Kiel Week in Germany
The largest of the spring European Olympic Class World Cups concluded with some good Kaenon results last week in Kiel, Germany.
Continuing to dominate the Men’s 470 were the Australian Gold Medal duo of Mat Belcher in Hard Kore Black G12 and Malcolm Page in Kore Black G12.
Spanish Bronze medalist Rafa Trujillo, repeated his Bronze medal podium spot placement, falling to third after the final race. Rafa sails in Kore G12.
Current Women’s Rolex World Sailor of the Year, Anna Tunnicliffe, sailing in Soft Kore Black G12, continues her transition into the new Women’s Match Race division from the single-handed Laser Radial where she won all of her acclaim the past five years with an impressive third place finish. Anna beat fellow American and Kaenon sailor Genny Tulloch (Georgia Tobacco Denim C12) in the Petit-Finals for the Bronze Medal.
Mark Mendelblatt, wearing Hard Kore Tobacco G12 and Magnus Liljedahl in Kore Black G12 also took Bronze in the Star Class. French windsurfer Julien Bontemps in Hard Kore won the Men’s RSX Class.
Bryony Shaw wearing Soft Kore Black C28.
Salior Genny Tulloch does a great job of keeping us up-to-date with her events and giving the inside scoop on what goes on during the races. Here is her personal recap of Kiel week:
“Teammate Alice Manard and I were fortunate to have Jenn Chamberlin as our new middle, and after a great week of training at the Chicago Match Race Center and some travel difficulties on Alice’s end, we setup at the USTTAG Base in Germany for the 6th event of the 2010 World Cup. Twenty-four teams qualified for the event, and when we won our initial grouping we advanced through to an automatic spot in the quarterfinals, and Gold Round Robin Racing. The week was light air, but the match racers completed almost all of our racing while the other fleets were mostly postponed. We enjoyed the benefits of being close to land and on short courses; even if it made for some very shifty races, some big chop as the other fleets towed in and out, and some late nights.
“In the end we were seeded against #1 World Ranked British team of Lucy Macgregor for the quarterfinals, and were initially down 1-2, sailing late into the night on Tuesday. With all the races needing to be done before 3 pm the next day, the Race Committee had us out early, and we won our two do-or-die races against Lucy to advance to the Semifinals against Claire Leroy. The conditions had us close to the shore with a very shifty and puffy offshore breeze, and it was often who won the start and got to the first shift would be able to control the race. We were happy to have done that to Lucy’s team, but then unfortunately lost the next 2 races to Claire off the line. The third race we led around the course but she got some better shifts on the final upwind, was close on our tail at the weather mark and was able to gybe inside at the mark and pass us on the downwind, sending us to the petit finals, against our own American teammates, Team Tunnicliffe.
“The duke-out for bronze was interesting, with Anna’s team winning the first race but as the clock ticked down there would only be time for one last race, so whoever won the final race would win the bronze. We saw pressure coming down on the left, won the pin and tacked on the left shift, leading them by three boatlenghths or more. But as we approached the weather mark the race committee abandoned the race due to the windshift, and rushed us back to restart. Unfortunately the next race went to their team, with us getting a penalty right at the start for tacking too close with them at our stern, so we ended up fourth for the event.
“For a first time sailing with a new teammate we were pleased to have finished fourth, having won our initial round over Claire Leroy, and defeated Lucy Macgregor in the quarterfinals. We left some to be desired in the final races, but very much know what we can continue to improve upon.”
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