By Airwaves Editor Martha Pitt
Last month, seventy-six junior young women from around the country traveled to Lake Minnetonka to compete in the annual regatta for the Ida Lewis Trophy, US Sailing’s Junior Women’s Doublehanded Championship event. The six-day event featured short seminars for the girls, educational and social events each evening, two days of clinic learning from US Sailing’s coaches, and then three days of racing. Hosted by the Lake Minnetonka Sailing School and the Minnetonka Yacht Club, the event gave many girls the unique opportunity to travel inland to sail, rather than sticking to the coasts as most sailboat racers tend to do! The girls were exposed to the challenges of lake sailing – unpredictable shifts and a wide, quickly-changing range of velocities, and the threats of strong storms popping up unexpectedly with hot temperatures and an unstable atmosphere.
Photo taken by Stacie Carlson
After two days of great breeze for the clinic, the forecast for the race days looked marginal to begin and got more and more bleak throughout the week. Fortunately, the Race Committee was on their game and was able to get off six great races over the first two days before glassy water plagued the final day of the event. Not having racing on the final day made the final results somewhat anticlimactic, with the 2nd place boat of Carolyn Smith and Bayley Davidson from southern California just one point out of first, but finishing the regatta victorious were the Brant Beach Yacht Club team of Allyson Donahue and Maddie Widmeier, winning the Ida Lewis Trophy and named as 2012 US Sailing Junior Women’s Doublehanded Champions.
I had the pleasure of coaching the regatta this year, and got a chance to catch up with the girls and talk to them about their experiences, their success, and what is on the horizon for the speedy duo. Ally, a seventeen year old from Brigantine, NJ has been sailing since she was six years old, starting out in optis and has since upgraded to the 420 which she sails almost exclusively. She and Maddie, a sixteen year old from Doylestown, PA have been sailing together for the past four years, and have clearly found their stride this summer. This was their third Ida Lewis regatta – after getting second last summer, they were ready to come out this year and take it all.
What do you think were the greatest factors that led to your success at this event?
AD: We attended the Brooke E. Gonzales clinic at Sail Newport and we practiced in Brigantine for a couple of days because the conditions (light and shifty in a small area) were similar to those of a lake.
What did you think of the light and shifty lake conditions?
AD: The conditions, although not ideal, were very manageable. The first and last days were the worst and the second clinic day was the best.
MW: I personally would have liked to have seen more wind on the race days but I really couldn’t complain about our result. Lake Minnetonka was absolutely gorgeous and I loved the fresh water versus the normal salty bay water we are used to.
There were definitely some varied and challenging conditions throughout the racing. How were you able to keep your patience and stay towards the top of the fleet in the range of conditions?
AD: We both prepared ourselves for the fluky conditions that come with lake sailing. We knew that we could not allow ourselves to get frustrated if something didn’t go our way. We would have to stay patient and continue to keep our heads out of the boat and try to be the first to all of the puffs that were easily seen coming down the race course.
MW: At the beginning of the event we talked about the key to being successful is keeping our heads out of the boat and connecting the puffs rather than chasing them. I think this also contributed to our success because this regatta more than others we talked about a lot of strategy during the races about what puffs and shifts were ahead.
What do you think were the greatest factors that led to your success at the regatta?
AD: By not allowing ourselves to dwell on the bad, but by looking at the good allowed us to continue to be successful throughout the regatta. We both know that we sail our best when we are focused and having fun so we made sure that we never allowed ourselves to get “checked out” after a race.
What’s up for you guys next?
MW: This summer we plan on competing in the club 420 North Americans, CJ Buckley Team Race Championship, the Buzzards Bay Regatta, and Youth Champs out in the Gorge. Currently we are trying to figure out our plans for next year because Ally is a year ahead of me in school. We want to sail the International
420 in the ISAF Qualifier and will try to sail in the ISAF Youth World Championship in the Middle East.
