Burn and Gerli Win U.S. Junior Women’s Doublehanded Champs

Published on July 10th, 2016

Bay St. Louis, MS (July 10, 2016) – Sarah Burn and Patricia Gerli tamed the fleet of 29 Club 420s this week to earn the U.S. Junior Women’s Doublehanded Championship for the Ida Lewis Trophy. This year’s championship was decided on the waters of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast and hosted by Bay-Waveland Yacht Club. The regatta consisted of three racing days on July 8-10, preceded by two days of clinics.

The fleet completed three races on Friday, four on Saturday, and one race on Sunday. The Mississippi heat couldn’t slow down Burn and Gerli, who won three of the eight races with their worst place finish was sixth (twice). Placing second by eight points was Michelle Lahrkamp and Gabriella DelBello. They won three of the final five races, including Sunday’s race.

“We are both new 420 sailors,” said Sarah. “The clinics were great. There were a lot of great coaches working with us every day and we learned and focused on different things, which helped throughout the regatta. There was a lot of instruction on land on how to make the boats go as fast as possible. To win is great. I’ve always admired those who have won this championship in the past.”

High-level coaching and skill development is a key component of this championship. Prior to racing, teams took part in a two-day clinic on Wednesday, July 6 and Thursday, July 7. Led by Richard Feeny, US Sailing Junior National Coach, the clinics will feature several college sailing coaches including Roger Williams Head Coach, Amanda Callahan, South Florida Assistant Coach, Zack Marks, Navy Assistant Coach, Dillon Paiva, and former US Sailing Team members, Alana O’Reilly and Elizabeth Kratzig.