U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship - Delisser claims title

by Connie Bischoff/US Sailing on 24 Jul 2010 The final day of racing was canceled at the U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship (USJWSC) on Friday with Tropical Storm Bonnie approaching Miami. Despite not having the opportunity to finish the final two races scheduled, this year's championship did not come up short of excitement from the field of 46. Following Thursday's impressive performance, Miami's Arielle deLisser won her second USJWSC in three years with a come from behind win.

On day two (Thursday) of the USJWSC, hosted by the Coral Reef Yacht Club, the 2008 champion deLisser, posted three bullets out of the four races conducted on Biscayne Bay in Laser Radials to win the championship by a point over Wednesday’s leader and 2009 champion, Molly McKinney (Sarasota, Fla.). DeLisser answered McKinney’s performance on Wednesday to surge ahead in the standings through eight races.

'I really liked the coaches we had here,' said deLisser. 'They really helped me with strategy and fleet management. I had the speed, but I just needed better strategy.'

The last race had a climactic ending and put the finishing touches on an exciting day of racing with extremely close competition. At the last weather mark, deLisser was being closely covered by McKinney. DeLisser managed to break away to the left side of the downwind leg to surge ahead of McKinney. DeLisser held a 10 second lead at the last leeward gate. Despite covering McKinney closely down the stretch, deLisser finished the eighth race a few boat lengths ahead for the win.

Thursday’s racing proved that great sailors can always recover. In race five, deLisser capsized on her first downwind leg. However, she scurried back to finish in seventh place. Arielle mentioned, 'I went out sore and tired yesterday and sailed hard because I really needed the points. When I flipped over, I needed to work that much harder to get back in the race.'

During race six, McKinney thought she was over early and came back to restart. At the windward mark she was in 15th place, but managed to catch up and finish third. McKinney tallied a 3-3-3-2 line on Thursday. She didn’t finish a race below third for the entire championship.

McKinney explained, 'There is good competition here every year. I was really banking on sailing today. It's disappointing. I learned a lot from the variety of coaches from different areas. They really helped me out with tactics.'

Sky Adams (Santa Barbara, Calif.) was in third place near the finish of race eight. Unfortunately, she capsized and fell out of her boat right before the end of the race and finished eighth. This race was her drop. Adams finished third overall and 12 points behind deLisser.

McKinney, deLisser, and Adams are all sailing competitively next year at the collegiate level. McKinney will sail for Stanford University; deLisser for Hobart & William Smith Colleges; and Adams for Brown University.

During the day, the wind stayed between 15 and 18 knots from the NE shifting left, with whitecaps rippling on the water. The temperature was a cool 88 degrees. With a possible tropical storm lurking, Principal Race Officer John Strassman made it a priority to get the maximum number of races in for the two days.

Please visit the event website for more details on the event, including daily recaps, results, photos, competitor roster, list of clinic coaches, event history, and more. Also, follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all championship updates.

The U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship, sponsored by LaserPerformance and supported by the C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Trust, is part of US SAILING’s Junior National Championship series.

Event Website: http://championships.ussailing.org/Youth/USJrWomensSinglehanded.htm

Pos Bow Skipper (top 5) Yacht Club Results Points
1. 43 Arielle deLisser CRYC/LYC/BLYC 1-2 -5-2-[7]-1-1-1 13
2. 33 Molly McKinney Sarasota Youth Sailing Program [3]-1-1-1-3-3-3-2 14
3. 20 Sky Adams Santa Barbara Yacht Club 5-3-4-4-1-2-6-[8] 25
4. 17 Kaitlyn Baab St. Francis Yacht Club/FAST 4-8-2-6-2-4-[20]-4 30
5. 34 Kelly McGlynn Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club 9-[12]-9-3-4-8-2-3 38

- Race Report content provided by Connie Bischoff.