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The Official
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www.sailing.org |
Saturday was the first day of racing and the wind struggled to reach ten knots the whole day. Race officer Bob PHILIPS managed to get four races in before and after lunch shortening and lengthening the courses as the wind came and went.
Four sailors showed they were all worthy of the Emeralds. Puerto Rico's Patricia VILLAFANE came first in races two, four and seven, St. Croix's Felice BRYAN won races three and five and overnight leader Sydney JONES, also from St. Croix, won races one, six and eight. The British Virgin Islands' Emma PAULL had five second places.
At the end of racing on Saturday there was a point's difference between first and second and third and fourth.
On Sunday the sailors were glad to see slightly more wind so they could stretch their legs and hike out. PAULL worked her way through the fleet to win race nine with VILLAFANE and JONES close behind. Race ten saw BRYAN take out a huge lead on the fleet to comfortably win with PAULL and VILLAFANE battling for second and third. In race eleven, leader JONES sailed the wrong course and did not realize her mistake in time to correct it, so did not finish, which meant PAULL won and Linda PHILIPS (IVB) came second, her best finish in the weekend.
The last race was a close tussle between PAULL and JONES with PAULL taking the lead on the last beat to win the race and the regatta.
Further down the fleet Elsa MYERS (IVB), the youngest sailor in the fleet, received praise from the coach for her boat speed but she made some tactical mistakes which gave her seventh overall. Linda PAULL and Jane PAULL (GBR) also had one point's difference on Saturday night but Linda kept ahead of Jane on Sunday to take fifth.
All that then remained was for Genny KUNG from Colombian Emeralds to hand out the prizes.