Anna Tunnicliffe- Alinghi second o'all - Extreme Sailing Series, Day 3
by Anna Tunnicliffe on 25 Aug 2014
The Extreme Sailing. Act 5. Cardiff. Wales.
Alinghi (SUI) Lloyd Images/Extreme Sailing Series
These days, twice Rolex Sailor of the Year and Olympic Gold medalist, Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) alternates between sailing aboard Alinghi in the Extreme Sailing Series, and chasing a serious ranking in the world of CrossFit.
She reports in from Cardiff, Wales after Day 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series, sailing as tactician aboard Alinghi.
August 24, 2014, Cardiff, UK
It was a much shorter day that, after a rough start, ended with a couple decent scores. Only five races were held today, owing to lack of wind for most of the day, and challenging races they were. We ended up losing some points on the leaderboard and have dropped down to second overall. But the points are still very close and with a decent forecast for tomrorrow, it's all still to play for.
Our first two races just started badly and then we couldn't get out of own way really. We made some bad calls, struggled with lack of speed and it was just all around bad. But by the third race, we managed to get our starts sorted out and hit the top mark in first. Downwind the conditions were so light that boats behind carried pressure down to us so we lost two boats but we were still right on their tails at the bottom. Then again, we got a little jumpy and made an error or two on the upwind leg and ended up losing a couple more boats to drop back to 6th by the finish line.
Following that race, the wind completely petered out and we ended up doing two or three exhibition races while we waited for the wind to sort itself out. Finally, the wind filled in and we were able to sail two more races in decent breeze. We had great starts both races and were able to get to the top mark and execute our plans while being a bit more patient. The last race was our best race of the day where we rounded the top mark second and held onto it for the entire race. Finally, it felt as though we were sailing like Team Alinghi again, which was a great way to end the day heading into the final day tomorrow.
The forecast is for decent breeze all day but heavy rain, so it's going to be a wet one! You can follow along on the event website on their live video and Twitter feed: http://www.extremesailingseries.com
Sail Hard,
Anna
My sponsors:Inov-8, Skins, NormaTec, SpiderTech, Theromega Sports, RxSmartGear and FitAid.
4D's: Dream;Desire;Dedication;Determination SM
3P's: Passion...Progression…Perfection SM
You can follow Anna on her blog www.annatunnicliffe.com
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