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4.4.07 2007 Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta in Palma de Mallorca, Spain In Palma de Mallorca, Spain, thirty members (18 teams) of the US Sailing Team have battled cold, fluky and frustrating conditions during the first few days of racing at the Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta, one of six regattas in the ISAF World Cup Series. The event began on Saturday and runs through Friday. On Tuesday, sailors finally enjoyed a little sun (albeit cool temps) and decent wind conditions (14 to 18 knots), making it possible to sail three races in many classes. The Laser and Laser Radial classes had delayed starts due to shifting wind conditions in the racing area. Today, the fleets were divided into Gold and Silver, and in some classes, Bronze, with the best sailors in the Gold group. The top ten teams will qualify for the Medal Races, which will be on Friday. US Sailing Team members are showing strong performances midway through the regatta. To see the latest results, please visit the event web site: www.trofeoprincesasofia.org. Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi, who are currently leading the Yngling fleet, said the ability to read the inconsistent conditions is key. On Monday, after suffering through unexpected windshifts, they wrote: "We had a good handle on the weather and the possibilities as it changed. Our speed felt great today, both when we were sailing in pressure and when we were trying to keep the boat moving in the light stuff. However this class is deep in Olympic-quality talent and we need to maintain our focus on making good starts and making good tactical decisions on the race course." In the 470 Women's class, Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving are currently in sixth place in a 68-boat fleet. They wrote: "Over the past two days we have had five great races in a variety of conditions. Yesterday, Tuesday, was the last day of racing for qualifying for gold fleet. We sailed three races in windy conditions -- 12 to 18 knots. We finished 10th, 4th, and 3rd, and easily qualified for gold fleet in 5th place overall. We were pleased about going into the finals with only top ten scores: our finishes, 2, 9, 10, 4, and 3 were all "keepers" -- important going into the gold fleet where racing is twice as hard as qualifying! Today we had two races in light air, and finished 12th and 14th. The whole fleet was very inconsistent, and we only dropped one place to 6th. We are still very close to the top, only 8 points out of 2nd place. In a 34 boat fleet, that distance can easily be made up in one good race!" To read more, please visit their web site: www.470TeamUSA.com To learn why some of the Laser Radial sailors were "unhappy campers," after an 8-hour day on the water in the cool breeze Tuesday, read Laser sailor Andrew Campbell's detailed analysis on his web site: www.campbellsailing.com/ In addition to the inconsistent conditions, the competition has been tough all week. Finn sailor Geoff Ewenson described the starts as aggressive and said you have to fight for your space: "The starting lineups and jockeying for position begin two and a half minutes before the gun. If you don't have your spot on the line at 1:30 you are guaranteed a second row start. Even if you are in the front row it is not a place for the meek. It is a knife fight and the result of a tiny mistake is a quick trip out the back of the fleet." www.ewensonsailing.org
March 30 - April 6: Tornado European Championship, Palma de Mallorca, Spain April 19-27: Semaine Olympique Francaise de Voile, Hy?es, France www.ffvoile.net/ffv2006/ May 23-27: Holland Regatta, Medemblik, The Netherlands www.hollandregatta.org/2007/ June 1-10 : 470 European Championship, Thessaloniki, Greece June 1-9: Finn European Championship, Balatonfoldvar, Hungary June 2-9: Laser European Championship and Laser Youth European Championship , Hyeres, France June 5-15: RS:X European Championship, Limassol, Cyprus June 14-17: Laser North American Championship, Hyannis, MA, USA June 16-30:
Kiel Week, Kiel, Germany June 28-July 13: ISAF Combined Olympic Class World Championship in Cascais, Portugal (first Olympic Qualifier for all classes) www.cascaisworlds2007.com Sponsors of the 2007 US Sailing Teams are: Rolex Watch U.S.A., Vanguard Sailboats, Nautica, Gill, Sperry Top-Sider, RIBCRAFT, Harken, New England Ropes, Extrasport, Nikon and Team McLube.
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