Dec. 5, 2008 — It was a day of rapidly changing conditions, with gusty squalls, light rain, then light wind and changing currents, ending with a few surprise results Friday in the Carlos Aguilar Memorial Match Race in Charlotte Amalie harbor.
The rain was just inconvenient, but the wind shifts were a blessing for those who knew how to make use of them.
The surprises came in terms of those who weren't putting great numbers on the board. What wasn't surprising is how some of the best crews made the best of it, by turning it into a learning experience.
Fraito Lugo of Team Puerto Rico is the perennial king of the IC-24 class. But Lugo found that his superior boat handling skills were little help in match racing where opponents attack each other at the pre-start, forcing penalties and disadvantaged start positioning on their rivals.
"It was very bad for us," Lugo said. "We don't know the rules of match racing. We didn't sail offensively, we were just defensive. But it is a very interesting game."
Lugo was disqualified in the first match of the day, a very unusual occurrence for the modest winner of the past Rolex Regatta and BVI Spring Regatta as well as most of the other IC-24 class competitions in the Caribbean.
To do better on the second day, Lugo and his crew sought out Peter Holmberg to get a primer on match racing rules, according to crew member Yin Luna.
"We talked with Peter and watched the regatta, and we think tomorrow will be a better day," Luna said. "We learned a lot of new things, and we are learning them the hard way, but it's good."
One unsurprising outcome: Olympic gold medal winner Anna Tunnicliffe was unbeaten at the end of the day, even after an equipment failure in the fourth flight in the women's division.
She was unable to finish, but the race committee allowed a re-sail of the match between Tunnicliffe and rival Genny Tulloch, Harvard University's Female Collegiate Sailor of the Year.
The re-sail at the end of the day may have been the day's most exciting match. Although most of the spectators had left, a few watched as Tunnicliffe was several boat lengths ahead around the first mark, maintaining a commanding lead for three-quarters of the race before Tullock began to pick up speed under the final downwind leg. From the waterfront, the boats appeared to be neck and neck before Tunnicliffe found a way to get more out of the wind and squeezed ahead of her opponent.
The Carlos Aguilar Match Race is named after the late St. Thomas architect who helped many young people learn to appreciate sailing. One of those young people is Floridian Lee Icyda who sailed as part of Team ISV and garnered two wins Friday.
"I came here for Carlos," Icyda said. "Carlos was a really good friend. I saw Carlos last time I was here was [2007] in September and October."
Icyda said all the racing she'd been doing had stressed her out. Aguilar took her cruising for the first time to St. John.
"Carlos helped me to relax," Icyda said. "He reignited my passion for sailing. It changed my entire perspective, so I wanted to come back here and race for him and for my friends here."
Results after day one:
Men's Division
1. Taylor Canfield, St. Thomas (7 wins)
2. William Bailey, St. Thomas (6 wins)
3. Chris Haycraft, Tortola, British Virgin Islands (4 wins)
4. Alec Anderson, Tortola, B.V.I (4 wins)
5. Peter Stanton, St. Croix (3 wins)
6. Chris Curreri, St. Thomas/El Salvador (2 wins)
7. Frits Bus, St. Maarten (1 win)
8. Fraito Lugo, Puerto Rico (1 win)
Women's Division
1. Anna Tunnicliffe, Florida (5 wins)
2. Genny Tulloch, California (4 wins)
3. Liz Baylis, California (2 wins)
3. Sandy Hayes, Massachusetts (2 wins)
3. Lee Icyda, Rhode Island/St. Thomas (2 wins)
6. Louise Bienvenue, New Orleans (0 wins)
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