Elizabeth Kratzig Wins Rolex Women's Match

by Dana Paxton on 13 Apr 2005 Elizabeth Kratzig (USA) and her crew won the Rolex Women's Match, hosted by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in St. Petersburg, Florida from April 7-10 on Tampa Bay.

Sailing with Kratzig in the ISAF Grade 4 match racing event were 2004 Czechoslovakian Olympic Silver medallist Lenka Smidova, Carrie Howe and Liz Hall.

Ten teams completed 79 matches in two and one half days of round robin racing in Sonar keelboats, which was preceded by a two-day skills and rules clinic with match racing expert Henry Menin.

Kratzig and second-place finisher, Chafee Emory (USA.), gain automatic invitations to the Rolex Osprey Cup, an ISAF Grade 1 match racing event scheduled for October 27 - November 1, 2005.

‘St. Petersburg Yacht Club always puts on the best women's match race regattas,’ said Kratzig, who is also the 2003 Rolex Women's Match champion.
‘The event is so well organized. The racing and competition is of the highest calibre and all of the volunteers and members of the yacht club are so friendly.

'This event and the Rolex Osprey Cup in late October are the two most fun women's match racing events on the US circuit. I always love to come and race in St. Petersburg.’

Principal Race Officer and co-organizer, Pat Seidenspinner, commented on the racing conditions, ‘the racing was challenging, especially on Saturday when the wind was 10-15 knots from the northwest with large, unpredictable shifts lasting a minute or less.

‘On Sunday we were blessed with a steady 10-knot easterly that slowly diminished throughout the morning.’

Other participating skippers, all hailing from the US included: Kristin Britt, Louise Bienvenu, Arabella Denvir, Chafee Emory, Kathy Lundeen, Sue Mc Dowell, Karen Park, Rachael Silverstein and Nancy Zangerle.

Results are posted on St. Petersburg Yacht Club website www.spyc.org and the Rolex Women's Match website www.rolexwomensmatch.org.