(Rochester, NY)- Thirty-six women's teams and counting. Amazing. Who would think today that women athletes should be mainstreamed into big-boat sailing back in 1985!? That was the general attitude in the early '80s when US SAILING, J/Boats, Ida Lewis YC and Rolex collaborated to create the Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship (IWKC) using J/24s. Twenty-five years later “The Rolex Women’s” stands as a testament to the huge strides made in women’s sailing. This biennial event regularly attracts both the "Who’s Who" and the "up-and-coming" of women’s sailing. The 14th running is scheduled for August 29 – September 1, 2011 at the Rochester Yacht Club (Rochester, N.Y.), and utilizes the International J/22 class keelboat, suitable for four-person teams.
Several teams will be in the hunt for the gold-silver-bronze on the podium, all smart, aggressive, extremely talented sailors. Giving Anna's team a run for the money will be another USS-TAG champion sailor, Sally Barkow from Wisconsin, one of the top ranked women's match-racing sailing teams in the world is led by her. And, she's proven fast in small keelboats at the Olympic and World Championship level.
From across the border up north, two of the Canadian teams entered will be vying for honors as well, the top two 2011 Canadian Women's Keelboat Champions- Nicole Bastet from Quebec who won and Marg Hurley from Ontario who finished second. Fellow sailors from Canada that should also be contenders are Katie Colman-Nicoll's team from Ontario. All three of these Canadian Women's teams have raced J/22s extensively so no doubt will be extremely competitive against the top American teams.
There's still time to jump into a J/22 and go for it! Register online today at-
http://riwkc.ussailing.org/
Rolex Women's Worlds Sailing photo credits- Dan Nerney
http://www.regattanews.com