Sailor Spotlight: a Few Words with Top Match Racer Stephanie Roble
By Airwaves writer Jeff Doubek
Watching young sailors grow up and raise their talent to the next level is one of the finest pleasures of being involved with sailing education and promotion. This past year was no exception when US Sailing named Stephanie Roble, a fellow Wisconsinite from my neck of the woods, 2014 Rolex Yachtswoman of the year.
I recently caught up with Stephanie during her run in the Lysikel International Woman’s Match Racing series to answer a few questions about her goals and her success.
Does winning the top prize in sailing feel even better considering that you come from a small sailing program on a tiny Midwestern lake?
There are a lot of incredible sailors from the area, and several who have won this award (Rolex Yachtsman/Yachtswoman) before me, like Buddy Melges, Sally Barkow, Brian Porter, and my long time teammate and best friend Annie Haeger was nominated for the award this year as well. As inland sailors we have a lot of pride for our unique sailing environment in scows and family-oriented atmosphere. So, it is very special to me to win this award representing the ILYA (Inland Lake Yachting Association) and the talent that lies in the tiny Midwest lakes.
How did you know you were cut out for the aggressive nature of professional match racing?
In college I fell in love with short course racing and team racing. This led me to believe that I would also love match racing. I quickly learned that I love the fast paced, tactical game. It requires precise teamwork, proper division of labor, and the ability to think/act on your toes. I love challenges and every second of match racing is a unique challenge.
What has been your most memorable victory, when you knew it was all coming together?
I like to think about victories on several different levels. I have little, everyday victories like accomplishing a specific boat handling goal, and then big macro goals that are the major victories.
One of the big ones I am most proud of is winning the Etchells World Championship last year with Bill Hardesty, Marcus Eagan and Taylor Canfield. We had a lot of ups and downs throughout training as a team but when the regatta came around, we all got in the zone, gelled as a team, and worked hard for what we all wanted.
On a personal note, I couldn’t be happier that you’ve chosen one of my former instructors Meg Six as one of your crew members. What are the most important factors in choosing your teammates?
It’s really cool to have some of my teammates from the Midwest! Meg is a very talented sailor who works hard on and off the water and has a great attitude at all times. These are the major qualities we look for in teammates.
Hard work, dedication to the job on and off the water, physical and mental strength, desire to learn and someone who can handle pressure in the heat of the moment whether that is from a teammate or opponent. I feel really lucky to have my current teammates who fill all of these qualities: Janel Zarkowsky, Jamie Haines, Maggie Shea, Elizabeth Shaw and Sally Barkow.
What are your ambitions looking at the year ahead and the next few years?
I am really stoked about breaking into the pro sailing field. That was a big goal for me last year and I want to continue to working on my skills as a pro sailor in the smaller keelboats (J70s, Melges20s and Etchells). However, like I said I am always up for a challenge so I look forward to new opportunities like sailing the M32, hopefully some offshore racing, Extreme Sailing Series, etc. Whatever comes my way I am willing to try!
What do you do to prepare for match racing events? Do you study the tendencies of your competitors the same way a football team might study game film?
The unique thing about match racing is that the boats are different at each venue. Often we don’t get to sail the boats until the event practice time unless another venue has the same boats we can train in. I watch a lot of video on the boats, religiously read notes and rules scenarios and send a ton of emails to the team about logistics so that all of that stuff is sorted when we get there.
For practice, we focus on boat handling and speed, which we believe makes a huge difference in the racing. Our philosophy is to start even, go fast and engage in match racing if we have to. So, we don’t really study competitors but each team has its tendencies so we will point those out before a race.
What is your best advice for other young aspiring girl sailors out there?
Sail as much as possible on as many boats as possible in as many positions as possible. Sometimes you are a floater or a bow person or you call tactics. Whatever it is, own your job and try to learn something about that job or from other people on the boat.
Networking is important, so don’t be afraid to let people know you are available and keen to sail. I was lucky enough to tell Steve Hunt that I wanted to do more keelboat sailing and he recruited me to sail on the Melges32 and then the Melges20. I was so excited (and still am!) to sail with such an incredible tactician that I just wanted to absorb as much info as possible and I think that has paid off.
Stephanie’s Epic Racing is an elite, all-female team currently ranked fourth in the ISAF Woman’s World rankings. You can stay in touch with Stephanie Roble and Epic Racing’s 2015 match racing campaign by liking their Facebook page.
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