Sunny skies and great breeze welcomed sailors to St. Petersburg, Florida for the 2023 SAISA Women's Fall Conference Championship hosted by the University of South Florida. Featuring the top 11 women's teams in the conference, racing was tight from the very start of the event. With several lead changes across the two days of racing, the final standings came down to the final leg of the final race of the regatta with the host USF Bulls protecting a one-point lead to win. The Bulls were led by Emma Shakespeare (Sr., St. Petersburg, FL), Min Min Kelly (Sr., New Orleans, LA), Kay Brunsvold (Jr., Sarasota, FL), and Kalea Woodard (Sr., San Diego, CA) who earned SAISA Women's Sailors of the Week honors for Week 7, Fall 2023.
Following completion of the women's event, teams traveled across town to Eckerd College for the 2023 SAISA Fall Open Conference Championship for the Robert L. Armstrong Trophy where blue skies and great breeze continued to allow for quality racing and champagne SAISA conditions. With racing on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, the College of Charleston Cougars outpaced the field of 18 SAISA teams for the regatta victory, earning a podium position on all but five of the 22 races held including seven first-place bullets. Winning the Robert L. Armstrong Trophy, the College of Charleston's Noah Zittrer (So., Clear Falls, TX), Lucy Klempen (Sr., Kingshill, USVI), Ben Dufour (So., Geneva, CH), and Noel Owen (Sr., Severn, MD) earned SAISA Sailors of the Week honors for Week 7, Fall 2023.
# # #
About the SAISA Sailors of the Week
Each week of the season, we’ll recognize outstanding performances by sailors across SAISA, as well as by SAISA sailors in competition out of conference. The selection process includes a nomination period each week ending on Sunday. A committee of SAISA coaches from both divisions selects sailors from the nominations received and will announce the SAISA Sailors of the Week early each week following the close of the nomination period. If you’d like to submit a nomination, email the sailor’s name, school, position, and what events or circumstances they demonstrated outstanding performance to SAISAsotw@gmail.com. Nominations close on Sunday at midnight EST and selections will be based on performances for the preceding week and that weekend. Selection categories may include open (co-ed) skipper, open crew, women’s skipper, women’s crew. Pairings or individual sailors may be nominated or selected.
For more information, visit the SAISA website at www.saisasailing.com/sotw