Kieler Woche 2011 day three for Team Maclaren

by Anna Tunnicliffe on 21 Jun 2011 Kieler Woche 2011's third day has turned out well for Team Maclaren. Anna Tunnicliffe updates on all the action taking place in Kiel, Germany.

The second round robin was completed and we will begin the quarterfinal racing tomorrow morning. Team Maclaren had good day, finishing the second round 8-2 and ending the first stage with a 17-3 record and the top seed heading into tomorrow. We will race the eight seed, Nicky Souter (AUS).

Timewise, another long day on the water, but the sun was out except for 45 minutes so the day seemed much warmer and shorter thanks to the weather. The conditions, however, were quite challenging. The wind was blowing off the shore making for some big puffs and shifts meaning that every race was never over until we crossed the line.

We had some great races, with leads changing back and forth in some races. We had a great race with our USSTAG teammates Team Tulloch. We led off the line, but she passed us right at the top with a shift we didn’t get. Downwind, we passed her, but she sailed us passed layline and earned a penalty. It resulted in a red penalty meaning she had to immediately spin it after the leeward mark so it put us ahead and we held the lead to the finish.

Our last race, against Team Souter (AUS), was similar, but without the penalty. We led off the line but she did a great job of keeping it close. We rounded the windward mark with her a length behind us. Downwind, she rolled us on starboard, but we were set up in a good position to push her to layline as far as we could.

However, because we ended up not having luffing rights, we had to gybe and sail to the mark. We rounded just behind her, had a good rounding, hit the first two shifts perfectly and regained the lead. We managed to extend the lead upwind to hold her off to the finish.

We would very much like to thank our Title Sponsor, Maclaren, our Gold Level Sponsors 11th Hour Racing and Laser Performance, and our Bronze Level Sponsors Carmeuse, Trinity Yachts, and Chicago Match Race Center for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympic Games. We would also like to thank US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) and its sponsors for their continued support.

Also, thank you to our private donors. Please remember that any and all donations/contributions to our campaign should be made payable directly to either The Sailing Foundation of New York (tax deductible) memo'd Anna Tunnicliffe, or to Anna Tunnicliffe.

Team Maclaren website
Kieler Woche website