US Women’s Match Racing Championship Day 1

Anna Tunnicliffe started off the regatta well by winning all her matches, followed closely by last year’s champion Liz Baylis. Also doing well are Genevieve Tulloch, Joanne Fisher, Deborah Capozzi, and Katy Lovell. The leaders rarely swapped places after the start. Joanne Fisher was able to capitalize on a spinnaker douse problem and gain the lead in one of her matches.

The racers saw a wide variety of conditions on Lake Ontario at the Rochester Yacht Club. The day started out with out 5 knots of wind out of the east and was shifty in the early flights, challenging the race committee with several mark changes. The breeze steadily built to a solid 15 knots with higher puffs by flight 5 and no spinnakers were flown in flights 7 and 8. All but two races were completed through flight 8.

There were many Olympic sailors on the racecourse today. Anna Tunnicliffe (Laser Radial), Deborah Capozzi (Yngling), and Carrie Howe (Yngling) from 2008 were all on different teams. Carol Cronin (Yngling) and Liz Filter (Yngling) from 2004 were also sailing against each other. Abby Ruhlman was racing against her daughter, Meagan Ruhlman.

Click here for the Rochester YC web site