U.S. Junior Women's Doublehanded Championship 2005
Wrap-Up
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Crew-member Leigh Hammel (Warren, Vt.) has been on a
winning streak so far this summer at National Youth Sailing Championships:
on Sunday she won US SAILING’s U.S. Junior Women’s Doublehanded
Championship, ten days after winning the U.S. Youth Sailing Championship.
She won both events crewing for different skippers: this week, Hammel crewed
for Rebecca Dellenbaugh, while last week Hammel sailed with Rebecca’s
younger sister Emily. For this week’s win, Hammel and skipper Rebecca
Dellenbaugh were presented with US SAILING’s Ida Lewis Trophy. Sailed in
Club 420s provided by Vanguard Sailboats, the U.S. Junior Women’s
Doublehanded Championship returned to its original host club, Ida Lewis
Yacht Club in Newport, R.I., to celebrate the event’s tenth anniversary.
With two first-place finishes and 22 points total after nine races (one
drop-out), Dellenbaugh and Hammel consistently finished in the top four in
every race they sailed during the Championship. Hammel contributed their win
to having spent more time in the boat and attending more clinics in the
weeks leading up to the event. Rebecca Dellenbaugh, who finished third in
the same event last year, has continued to improve and, as her crew Hammel
said, “She knew the tricks to make the boat go faster.”
By winning the Championship, Dellenbaugh and Hammel defeated 44 other boats,
which made it one of the largest U.S. Junior Women’s Doublehanded
Championships in the event’s ten-year history. Shannon Heausler and Kathleen
Gallagher (both from Tampa, Fla.) finished second with 37 points overall,
five points ahead of third-place finishers Emily Maxwell (Stonington, Conn.)
and Avery Field (Noank, Conn.).
Every year at the U.S. Junior Women’s Doublehanded Championship, the event’s
coaches and judges award the “Most Improved Prize,” which this year was
awarded to the team of Taylor Grimes and Lauren Gautschi (both from Newport
Beach, Calif.). Kerry Morrison and Kerri McHugh (both from Fairfield, Conn.)
won the sportsmanship prize for keeping a sense of humor and for their
persistence while finishing in the bottom five in each race.