FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marlieke de Lange Eaton, 401-683-0800
Dana Paxton, Media Pro Int'l for Rolex, 401-849-0220
US SAILING’S 2007
Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship:
It’s great to be in Texas, y’all!
Shoreacres, Texas, USA (November 14, 2007) – “It’s pretty surprising,” is
all Cory Sertl (Rochester, N.Y.) could muster after learning she’s at the
top of US SAILING’s Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship. With
a 5-7-1 scoreline on the first day of racing, Sertl not only had the most
consistent results, but she is the only skipper with all top 10 finishes in
a very competitive 39-boat fleet of International J/22s.
For Sertl, who won the first Rolex IWKC in 1985 as crew and the 2001 event
as skipper, the first to be held in J/22s, it might be hard to believe she’s
in the lead after what she described as a ‘troubling time’ at the start.
“I definitely didn’t start well today,” she said. “We just had really good
comebacks. Once we started we were off the line. Well, one race we were over
early and had to come back. We were in comeback mode the entire time, even
in the last race. I’m really happy it was shifty so we could get back in the
game.”
In second-place overall is defending champion Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.),
who ended the day with a 2-16-3 scoreline. The first race she rounded every
mark in second-place behind Derby Anderson (Annapolis, Md.), who took line
honors in the first race of this historic regatta. Anderson is currently in
sixth place overall.
The second race of the day was won by San Francisco’s Teresa Brandner. “We
had a great day!” she said. “We hurt a little in first race and learned a
lot. By the second race we did really well, our bow girl was right there
when we needed her and everything felt really, really right. The funny thing
was we had a poor start. There were a bunch of OCS (on course side, starting
early) boats at the committee boat. We were in the second row and they had
to go around and re-start. So we kept going, called the shifts and
everything worked out.
“My crew held it together so I could focus. Debbie (Schoenerr) is my
tactician; Erin Maxwell is the trimmer and gives a ton of input to tactics;
and Emily (Augello) does bow. She’s 17 and she’s learning a lot and always
smiling. Honestly everybody worked together and this crew hasn’t sailed
together before. I got really, really lucky.”
The top local boat today was RIFT, skippered by Chelsea Bethancourt (Shoreacres)
a senior at LaPorte High School. One might guess that a prestigious regatta
such as the Rolex IWKC would cause a bit of nerves, especially for such a
young woman. “Oh my gosh, this morning I felt like I was going to throw up,”
said Bethancourt back at the dock after racing. “I had a headache and I got
on the boat and still had a headache going out to the course. Then, when the
first gun went off I was OK. We had a bad start, but it was OK, we finished
respectably.”
Team RIFT finished a very respectable 17 in the first race, and then
gathered up their confidence for the next race. “It was beautiful!” said
Bethancourt. “I don’t know what happened. We had a seventh row start and we
went right even though we didn’t want to, but we rounded in seventh and
thought ‘Oh! Maybe right is good.’ So we went right the second upwind leg
and right again on the third upwind, and we finished ninth. We lost two
boats on first downwind and stayed in ninth. It was pretty brutal racing.”
“Our communication was really good,” Bethancourt continued. “My Mom (Dana
Bethancourt) calls boat speed really well and whether we can tack or not.
Patricia (Escorihuela) calls wind and puffs and waves, and I’m going in and
out of the mainsheet. Sandra (Baldridge) is on the Tacktick saying ‘Up one,
we’re down one.’ The constant information that I had driving was phenomenal
and definitely helped.”
Houston Yacht Club is known for its superlative race management and
attention to detail by its members and they did not disappoint today. Led by
Principal Race Officer Jim Tichenor, a member of US SAILING’s Board of
Directors, and co-PRO Taran Teague, who served as the 2005 regatta chair at
the Annapolis Yacht Club, in Annapolis, Md., the Race Committee ran three
races on Galveston Bay.
Tonight the competitors will be treated to Texas Hospitality at the Sylvan
Beach Pavilion, which dates back to the 19th century when trains used to
bring thousands of visitors to Houston. World famous Texas BBQ and country
line dancing are featured alongside daily first awards and the Kaenon Award,
awarded to the team with the lowest score of the day. Racing continues
through Saturday and is hosted at the Houston Yacht Club.
For results, please visit the websites
www.ussailing.org/riwkc
and the Houston-specific www.riwkc.com.
Daily racing videos will be available each evening at 9pm (CST) on
www.t2p.tv.
The Rolex IWKC title sponsor is Rolex Watch U.S.A. Other sponsorships to
date include: Platinum level - James & Camille Tichenor, Vince & Margaretta
Morvillo for Sea Lake Yacht Sales, and Societe Generale; Gold level - Kirby
Inland Marine, Port of Houston Authority, Channel and Lynchburg Shipyards;
Silver level - Sterling Bank, Houston Pilot's Association, Segue Websites,
Mount Gay Rum, Veolia Water and KO Sailing. The Rolex IWKC is a US SAILING
Championship and hosted by the Houston Yacht Club.
(end)