WE DID IT! WE WON!
Saturday was a bit anti-climactic since there was no breeze for most of the day. We started out with an 8 team, 8 country knock-out bracket. As the 1 seed we faced Japan first. In spite of the language barrier we have been friends with these guys since the last Worlds and have been teaching them team racing at these events. Round 1 of the knock-out series was no time for lessons and we cruised to a 2-0 victory. Soon after this, the breeze died and the racing was postponed.
2PM rolled by.
330 PM I've read another few chapters in my book.
415PM I'm very well hydrated and getting antsy.
530PM There's a little bit of breeze in the channel but not much.
645PM We start wondering what will happen here. The Mayor of Gandia is walking around and the awards were scheduled for 630. The race officers decided not to finish the 3rd Gold Round because they felt it would not affect the seeding for the 8 team, 8 country knock-out. So if we don't get any racing in what round do they look at last? We won the 2nd Gold Round, but that was with the help of the 1.5 bonus points we earned by winning the first Gold Round. Everybody on the pier is now anxious and wondering what will happen if there is no racing.
715PM The regatta is called and there will be no more racing. The water has been glassy for hours. The race office has not posted what the results are or how they were determined. We are the only team with a winning record against every other team. We won every round we sailed and competitors and officials began congratulating us. For some of us, only seeing "USA1 - GOLD" on the official notice board would calm our nerves.
In the end, the awards ceremony wrapped up around 10PM. By then any champagne we were not covered in had been poured into the trophy for consumption. The final standings had another USA 1, 2 finish. However, due to quirk of this particular event, only one team from each country can medal. So, our friends on USA 2 whose record was second best overall, graciously cheered and celebrated USA1, GBR2 (Silver) and NZL1 (Bronze) on the podium.
Thank you to everybody who has supported our 2007 World Championship Campaign.
New York Yacht Club
US Sailing
Slam Sailing Gear
Harken
Team1Newport
Hall Spars and Rigging
And a very special thanks to team Mom, Connie Bischoff, who made sure we were well fed and well taken care of all week.
Sincerely,
2007 ISAF Team Racing World Champions
New York Yacht Club Silver Panda, USA 1
Clay Bischoff
Amanda Callahan
Liz Hall
Lisa Kieth
Pete Levesque
Colin Merrick
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