Pos,Bow/Sail, Skipper, Results, Total Points 1. 6 / 5215, Allyson Donahue/Maddie Widmeier, , 4-2-1-1-[19]-7- ; 15 2. 33 / 3980, Carolyn Smith/Bayley Davidson, , 2-1-7-4-2-[23]- ; 16 3. 37 / 5884, Holly Tullo/Cally Tullo, 3-[21]-2-10-7-6- ; 28 4. 20 / 6437, Julia Lambert/Haley McMahon, 6-[15]-6-9-4-4- ; 29 5. 19 / 3196, KB Knapp/Rebecca Anderson, 1-7-3-15-[23]-19- ; 45 6. 27 / 6688, Mimi Paz/Sydney Avitia-Jacques, 18-6-19-[24]-1-3- ; 47T 7. 31 / 5389, Lea Russell/Victoria Lewis, 5-3-9-12-18-[21]- ; 47T 8. 7 / 6643, Rose Edwards/Morgan Gaudet, 11-8-4-14-[27/TLE]-16- ; 53 9. 36 / 5974, Elizabeth Tell/Katherine Naylor, , 12-[23]-17-5-5-15- ; 54 10. 17 / 6603, Mary Claire Kiernan/Kelly Monahan, 19-5-5-[23]-12-18- ; 59 11. 34 / cal1, Simone Staff/Nikki Obel, , 22-18-[25]-2-10-9- ; 61 12. 4 / 30, Clare Dahl/Katie Calder, , [21]-17-14-18-8-10- ; 67T 13. 12 / 6642, Jennifer Hays/Elizabeth Hays, , 9-10-15-[34]-16-17- ; 67T 14. 26 / 8686, Cassie Obel/annika garrett, 8-20-18-21-[27/TLE]-2- ; 69 15. 21 / 6508, Isabella Loosbrock/Madeleine Loosbrock, , 23-14-22-11-3-[26]- ; 73T 16. 16 / 5494, india johnstone/MEAGHAN MACRAE, , 15-[29]-16-17-11-14- ; 73T 17. 9 / 6767, Addy Ferguson/Sarah Hogg, [31]-13-24-13-24-1- ; 75 18. 15 / 5393, Alexandria Ivory/Chloe Dapp, 24-9-11-[27]-13-20- ; 77 19. 28 / 6383, Kennedy Placek/Greer Wattson, 33-4-13-6-22-[38]- ; 78 20. 13 / 7632, Paris Henken/Kaitlin Driscoll, 13-12-21-[25]-25-8- ; 79 21. 30 / , Dana Rohde/Haley Fox, 25-11-10-22-[27/TLE]-13- ; 81 22. 25 / 6334, Sophia Noreen/Kaitlyn Noreen, 7-22-20-[29]-9-24- ; 82 23. 35 / CAL-2, Phoebe Staff/Jackie Dair, 14-28-28-[32]-14-5- ; 89 24. 29 / 5977, Hannah Polster/Ali MacDonald, 10-[33]-32-20-17-12- ; 91 25. 10 / 6639, Samantha Foulston/Elizabeth Foulston, 29-30-23-[37]-6-11- ; 99 26. 38 / 9299, Grace Yakutis/Tanner Chapko, [32]-16-12-16-27/TLE-29- ; 100 27. 1 / 6204, Grace Adam/Carder Stout, Sail Newport, 17-[38]-27-8-20-34- ; 106 28. 18 / 111, Kate Klement/Teresa Westin, 16-34-[37]-3-27/TLE-27- ; 107 29. 23 / 5693, Aitana Mendiguren/Lorea Mendiguren, 20-[36]-29-28-21-22- ; 120 30. 22 / 904, Rebecca McElvain/Nicole Simon, 34-[35]-26-7-27/TLE-32- ; 126 31. 14 / 6700, Claire Huebner/Kayla Schulte, 30-25-34-[38]-15-25- ; 129T 32. 8 / 6253, Annika Ekholm/Caitlin McGoldrick, 28-27-[31]-19-27/TLE-28- ; 129T 33. 5 / 1892, Boo Devanny/Amanda Wagner, 27-19-[33]-30-27/TLE-31- ; 134 34. 32 / , Amelia Shankwitz/Susie Voltz, [39/DSQ]-32-8-33-27/TLE-36- ; 136 35. 24 / 5266, Elizabeth Mignon/Charlotte List, 26-24-30-31-27/TLE-[37]- ; 138 36. 11 / 6801, Olivia Godfrey/Maya Dornbrand-Lo, [35]-31-35-26-27/TLE-33- ; 152 37. 2 / 6222, Anna Bloomstine/Emily Grychowski, 36-26-[38]-36-27/TLE-35- ; 160 38. 3 / 2366, Kate Cox/Rosie Hust, [37]-37-36-35-27/TLE-30- ; 165 |
Leave a Reply