Team Go Sail takes 2nd at 470 Int'l Spring Cup

by Sarah Mergenthaler / Amanda Clark on 16 Apr 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 33rd 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. 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.

We are now in Hyeres, France prepping for the French Olympic Sailing Week. This is an ISAF Grade 1 Event and will be well attended by the competition we expect to see in the Olympics. We are hoping for wind lighter than what we saw in Sanary Sur Mer in order to practice light air techniques and test two new masts. Racing begins on April 20.