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Derby Anderson
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Team Seven Wins BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup Women’s Match Racing Championship

Portsmouth, R.I. (June 2, 2008) – After four sunny days of racing in the Chesapeake Bay, US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics members Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), Carrie Howe (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) won the BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup Women’s Match Race Championship hosted by Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis, Md. Team Seven was joined by trimmer Annie Lush (Poole, Dorset, UK) who campaigned for the Yngling in Great Britain with Shirley Robinson, and frequently joins Barkow and crew on bigger boats. This team of four has won many events together including the 2003 and 2005 Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championships.

This is the team’s third win at this International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 1 event after having clinched the title in 2004 in 2007. Racing against nine other teams, Barkow, Howe, Capozzi and Lush won 20 of their 23 matches that took place in the two round robins, semi-finals and finals. The semi-finals turned out to be the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics round, as Barkow raced against 3rd ranked 470 crew “Team Molly” of Molly Carapiet (Belvedere, Calif.) and Molly Vandemoer (Annapolis, Md.), who sailed with Emily Hill on bow and Jen Glass trimming. Carapiet showed great potential over the week as the unranked newcomer was able to manage a semi-finals win over Barkow, who won the 2005 Iinternational Sailing Federation Women’s World Match Racing Championship.

The Santa Maria Cup has been hampered by light wind over the past few years, and the organizers and race committee were thrilled to host the event with ideal mid-range breezes for most of the regatta, which took place from May 28-31. The final round between team Barkow and team LeBerre (FRA) was unfortunately cut short due to impending storms, so Barkow took the title after just one win in the finals.

Team Seven has been training full-time in their campaign to win gold in the Yngling at the Olympic Games August 8-24 in Qingdao, China. Splitting their time between training sessions in Miami, fundraisers in New York and regattas around the world, the team has barely been home in two months. As she sat on the plane Saturday night after the regatta, Debbie Capozzi shared, “We’re just excited to get to the real thing. We’ve been training for so long [since 2003] that we can’t wait to go race in the Olympics.”

To learn more about Barkow, Howe and Capozzi , please visit www.team7sailing.com.

For results from the Boat U.S. Santa Maria Cup, go to www.santamariacup.org

To see the latest news on the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team please visit www2.ussailing.org/olympics

About the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics
The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics recognizes the top three teams in all Olympic and Paralympic classes. The top athlete in each class is also a member of the U.S. Olympic Team for Sailing. The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics is managed by US SAILING, national governing body of the sport. Headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the United States. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.


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