Sally Barkow

Sally Barkow is a very known name, she sailed and won a plenty, and this has been a kickass year for her in a range of small keelboats, from J22 to IOD.  A quick scan of her team’s major regatta results in 2005 shows a 9 as the worst finish at Bermuda Gold Cup match racing open event and five bullets in top women’s regattas.  US Sailing just awarded Barkow and her team mates Debbie Capozzi and Carrie Howe the title of Team of 2005.  The team were a serious contender for the Athen’s Olympics in the Yngling in 2004 trials and they have not stopped since then in their ongoing bid to sail in Beijing in 2008, cross training in fleet and match racing disciplines all over the world. PHOTOS: Daniel Forster

When did you start sailing and what was the reason for it? 

SB:
I started when I was about 5 yrs old. My parents were very instrumental in giving all of us the opportunity. My three older brothers were already involved and I can remember being really excited to get to do what they were doing.  Grew up about a mile from the lake (Pine Lake, WI), then moved onto the lake when I was about 7/8.

Who were your coaches in high school and college days?  Tell us about one or two fundamental lessons you learned from them that go beyond just the sailing techniques and why you adhered to those lessons?

SB:
My brothers were coaches growing up, and then did not really have a high school coach. It was pretty much my mom taking us around to the high school events and watching us race. Then at ODU it was Mitch Brindley as head coach, then Mark Zagol as assistant for my Jr and Sr years. Mitch was my first “real” coach.  He is very good and was very instrumental in developing college sailors and college students, as that is part of the game when you are in school.  Mitch would also always say ‘no matter what, respect your competitors.’  I definitely took that from him. After all tour competitors are what make it possible to compete!

Has your affection for sailing changed with time?  Was there a period where you felt that you wanted to step away from it and try something else?

SB:
When I started it was purely for fun. My first sailing instructor was very creative with the ways she would use to make us want to go sailing. Then somewhere along the line the races began and that was the beginning of competition and its addiction for me.  Since then sailing has always been a large part of my life, I have had to find the right balance between what is too much sailing and what is too little to stay competitive, if I ever feel tired of it I take a little time off, whether it be 6 months, 1 month or one day. Taking time away always make me realize how fortunate I am to be able to sail as much as I do.  There was a time, when I was deciding where to attend college, in which I toyed with the idea of not sailing for a while.  The decision made, to go to Old Dominion, and sail, paved the way for the opportunities I am given today.  If I did not end up going to ODU I probably would have ended up in Colorado skiing a lot, but not really racing.

What is Team7Sailing, how did the team form, where did the name come from, who is on the team and why are these individuals on the team?

SB:
Team 7 is simply a family number (7) that we race under at home on the inland lakes.  For lack of a better name while creating a team, we chose team7 and it seemed to stick.  The team is actually a lot of people, but the Olympic Yngling team is Debbie Capozzi, Carrie Howe, and myself.  When we match race the team gets bigger because the boats get bigger.  Annie Lush, from Poole, England, is usually on the team when we sail j22 or j24, and the list goes on…

Do you and/or your team do any organized sail training outside the race days?

SB:
Yes, a lot. I would say in the Yngling we train just slightly less than amount of days we race, match racing we usually do less training for, and use events to get really quality practice.

Do you cross-train in any other sport?  Do you have any time off away from sailing and what do you like to do for it?

SB:
I look at match racing as our style of cross training. Different elements to the game and we always bring something back to fleet racing after we have been match racing.  Time off away from sailing seemed a little hard to come by this year, but we just committed not to train in December, so this allowed me to go skiing.  I know most would say that is risky, b/c of injury, but if you can’t do what you love then I am not sure what you are holding back for will really be worth it in the end.   So have just returned home from an amazing ski trip, fresh powder, beautiful mountains, and fabulous weather. Could not ask for more. 

What kind of training have you done in the last year?

SB:
A lot of racing.

When you step on a new and unknown to you boat for a race day, what are the first things you notice as far as the boat's mechanical condition as well as the crew's composition?  What are the first things you check when you first pull the sheets on the new boat?

SB:
I first try to pay attention to how the boat feels and reacts to my steering. When I pull the sheet in I immediately look at the leach to look for its range.  A new boat will take me a bunch of tries to figure out how to tack/gybe it most efficiently.   It sometimes takes us a while to figure out the crew work. The bigger the boat most likely the more foreign it is to us, and the longer it will take to get used to everything. This is really because we have spent most of our time in boats under 22-24 feet.  Time in the boat is crucial, I realize things might not be perfect the first time we jump into an unknown boat, the important thing is to keep making progress so the next time you jump in it is that much more familiar.

