Comfortably ahead

Barkow extends over womens fleet at the Annapolis Yacht Club

Sally Barkow and her Team 7 crew are getting close to an untouchable score at the 11th biennial Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship (Rolex IWKC), hosted by the Annapolis Yacht Club. With 11 races planned and eight completed after today's three-race run, Barkow has posted five victories and no finish worse than a third. She claimed two of the victories today in 10-14 knot breezes on Chesapeake Bay, where the 42-boat Rolex IWKC fleet is competing.

"Basically, it looked like they (Team 7) had been sailing full time, and the rest of us hadn't," said Pease Glaser, crew for Lucy's skipper Cory Sertl, who has proven to be Barkow's closest competition. Although Glaser laughed, she admitted that her crew could only claim the recent J/22 East Coast Championship as their preparation for this regatta, "and that was three totally drifter days." Nevertheless, the Lucy crew looked slick today, leading the second race until Barkow picked them off on the first downwind leg of a two-lap windward-leeward course. Sertl finished second in the race and added seventh- and sixth-place finishes to her scoreline to move up to second from third in the overall standings. There is now a 20-point spread between Sertl and Barkow.

"That was a huge jump for Sally today," said Glaser, who along with Sertl is a Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and crewed with Sertl in 2001 to win this regatta. Barkow is the defending champion and is sailing with her two Olympic Yngling teammates Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi, and an additonal crew member Annie Lush.

Today's first race was won by Stoutgear.com, skippered by Annapolis sailor Lorie Stout, who now is in sixth overall, topping the 13 other Maryland teams competing. "We were a third of the way up the starting line with Sally to leeward of us," said Stout. "It was the best place to be, and we both launched ahead of the fleet. We almost lost Sally once, but then we legged out at the end when she started mixing it up with other people." Stout's lead on the fleet at the finish was by more than eight boat lengths.

"We had an opportunity to shut the door on Lorie but we didn't take it," said Barkow. "She did a great job defending her position."

Barkow finished third in the race after New Zealand skipper Sharon Ferris' far-left strategy on the second and last windward leg paid off. Ferris's TeamOneNewport, which finished second in the race, is the top foreign boat in fourth place overall behind third-place Jody Swanson. Stout sits in sixth behind fifth-place Carol Cronin on Team Spidey.

Two college sailors are making an impression on the older veterans. They are skippers Anna Tunnicliffe and Derby Anderson, who sit in eighth and ninth respectively.

Tunnicliffe, a four-time All-American from Old Dominion University, is also the 2005 Quantum Female College Sailor of the Year and earned an invitation to this regatta for the accomplishment.

"Overall as a team, we were finally clicking today," Tunnicliffe said of her satisfying 5-6-5 finish positions that moved her up the scoreboard from thirteenth yesterday. Having now graduated, Tunnicliffe is pursuing her Olympic dream in the Laser Radial class. "The other teams, especially the Yngling teams, have an edge on us because they've been sailing keelboats, but we're learning from them all the time." Tunnicliffe competed in the event in 2003 as crew and in 1997 as the youngest entrant ever (age 14).

One of two Texas teams is from the Gulf Coast that is being evacuated due to the projected hit by Hurricane Rita. Julie Goetschius of Seabrook says her J/22 (she is chartering here) has been hauled out of the water by friends, but her house has not been boarded up. "What can I really do at this point?," said Goetschious, who lives alone. "My family and friends down there have their own homes to take care of. It's not like I could fly home now, anyway, so I'm staying until Wednesday."

The regatta continues through Friday, with two races scheduled for tomorrow and one on the final day.

1. Sally Barkow, Nashotah, Wis., TEAM 7, USA, [3]-1-1-2-1-3-1-1, 10
2. Cory Sertl, Rochester, N.Y., USA, LUCY, 1-[9]-2-9-3-7-2-6, 30
3. Jody Swanson, Buffalo, N.Y., USA, 2-2-[17]-4-5-4-10-7, 34
4. Sharon Ferris, TEAMONENEWPORT, Russell BOI, NZ, 7-11-3-1-6-2-8-[14], 38
5. Carol Cronin, Jamestown, R.I., USA, TEAM SPIDEY, 6-6-6-[11]-2-8-9-2, 39
6. Lorie Stout, Annapolis, Md., USA, STOUTGEAR.COM, 5-7-9-[15]-9-1-5-11, 47
7. JoAnn Fisher, Arnold, Md., USA, TEAM FISHER, 11-14-5-5-11-11-4-[17], 61
8. Anna Tunnicliffe, Norfolk, Va. USA, 12-8-[28]-16-13-5-6-5, 65
9. Derby Anderson, Annapolis, Md., USA, [15]-5-12-8-12-14-7-8, 66
10. Julie Sitzmann, Orr's Island, Maine, USA, DOGS PLAYING POOL, 16-3-4-3-17-20-[29]-4, 67