(San Francisco, California)- For four days, the top women's match racing
teams in America battled for supremacy on the spectacular waters of San
Francisco Bay, home appropriately enough for the next America's Cup in
September 2013. Set against the backdrop of the City of San Francisco,
the women's teams fought in elimination rounds over three days that saw
the two most experienced teams ultimately rise to the top. By Saturday afternoon, the culmination of the racing decided who would reach the Finals of the U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship, hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club. Genny Tulloch and Nicole Breault would square off in Sunday’s Final series. A win for Tulloch would mark her third Allegra Knapp Mertz Trophy.
Tulloch (San Francisco, Calif.), a two-time U.S. Women’s Match Racing Champion, had been sailing during the week with Maggie Shea (Wilmette, Ill.) and US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider teammates Jennifer Chamberlin (Washington, D.C.) and Steph Roble (East Troy, Wis.). They had yet to lose a race all week. They won the final flight today and swept their Semifinal series, 3-0, over Shala Lawrence (San Diego, Calif.) to advance to Sunday’s Finals. Team Tulloch was 15-0 in Round Robin action.
Nicole
Breault (San Francisco, Calif.) advanced to the Finals with a 3-1 win
over Andrea Cabito (Alameda, Calif.) in Saturday's Semifinals. Breault’s
crew consisted of Evan Brown (San Francisco, Calif.), Casey Williams
(Belmont, Mass.), and Julie Servais (San Diego, Calif.). They were 11-4
in Round Robin play; however, three of those losses came against
Tulloch.In the final analysis, those three losses would come home to haunt Nicole's team. For the third time in four years, Genny Tulloch won the U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship. Tulloch and her crew were dominant by winning all 21 matches they raced. They put the finishing touches on this fantastic four-day event by winning 3-0 over Nicole Breault in the finals.
Tulloch (San Francisco, Calif.) was challenged in today’s first race. Breault had a lead early and was in control. However, Breault lost her lead when she over shot the first mark, picked up a foul, and took extra tacks. Tulloch went on to win by a couple boat lengths.
After
a compelling pre-start in race two, Breault made a mistake by not
turning back earlier in the box to lead back in light air against
current. As a result, Tulloch approached the starting line in control
by exposing Breault to bad air and forcing her back, deeper in the box.
Tulloch took a two boat length lead off the line and never looked back.
Tulloch won race two by eight boat lengths.Breault notched another penalty on the pre-start of race three. Tulloch took a three boat length lead early and eventually won by 10 boat lengths to clinch the championship.
“It feels amazing to win this championship in my home waters,” said Tulloch. “It was really cool for us to join forces this week. Everyone did a great job and proud of this team for how they all came together.”
Sailing Photo credits- Chris Ray Photography. For more US Women's Match Racing sailing information
