United States’ Sally Barkow Takes 2007 BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup
France and US battled it out in annual Annapolis regatta

Posted Wednesday, June 6, 2007

 
 E-mail this page
 Printer-friendly page

The U.S. Team Of Sally Barkow Came Out On Top
In Spite Of A Late Wakeup Call By The Strong French Team Of Claire Leroy

Annapolis, MD - After Friday’s final round robin series that ended with Sally Barkow (USA) leading by 17-1 against Leroy (FR), who had come roaring back to a perfect day but still down at 15-3, Saturday’s semis were a USA vs. France event. Liz Baylis ended up third going in with a 13-5 score against Christelle Philippe (FR) in fourth place with 11-7 going into the final four.

Barkow had an outstanding performance going into the round robin portion of the competition with 17 wins to only 1 loss, but that was against Leroy, who had posted a perfect score with an exciting last-minute spinnaker douse to a 360 penalty turn at the last finish ahead of Barkow. Then in the first race of the semi-finals, sailed at the end of Friday’s matches, Philippe beat Barkow in a fading breeze to make them rethink their performance and tactics for the final day of racing. “We definitely got a little slack toward the end of Friday. It was a long day on the water and we were happy about winning the round robin and I think we let up a little,” Barkow said. The loss to Philippe definitely shook us up and made us realize that there still was work to be done.”

Saturday, Barkow’s team came out gunning and nailed their semis best-of-three with a score of 3 to 1 over Philippe and went against Leroy, who had beaten Baylis to qualify in the finals 3-1 also. In the finals, Barkow came out on top 3-1 again and cinched the win and join the ranks of Dawn Riley and Marie Bjorling as the only three to have won the BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup twice.

The final results for the event had Sally Barkow (USA) 1st , Claire Leroy (FR) second 2nd, Liz Baylis (USA) 3rd , Christelle Philippe (FR) 4th , Nicky Souter (AUS) 5th , Katy Lovell (USA) 6th , Katie Spithill (AUS) 7th, Jo Ann Fisher (USA) 8th, Lorenza Mariani (IT) 9th and Liz Hjorth 10th. All of the competitors deserve recognition for putting on another fantastic competition and for pushing each other to excel in the fast-paced sport of match racing. The starts and finishes were always close, sometimes only seconds apart. Those who did not finish on top, made the leaders work harder for their wins and will be back next time to make their own podium stand next year.

The racing conditions were perfect each day and spectators and competitors alike enjoyed a great competition. The predicted last day thunderstorms held off until after the races were done and competitors were back on shore for the awards ceremony. The army of volunteers from the hosting Eastport Yacht Club, Annapolis, MD put on another fantastic BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup event. With the dedication of these experienced race committee people, visiting judges, umpires and all the support staff, BoatU.S. and other sponsors, the event continues to be a premier international competition.

A recap of the final results of the round robin, semi finals and the finals, plus photos and commentary can be found on the BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup Web site at http://www.SantaMariaCup.org