Final Day
Mary Bridgon-Snow wins US SAILING's
Women's Championship!
Race 10 - 270 - 10 kts. Windward Leeward, twice
around. Natalie Pryde and Debrorah Schoenherr were OCS and returned.
Last years Adams Cup Champion from Area G - Stephanie Wondolleck just
held off both Area J teams with Brigden-Snow finishing second and Pat
Stadel in third.
Race 11 - 280 - 6 kts Windward Leeward course, two and
a half times around, windward finish. OCS boats: Debroah Schoenherr and
Amy Cermak both returned to start properly. Fleet split evenly way out
left and right. Left seemed risky with the breeze so far left, but it
paid - and most of the left boats rounded just ahead of the right. Mary
Brigdon-Snow lead all the way around to cap off a great series.
There were no protests and results are final.
Congratulations to 2000 US SAILING's Women's Champions
Mary Brigdon Snow and her crew Stacey Szabo, Pam Gregory and Julie
Mitchell.
On behalf of Rolex and US SAILING, San Diego Yacht
Club wishes to thank all of the competitors for their excellent
sportsmanship, seamanship and spirit of competition. A special thank you
also goes out to Bruce Greene and his hard working crew on the Race
Committee for their great work and finally to Karen Riesch, John Rickard
and Karen Butler - Co-Chairs for Adams Cup. They all did a wonderful job
of ensuring four days of smooth sailing, great hospitality and
challenging racing for the competitors.
Over and out.
Jeff
Day Three
Another beautiful day in paradise.....A thick layer of
fog shrouded Point Loma and the Coronado Roads this morning, while
inland the city and deserts beyond were heating up - the makings for a
perfect thermal breeze.
At the start of Race 7 of the eleven race, no throwout
series, the wind was 12 knots from 290. Windward Leeward, 2 times
around, downwind finish. Area J's Mary Brigden-Snow from San Diego was
in her usual committee boat end starting position, won the boat and
closed the door on Area B's Anne Mooney. Since there was contact, Mooney
did her circles and managed to recover one boat by the finish.
Meanwhile, Area G's Stephanie Wondolleck from San Francisco was launched
at the start and lead the fleet around the course. Brigden Snow was
second.
Race 8 started in almost 16 kts of wind from 300
degrees mag. Same course as Race 7. Lots of traffic at the start - Mary
Brigden Snow lead the fleet wire to wire, further strengthening her
first place overall position.
Race 9 - Wind 12 kts from 305, course was Windward
Leeward, 2 times around with a final leg upwind to the finish. Fair
start - three brave skippers hit the left side hard - Natalie Pryde from
Seattle (Area H), and Stephanie Wondolleck from San Francisco (Area G)
made it work and rounded at the top of the fleet just behind Area J's
second team skippered by Pat Stadel. (Host Area may send two teams.) Two
boats misjudged the layline and got caught pinching at the weather mark.
Both promptly did their turns after hitting the mark and managed to
recover several places.
Pat was looking good going into the final weather leg
when her mainsheet block blew off the pedestal. Crew Jean Eichenlaub
jumped to the rescue and did her best imitation as a human mainsheet
block - wrapping the sheet around her waist and wedging herself in the
cockpit and holding on. Pat salvaged a fourth place finish. She filed
for and was granted redress and awarded three points for that race.
Area G's Stephanie Wondolleck won the race with Mary
Brigden- Snow right behind.
The Area J-1 team Skipper Mary Brigden-Snow, Julie
Mitchell, Pam Gregory, and Stacey Szabo have a solid 16 point lead on
the fleet but only five points seperate second through fifth places.
There will be some tactics talk on the tow tomorrow to
be sure.
Over and out.
Jeff
Day Two
Humm - Day two was a Chamber of Commerce
Day! What ever influence the low down south was having was temporarily
gone. The day dawned with a little marine layer offshore - just enough
to keep the ocean cool - and clear blue skies inland. It all added up to
a day filled with wind from 270-305 at 8 to 15 knots.
Changing boats was a bit more
challenging, with breeze and chop bouncing the boats around while crews
scrambled across the change boats. But the women are getting used to maneuvering
these 3000 lb boats. The changes took 15 - 20 minutes with another 5 to
10 minutes added for the crews to sort out the boats, gear and their
tactics.
Meanwhile, out on the course - the boats
were pretty well bunched around the whole course. Home town sailor Mary
Brigdon-Snow had a good day and opened up a considerable lead. Her
crew's experience in Etchells helped keep the boat moving, the sets
crisp and the boat handling errors to a minimum.
Yesterdays leader Anne Mooney has
probably had better days sailing. No doubt, the light and shifty
conditions of Day 1 suit her game better than breeze on. (such as it is
in San Diego!)
The only other casualty yesterday was
Stephanie Wondolleck's OCS in the last race. As the last start
approached, so did a cloud line with gusts of 15+ kts. The Etchells
really powers up in over 12 kts. Wondolleck and Area E's Deborah
Schoenherr ran out of line at the pin end before the start and were
called On Course Side. Schenherr was to leeward and peeled around the
pin end and headed out to the right. Although Wondolleck took the OCS -
she maintained her 5th place in the standings.
The group is just over half way through
the eleven race, no throughout series. There is plenty of time for
everyone to have a bad race - and the scores are pretty well spread out
through the fleet.
Jeff
Day One
A storm down off Baja is disturbing the regular weather pattern a bit -
keeping the regular summer thermal wind light, moist, warm and a bit
more southerly than is normal. Today saw 175-210 degrees mag. with air
from 4-8 kts. Would have hoped for 270, 8-12 kts.
Some ot the women that have not sailed Etchells are up
to their thwarts in "fine tune" adjustments that these boats
have. All of the boats were just in the Etchells Worlds, some are BRAND
new, others are well broken in, but all have all the bells and whistles
- and all are fast. Jib sheet and halyard fine tunes, mainsheet course
and fine tune, mast blocks forward and aft with mast pullers, pushers,
two sets of jib snaps, etc. It all makes a difference.
Last night, newly crowned Etchells World Champion
Vince Brun gave about an hour long brief on the Etchells and how to
handle them. Today, after a thorough discussion from PRO Bruce Greene on
Towing (45-min tow to the sailing site - no problems today - good
behavior and seawomanship) and review of the boat rotation plan (again,
fleet worked together, good seawomanship - 11 boats rotated in 12-15
minutes), once out on the water, 2nd place finisher in the Etchells
Worlds - Gary Weissman came out and worked with the ladies for about 45
minutes giving them each some feed back on sail trim. Then a practice
race was run and finally - three races - a tow home and a bbq cookout
for some tired sailors.
It is a nice little group. Of course after hosting 74
Etchells for over a week, this is a nice little event.
We're having fun so far.
Cheers
Jeff Johnson Race Manager
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