Annie Get Yer Guns!
(Fort Worth,  Texas- Mar 16-20)-  Long-time J sailor Annie Gardner Nelson recently  attended the Sundance Cup racing J/22s out of the Fort Worth Boat Club.   Here's here amusing report: "The 2010 Sundance Cup was hosted by the St  Worth Boat Club and sailed on the club's fleet of matching J/22's.   This year the event was preceded with a 2 day clinic run by WIMRA  (Women's International Match Racing Assoc)  Director Liz Baylis and  assisting her was Kirsten Lane of Sausalito, CA.   Baylis did an  excellent job of balancing drills with chalk talks and on the water  coaching. 

Skippers were invited based on ISAF ranking and/or resume and 7 teams  from across the country and Canada attended with many teams using at  least one Texan to fill the boat.  My team was all Texan other than me  and boy did I learn some funny jokes and accents!  Anyone who was there  will fondly remember my bowchick Kritter who wore camouflage pants,  hockey shirts, and had us all in stitches at meetings and on the water. 

Race day one was  extremely light and the FWBC they were only able to complete 4 flights.   Day 2 the storm was coming and by mid day the wind increased with puffs  to 20 so the no spinnaker rule came into play.  Even without kites the  racing was fun and intense as match racing is always about constant  action. Day three a snow storm was close by, and with wind gusts hitting  29 knots the RC and OA decided to abandon any further racing. The  results went back to the round robin scores, and the winners were Maegan  Ruhlman 1st, Katy Lovell 2nd, and Liz Hyorth 3rd.  With a day off, the  girls went shopping and watched as the snow flurries hit the ground.   The awards dinner saw several crews wearing cowgirl hats which stayed on  all the way through the night while we rode bulls and danced to Travis  Twitt at his concert at the famous Billy Bobs's in downtown Ft. Worth.   Texas will never be the same! Yeehaw!  Annie Nelson"
  Photo  Credits: Cindy Cady   
 
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