Girls Do It Better on J/22s!(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.
The current champion and US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member, Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, FL), recently received US SAILING’s highest honor as the 2009 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year based in part on her accomplishment of winning the 2009 Rolex IWKC. “Since US SAILING and Rolex created the Rolex IWKC in 1985, many accomplished women sailors have been part of this regatta’s 25-year history,” said Taran Teague (Annapolis, Md.), chair of US SAILING’s International Women’s Keelboat steering committee. “In fact, since its founding, this regatta has hosted more than 2,500 women representing 23 countries.”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.
Other veterans that also finished in the top three in the last Rolex Women's Worlds will be on hand with even stronger crews than before. Watch out for two sailors from the "Jimmie-town" colony on Narragansett Bay- Cory Sertl who summers in Jamestown, RI has been actively practicing and racing all summer, and her neighbor Carol Cronin has also shown her championship form this summer!
Sure to be a factor amongst the leader-board will be two women college All-Americans and 2011 Women's College Sailor of the Year- Annie Haeger (Boston College) and her best friend Steph Roble (Old Dominion) from Wisconsin-- these girls are amongst the sharpest and quickest of the next-generation college women sailors and they know how to make a J/22 go fast! 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
