San Francisco Team U.S. Women's Sailing Champs

by Marlieke de Lange Eaton - US Sailing on 23 Sep 2008 On the final day of racing at the U.S. Women's Championship for US SAILING's for US SAILING's Adams Cup, hosted by Oklahoma City Boat Club and sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A., the Oklahoma winds finally came sweeping down the plains for the final race. Solid winds blowing 15 to 18 mph were a big change from the light and shifty breezes of earlier races.

Wind or no wind, nothing could keep the highly experienced crew of the San Francisco Yacht Club from continuing their domination of the regatta. San Francisco finished the final race with a second-place finish, which gave them a 25-point lead over their nearest competitor. 'We liked today's stronger air,' said the team's skipper Vicki Sodaro (Tiburon, Calif.). 'It's closer to what we sail in San Francisco, minus the waves.' Two of the members of the winning team Vicki Sodaro and Stephanie Wondolleck (San Rafael, Calif.) are now both four-time Champs. Sodaro has three wins as helm and one as crew, while Wondolleck has one as helm and three as crew. This is the second crew win for Emily French (Blingen, Wash.). Katie Maxim (Napa, Calif.) rounded out the experienced Californian team that showed their skills with top-three finishes in eight out of eleven races.

The team from San Francisco had the regatta locked up before the final race started, but there were several other teams still in contention for second place. Coming into the final race, Fort Worth Boat Club (Texas) held second, followed closely by Duluth Yacht Club (Minn.), Edgewater Yacht Club (Ohio), and Charleston Ocean Racing (S.C.).

For the final race, Wendy Roach (Ft. Worth, Texas), who skippered the Fort Worth team, focused on covering the three boats that could numerically pass her for second place in the regatta. 'We knew that there were three teams who could beat us and so we tried to keep an eye on them during the final race,' said Roach. Her Fort Worth teammates Jessamine Lewis (Ft. Worth, Texas), Laura Grunewald (Benbrook, Texas), and Peggy Dietz (Ft. Worth, Texas) gave running reports to Roach throughout the race on where and how each of the three challengers were doing.

The Duluth team, led by Susan Mattis Turnham (Duluth, Minn.), found themselves buried by the fleet and were not able to recover, which resulted in their only last-place finish of the regatta. The Duluth team can take comfort in the fact that eight out of eleven teams suffered at least one last-place finish during the regatta. Jennifer Gervais (Charleston, S.C.) and her Charleston Ocean Racing Association team fared only slightly better with a disappointing tenth-place finish in the last race, which dropped them to seventh place overall in the regatta.

With two of the challengers tangled up in the fleet, the Fort Worth team only had to focus on the Edgewater Yacht Club team. Fort Worth managed to get the lead over Edgewater and hold them off. 'Once we got on top, we worked on keeping the boat flat and going fast,' said Roach. Fort Worth's efforts paid off as they finished fifth on top of a well-covered Edgewater boat. Fort Worth Boat Club locked down the second place in the regatta and was awarded US SAILING's Mrs. Willis D. Wood Trophy.

Edgewater Yacht Club finished third in the regatta and showed real skill at getting back into contention after getting trapped in the fleet. The Edgewater team of Susan McDowell (Bay Village, Ohio), Bev Keeler (Cleveland Heights, Ohio), Suzie Wulff (Lakewood, Ohio) and Coralee Skoch (Mentor, Ohio) certainly proved they know how to win with two firsts and two second-place finishes.

Complete results, daily reports, and photos from the U.S. Women's Championship are available on the event website at www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/women/uswsc. The U.S. Women's Sailing Championship for the Mrs. Charles Francis Adams Cup and the Mrs. Willis D. Wood Trophy is part of US SAILING's National Championships series. For more information about these events, visit www.ussailing.org/championships.

The San Francisco Yacht Club team put on an impressive display of talent to win the 2008 U.S. Women's Championship and every team at the regatta showed superb sailing skills and great competitive spirit. The depth of talent and the large number of excellent young sailors at this year's event proves that women's sailing is going strong and growing across the United States.

Final Results - J/22 (11 boats, 11 races)

1. Vicki Sodaro/ San Francisco Yacht Club (Tiburon, Calif.), Stephanie Wondolleck (San Rafael, Calif.), Emily French (Blingen, Wash.), Katie Maxim (Napa, Calif.); 3, 5, 7, 4, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3, 2: 31 points

2. Wendy Roach/ Fort Worth Boat Club (Ft. Worth, Texas), Jessamine Lewis (Ft. Worth, Texas), Laura Grunewald (Benbrook, Texas), Peggy Dietz (Ft. Worth, Texas); 2, 10, 3, 6, 3, 5, 6, 5, 9, 2, 5: 56 points

3. Susan McDowell/ Edgewater Yacht Club (Bay Village, Ohio), Bev Keeler (Cleveland Heights, Ohio), Suzie Wulff (Lakewood, Ohio), Coralee Skoch (Mentor, Ohio); 9, 1, 10, 11, 2, 4, 9, 8, 2, 1, 6: 63 points

About US SAILING
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national governing body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the United States. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.