(Written by Jake Fish for US Sailing website: www.ussailing.org)

Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans welcomes eight of the best women’s match racing teams in the country for US Sailing’s 2011 U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship. Teams will compete for the Allegra Knapp Mertz Trophy beginning on Lake Pontchartrain this Thursday, November 10 through Sunday, November 13 in J/22 sailboats. Three of the top four qualifiers from the 2011 Women’s Match Racing U.S. Olympic Qualifying Regatta will be on hand including Sally Barkow, Genny Tulloch and Stephanie Roble. Five of the eight skippers competing this week are ranked in the top 50 by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) for women’s match racing.

Among this talented group of sailors is skipper Genny Tulloch (Sausalito, Calif./Houston, Texas), the 11th ranked women’s match racing skipper in the world by ISAF. The 2004 College Sailor of the Year out of Harvard has won this Championship the last two years. Joining her are teammates Alice Manard Leonard (New Orleans, La./East Haven, Conn.), Jennifer Chamberlin (Washington, D.C.) and Elizabeth Hall (Cary, N.C.). Tulloch wrapped-up a successful outing at the 2011 US Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta last October at the Key Biscayne Yacht Club (Fla.) by finishing second overall. Also in 2011, she placed fourth at Kiel Week, an ISAF Sailing World Cup event in Germany.

“We’re excited to defend,” said Tulloch. “Three-time champions would be good. This is going to be a fun event and a lot of the young teams from the Qualifier are going to be there.”

Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), the #3 ISAF ranked women’s match racer in the world, returns to the U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship after losing in the finals last year to Tulloch in Sheboygan, Wis. The 2008 Olympian is a two-time winner of US Sailing’s Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year award. Barkow finished third at the 2011 US Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta. In 2011 she finished third overall in the ISAF Sailing World Cup, winning four medals at four World Cup events. Barkow won the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma, Spain; was second at French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres, France; and posted third place finishes at Skandia Sail for Gold in Weymouth, U.K. and US Sailing’s Rolex Miami OCR in Miami, Fla. She’ll be racing this week with Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham (Miami Beach, Fla.), Alana O’Reilly (Charleston, S.C.) and Amanda Callahan (Portsmouth, R.I.).

Recent Old Dominion University graduate and All-American, Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wis.), will be joined by crewmates, Maggie Shea (Wilmette, Ill.), Darby Smith (Wilmette, Ill.) and Jennifer Wilson (Chicago, Ill.). The team started sailing together a year ago when they met at the Chicago Match Race Center. Roble had a breakthrough performance at the 2011 US Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta with a fourth place finish. She also placed third at this year’s Lysekil Women’s Match Racing Championship, fourth at the Buddy Melges Challenge and second in the Chicago Match Race Center’s GoPRO Match Cup. Roble is ranked 38th in the world by ISAF.

Rebecca Dellenbaugh (Boston, Mass.) who qualified for the event through the 2011 Northern Lights Cup, where she placed second, will be competing with crewmates, Janel Zarkowsky (Boston, Mass.), Krista Paxton (Detroit, Mich.) and Casey Williams (Cambridge, Mass.). Dellenbaugh was third at the 2011 Santa Maria Cup, fourth at the 2010 Osprey Cup and third at the 2011 Sundance Cup. Dellenbaugh is ranked 33rd in the world by ISAF.

Kaitlin Storck (New Orleans, La.) will feel at home with the event right at her doorstep. Storck has a variety of experience. She recently sailed in the Transatlantic Race as part of the Oakcliff All American Offshore Team, where her team placed sixth. Stork won the J/80 North American Championships in 2010, placed second at the 2011 Sundance Cup, and second in the Carlos Aguilar Match Racing Championship in 2010. Her crews will be Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff (Boston, Mass.), whom she sailed with for her four years at Tufts, Molly Robinson (Sausilito, Calif.) and Caila Johnson (Washington, D.C.).

Rounding out this talented group is Katy Lovell (New Orleans, La.). This will be her seventh appearance at this event and she is ranked 42nd in the world. Dana Riley (San Rafael, Calif.), Ann Graham (Houston, Texas) and Sandi Svoboda (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.) will be accompanying her. The roster also includes skippers Deborah Grimm (New Orleans, La.) and Louise Bienvenu (Metairie, La.). Grimm is joined by crew Janice Griglack (New Orleans, La.), Jennifer Watkins (New Orleans, La.) and Michelle Hitter (New Orleans). Bienvenu’s crew includes Anne David (New Orleans, La.), Mamsie Manard (Metairie, La.) and Tirza Dabdoub (New Orleans, La.).

Barkow, Kratzig-Burnham, O’Reilly, Tulloch, Manard Leonard and Chamberlin are all members of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics.

For more information about the U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship, sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A., Gill North America and Old Pulteney Single Malt Whiskey, visit the event website for standings, daily recaps, photos and more. For up-to-the-minute details from New Orleans, follow us on US Sailing’s Twitter site.

The U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship is certified by Sailors for the Sea as a Clean Regatta.

Championship Notes:
• The U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship is an ISAF Grade 3 event.
• The racing venue will take place on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, NNE of New Canal.
• The intended time of the first race will be 1:00 p.m. CDT on Thursday, November 10.
• The intended time of the first attention signal on Friday, November 11 through Sunday, November 13 is 10:00 a.m. CDT.
• The event will consist of Round Robin racing and Knock out series stages.
• The course will be windward/leeward with starboard roundings, finishing downwind.
• Perpetual Trophies will be awarded for first and second place: The Allegra Knapp Mertz Trophy, emblematic of the U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship; and the Mrs. Charles Francis Adams Memorial Trophy, emblematic of the Runner-up position.
• US SAILING medals will be awarded to the skippers and crews placing first through third.
• The winning skipper will be awarded an automatic invitation to the 2012 Buddy Melges Challenge.

Competitors:
1. Sally Barkow (Nashotah, WI) & Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham, Alana O’Reilly, Amanda Callahan
2. Louise Bienvenu (Metairie, LA) & Anne David, Tirza Dabdoub, Mamsie Manard
3. Becca Dellenbaugh (Boston, MA) & Janel Zarkowsky, Krista Paxton, Casey Williams
4. Deborah Grimm (New Orleans, LA) & Janice Griglack, Michelle Hitter
5. Katy Lovell (New Orleans, LA) & Dana Riley, Ann Graham, Sandi Svoboda
6. Stephanie Roble (East Troy, WI) & Maggie Shea, Darby Smith, Jennifer Wilson
7. Kaity Storck (New Orleans, LA) & Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff, Molly Robinson, Caila Johnson
8. Genny Tulloch (Sausalito, CA) & Alice Manard Leonard, Jenn Chamberlin, Liz Hall

For more information, please visit: WIMRA Calendar - USWMRC