XII International Women's Match Race Criterion – Team Tunnicliffe

by Team Tunnicliffe on 5 May 2010 Team Tunnicliffe arrived in Calpe, Spain three days ago in preparation for our next event, the XII International Women's Match Race Criterion. We also added two members to the team, Liz Bower, our fourth and new addition and Mary Rook from Great Britain.

Today is our second day of practice in the Tom 28's, a boat that seems quite big after spending the last two months in the Elliot 6m. But the girls up front are very good and have figured out how to handle the boat already.

Getting here was a bit exciting. Liz's flight was delayed three hours out of Philly so she missed her connection in Barcelona, resulting in her bags being missing for three days now.

Our trip involved the baggage hold door on the plane being so broken; the airline was going to have to fly in a mechanic from Scotland to fix it, with the subsequent delays for us.

However, five minutes later, we were being told that we were going to take off. Not sure how they all of a sudden fixed it, maybe duct tape. But luckily, we all arrived safely around the same time, met up with Mary and drove the 45 minutes from Alicante Airport to Calpe.

Calpe is a beautiful seaside town. The yacht club and the apartment in which we are staying, is located on a peninsula that has a massive rock on the end of it. We call it 'the rock'. Very original I know, but that's really all it is.

Yesterday, we weren't allowed to practice, so we decided that after we had done our morning workouts, we would climb 'the rock' for an additional workout. And that it was! It was a very steep climb, but so pretty. We were accompanied by the New Zealand team, and it was good to get to know them a bit more.

We timed the weather nicely as well. As we were climbing, the wind was picking up, the temperature was dropping and the rain clouds were slowly moving in. At the top, we ate a quick lunch, took some pictures, and started the decent. Just as we reached the bottom, it started to sprinkle, and by the time we got back to our apartments, the heavens opened up.

Today is the first day of the event and involves weigh in, official practice, and briefings. The temperature is still on the chilly side, but the wind is up, and the sun is currently shining, so practice will be fun.

There are a lot of great teams here, twelve total, but seven from the top 10 in the ISAF World Rankings.

I would like to thank Carmeuse and Trinity Yachts for their continued support of our campaign for the 2012 Olympics in London. I would also like to thank USSTAG for their continued support.