Daily Summary: At the midway point of ISAF Sailing World Cup Palma, today’s performances for US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider were about consolidating and moving forward into the next phase of the regatta. Top performances came in the Men’s and Women’s 470, Laser and Finn where single digit race scores were the rule. The qualifying series is complete and racing will now move into the final round, beginning on Thursday.
Performance highlights include:
In the Men’s 470, Stuart McNay (Providence, R.I.) and David Hughes (Miami, Fla.) had a very steady day and added a 5-3 to their overall score to stand in 13th overall. They will advance into the gold fleet for the final series, taking a 13th carryover score. Overall they were pleased with how the day turned out. “Conditions were a building sea breeze and we made a couple of good decisions,” said McNay, a two-time Olympian. “Tomorrow, the regatta restarts itself in some ways. We carry our overall place forward as a race score and then there will be five final races on top of that. We are taking on race at a time. This regatta is a good learning experience for us.”
All of the events will use the new scoring and format system.
To listen to the full audio interview https://soundcloud.com/ussailingteam/stu-mcnay-on-a-stellar-day-and
Anne Haeger (East Troy, Wis.) and Briana Provancha (San Diego, Calif.)* moved up into 9th overall with scores of 2-4 in the Women’s 470. “We learned that it all comes down to getting off the starting line,” explained Provancha of their turnaround. “It’s a good mentality and we’ll bring it with us the rest of the quad. Yesterday wasn’t what we wanted and we have been working hard to prove we’re working hard. To go out and have a day like today, I’m really pumped.”
To listen to the full audio interview https://soundcloud.com/ussailingteam/team-haeger-provancha-crush
In the Laser class, Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) also had an outstanding day and added scores of 4-5 to put him into 20th overall for the final series.
“The first two days were pretty rough and highlighted things I need to work on,” he said. “Today was well within my comfort zone.”
The largest class competing this week with 119 entries, the gold fleet will be half the number, which is still a considerable fleet size. Buckingham is confident in his performance, and explained that he will carry this momentum into Thursday’s two scheduled races. “You really want to put the last five races together. You learn all the lessons you can in the first three days and then put it all together in the end.”
For an exclusive video interview with Buckingham http://youtu.be/G0ODEyszEFQ
Racing continues on April 4. To follow along with the event’s live blogging, go to http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/en
Results to date:
Overall position, class – sailors (hometown), race scores
13th, 470 Men – Stuart McNay (Providence, R.I.) and David Hughes (Miami, Fla.)* 14-10-4-23-5-3
9th, 470 Women – Anne Haeger (East Troy, Wis.) and Briana Provancha (San Diego, Calif.)* DNC-13-19-16-2-4
11th, 470 Women – Sydney Bolger (Long Beach, Calif.) and Sarah Lihan (New York, N.Y.) * ** 10-6-27-7-11-32
20th, 49er – Fred Strammer (Nokomis, Fla.) and Zach Brown (San Diego, Calif.)* 12-OCS-8-9
42nd, 49er – Ryan Pesch (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) and Trevor Burd (Marblehead, Mass.)* 17-23-20-23
39th – Brad Funk (Miami, Fla.) and Erik Aakhus (Corona del Mar, Calif.)** DNC-DNC-9-11
28th, 49er FX- Kristen Lane (Tiburon, Calif.) and Christine Neville (Oakland, Calif.) ** 31-16-DNF-DNC
9th, Finn – Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.)*24-21-13-8-2-4
53rd, Finn – Gordon Lamphere (Lake Forest, Ill.)* 54-56-50-37-46-33
24th, Laser – Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.)* 28-13-6-16
74th, Laser – Erik Bowers (Excelsior, Minn.) DNC-53-32-30-26-10
12th, Nacra 17 – Sarah Newberry (Miami, Fla.) and John Casey (Longwood, Fla.) 7-8-16-6-17
9th, RS:X Women – Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) OCS-11-7-11-8-5
* Denotes member of US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider
** Denotes member of US Sailing Development Team
About ISAF SWC Palma From April 1-6, a group of American sailors, including members of the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider and US Sailing Development Team, will compete in ISAF Sailing World Cup Palma against over 850 sailors from 53 countries. Racing began Monday, April 1 and concludes with the medal race on Saturday, April 6 in the 10 Olympic Classes. Racing was cancelled in the SKUD-18 and Sonar classes. There are no Americans competing in the 2.4mR class. Results will be posted online at the event’s website.
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Contact: Dana Paxton, US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider, 401-683-0800, x615, danapaxton@ussailing.org