Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta - Day 4 for Team AlphaGraphics + Video

by Dana Paxton on 6 Apr 2012 Day four of racing at the Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, brought the typical light-wind conditions and a tough battle for some of US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG).

On the bright side, USSTAG continued to climb through Women’s Match Racing where Anna Tunnicliffe’s 'Team Maclaren' of Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi won their quarter-final match-up to advance to the semi-final round. Friday is the final day of the qualifying series for the Olympic fleet racing classes. The top 10 in each class will advance to Saturday’s medal races.

In Women’s Match Racing, the Quarter-Final round was completed, which makes way for the Semi-Final round on Friday. Tunnicliffe was pleased with her team’s performance, to date.

'So far we’ve had a very good regatta,' said Tunnicliffe after racing. 'We’ve been working on a lot of little things. We’re psyched to make it into the Gold Round and guaranteed to get into the Quarter Finals.'

Strategy and fitness go hand in hand in Team Maclaren’s approach to match racing. 'With match racing they’re really long days,' said Vandemoer. 'Sometimes we’re on the water from 9am until sunset. If your body is fatigued, your brain can’t be working 100%. We want to make sure there’s never a reason for our bodies to be tired and make a bad decision.'

In an exclusive video, Tunnicliffe, Vandemoer and Capozzi talk about how her Team Maclaren divvies up the on board responsibilities:



Sally Barkow’s 'Team 7 Match Race' of Alana O’Reilly and Elizabeth Kratzig Burnham completed the quarter-final round seeding match with one win, three losses to Tamara Echegoyen (ESP). As the Quarter Finals are a knockout round, Barkow does not advance.

'Not ideal in the end,' said Barkow. 'We had a penalty in the first race and couldn’t pass her. The second race was good. And the third, we had a bad race. We’re not sure if we had something on the keel, but we couldn’t pass her. The last race was a good fight and we had a struggle for speed downwind. We felt good in the pre-starts. We felt like we were getting what we needed.'

Video with Sally Barkow talking about day four and her training program toward the US Trials:



Mark LeBlanc moved into podium striking distance in the 2.4mR with two solid race results today. A 6-2 finish puts him in fifth overall and in position for a medal. Racing in the 2.4mR concludes on Friday.

Zach Railey continued to accumulate low scores, posting a 7-2, and moved into second place overall in the Finn class.

Provisional results in the remaining classes: Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl are in 19th in Men’s 470; Caleb Paine is 11th overall in the Finn class; Erik Storck and Trevor Moore are in 21st in the 49er; Rob Crane is in 39th in the Laser; Paige Railey is in 20th in the Laser Radial; and Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan 25th in Women’s 470.

US Sailing Development Team sailor Charlie Buckingham continued his impressive surge in the Laser class. He won race 8, and with an additional 27th place, he moved into seventh overall.

Team AlphaGraphics website
http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/" target="_blank">Event website