Basel 2018. WCT.
Photo: Binia Feltscher
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Second wécété (?) in two weekends. This time we are driving and there are six of us. The destination is Arlesheim (a district in Basel), where a week ago there was a men's tournament, where they say the ice was not good at all. We have a training session on Thursday from 4pm, which we can just about make. The ice is quite slow. Fourteen doesn't make the rings and the swing is around three feet. We're not panicking and we believe it will be different on Friday morning. I learn from Janine that another icemaker (Rodger) was working in the hall last weekend and now the local one is here. The first opponent is the Russians (Sidorova). We have respect, but it's proportional. We're starting cautiously, partly because we don't have an advantage. After six ends it's tied and we play the last stone of the double at two or three, but we only manage to knock out one stone and the Russians go up by one. The last end gets a little complicated, but then Betya pulls out a super shot that goes tight between two guards and knocks out a hard-to-reach opponent's stone. Sidorova then doesn't read the edge track well and Anna Kubeskova doesn't have to throw the last stone. We have a two and we win. A good win is nice. We have a long break before tonight's match. We have lunch at the club and drive back to our great accommodation in France (20 km away, but half the price). The next opponent is the Feltcher team, with a new line-up but still the same coach (Al Moore) and a great history. Again with no advantage we play one in the first end but then get two after a precise draw by Binie, we get one and they get two again. It's not going well. We push a bit in end five to get a two, but the important roll goes twenty-thirty centimetres further than it should and we end up playing a heavy draw against a three. A few decimetres decides that we probably won't win it again. In the sixth, we still mess with our opponent's head so much that he takes a time-out, even though he's not allowed to. Minor inaccuracies prevent us from getting any hope. So after today, we're 1-1. Two more games tomorrow.