Tunnicliffe sails the Elliot 6m at Sheboygan, WI

by Anna Tunnicliffe reports on 16 Aug 2009 Latest report from Anna Tunnicliffe. I’ve just returned from a three-day training camp in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

Despite the lack of wind for a majority of the camp, we were still able to learn a lot about the boats. The set up in Sheboygan was pretty much perfect. They have eight new Elliots available for practice; full access to a yacht club and a sailing center for our briefings and debriefings; a huge number of volunteers that made the camp run very smoothly; and a pleasant, quiet little town that was very easy to get around. Sheboygan is about an hour's drive north of Milwaukee on Lake Michigan. It is a small town with a population of around 52,000 people of which we probably saw less than 100. We stayed in a great hotel, the Grandstay, which was about a 10 minute walk to the sailing center and 10 minutes from one of the best cups of coffee I’ve every had. There were plenty of great restaurants to choose from, although you had to check on their opening times as they were closed on odd days, but there was always something open. The sail from the sailing center to the lake is about a 7-minute sail out of the river and then we had the whole lake as our playground. It was perfect!

Now to the boats. The boats were a lot of fun. Coming from a Laser I like boats that are physical and respond like a dinghy, which this boat did. Although the boat is a keelboat by definition, when you are sailing the boat, you feel like you are sailing a dinghy.

Like I said, this was the first time I had sailed the boat, and for my team, this was the first time we had sailed with three people instead of four. It took us some time to get used to the boats and the extra jobs that everyone had to do, mainly my crew had to do, but there were one or two extra jobs for me, too, occasionally.

So a review of the boat we sailed. The boat is an open cockpit six meter boat. The bulb keel draws 1.6m, and the beam is 2.3m. It is a three-person boat with a weight limit of 205kg (450lbs). The foils are very thin which makes for hard down-speed (slow speed) maneuvering and the sail plan is very centered in the boat. The main is very big and the jib is very small. The spinnaker is quite big too. The control lines are led out to the sides of the cockpit so we can adjust them on either tack, and even lead back enough that the skipper can help when needed.

Now my opinion…I loved it! I personally think the boat will be great for women’s match racing in the Olympics. It is a fast boat that responds quickly, and is very physical. When I first got into match racing, I sailed Sonars and J/24’s, which are by no means fast, but great for match racing. The Elliot is going to take women’s match racing to the next level. It will be much faster paced, which will force us, as competitors to know the game much more thoroughly. On top of that, it is quite physical. After just getting done with Radial Worlds, I was looking to take a little break from the Laser so I decided to do match racing for the next couple of months. And although we only sailed in a max breeze of 10kts this week, I am not going to get a break from hiking, as we were all full out in about 8kts. Excellent! The Olympics is about knowing your game, but also about being an athlete. The Elliot is going to provide both for sailing. Match racing is a very mentally challenging game, but now the athletic part has also been added into it, because of the boat chosen, it is definitely the type of boat that should have been chosen.

I’m very much looking forward to racing the boats in Weymouth, England in September for the Sail for Gold regatta. Weymouth is the venue for the 2012 Olympic Games, so being able to sail at the venue, in the boats for the games, will be exciting.

I haven’t decided officially which discipline I am going to compete in yet, but I need a break from the Laser as I’ve sailed it non-stop since December. My team for Weymouth will be Molly Vandemoer and Alice Manard. We have a couple of match race events between now and Weymouth including another camp in the Elliots to get in some more practice before we head over to England.

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

Sail Hard,

Anna