Adams Cup Press Release

Sailors from the Rio Grande and New Mexico sailing clubs practice for the Women’s Adams Cup Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006, at Elephant Butte Lake. (Pat Byrnes photo)

For Immediate Release 2/13/2006

The Rio Grande Sailing Club will host the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Women’s Adams Cup sailing championships at Elephant Butte Lake April 22-23, 2006. Teams from New Mexico and West Texas will be competing with other teams from the Sailing Association of Intermountain Lakes, which covers New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and western Nebraska.

The top two teams from the quarterfinal will advance to the semifinal, which will be held May 6-7, 2006, in Austin, Texas. The national championship will be Sept. 13-17, 2006, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Women from the Rio Grande Sailing Club and the New Mexico Sailing Club have been training for this event since mid-January at Elephant Butte. Training will continue, primarily on weekends, from now until the quarterfinal. The hope is that the Adams Cup competition will lead to an increase in interest and participation in women’s sailing in New Mexico and West Texas that will continue beyond the event itself.

The U.S. Women’s Sailing Championship originated in 1924 and is believed to be “the first women’s championship ever held in the world,” according to U.S. Sailing, the governing body of sailboat racing in the United States. The purpose of the Adams Cup is “promoting the sport of yachting by encouraging proficiency in seamanship and sportsmanlike conduct in sail yacht racing on the part of yachtswomen.”

For further information, contact Pat and Carol Anne Byrnes at 505-xxx-xxxx, or Rich and Sue Strasia at 505-xxx-xxxx.