Genny Tulloch wins Rolex Osprey Cup

After a close final against Giulia Conti

Genny Tulloch, ICSA’s 2004 Quantum Female College Sailor of the Year, sailing with Alice Manard Leonard, Jenn Chamberlin, and 2006 Quantum Female College Sailor of the Year Alana O’Reilly have won the 2010 Rolex Osprey Cup after a well-fought battle with defending champion Italy's Giulia Conti who has won the event three-times (2005, 2008, and 2009). Conti sailed with the same crew with whom she won the 2009 event: Alessandra Angelini, Lisa Lardani and Giovanna Micol.

Although a lack of breeze cut short the second round-robin on the penultimate day of racing, there was enough wind on the final day of the four-day regatta for the Race Committee from St Petersburg Yacht Club to run a four-race semi-finals, followed by five races in the first-to-win three final that determined the winner.

At the start of the semi-finals Tulloch and crew had lost only one match during the round-robin series - to the team helmed by Katy Lovell with crew Kaity Storck, Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff and Becky DaMore. Based on their records in the round-robin, Conti and Lovell’s teams advanced to the semi-finals, as did skipper Rebecca Dellenbaugh with crew Keisha Pearson, Kendall Reiley and Janel Zarkowsky. In the semi-final rounds, Tulloch defeated Dellenbaugh 3-1 and Conti was 3-0 over Lovell, setting the stage for an exciting final.

“It was really great racing against Guilia's team,” said Tulloch after defeating Conti 3-2 to win the 2010 Rolex Osprey Cup. Speaking en route to Korea where she will compete in the Busan Cup, Tulloch went on to describe sailing two very close races in the final series including one in which Conti was behind with a penalty before she passed Tulloch on the downwind. “They spun it, which allowed us to lee-bow her and then luff her at the windward mark - leading to a very close downwind that we won. The following race we were leading the whole way (for the title if we'd won) but she kept bringing breeze down on the last downwind and actually passed us one boat length from the finish line which forced us to the sudden death match!!! Happily for us, after a close first upwind, we opened up a lead on the top layline and held it from there to the finish.”

In the petit-final series, Lovell defeated Dellenbaugh 3-2 to finish third overall in the series, while the remaining six teams sailed the consolation round to determine fifth through tenth place.

Results 2010 Rolex Osprey Cup:

Final Standing Skipper (Hometown/Country), Crew names (hometown.

1 Genevieve Tulloch USA (San Francisco, Calif./USA), Alice Manard Leonard (New Orleans, La.), Jenn Chamberlin (Annapolis, Md.) and Alana O’Reilly (Charleston, S.C.)
2 Giulia Conti (Toscolano Maderno/ITA), Alessandra Angelini, Lisa Lardani and Giovanna Micol.
3 Katy Lovell (New Orleans, La./USA), Kaity Storck (Huntington, N.Y.), Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff (Rosemont, Penn.) and Becky DaMore (Culver, Ind.)
4 Rebecca Dellenbaugh (Easton, Conn./USA), Keisha Pearson (Bellport, N.Y.), Kendall Reiley (Aspen, Colo.) and Janel Zarkowsky (Annapolis, Md.)
5 Maegan Ruhlman (Cleveland, Ohio/USA), Sara Morgan Watters (Oxford, Md.), Megan Riddle (Vermillion, Ohio) and Abby Rowlands (Cleveland, Ohio)
6 Adrienne Patterson (Newport Beach, Calif./USA), Evan Brown (Tampa, Fla.), Emily Babbitt (Dartmouth, Mass.) and Hilary Wiech (Newport, R.I.)
7 Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wisc./USA), Katrina Williams (Pembroke, Bermuda), Darby Smith (Marblehead, Mass.) and Shannon Wilkins (Annapolis, Md.)
8 Katie Abbott (Sarnia, Ontario/CAN), Joanne Prokop, Caroline Kaars Sijpesteijn and Joanne Abbott.
9 Rachael Silverstein (St. Petersburg, Fla./USA), Stephanie Reynolds, Abby Featherstone (Sarasota, Fla.) and Alex Martinez.
10 Arabella Denvir (Kinsale/ IRL), Jessamine Lewis (Ft. Worth, Texas), Sarah Stanton and Stephanie Chaufournier (Arlington, Va.)