Officials of the BOAT/U.S. Santa Maria Cup have announced the preliminary slate of 10 skippers for women's match racing championships to be held May 29-June 2 off Annapolis.
The Santa Maria Cup, which for several years was sailed in the Inner Harbor, was moved to Annapolis last year. The round-robin regatta is sailed in J/22 sloops.
International sailors new to the field this year are Marie Boserup Klok, top-ranked in Denmark; Klaartje Zuiderbaan of the Netherlands, who has raced at Boston University and in Europe in several classes; and Canadian Felicity Clarke, ranked No. 15 on the Omega World Women's Match Racing list.
Three top Maryland skippers -- Laura Abramson of Baltimore, Melinda Berge of Fulton and Sandy Grosvenor of Annapolis -- will field teams. Berge and Grosvenor finished third and fifth in the regatta last year.
According to regatta organizers, Dawn Riley of Mill Valley, Calif., Betsy Alison of Newport, R.I., and Melissa Purdy of Tiburon, Calif., head the field.
Riley has sailed in two America's Cups and two Whitbread Round the World Races as well as competing in past Santa Maria Cups.
Alison is a four-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and the winner of the past three International Women's Keelboat Regattas.
Purdy was the mainsail trimmer on the America3 women's team in the last America's Cup and won the 1995 International Women's Match Racing Championship.
Rebecca Wood Wilson of Newport, R.I., rounds out the field. Wilson won the 1994 Adams Cup.
The regatta will be headquartered at the Eastport Yacht Club.
Pub Date: 5/19/96
