Newport sailor Hannah Swett goes into the final day of the New York Yacht Club’s inaugural Women’s International Championship in second place, after a Friday on which the wind never filled and the fleet was sent in without racing.
The race committee waited into the afternoon before abandoning for the day at 3 p.m.
Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick of the United States leads with 16 points through seven races, a commanding margin over Swett’s 46. The fight is for the rest of the podium: second through eighth are separated by 10 points, with Michelle Lahrkamp at 48, Canada’s Sarah Douglas at 49, Britain’s Hannah Diamond at 50, Norway’s Ragna Agerup at 52, Nicole Breault at 54 and Australia’s Katie Spithill at 56.
Racing was moved up to a 9:30 a.m. start today, with the sailing instructions allowing as many as four races in a day and no start after 3 p.m. It’s a no-drop series, meaning every score counts.
“Managing the risk is still really important because you don’t want to end up with any high scores,” said Lauren Laventure, tactician for Sarah Douglas’s team.
Grapengeter-Rudnick said the range of competitors has been the striking part of the week. “It’s incredible to sail against women who have several Olympics under their belt, or who are generations older than us and so much wiser, and then also have some much younger people in the fleet,” she said.
Twenty teams from 14 countries are racing the club’s IC37s out of Harbour Court. The awards banquet is tonight.
