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JJ Isler
|470
Home|
 (Click here to link to JJ's personal website)
Age: 36
In October of 1999, Isler made headlines by winning, with crew Pease Glaser (Long Beach, Calif.), the 470 Women's (doublehanded dinghy) division of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Yachting, held in St. Petersburg, Fla. The event attracted seven talented women's teams, including Olympians and Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association All-Americans. Unlike the '92 Trials, which Isler won as the then top-ranked American and '91 470 Women's World Champion, at the '99 Trials Isler found herself ranked as the underdog. Early in '98, when she and Glaser were starting to gear up their Olympic campaign, Isler found that she was expecting her second child. Serious training resumed when daughter Megan (now 14 months) was four months old. With not much time on the water and a 15th place at the '99 470 Women's World Championships, the Isler/Glaser team did not look like the one to beat. The duo prevailed to win the Trials after a close 15-race series with second-place finishers '96 Europe Olympic Bronze Medalist Courtenay Dey and ICYRA All-American Alice Manard, winning eight of the 15 races and posting 21 total points to Dey and Manard's 25. "Two days ago, we had a three-point lead with eight races to go," said Isler at the conclusion of racing. "Today Courtenay had to win both races and put a boat between us. She did that in the first race, but then we won the last race and Courtenay was fourth." Isler is a three-time recipient of the Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Award ('97, '91 and '86). After winning the 1992 470 Women's Olympic bronze medal, she focused her racing on big boat events so she could sail more with her husband Peter, an ESPN announcer. The pair also collaborated on Sailing for Dummies published by IDG books in 1998. Isler's talents as a tactician and helmsperson came to light internationally in 1995 when she joined America3, the first-ever women's America's Cup effort. Early in '97, Isler skippered the One-Design 48 (1D48) Windquest to a class victory at Yachting Race Week at Key West, taking overall fleet honors among more than 200 boats. When Isler backed up her performance by skippering the Farr 40 High Five to victory at the San Diego Yachting Cup and a third at both the Long Beach and Cadillac/North Sails Race Weeks, she found herself on the big boat owners' "hot list" of helmspeople. During a presentation held in the Model
Room of the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan, Isler proudly accepted the
1997 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year honors. "Winning this award tops
off knowing I can go and do a competent job on a big boat and consider
the organization and leadership of a crew of 13 a fun challenge,"
said Isler. She then presented her mother, Jane Fetter (La Jolla,
Calif.), with a specially engraved Rolex and in doing so recalled that
while having learned to sail at San Diego Yacht Club where legendary
sailors Dennis Conner and Lowell North were icons, she was encouraged by
her parents to be the best sailor -- not the best woman sailor. (The Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards are annual designations to recognize sailing excellence in the year just concluded. Designated since 1961, the awards are sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A. and administered by US SAILING, national governing body for the sport. Winners are selected by a panel of noted sailing journalists from a list of nominees determined by the US SAILING membership.) SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS: SAILING RESUME: |
