FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marlieke de Lange Eaton, US
SAILING, 401-683-0800
Dana Paxton, Media Pro Int'l for Rolex, 401-849-0220
US SAILING’S
2007 Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship
Taking home a memorable experience regardless of finish – wrap-up report
Shoreacres, Texas (November 20, 2007) – Sally Barkow of Nashotah, Wis.
and her crew of Amanda Callahan (Canton, Mass.), Debbie Capozzi (Bayport,
N.Y.) and Annie Lush (Poole, U.K.) have won one of the world’s most
prestigious women’s sailing regattas: US SAILING’s 2007 Rolex International
Women’s Keelboat Championship. Sailing as Team 7, the four women topped a
39-boat fleet that included many impressive competitors such as skipper Cory
Sertl (Rochester, N.Y.), a Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, and skipper Anna
Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), an Olympic hopeful in the Laser Radial
class, who finished second and third overall, respectively. Racing took
place on Galveston Bay and was hosted at the Houston Yacht Club, in
Shoreacres, Texas.
“We feel good,” said Barkow, who campaigns with Capozzi and Carrie Howe
(Grosse Pointe, Mich.) in the Olympic Yngling toward a berth at the 2008
Games in China. “We were really excited about coming. There were eight to 10
boats that were really competitive in the regatta, and it’s good to know
there are really good teams out there, such as Anna, Cory and Derby
(Anderson). The points maybe look like we stepped up to the top and stayed
there, but in reality there’s no way. Each race that we got out ahead of the
fleet with enough distance, we didn’t really have to feel stressed. To come
back in some races, where we were really far back, means you have to be on
your game.”
Barkow and Capozzi were joined by Lush, also an Olympic hopeful in the
Yngling in her home country, and Callahan, who had never sailed with them
before this regatta. Barkow, Capozzi and Lush flew in from Brazil the night
before the Rolex IWKC began fresh from a victory at the Vitoria Brasil Cup,
a women’s match racing regatta.
“Amanda is amazing,” said Barkow about calling her friend less than three
weeks before the regatta with a unique offer. “To call up somebody and say
‘We have this big task for you. We might not come back (from Brazil) or we
might come back’. She had a lot of responsibility. We haven’t sailed with
her before, but she took the bull by the horns. Everything was ready and
registered, and we just showed up. The only thing we had to do was weigh-in
and go race. We were tired, and she rolled with the punches. Because she
hasn’t sailed with us, it was a little tricky. We did one set before racing,
never even jibed. She just rolled with whatever we asked, and that pulled
together the team. It’s nice to bring in someone like Amanda to show her
that maybe next year she can drive her own boat.”
Going into the last day and two final races, Barkow led the 39-boat fleet
with 14 total points. “We went out and knew what we had to do,” she said of
her team’s goal. “It was tricky and light and mind boggling. Instead of
having to race the boat hard like yesterday, we had to make sure we were in
the top eight. Then if we were beating Derby Anderson, we wouldn’t have to
sail the last race.”
With light and shifty conditions on Galveston Bay, doing well meant keeping
focus. “We didn’t have a great start,” she said of the final day’s first
race. “We were bow back and a little hesitant not to be over early. We
fought through the fleet, and worked our way to the right side of the
course. The left paid, but all the leaders went out to the right. One moment
there we really hung behind three to four boats in a really bad lane to work
back to the left and that was a really big move because the right really
died out. On the first beat, we came in on port lay(line) with more
pressure. That first beat was a little tricky, but with some patience, in
light air you have to make sure it plays out slower. When that happens I
really dial-in, and make sure the boat is going fast. We’re always checking
on gains and losses. The quicker we all see that then I think we know what
to do quicker. If nobody else is looking around, then it’s a little more
stressful and I don’t drive the boat well. I had really good communication
with the girls. By keeping everything low stress, we were able to work
through the fleet and be where we needed to be.”
Barkow finished fifth in the first race and elected not to sail the final
race. “That was sort of the goal, but no real pressure,” she said. “If we
could do it, we would do it. Truthfully it’s about getting the boat pulled
out early. It was so close for second, so we thought we’d let them duke it
out.”
In second place overall was Cory Sertl, a two-time Rolex IWKC champion,
sailing with teammates Amy Moran (Pittsford, N.Y.), Jane Mastrandrea
(Webster, N.Y.) and Annemarie Cook (Rochester).
