(St Thomas, USVI)- The St. Thomas Yacht Club and the VirginIslands Sailing Association again hosted yet another fabulous regatta on the Charlotte Amalie harbor waterfront using their unique J/24s (modified and call IC-24s). With the courses set less than 50 yards from the shore, spectators had fantastic views of the action and the sailors. The event offers both an open division and a woman’s division that provides for great sailing and even better prospects for after race entertainment. The rum and tequila drinks are all “free” as are many meals. The “reggae” music starts right after the de–briefs as does the dancing. Sailing fast, furious and smart was long-time J/22 and J/24 sailor Sally Barkow from Wisconsin, playing the "comeback kid" role and taking the regatta from her mentor/coach, David Perry 3-0 (yes, three-zip!) in the finals! Barkow, who has raced this regatta four times, took second last year after a narrow defeat by Finland’s Staphan Lindberg. That defeat made this year’s win for Barkow and her crew – Annie Lush, Alana O’Reilly, Erik Champaign and Maggie Shea – all the sweeter.
“We worked hard as a team in these last few days and it paid off,” says Barkow, who is ranked 6th in the Women’s and 31st in the Open match race ranking’s divisions as of December 5, 2012. Barkow was awarded a distinctive Ulysse Nardin precision timepiece for her win.
A rain squall blowing across the Charlotte Amalie harbor just minutes before the start of the Finals left light and shifty conditions in its wake. This didn’t deter Barkow who handily won the first two matches against Perry. In what proved the final match of the Finals, Barkow lead at the start and stretched her advantage to 8 boat lengths by the windward mark. She lengthened her frontrunner position into a commanding 10 to 12 boat lengths by the finish even though her team battled through a kink in the spinnaker that cost them a few seconds in boat speed in the last downwind run.“It was so shifty,” says Barkow. “It was easy to get it either so right or so wrong.” This match-up of teams in the Finals was an interesting one as Perry, who is the author of Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing 2009-2012, has served as Barkow’s match racing coach. And, Perry has also sailed J/22s and J/24s, amongst many other J's for well over 30 years himself.
“For me it was a win-win,” says Perry of his team’s second place finish and his student’s first. “Sally’s team is really good and they have evolved their game well. I was impatient. I had some advantages and gave them away. This either put me behind or put me further behind and Sally took advantage of that.”
Two past America’s Cup skippers and also long-time J/22 and J/24 sailors went head-to-head in the Petite Finals. Ultimately, the USVI’s Peter Holmberg won 2-1 over the USA’s Dave Dellenbaugh. Thus, Holmberg finished third and Dellenbaugh fourth in the final standings. Holmberg won this event in 2009. Another Wisconsin girl and now coach at the Chicago Match Race Center was Sally's close friend Stephanie Roble, sailing a strong series herself to finish just out of the running in seventh overall. Sailing photo credits- Dean Barnes For more Carlos Aguilar sailing information and results.
