Family sailing
on Wednesday November 23, 2005 09:23AM
EARNING HER STRIPES
Nashotah, Wis. -- Sally Barkow was a kid when she first flashed the competitive spirit that would help make her a world champion sailor. Her older brother, Carl, could not skipper a sailboat for a regatta on tiny Pine Lake where the family lived 30 miles west of Milwaukee, so she took the tiller under one condition from her father: that she win the race. Richard Barkow promised to buy her a sailboat if she did. "I never expected to have to pay up," he said, chuckling. The 10-year-old promptly crossed the finish line first, screaming for a pink boat with blue stripes.
She's been earning her stripes in many different types of boats and on waters worldwide ever since. Barkow, a 25-year-old fifth-generation sailor, had two choices after graduating from University Lake School, where she starred in basketball - ski at the University of Colorado, or sail at Old Dominion. She decided to navigate the Elizabeth River instead of the slopes of the Rockies, and she became a national champion. As a senior, she won the Intercollegiate Sailing Association women's North American championship in Honolulu, the equivalent of the national collegiate championship, and helped Old Dominion defeat host Hawaii for the team title.
In the four years since graduating with a degree in psychology, she has won five major championships, including three this year: the Yngling World Championship on Lake Mondsee, Austria; the Rolex Women's International Keelboat Championship in Annapolis, Md.; and the International Sailing Federation Match Race World Championship in Bermuda. She also won the Rolex race in '03 and the Match Race World Championship in '04. And she has her sights set on the 2008 Olympics in China. "I don't think there's any doubt she is the genuine talent," said sailing commentator Peter J. Montgomery, who has covered nine America's Cups and seven Olympics. "She's a sailor for all seasons."
-- Arnie Stapleton, AP, full story: