Racing News and Results

Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship
Olympic Hopeful Barkow Crowned as 2003 Rolex Champion

Annapolis, Md. (Oct. 3, 2003) – Sally Barkow of Nashotah, Wis., and her crew of Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Annie Lush (Bournemouth, England), have won US Sailing's 2003 Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship (Rolex IWKC), which began Monday, Sept. 29 and concluded today with two races on Chesapeake Bay off Annapolis, Md. Going into today, Barkow's team held a 20-point lead over the 66 teams competing. In light 8-10 knot breezes, the foursome once again showed command of their boat handling skills and the scoreboard. With finishes of 3-8, they maintained a healthy lead on the fleet and became champions in what has become one of the world’s most prestigious women’s sailing regattas.
"It feels awesome to have won," said the 23-year-old Barkow, a two-time college All American from Old Dominion University (class of '02) who only started sailing keelboats one and a half years ago. "We approached today with confidence just like we approached every other day. We didn't worry about the more mature teams, because they can make mistakes just as easily as us. We have learned a ton here, from communications, to boat handling to mentally focusing for five days. They were big lessons. We'll take those with us. It was a big step for our campaign."
Barkow, Capozzi and Howe are on the US Sailing Team and hope to be the USA's representatives in the Yngling class at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. In fact, the debut of the first-ever women's keelboat event at the Olympics inspired several Yngling teams to switch temporarily into J/22s to compete in the Rolex IWKC for practice against the best women sailors in the world.
"We are so young that we just want to do any racing we can for more experience," said Howe, who like Capozzi, graduated from college this past May. "That's why we came. It has been really helpful for putting us in different--sometimes tense--situations."
Barkow's overall success was due in large part to consistency in her finishes. When wild winds turned a single race on the fourth day into a demolition derby, Barkow sailed steadily to a second-place finish and the regatta leader--five-time champion and five-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.)-- fell deep in the standings after being penalized for starting prematurely. (It was her second such penalty.) Though Barkow, too, had suffered a penalty for a premature start in race three, she used that race as her allowed throwout and counted eight other top-ten finishes in her final nine-race scoreline.
Winning a race today and finishing second overall and as top foreign team was Paula Lewin (Paget, Bermuda), sailing with fellow Bermudians Peta Lewin (her sister) and Carola Cooper as well as San Francisco's Dana Riley.
"This was a great learning experience for us," said Lewin, who with Lewin and Cooper will represent Bermuda in the Yngling class at the 2004 Olympic Regatta. "Our team doesn't have experience together on too many other boats. The Yngling is difficult to sail and sailing the J/22 is easier. It gave us an opportunity to work on things like fine-tuning our trimming techniques."
Carol Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.), Barkow's rival for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team and runner-up at the 2001 Rolex IWKC, sailed "Team Atkins" to third overall with crew Linda Epstein (Arlington, Mass.), Elizabeth Filter (Stevensville, Md.) and Kate Fears (Cambridge, Mass.).
"A fourth and a first was a good day for Team Atkins," said Cronin. "The sailing conditions were great today. Sea breeze and flat water, medium breeze and stable. We hadn't seen those kinds of conditions this week. It's always good to have the full variety of conditions at a championship. Sally sailed really well. They stayed out of trouble. She has learned a lot faster than we hoped she would."
Winning the newly established City of Annapolis perpetual trophy for being the top Annapolis finisher was Nancy Haberland, sailing "Team VC Perfomance Rigging" with local crew Dina Kowalyshyn, Karina Shelton and Aimee Hess.
Final top-10 results after nine races -- 66 Boats*
Overall Position, Skipper/Team Name, Hometown, Finish Positions, Total Points
1. Sally Barkow/Team Seven, Nashotah, Wisc., USA, 8-10-15[28/ZFP]-1-4-8-2-3-8, 44
2. Paula Lewin/Team ACE Group, Paget, BER, 4-[22]-15/ZFP-13-6-10-5-1-4; 58
3. Carol Cronin/Team Atkins, Jamestown, RI, USA, 5-3-[67/BFD]-23-8-13-3-4-1, 60
4. Mary Brigden/Team San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA, 15-4-3-14-[26]-1-23/ZFP-2-9, 71
5. Nancy Haberland/Team VC Performance Rigging, Annapolis, MD, USA, 10-19-[67/BFD]-5-1-15/ZFP-17-11-2, 80
6. Karleen Dixon/The Lion Foundation, Auckland, NZL, 2-6-4-[32]-18-12-14/ZFP-22-6, 84
7. Dominique Provoyeur/Team Orion, Cape Town, RSA, 13-9-7-[27]-14-25-4-7-21, 100
8. Betsy Alison, Newport, R.I., USA, 1-1-67/BFD-12-9-3-[67/BFD]-5-3, 101
9. Lorie Stout/Team Stoutgear, Annapolis, Md., USA, 18-26-1-17-12-[67/DSQ]-11-18-10, 113
10. Phebe King/Team Legal Source, Annapolis, Md., USA, 25-16-6-2-20-[53]-22-20-5, 116
For more information, visit www.ussailing.org.

