on our heels.  We opted for a gybe set in order to get back into the right pressure (left side of the run looking downwind).  This paid and we increased our lead by the bottom mark.  We repeated our strategy on the second lap and stayed ahead of the fleet to record our first bullet.  Race #2 was practically a carbon copy of the first race.  We again won the boat and were first to break away to port tack.  We were loving the right!   We rounded the top mark in first again and increased our lead even further downwind.  Bullet #2 

We are now leading the regatta by 11 points.  It was definitely one of those magic days on the race course.  We were confident in our game plan and strategy and were able to execute.  Our speed was top notch.  In fact, not one single boat crossed our bow all day!  This is a long regatta and there is plenty of racing left. Stay Tuned!

Very Best,

Sarah Mergenthaler

Amanda Clark

-Still Leading at the European Championships!

Dear Supporters,

This is our second update from the European Championships in Riva del Garda, Italy. We have now completed 8 of 12 races in the championship series (allowing one discard) and we remain on top of the leader board! Team Japan is close on our heels, just one point behind, with the Austrians 8 points back.

Over the past two days the fleet scores have been very up and down. The steep cliffs of Lake Garda are famous for many reasons including funneling wind down the right side of the course. We’ve been exercising starting on port to allow ourselves to be one of the earliest boats heading right. This seems to be a good ticket as we’ve rounded the windward mark in the top 4 boats 5 races out of 8. Similarly, a gybe set down wind allows you to get back into the wind running down the right side of the course (left hand side of the run looking downwind).

The trickiest part of the day is late afternoon when the thermal generated southerly wind begins to die for the evening. There are massive and unpredictable shifts occurring all over the race area. Staying consistent during these periods is difficult but rewarding. We have 4 races over two days of fleet racing remaining with the medal race scheduled for Saturday. The forecast over the next two days looks questionable with lots of rain, possible thunderstorms and unsteady wind. It could be a very exciting ending!

The regatta website is: www.fragliavelariva.it/public_new/RegataDetail.asp?RegataID=169

 

Stay Tuned,

Sarah Mergenthaler Amanda Clark

 

Dear Supporters,

We are arrived in Qingdao just over a week ago for our final training camp before the Olympic Games begin.  When we were here training in May, we were one of a small group of teams training out of the Yin Hai Yacht Club, the official training site for the Olympics.  Now, the boat park is a noisy, crowded yet exciting place.

It took us two days to get on the water as we wanted to finish all the remaining major boat work projects early in our training camp.  Our Games boat is almost ready to go!  After a week of training we have had some typical Qingdao conditions: light winds, strong current and choppy seas with an underlying swell.  We have also had a few days of very dense fog with visibility under 30 feet.  This has been the most challenging aspect of training so far.  Visibility was so poor that towing to our race area was impossible.  We decided to go just a few hundred yards outside the harbor entrance and work on tight space maneuvering, starts and boat handling.  We were making the most out of the day when we heard a low rumbling approaching our practice area.  There is a fishing fleet with 100’s of wooden boats in the village right next to Yin Hai.  These fishing boats are working 24/7 to clean the infamous algae out of the local waters.  Through the fog the fisherman couldn’t see or hear us.  We could hear them but not see them…..until one boat was almost on top of us in the 470!  Fortunately, it was a near miss but we decided to call practice for the day.

Speaking of algae, we are happy to report that most of the green goo is history.  The Chinese have done a tremendous job of cleaning the area and the algae has not impacted our training at all.  This week we are racing in the “International Coaches’ Regatta” with 24 other boats. This will be a great dry run and final opportunity for large course racing before the Olympic Regatta.  We are in the process of final evaluation on mains, jibs and spinnakers.  We will return to the USA July 21 to attend the US Olympic Team Processing in San Jose, CA (US team uniform day!), then return to China. 

Stay tuned for more reports from Qingdao!

Sarah & Amanda

www.TeamGoSail.org

08.08.08

Dear Supporters!!

 

 

Just a quick reminder: Sarah and I will be marching in the Opening Ceremonies! Check your local listings for when NBC will be airing the event in your area.

 

For Shelter Islanders and anyone near SI… fans will be gathering at the Chequit Inn in the Heights around 7pm on Friday evening to watch the event.

 

Our boat is all measured and we are ready to start racing on the 11^th of August. Check NBCSports.com for updates on racing. The full address is:    http://www.nbcolympics.com/sailing/index.html

 

 

We will keep everyone posted!!

 

Thank you!!

Amanda Clark

Sarah Mergenthaler

www.teamgosail.org

 

