Tiffany Baranowski of St. John placed first in the closely contested Gold singles at the Veuve Clicquot Women's Laser Regatta this weekend at the St. Thomas Yacht Club.
Ann Neuberger of St. Croix finished second, with Cat Taylor of St. John in third and defending champion Constance Goedhart of St. Maarten in fourth.
The St. Thomas banner was carried by the winning Gold doubles team of Emily Newbold and Carlin Wesley, but the St. John sailing program showed its strength with second and third place taken by the teams of Baranowski/Jessica Buchalter and Mercy Cover/Echo Bachschmid.
The Silver Single Fleet finished with a tie for first broken in favor of Rebecca Rusham, placing Dana Carini second, with Sue Cilliers in third.
Awards for special contributions to the event were presented to Cilliers, who received a new Laser sail and Carini, who received a gift certificate from Caribbean Inflatable Services.
Cilliers said she was surprised by how well she placed in this year's event, as she had not had a chance to practice since last year. She gave much of the credit to the advice of visiting coach Betsy Allison, five-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the year.
"Betsy is a wonderful teacher, and every year has something different to say," said Cilliers, "This year I followed her advice to keep my head out of the boat and slow down to stay out of trouble, and it really helped me out on the course."
The regatta started Friday with some participants leery of the 12 to 15 knot winds, but at the end of the event Sunday, sailors were calling for more races in spite of winds blowing 15 to 18 knots and gusts to 20, according to regatta director Ruth Miller.