Going into the final day, Sertl was in third place overall and had to put
enough places between her boat and Derby Anderson (Annapolis, Md.) and
Tunnicliffe.
She did just that, taking second-place in the penultimate race with her
Rochester Yacht Club Women’s Sailing Team, a group of three friends Sertl
describes as “each of us have two children, are over 40 and work in a
variety of businesses.” Moran raced with Sertl in two previous Rolex IWKCs
in Newport, R.I., in 1991 and 1993. “Since we are big promoters of women’s
sailing at Rochester YC we decided to call ourselves the Rochester YC
Women's Sailing Team,” said Sertl.
Speaking of Olympians, in less than one year, third-overall skipper Anna
Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) hopes to add that title to her already
impressive resume. She recently won the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for sailing
in preparation for the 2008 Games and came to Houston Yacht Club to take a
break from singlehanded sailing. “I use these events for tactical sailing,”
she said of sailing with a team. “The Laser is very physical, and if you’re
mad you hike harder and catch somebody with your strength. With these boats
everyone goes a similar speed, so you have to be able to outsmart somebody
and set your boat position up right. That’s why I enjoy these events because
it’s a different type of sailing than Laser sailing.”
“We’re very relieved to finish in top three,” said Tunnicliffe, who sailed
with Liz Bower (Rochester, N.Y.), Ali Sharp and Molly Vandermoer (both
Annapolis). Sharp raced on the team in the 2005 Rolex IWKC, but Bower and
Vandermoer are both recent additions. “We definitely wanted top five and
maybe top three. We had our ups and downs; the first day was a really rough
day. We were glad we could climb back from it and really focus.”
The regatta included so many remarkable young sailors including fourth
overall Derby Anderson (Annapolis, Md.), who first competed in the 2001
Rolex IWKC as a high school sailor. “Katherine (Wade, Washington, D.C.) has
never done a regatta at this level, or raced a keelboat before, so this was
a serious crash course for her,” said Anderson of her crew. Joining them was
Jacqueline Scmitz (Annapolis, Md.), and Lucy Kupersmith (Washington, D.C.).
In fifth place was South Africa’s Team Devonvale, led by skipper Dominique
Provoyeur, an Olympic aspirant in the Yngling class. Her team will spend a
significant amount of time in Miami, Fla. this winter preparing for the
Yngling class’s world championship in early 2008. Coming to the Rolex IWKC
is part of their preparation. “It’s more racing really,” said Provoyeur, who
was named South Africa’s Sailor of the Year in 2004. “Two of my crew – Penny
Allison and Kim Rew – are part of our Yngling crew. Sally (Barkow) is here
and Sarah Bury is here. The competition is high here and really good racing
for us. We have only been racing together in the Yngling for two years. It’s
a fantastic event; I love coming here.”
Sixth place overall was Nicole Breault (Old Lyme, Conn.), who had taken a
sabbatical in recent years from racing at this level. She and her crew Casey
Williams (Kentfield, Calif.), Anne Jaeschke (Alameda, Calif.) and Mahalyn Lu
(San Francisco, Calif.) put in one of the more impressive performances of
the week with only two non-top-10 race results.
Jo Ann Fisher (Annapolis, Md.) finished in seventh overall. “We’re really
excited,” said Fisher. “It was a really tough week with lots of challenging
conditions, so we’re happy to hang onto seventh.” Her ‘Black Socks’ team was
the only one to sail with five crew: Lynda Hiller, Lesley Cook, Phebe King
and Margaret McChesney (all Annapolis). “We’re happy,” said Fisher. “We look
at all the races we sailed well and learn. And all the ones we didn’t sail
well, we learn. It gets you excited and gets you thinking about improving.
We all have kids and jobs, so hopefully to learn and improve from our
mistakes is our goal.”
Sarah Bury (Toronto, Canada) and her Sunrise team -- Martha Henderson, Katie
Abbott and Jennifer Provan – finished in eighth place, while the Liten Up!
team, skippered by Terry Schertz (Lakewood, Colo.) with crew Pam McCain,
Susan Swisher and Donna Law, finished in ninth.
Top local team was led by 17-year-old Chelsea Bethancourt and her team RIFT,
which included her mom Dana, Patricia Escorihuela and Sandra Baldridge, who
competed in the very first Rolex IWKC in 1985. They finished the regatta in
10th place overall.
