Photographs by Tim Wilkes
Rochester, N.Y. - Recent Olympic gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe-Funk (Plantation, Fla.) has added another major title to her impressive sailing resume after winning the U.S. Women's Match Racing Championship on Sunday at Rochester Yacht Club (N.Y.). Sailed in Sonars and sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A. and Dry Creek Vineyard, Tunnicliffe-Funk - who sailed with Liz Bower (Norfolk, Va.), Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer (Redwood City, Calif.), and Ali Sharp (Missoula, Mont.) - beat a very strong fleet filled with the country's top female match racing sailors.
Tunnicliffe-Funk has been dominating the world in the singlehanded Laser Radial fleet in recent years (she is currently ranked the world's number 1 by the International Sailing Federation), and by winning the U.S. Women's Match Racing Championship, she demonstrates that she is a force to be reckoned with in various types of sailboat racing (she also was part of the U.S. Team Racing Championship winning team in 2005).
It was just a little less than 4 weeks ago when Tunnicliffe-Funk stood on the Olympic podium to receive the gold medal. About what it was like for her to race back stateside again, she said, "Coming off the Olympics it was hard to get too excited but really, it was fun, it got my adrenaline going again." After receiving US SAILING's Allegra Knapp Mertz Trophy at the awards ceremony on Sunday evening, she left to prepare for her trip to Europe for another regatta later this week. - USSAILING.COM
