Charlotte Hill Wins Leiter Trophy

Defeating a fleet of forty other junior women sailors, Charlotte HILL (Miami, FL) has won US SAILING’s Leiter Trophy. With only two points between first and third place, this was a very close finish.

Charlotte HILL isn’t new to the U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship, she finished in tenth place last year. Hill credits her win to a lot of practicing and sailing on a variety of boats. She finished only one point ahead of Nathalie MULHERN (LaPorte, TX). In third place was Allison BLECHER (Fullerton, CA), trailing one point behind Mulhern. By winning the event, Hill will be named to US SAILING’s U.S. Youth Sailing Team.

Complete results and photos of the event are available on the event website at the address below.

The sportsmanship trophy was awarded to Case HATHAWAY-ZEPA of Pasadena, CA, who finished in fifth place. She was surprised when the announcement was made that her fellow competitors chose her for the award. When asked what she liked best about the event, she said, “All the people and their attitudes. Everyone went out, even when the weather wasn’t so good, with no complaints and the competition stayed on the water.”

The junior women sailors had plenty of time to practice in the two days before the racing started: they participated in a two-day clinic, lead by Brian Doyle, US SAILING’s Olympic development coach. The clinic gave the competitors a great opportunity to improve their sailing skills get accustomed to Lake Erie’s weather conditions, as well as scope out the competition on the water. The clinic was followed by three days of racing with 10 races held in total.