A temporary change for Anna Tunnicliffe

by Anna Tunnicliffe on 7 May 2009 Anna Tunnicliffe seems to be enjoying a change in her sailing equipment. Read her lastest news.....

'For the last nine days, I have been hanging out in Boston and sailing the Puma Bladerider Moths around Boston Harbor with my husband, Brad. It has been a great experience and I am looking forward to the five days I have left.

Brad and I are guests of Puma for the week, and are here to demo-sail the Moths. The Moths are branded by Puma and are made to look exactly like Il Mostro, Puma's entry into the Volvo Ocean Race. The Moths have been around to all but one of the VOR stops, and have been sailed in the harbors during the stop-overs.

This is my first time to Boston, and have found it to be a delightful city. We are staying with our friend, Carlos Lenz, who lives about 5 miles from the VOR Village, and have been getting around by bike. Brad had his training bike, and I was loaned a Puma bike for the two weeks. The traffic is very conscious of the cyclists here (and there are many), so it is pretty safe to be on the roads. My bike is very cool. It is a one-speed bike, but ... it has disk brakes, has a built-in padlock, and the best part ... it glows in the dark. The one-speed is a bit of a drag on the way home every night as it's mostly uphill, but it is a good workout, so I'm OK with it.

We got to see the first four VOR boats finish this leg of the race. I was sailing the Moth when Ericcson 4 finished. Actually, I almost got in the way; I ran out of wind because of all the spectator boats. And Brad was sailing when Puma came in. The VOR boats are very fast and are very graceful as they cut through the water. We have been keeping the Moths back by the team containers, so we have been able to rub shoulders and interact with some of the shore crew, too, during the week. It has been quite an eye-opener. Before I got here, I was dead set on never doing the round-the-world race, but the more I have been here and talked to people, I think that one day I might want to do it, too.

However, the real reason we are in Boston? Work. We have been demo-sailing and coaching. During the week, we have been doing a college promo. We are inviting college sailors to come and experience Moth sailing. Brad and I have been coaching them and getting them excited about the Moths. We have had considerable interest in the program and have filled every spot (about 6 people per day). We owe a huge 'thank you' to Courageous Sailing Center and Piers Park Sailing Center for hosting us and this program. They both have been extremely cooperative in giving us whatever help we needed.

The rest of the time, Brad and I have been sailing around the harbor, showing off the Moths. This past weekend, the ICSA National Semi-Finals were going on right out of the VOR Village. There were 36 teams in attendance, trying to qualify for the National Championships. We sailed our Moths in and around the race-course, between the fleets, trying to impress everyone with how 'cool' they look.

The sailing has been going well for both of us, as well, as we are much more competent in the boats now than we were when we got here a week ago. Yesterday, I was quite impressed with myself in that I had been sailing for about 30 minutes and hadn't, to that point, got wet. Well, just as I was congratulating myself, I saw a piece of 2x4 floating in the water. I didn't have time to get round it, but thought I would be able to just brush by it. Well, I definitely lost that fight; my boat came to a very sudden stop, pitch-poled and sent me flying forward at about 14kts into the 45o water of Boston Harbor. Although I didn't find it funny at the time, in hindsight, it was quite amusing. And, everyone who saw it had a good chuckle at my expense.

I have five more days here in Boston before I go to Houston for a Laser clinic over the weekend. From there, I get to finally go home. My next event is a clinic and match race at New York Yacht Club in Newport, RI. I will write an update from there.'

I would like to thank my sponsor Carmeuse for their continued support of my campaign for the 2012 Olympics in London.

Sail hard,

Anna

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