At the Rolex IWKC, it is customary to hear remarkable stories from the
competitors. Some share a common thread such as 13-year-old crew Sydney
Pinegar (Sand Springs, Okla.) and adult skippers like Gosia Rojek (Brooklyn,
N.Y.), who both were making their debut at this regatta with very limited
racing experience.
“This is my first regatta,” said Rojek, who finished an astounding 16th in
the fleet. “Every day was day by day. I made progress. That was my goal for
coming here, and hanging in with the crowd, which we managed to do. Also, I
wanted to not be last and get better from one day to the next day. I think
we accomplished all of our goals.”
Like Tunnicliffe, Rojek was using this regatta as training ground for
another endeavor. For her, it was to gain experience to one day take the
wheel on her family’s Swan 45 in a regatta. “It was fun,” said Rojek. “I
love my big boat. I’d love to do more sailing on a small boat, but I’m
missing the steering wheel (in the Swan). This boat reacts immediately; the
Swan you have to give it some time. This is my second regatta of my life. I
asked Elizabeth (Kratzig, crew member) to teach me how to drive in the
beginning of this year, in January. We went on the Sonar in Miami and had
six days of coaching. Then we had three days in March, then two days of
practice in September. That’s it.”
Rojek, who started sailing only four years ago, found the all-women’s fleet
a refreshing change. “It’s a great event,” she said. “I think actually it’s
a much nicer event in terms of friendliness in terms of competitors. We
don’t see that in the Swan 45 class. Everyone keeps to themselves and is
serious. This was really fun for me to see all these women together, to sit
down in the tent to exchange views on the course and how they dealt with
it."
The 10th race of the series race was won by Susan Mattis Turnham (Duluth,
Minn.) aboard her Stellar Jay. Sailing with Duluth locals Amy Carlson and
Connie Bloom and Katherine Danielson (Richmond, Texas),
Turnham led the race from the start, rounded every mark ahead of the fleet
and won the race of her sailing career. “It was awesome,” said Turnham
moments after returning to the dock. “Truth be told, it’s easier when you’re
in front. You have clear air, you can make choices. Once it was clear people
were following us because it was the favored course, all we had to do is
just cover. Going toward the finish line, Cory was behind us. We were
waiting for her and she was waiting for us. It was the classic cover. We
weren’t going to go until we could peel her off on starboard or not let her
in -- we’d let her in of course -- but she waved us to go for it, so we did.
We got a lot of support from the other sailors, like Robin Jackson. We got
cheers from Jo Ann Fisher. Cory came right over and so did our regatta
winner, Sally. We had a lot of support from the other women. It’s that kind
of camaraderie that keeps us coming back.”
This was Turnham’s fifth time competing in a Rolex IWKC. “This was our best
finish,” she said. “We are almost always in the top half. We’re club racers
in Duluth, but there’s a lot of deep talent in the J/22 class and here too.
To think we beat Olympians!”
Some teams near the bottom of the scoreboard were far from disappointed. For
Jennifer Grant (Destin, Fla.), Saturday's move from 38th to 35th in the
overall standings was satisfying, especially with a "regatta best"
12th-place finish to add to her score line. “We consider this a practice
race for the next time!” said Grant, whose foursome practiced on a J/22 for
only six weeks prior to the event. “Since there were no J/22s near where we
normally sail,” said Grant, “we located one in Mobile, Alabama, 100 miles
away, and drove back and forth to practice as much as we could.” Considering
her circumstances, Grant claimed that being 35th in this world of women
sailors “can sound pretty impressive.”
For the last-place skipper, June Shaw, an accomplished big-boat sailor from
Houston Yacht Club, the Rolex IWKC competition was humbling. “I thought I
was a good sailor until this,” she laughed, explaining that she'd hoped the
J/22, which was new to her, would be a “little big boat” experience rather
than the “big dinghy” learning curve it became. “But we had a wonderful
time. I really put our team together because I wanted to support the club.
I've heard from some of the other women that this has been one of the best
Rolex Women's ever. That's because we Texans like to show our hospitality
and the people here at the club have been working endlessly on this for the
last year.”
One of Shaw's crew members, Bea Grimmitt (Bristol, R.I.), has competed now
in three Rolex IWKCs, her last one being 1989. “The thing that has changed
about the competition is there are a lot more big names and the fleet is
tighter; I mean look at the Olympic medal hopefuls here and then all these
other women that are still doing really well against them. The thing that
has remained consistent, however, is that the girls really help each other.
