Nothin’ but D7 in the Final Four!

Guess who's going to Disney World!
(photo: Luther Strayer)

The wind on San Francisco Bay certainly delivered on the second day of the 2011 St. FYC Heavy Air Slalom bringing in a steady 25knots with gust into the upper 20s. Anna Tunnicliffe was amazing to watch! She's a mere 140lbs of solid muscle (there is no muffin top on that girl!) at maybe 5' 6"-5’7” and the big guys were fighting to hold her off. During her race against Mike Matan the finish was too close to call which forced the committee to go to film, to finally make the call in Mike’s favor. I know that Scott worked his a@# off to stay ahead of her when he had to race her.

Towards the end of he day the 6 rotating boats and 28 competitors had been pared down to 4. Just four sailors left and they were all from New England's District 7! Mike Matan, Scott Ferguson, Ben Richardson and Peter Shope. Mike, Peter and Scott each already with one loss and top-dog in the winners bracket, Ben with no losses. Two losses and you were eliminated.

Leading up to the end of the winners bracket, Scott had raced a fast and furious race against Anna Tunnicliffe but Scott was able to walk away unscathed although he did lose his Boston Red Sox hat…. Perhaps it was a forewarning of what was to come!

Scott and Ben were then paired up, both having yet to lose a race in the series. Ben Richardson was teeing up against Scott. Ben had the inside loop which seemed to be the faster track out of the gate. On the second track though, Scott got the inside loop and was looking strong until he threw in an overzealous tack and flipped his boat…Ben went onto win and now Scott, was left with his first loss. Scott went on to win back-to-back races against Wolfgang Gertz (GER) and Mike Matan and without a break, rolled into a race against Peter Shope. It was a sudden death race for either Peter or Scott seeing as both were entering the race with one loss. Scott started on the favored inside track and was looking good upwind. They crossed across the top fairly even but then…. Scott had that inside loop for the last downwind stretch and was ahead at this point when he threw in the first of 4 gybes with no problem…Peter was just a gybe behind. Then Scott went for gybe #2 just as a huge puff rolled in… and somehow Scott went flying off his boat…it was game over for Scott as he swam to reach his boat. Now it was down to two!

Going into the final face-off, Peter had only one race to lose and Ben had two. In the first race, Peter had the inside track to start. They were pretty even all the way around until Ben flipped on the last downwind leg giving Peter the win. In race two it was almost identical to what happened to Scott….Ben and Peter were neck and neck but on Ben’s second gybe down the final run on the inside track he flipped and Peter just sailed away, after having survived multiple sudden death races, to win the 2011 Heavy Air Laser Slalom!

Overall, Peter Shope was the one who pushed hard enough, keeping the pressure on his opponents, while staying in control which is what the slalom is all about!

All I can say is that it was a nail-biter for the audience…just SO EXCITING to watch!!!

Anna Tunnicliffe (Olympic Gold Medalist) &
Scott Ferguson (2x Laser Master World Champion)

St. FYC Heavy Air Slalom