World Match Racing Tour: battle for semi finals at Casa Vela Cup

Day 2 of the Casa Vela Cup at the St. Francis Yacht Club finished with the ten competing all-women's teams all vying for a valued spot in the semi-finals. Local sailor Nicole Breault and her Vela Racing team lead the qualifying round undefeated with 15 wins, with New Zealanders Megan Thomson at 11 wins, and Celia Willison at 10 wins.

 The day started under a light breeze and cover of the famous San Francisco fog which slowly lifted around noon for a return of blue skies and a building breeze steadying to 12-15 knots. Once again, a strong flood encouraged teams to stay close to the shoreline as they sailed to the top mark, creating some tight tacking duels as NZL's Celia Willison explained:

"Today was much better for us – we have a better handle on the boats, and we are surprised how quickly we can move them around.  We had a great last match against our teammates from NZL [Megan Thomson] which has been our tightest race so far. The tide has certainly been interesting, today was different to yesterday and we got close to the shore, I think we gave a few swimmers on the beach a few frights."

Lying in second place in the round robin behind Breault, NZL's Megan Thomson is competing in her third consecutive week of match racing events after racing in the Ficker Cup and Congressional Cup in Long Beach, CA before coming to San Francisco;

"We've had a busy few weeks of match racing, but these boats are very different [to the Catalina 37's in Long Beach] and it feels like we have almost had to learn again but that's match racing. We are improving every day!  Today was great fun with some very close matches, and we feel we are getting used to these boats."

Tomorrow's schedule will see the close of the round robin stage with the top four teams advancing to the semi-finals in a first-to-three points match.

Standing results from Round Robin 1&2

Nicole Breault (USA) 15-0
Megan Thomson (NZL)  11-4
Celia Willison (NZL)  10-5
Anna Ostling (SWE)  9-6
Sophie Otter (GBR) 8-7
Janel Zakowsky (USA) 7-8
Rebecca Coles (GBR) 6-9
Ali Morrish (GBR) 5-10
Brooke Wilson (AUS)  4-11
Kristine Mauritzen (DEN) 0-15
Racing continues tomorrow with the first start schedule for 1030 PST.