Olympics Day 3: Capozzi Sailing Team vs. France, Finland

The Summer 2012 USA Womens Match Racing Team, featuring Bayport two-time Olympian Debbie Capozzi, takes on France and Finland today as the team hopes to boost its current record of 2 wins and 2 loses to move up in the standings.

Yesterday the trio of Capozzi, Anna Tunnicliffe and Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer beat Portugal but lost to Australia.

"There is tons of racing left here at these Games. Nothing has been decided, everything can change, and we need to stay focused. It is a long event, a test of stamina for sure," wrote US Sailing Team Leader Dean Brennan in the official team blog early this morning.

Today’s matchups, according to the US Sailing Team’s Twitter feed are two tough matchups.

The best way to track Capozzi’s team action, as it’s not being televised by NBC, is to check out the US team's Daily Report, and Brennan's blog that offers daily updates and insight from team members on the day of racing and conditions.

The Womens Racing Team is currently in a four-way tie for sixth place. Only Australia and Russia have not lost a race match as yet. Capozzi fans can check out current standings at this website.

According to the team’s blog, today’s day of racing is as crowded as aday as the teams will have during the Summer Games.

“Overall, though, it was a good day for Team USA. We had strong days in the Star, Radial and 49er, and in Elliotts we are right in the middle of the mix. Our match racing girls are doing great. Really good day for Team USA," wrote Brennan.

Brennan adds: “There is tons of racing left here at these Games. Nothing has been decided, everything can change, and we need to stay focused. It is a long event, a test of stamina for sure.”

Here are the highlights of the second day of WMR action as reported by Brennan:

In Women’s Match Racing, Team USA’s first match up was against the team from Portugal. Off the line, Tunnicliffe, Vandemoer and Capozzi lead POR off the committee boat end of the starting line. By heading out to the right side of the course, they were able to establish a lead at the first windward mark. From there they continued to control the match, and maintained the lead at the final windward mark, to round and finish with a win.

In the second race, against Australia, it was back and forth on lead changes all the way to the final run downwind. Although it was close, perhaps by a fraction of a boat length, Australia managed to nose out for the win, bringing the score to two wins, two losses to date in the round robin for Tunnicliffe, Vandemoer and Capozzi. “It was an awesome race with the Australians,” said Tunnicliffe. “It came down to half a foot. Tricky conditions, but really fun. We knew it was going to be really close racing. There’s still more racing to come.”