Remsenburg - The volatile weather conditions for the 2009 United States Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship, held last week at the Westhampton Yacht Squadron in Remsenburg, presented a different challenge by the hour for the 51 sailors that competed. By the end of the three-day, eight-race event, the victor had to have earned it.

Molly McKinney, 17, of the Sarasota Youth Sailing Program used a pair of first-place finishes and five top fives to capture the Nancy Leiter Claggett Memorial Trophy, awarded to the sailor with the lowest aggregate score. McKinney outdueled a talented field of 50 other sailors, all aged 13-18, to take home top honors.

"It was an excellent test of sailing ability," said Regatta Chair Roger Baker. "Through the course of the event, we had one day of traditional southwest sea breeze of 8-13 knots, we had one day of an easterly storm wind of 15-18 knots with gusts over 20, and then on the final day of racing was post-storm northerlies which are fluky with different wind directions and wind speed. In three days, we had three entirely different sets of conditions and Molly was the one who was able to prevail."

Altogether, 51 boats took the water at Westhampton Yacht Squadron in Remsenburg to compete for the U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship last week.

Each boat's least favorable finish was dropped from its record. In the case of McKinney, her worst result was 16th; otherwise, she crossed the finish line among the top 12 in each race. Cassie Naughton out of Massachusetts' Pleon Yacht Club also won two legs of the championship but fell two points shy of McKinney despite strong second- and seventh-place finishes on the final day. Last year's champ, Arielle deLisser of Coral Reef Yacht Club in Coconut Grove, FL, finished in a third-place tie with US Youth World Team member Marissa Lihan. Rounding out the top five was Santa Barbara's Sky Adams, who took third in 2008.

Emma Kofmehl of Shelter Island Yacht Club was the highest East End finisher in the three-day event. Kofmehl finished 12th, sixth and ninth in the first half of the regatta but had to settle for 14th overall with 108 points. Shelter Island's Mackenzie Needham also competed, finished up in 40th place. Devin Grady of Westhampton was 48th.

US Sailing Junior National coach and Stanford University coach John Vandemoer hosted a two-day advanced racing clinic for the field on July 19-20. The knowledge from it as well as the highly-contested regatta ought to prove beneficial for those preparing for the International Laser Class 2009 U.S. National Championship, to be held from August 7-9 at Brant Beach Yacht Club in New Jersey.

The women's single-handed championship was won twice by Shelter Island's own Amanda Clark, who went on to compete with Sarah Mergenthaler in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing as part of the Women's 470 fleet. Clark won the title in 1998 and 2000, becoming the third competitor in the championship's history to win it twice. Her two regatta victories rank behind only the three won by Giselle Camet (1987-89) and Paige Railey (2001, '02, '04). Railey is currently the top ranked laser radial sailor according to the international Sailing Federation.

Next year's junior single-handed championships will be held at deLisser's home club, Coral Reef in Florida, in 2010. Baker commended the job done by Westhampton YC throughout the week.

"This event will be a model for US Sailing for the future," Baker said. "The volunteers, the race committee, the host families, the club, they all did a great job. Everybody was extremely happy. I have nothing but praise for the club and committee since we wrapped up."

The Westhampton Yacht Squadron was widely praised for its coordination of the 2009 U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championships.