We didn't know how to tune a J/22 but Dominique Provoyeur's team gave us the
help we needed.”
All of this success can be attributed to the hard work of many, many
volunteers including the regatta chair Ginny Garrett. As the first female
commodore of the 110-year-old Houston Yacht Club – celebrating its
anniversary with a year of special events – she stepped in to guide the 30+
member organizing committee during the past two years. “It’s been an amazing
experience for us,” said Garrett. “As accustomed as we are to running big
events, and we’ve done them a bunch, this one takes it to a new level. The
women have just been extraordinary. The level of racing amazing, the
parties, the camaraderie … I think our club is just freshly invigorated by
the experience. Personally it is one of the milestones of my life.”
When the HYC learned of its selection as host of the 2007 Rolex IWKC, it set
out to get organized early. “I do love a big organizing committee,” said
Garrett. “We had people who fit into certain slots. There were a few hitches
of course, over a year and a half anything can happen. We didn’t want to
disappoint Rolex, the US SAILING volunteers or the competitors. That was my
goal and if early indications are anything, then I feel like we’ve met our
goal.”
Racing took place under the careful leadership of Jim Tichenor, principal
race officer (PRO) and Taran Teague (Annapolis, Md.), the co-PRO.
With the Rolex IWKC founded 23 years ago to encourage women to step up to
the male-dominated world of keelboat racing, the regatta has moved from New
England to the Mid-Atlantic and now to the Southwest to host over 500 teams,
2400 women and 23 countries. Until its next edition in 2009, to be held at
the Houston Yacht Club, its reach will be ever expanding through ongoing
clinics around the globe and the Next Step to Rolex junior program, further
fulfilling the mission of inspiring women to set new goals.
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.
Final results, skippers with hometowns, total points for 11 races
2007 Rolex IWKC
1. Sally Barkow, Nashotah, Wis., 35.00 points
2. Cory Sertl/ Lucy, Rochester, N.Y., 42.00
3. Anna Tunnicliffe, Plantation, Fla., 55.00
4. Derby Anderson, Annapolis, Md., 56.00
5. Dominique Provoyeur, Capetown, RSA, 71.00
6. Nicole Breault, Old Lyme, Conn., 93.00
7. Jo Ann Fisher, Annapolis, Md., 100.00
8. Sarah Bury, Toronto, Ontario, CAN, 113.00
9. Terry Schertz, Lakewood, Colo., 120.00
10. Dana Bethancourt, Shoreacres, Texas, 123.00
11. Kathy Parks, Annapolis, Md., 123.00
12. Lynette Edenfield, Fort Worth, Texas, 124.00
13. Maegan Ruhlman, Jamestown, Penn., 127.00
14. Susan Mattis Turnham, Duluth, Minn., 129.00
15. Robin Jackson, Aspen, Colo., 130.00
16. Gosia Rojek, Brooklyn, N.Y., 133.00
17. Susan Taylor, Los Angeles, Calif., 141.00
18. Emma Paull, Tortola, BVI, 171.00
19. Corrie Clement, Houston, Texas, 176.00
20. Mary Anne Hopper, Houston, Texas, 191.00
21. Julia Goetschius, Seabrook, Texas, 197.00
22. Kathy Irwin, Heath, Texas, 199.00
23. Skeeter Chilton/, Sand Springs, Okla., 199.00
24. Shelby Aughtry, Edmond, Okla., 202.00
25. Linda McDavitt, Austin, Texas, 218.00
26. Nicole Didyk, Chicago, Ill., 225.00
27. Theresa Brandner, San Francisco, Calif., 231.00
28. Margot Pendleton, Aspen, Colo., 251.00
29. Jennifer Child, Minneapolis, Minn., 254.00
30. Linda McKee, Houston, Texas, 270.00
31. Louise Bienvenu, Metairie, La., 275.00
32. Carter McMahan-Wimberly, Houston, Texas, 278.00
33. Mamsie Manard, New Orleans, La., 307.00
34. Rachel Marsden, La Porte, Texas, 323.90
35. Jennifer Grant, Destin, Fla., 324.00
36. Anne Lee, Houston, Texas, 326.00
37. Renee Ruais, Austin, Texas, 341.00
38. Beverly Van Zandt, Shoreacres, Texas, 341.00
39. June Shaw, Houston, Texas, 342.00
(end)