By: Martha Pitt
A few weekends ago, two championships were held on back-to-back weekends and on opposite coasts – the US Women’s Match Racing Championship was sailed out in San Francisco Bay, CA and the following weekend the US Match Racing Championship took place in Marblehead, MA – and for the first time in history, two women can call themselves dual champions of the two events! Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea, two women that have been match racing full time for the past few years, sailed on the winning boats in both events, proving their expertise and skills in match racing.
Stephanie Roble, from East Troy, WI has been sailing since she was 5 years old at Lake Beulah YC. A graduate from Old Dominion University, Roble was a two-time All-American Women’s Skipper before graduating in 2011. She got into match racing while at ODU, and began to think about an Olympic campaign to compete in the 2012 Olympics. Skippering many events, but also getting on the race course as a crew, Roble has devoted much of the past few years to becoming the skilled match racer that she is today. Her love for team racing got her hooked on match racing as a more accessible discipline, and since she has fallen in love with the intense one-on-one format. She enjoys it most because “you are required to think on your toes on all parts of the course. Success depends on precise communication, boat handling and rules strategy.”
Often sailing alongside Roble over the past few years has been Maggie Shea of Wilmette, IL. Shea grew up sailing with her family on their boat Windancer, and learned to race dinghies at the Chicago Yacht Club starting at the age of 12. Shea sailed against Roble for four years in college, sailing for Connecticut College where she was a Women’s All-American Honorable Mention honoree. She began match racing in 2010 when she became an intern at the Chicago Match Race Center, where she and Roble have been working regularly for the past year, amidst their sailing endeavors. Shea enjoys the intensity level of match racing, where you either win or you lose. The complex tactics rely on solid execution, good boat handling, and fast boat speed in whatever kind of boat you end up sailing, which is part of the appeal for Shea – “I appreciate how many different boats I’ve had the chance to sail while match racing.”
For the past three years, Roble and Shea have been sailing together, and joined up with Darby Smith of Marblehead, MA in 2011 to do an Olympic campaign for the women’s match racing spot in the 2012 Games. After lots of training and many great results, the team ultimately fell to world-class racer Anna Tunnicliffe in the semi-finals of the trials, but only saw the positives of their whole campaign experience and didn’t stop there! Roble and Shea have continued to represent the Chicago Match Race Center in numerous events, sailing with a range of different sailors and in different boats, and have embraced every moment.
In the first of the two national championships, Shea and Roble joined up with former competitors Genny Tulloch and Jen Chamberlain to sail the J22s out in San Francisco Bay. Though the four had never sailed together before, their combined experience matched with great chemistry put them well ahead of any of their competition. “The Bay lived up to its breezy reputation,” said Shea, “and our pre-start boat handling gave us an edge on the competition; we started all but two races in a controlling position.” The team went 21-0 during the four day event, and came away as the 2012 US Women’s Match Racing Champions!
Competition seemed much more fierce and the stakes higher at the US Match Racing Championship the following weekend in Marblehead, MA. This time Roble and Shea teamed up with skipper Taylor Canfield of St. Thomas, USVI and Janel Zarkowsky of Annapolis, MD to take on what some consider one of the toughest pools in event history. Canfield, coming off two 2nd place finishes at this event the previous two years, was fired up to finally take the win. “There was an excellent range of sailors that are highly respected in the match racing world,” commented Roble, including powerhouses Dave Dellenbaugh and Dave Perry, two of the most experienced match racers in the US. The girls have learned a tremendous amount from both Taylor and “the Daves” over the years, to be sailing with and against them in this event was an honor. “We are all very competitive,” said Roble, when asked about the dynamic on the boat, “so there were some heated moments but we managed to overcome them and sail some really great races.” And that they did! In an intense final round, the team went up 2-0 against Dellenbaugh in the first two races, only to fall in the following two to take the series into the fifth and final race. Not willing to let this one slip away, Canfield, Roble, Shea, and Zarkowsky worked hard to take control during the pre-start and were able to lead all the way around the course to the finish for the victory.
While the significance of these two back-to-back victories is indeed great, they are just two events on the girls’ busy schedules, which remain packed with match racing, team racing, and fleet racing alike for the reminder of the fall and into the winter season. For both Shea and Roble, it’s all about enhancing their experiences; “I am enjoying exploring different crewing positions and boats,” says Shea, “and hope to do as much racing as possible.” For Roble, “I am trying to do as much crewing as possible because I learned to match race and sail keelboats as a skipper. Being a crew (especially tactician) provides a new view on racing. For the future, I am trying to jump on as many sailing opportunities as possible, whether its driving, crewing, match racing, team racing, fleet racing, or coaching. I just love sailing and want my future to be filled with it!”
Congratulations to Maggie Shea and Stephanie Roble, along with their fellow champions Taylor Canfield, Janel Zarkowsky, Genny Tulloch, and Jen Chamberlain for winning the 2012 US Match Racing titles!
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