The Opening Experience! Words cannot begin to describe our Opening Ceremony Experience from Beijing last night. There simply isn’t the vocabulary that has the ability to draw deep enough meaning. It was the thrill of our lives to walk through the tunnel and into the Stadium surrounded by our country’s great athletes and wearing the Team USA uniform! Our day started very early on 8/8/08 as we boarded a charter flight from Qingdao to Beijing with sailors from all nations. Once we landed in Beijing the US sailors checked into the Olympic Village and had the afternoon free to roam the campus. The first stop was the dining hall and, wow, what a place! The cafeteria must be almost a kilometer long with more food choices than a New Jersey mall food court (complete with a McDonalds). We also checked out the athlete entertainment center, gym, pool and yes, even took a 30 minute crash course: Chinese 101. By 4:30PM we started dressing in our parade wear and gathered in front of the USA housing building. After a few photos we boarded a bus to the Fencing Hall to meet President Bush. The President gave a short but potent pump up speech to the US athletes then posed for a photo with each sports team. We also got the opportunity to meet athletes from other sports and snap more photos. In addition, there was a fair bit of marveling at how great everyone looked in the opening gear! Next we moved into the Gymnastics arena, which was transformed into a waiting/queuing area for the opening ceremony. National teams were seated around the arena by marching order. In the Chinese alphabet the United States was 140 of about 204 nations for last night’s order, so we had some waiting to do. Side note: this was a lucky break as the letter “U” in the English alphabet would have put us even farther back! Once the USA was announced, it was marching time…..or so we thought. It took about 30 minutes to leave the gymnastics arena, followed by another 45 minutes to walk across the street. It was during this time that we were first exposed to the crowds of excited Chinese fans lining the walkway. Talk about enthusiasm- these people were out of their minds energized. The atmosphere was contagious as every step we took, albeit slow, brought us closer and closer to the tunnel leading into the stadium. Inside the tunnel the entire US team broke into a beefy chant of “U-S-A!, U-S-A!, U-S-A!” but we were quickly drowned out the by crowd as we broke into the stadium. This was a moment we will never forget--the roaring of the crowd, blinding flashes from 1000’s of cameras, countless American flags waving in the masses of people and the electricity in the humid Beijing air. The highlight of the loop was marching passed President Bush and his entire family, where US athletes tipped their driving caps. The President acknowledged the team by standing and pumping his fists. Once the ceremony was over, we exited the stadium and boarded buses back to the village at 1AM. We’d been traveling since 6:30am, standing for almost 8 hours and sweating buckets the whole night but we were too excited to go to sleep. Where, might you ask, would thousands of energized Olympic athletes migrate to at 1AM? The dining hall, of course! And the place was jumping with activity. There might have been a lapse in our diets as we enjoyed an ice cream and took in the scenery. Athletes of every nation, still in their parade ensembles, were reliving the night. At 2AM we finally turned in and set our alarms to make the morning flight back to Qingdao. Once back in Qingdao, we took our sails for the final measurement task: country call letters and names. Watching the Chinese volunteers affix USA to each side of the sail was a big moment. More amusing was when they moved on to our names. CLARK was business as usual but sticking MERGENTHALER was a larger job to tackle. They couldn’t seem to get it straight so coach Bunny took matters into his own paws and did it himself! Our practice race is tomorrow then the main event begins on Monday, August 11th! Stay tuned, Sarah & Amanda

 

Dear Supporters, We’ve just returned home to the USA from the Olympic Games. The last four weeks in China was the experience of a lifetime. We finished the Olympic regatta in 12th overall. This was not the position we had hoped for heading into the racing, but we can safely say we gave it all we had and left everything on the waters of Qingdao. The 470 racing took place in the earlier part of the sailing competition, which turned out to be the light wind week. We had flashes of brilliance with 5 finishes in the top 10 during the ten-race regatta but we had difficulty putting consistent results on the board.

 

The highlight of our racing was undoubtedly day #4 (races 7 & 8). We launched at 11am for a 1pm start (it was a 45 minute tow to our race area). The day looked promising with surprisingly clear skies and even a little cumulus developing on shore. Perhaps a meaningful thermal would bless they day’s racing? But alas, when we finally arrived at the start, there wasn’t a breath of wind. We bobbed around until 4pm when the evening land breeze began to fill. The race committee was quick to start us, hoping to keep the fleet on schedule. Because all of China is on one time zone and Qingdao is on the eastern frontier, dusk comes early, even during summer! We had a wonderful 8-12 knots for both races and even got to pump downwind. We rolled two consistent scores: 7, 6, which was good enough to boost us into the top 10. By the time we reached the ramp in the Olympic Harbor it was 7:30 and pitch black. Thankfully, US Team Leader Dean Brenner was there to meet us, trolley and American flag in hand. We were exhausted but thrilled to turn in a consistent day.

 

We spent August 21-24 in Beijing at the Olympic Village. It was incredible to live and meet with U.S. athletes from other teams. We also got the chance to attend a few events including the gold medal games for volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and handball. On August 24th we capped our Olympic experience by marching in the Closing Ceremony and what a show it was! China has set the bar extremely high for all future Olympic host cities.

 

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to represent the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games. The Olympic ideal has had a profound effect on our lives. Competing in the Games has made us better sailors, better sportswomen and better people. The Olympic movement is humbling and awe-inspiring. We hope use our momentum to give back to sailing as it has given so much to us. We would like to thank each and every one of you for your support, enthusiasm, good wishes, emails, phone calls and ongoing interest in our sailing. We truly believe we would not have made it to the Olympics without such an incredible support system behind us. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

 

We would especially like to thank: Our Families, US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (especially Dean Brenner, Katie Kelly, Gary Bodie & Sarah Hawkins), Coach Bunny Warren, Gill, Kaenon Polarized, Snapper Rock, Mills Sails, SeaMar Gloves, New England Ropes, Kinesys Performance Sunscreen, Shelter Island YC, Surf City YC, New York YC, Seawanhaka Corinthian YC, Shrewsbury Sailing & YC, NJYRA, the Lightning Class, Sailing Foundation of New York, Southport Sailing Foundation, and the Oyster Bay Sailing Foundation for believing in us!

Very Best Always,

Sarah & Amanda

Please Join our 2012 Olympic Campaign at our new sites: www.teamgosail.org or go straight to our Blog at blog.teamgosail.org