J22 Western Great Lakes District Championships Regatta

J22 Fleet One, for the 18th consecutive year, again hosted the J22 districts. The weather was glorious with four Races on Saturday, September 20, raced in sunny 65-degree weather and winds that steadily increased from 10 knots to the low 20’s by the end of the day. Race 1 saw Joe Cool take a bullet with Norwegian Woody in second. Norwegian Woody, with J22 yachting Mava Jappa Lovald watching form the sidelines with a back injury, saw his team take his boat to steady top three finishes throughout the regatta. Apparently Matt Pike and Mike Bowers liked the idea of sailing Jappa’s boat around in heavy weather without him as they finished a strong second in the regatta with 14 points. A sixth place finish in Race 1 hurt Terry Foster in Speed Buggy, but steady top three finishes help propel them to a strong third place finish with 15 points. Professor Hansen took everyone to a school with a string of bullets for race Races 2 through 5. It was kind of him to give everyone hope with a 720 induced third place finish in Race 1, but after that the hammer fell and reality set in. Congratulations to Lars Hansen, John Noller and Andy Marsten with a first place, 7 points, finish. Several boats also came from Kansas City for the event. Blake Middleton headed up the race committee with help from Davey Onan, Charlie Onan and Stefani Mach. Someone cooked up some great dinner food on Saturday, but I didn’t notice who - rumor has it was Thorn Turner and Terry Foster. And most importantly, Jappa Man handled the event management. Congratulations to all participants!
Fleet #1 J/22
(1) USA 865 (2) Norwegian Woody (3) Speed Buggy (4) Let’s Boogie (5) H K Phooey (6) Shadowfax (7) The Angry Beaver (8) Joe Cool (9) Formerly Texana (10) Pure Energy

S2 7.9 Internationals
Songbird Defeats Friends and Foes

Songbird of Wayzata Yacht Club won the S2 7.9 International Championship, Amateur Division, and placed second overall. The Championship Regatta was held in Menominee, Michigan from August 21-23. Seven boats represented Wayzata Yacht Club: Songbird, Skyhawk, Wavelength, Shadow, Island Flyer, Religious Experience and Whirlwind. In addition to having a great time, many Wayzata Yacht Club boats made an impression. Skyhawk had an up and down regatta which made a miraculous fourth race. They were several minutes late at the start but clawed their way back to a fourth place by playing the shifts. Skyhawk finished eleventh in the regatta. Wavelength scored big party points with free rum drinks Friday night and of course Tom Elsen gave his usual inspiring speeches as S2 7.9 Class President. Tom also won the owners division and the centerboard grinding contest organized by Mike Bares. However, unbiased observers reported that Roger Friedell (co-owner of Songbird) would have won but there was a time keeper error. Shadow, Island Flyer and Whirlwind gained valuable regatta experience. Speaking of experience, Religious Experience won the unofficial party championship and won the boat name taping award for being renamed No Real Experience. Nine races were held during the regatta under a wide variety of Great Lakes wind and waves. Spike Boston, a sail manufacturer and professional sailor, raced Frequent Flyer and took first place overall. Songbird was sailed by Dave Richfield, Roger Friedell, Mark Oppen, Mike Bares and Jordan Woods-Wahl. Songbird attributed a successful regatta to several forces all coming together at the right time. These included the experience at Wayzata Yacht Club of sailing in a relatively large and increasing talented S2 7.9 fleet and the experience of sailing with well over 100 boats on Thursday evenings. Songbird had many memorable moments including: winning the first race; the last leg of race 5 when tactician Mark Oppen called every shift and they vaulted from seventh to first; the best quote of the regatta during race seven, “Dave, stop thinking and just go fast;”race nine when they needed a good race and pulled off a second place start and held position the entire race; and finally the ride home bringing some regatta hardware back to Wayzata Yacht Club.