Tunnicliffe wins Laser Radial Class at Delta Lloyd

by Derby Anderson on 27 May 2008
Anna Tunnicliffe sailed a stellar week at the ISAF Grade 1 Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, Holland. Going into today’s medal race, she knew she was guaranteed gold or silver; all she had to do was stay no farther than five boats behind her closest competition, Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania.

By finishing five boats ahead of Volungeviciute, Tunnicliffe confirmed her gold medal and won the 71-boat fleet by 21 points. Rounding out the top three was Italian Larissa Nevierov, who sat 43 points behind Tunnicliffe on the final scoreboard.

Over the course of the chilly week the winds and chop grew, causing sailors like Croatian Tina Mihelic, who had posted a scoreline of 2-1-1 on day two, to fall back into the teens in the overall standings. Meanwhile, Tunnicliffe remained strong and extended her lead as the conditions changed.

Tunnicliffe finished the regatta with six first-place finishes out of 14 races, while the second-place finisher only managed two race wins. The event provided for one 'throwout', meaning every competitor’s worst score was dropped. Tunnicliffe’s worst score was better than that of every other racer on the Laser Radial course, meaning when it came to the 'weak' races, Tunnicliffe was still the strongest.

Tunnicliffe has been testing some new techniques as she trains for the Olympic Games in China and she also got to work with U.S. Olympic Sailing Team Head Coach Gary Bodie for this event. She says in her blog, 'The training was excellent, exactly what I needed going into this regatta. I’m very excited to have him [Bodie] here because it is a good opportunity to get an extra perspective and to work on my overall race game.'

This gold medal was particularly rewarding for Tunnicliffe, who says to journalist Lynn Fitzpatrick, 'It feels good to win a Grade 1 regatta. It’s one thing to win the OCR on your home turf, but it’s a real confidence builder to win a European event so close to the Olympics.' Tunnicliffe won the Rolex Miami OCR in 2006 and her most notable recent finish is winning the Qingdao Olympic Test Event in 2007. She has been training on the European circuit this spring and in between regattas this month she managed to marry fellow Laser sailor Brad Funk. She heads to the Qingdao Olympic Games in August of this year.

U.S. Olympic Team members also took top ten finishes in three more classes: Stu McNay (Lincoln, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.) came in sixth in the Men’s 470, Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) finished eighth in the Laser, John Lovell (New Orleans, La.) and Charlie Ogletree (Kemah, Tex.) finished tenth in the Tornado class.

For Anna Tunnicliffe’s personal page visit www.annatunnicliffe.com

For results, photos and more information about the Delta Lloyd Regatta please visit www.deltalloydregatta.org/2008v2/

To learn more about the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team go to www2.ussailing.org/site3.aspx

About the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics

The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics recognizes the top three teams in all Olympic and Paralympic classes. The top athlete in each class is also a member of the U.S. Olympic Team for Sailing. The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics is managed by US SAILING, national governing body of the sport. Headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the United States. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.