In a dramatic conclusion to five days of racing, Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) and her Team Maclaren crew Molly Vandemoer (Stanford, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) won the 2011 U.S. Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta over Genny Tulloch (Sausalito, Calif.) and her Team GetSailing Alice Manard Leonard (East Haven, Conn.) and Jenn Chamberlin (Washington, D.C.). Tunnicliffe defeated Tulloch 4-0 in the Finals.

“I’m really proud of my team,” said Tunnicliffe moments after reaching the dock. “We put a lot of time in on the water and depended on that training today. We took one race at a time and it went our way.”

With this win, Tunnicliffe secures the berth to represent the USA at the 2011 International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Combined World Championships, Dec. 3-18, in Perth, Australia. The team will soon travel to Australia to begin training.

Tunnicliffe was up two wins over Tulloch coming into the day’s matches after coming back to win the semi-final round.

“I’m really proud of my team,” said Tunnicliffe. “We came back and we’ve really gelled together as a team. We put a lot of time in on the water and depended on that. We took one race at a time. Training paid of in that when you see a situation at a regatta you know what to do. The more time you spend in the boat is going to help you.

Tulloch’s team spent that past season sitting out the ISAF Sailing World Cup events as they were the third-place team at the U.S. Qualifier regatta in early 2011. With this second-place finish, they will have the second USA berth at World Cup events when the U.S. is given one.

“We’re totally happy,” said Tulloch. “We didn’t need to win this regatta. There’s not a lot of difference between first and second. We didn’t know until yesterday that we had a spring schedule and now we do.”

The day started with a passing storm squall resulting in 18-22 knots of wind for racing. Conditions on the race course made for a thrilling final flight of matches.

First up was the final match of the petit-finals to determine third and fourth place between Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) and Stephanie Roble (Chicago, Ill.). Barkow came into today with one win on her score card in the “first-to-two-wins” round and went at Roble, quickly winning the match to seal third place.

Barkow sails with Elizabeth Kratzig Burnham (Miami, Fla.) and Alana O’Reilly (Charleston, S.C.) as Team 7 Match Race, while Roble, Maggie Shea (Chicago, Ill.) and Darby Smith (Chicago, Ill.) represent Chicago Match Racing Center.

Racing was run by the Key Biscayne Yacht Club Race Committee and organized in collaboration with US SAILING’s Olympic Sailing Committee. Sail Sheboygan supplied the Elliott 6m Olympic class boats as well as on-the-water assistance.

As the top four skippers at this event, Tulloch, Barkow, Tunnicliffe and Roble advanced to the second, and final, selection event for the 2012 Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta, scheduled for May 4-9, 2012 at the Olympic sailing venue. The winner of that event will represent USA at the 2012 Olympic Games. The Olympic Regatta will be held July 27 – August 12, 2012, in the towns of Weymouth and Portland, which are located on the southern coast of England, approximately 120 miles southwest of London.

Full results and photos: sailingteams.ussailing.org/Events/2011WMRTrials.htm