Tell us about your participation in the King’s Gold Cup in Bermuda and the Monsoon Cup match racing event - how did your team get in these events, what boats did you sail, how did you prepare for it?

SB:
We got to sail in the Gold Cup because we won the women’s event in Bermuda, happened to be our world championship (in J 24’s). I think Bermuda creates a fantastic opportunity for women’s match racing because they allow us to jump into a grade 1 open event. Sailing against those guys is really valuable experience for us.  They have been playing the game so long there is always something to learn from them, it was really exciting to get that opportunity.  We sailed the gold cup in IOD’s (International One Designs)

The Monsoon cup was also an exceptional opportunity that really just fell into our lap. The Swedish match organizers, Scott Mcloud, called and presented me with this opportunity and through Peter Gilmour and his team in Malaysia we did the event with their help logistically.   It was sailed in Foundation 36’s.  This event was on a different level.  I am not sure if I can even describe it. I think the monsoon cup is there to make a progressive change to the environment/culture to hopefully at least the east coast of Malaysia.  The culture was extremely interesting to experience, and how we, an all women’s team, was supposed to interact with their culture was enlightening.

Preparing for either of these events was actually very similar. We just try to gather as much info about the boats as possible. Try to master our boat handling and then do our normal match race thing. We try not to change too much with communication or how we race, just take some time to figure out the boats. But we accept that and hope that each race it gets more efficient.

How do you feel about your result in these events?

SB:
Not disappointed. We gave each race a really good effort.  One thing I do know about sailing is that experience pays, we are young and take each of these extremely valuable experiences with us and hope to put up a stronger fight next year.

What do you feel are, if any, major differences between the organization of the Kings Gold Cup and the Monsoon Cup that reflect on the on-water competition?

SB:
On the water felt pretty similar, fantastic competition in boats that we were not so familiar with. We got to complete an entire round robin during the Monsoon Cup and only had a knock out series against Chris Dickson during the Gold Cup. There was much more racing for us during the Monsoon Cup.

Off the water was a different story…but I don’t think it directly affected racing for us or the other competitors.  Malaysia was much more hype for the spectators who new nothing about sailing, the spectators in Bermuda usually new a lot about match racing.  So getting off the boat in Malaysia was different bc of all the media and stuff going on, where Bermuda was more like a normal, or at lest I call normal sailing scene, at a yacht club, etc.

How, if at all, does the team dynamic changes when you have a male filling a spot in an all-female team?  In the same realm, how was it putting Mark Strube onboard in Bermuda?

SB:
Actually we sailed with Jonathan Farrar.  Betsy sailed with Strube. But it was good. I think the goal there was to bring someone in who could really help us with the boat handling and not change the team dynamics and how we match race all that much.  I think it is important to not change too much, especially after we just did well at the worlds, so we were familiar with the venue, just not the boat.

Do you ever get confused between the match racing and the fleet racing rules?

SB:
Sometime it takes a little to remember which is which, but actually I get more confused about which way to round the marks when switching back and forth for fleet race to match race all the time. But no not really, it feels like the match race rules are for such specific situations that don’t really come up in fleet racing.

Can you please reflect on your experience in the Yngling Olympic Trials in 2003?  What have you changed in your on-the water time since then?  What about the time on land?  Did you, in retrospect, pinpoint one or two crucial things that you as a team did not get right?

SB:
Our trials experience was extremely valuable and I believe we will use that as a great way to prepare for next time.  Since then we have just had more time on the water racing.  I think in retrospect we were not as comfortable in the boat in the really light conditions. This was simple due to the fact that we had not spent a lot of time trying to sail in those conditions, so since then we have tried to round out our speed in all conditions. And I think focusing our weaknesses has been valuable as long as we don’t stray too far from our strengths.

People’s observations from seeing your team race very successfully in the J22 events this year were that you had very good speed on anyone in the fleet.  Do you agree?  Do you believe it’s the straight line speed or your ability to change the gears?  Can you give our readers one or two “secrets” about your J22 speed techniques?

SB:
Well not really sure - we only fleet race the 22 at the Rolex, I think it was a combination of good gear and really working hard to change the gears whenever possible.  From sailing the Yngling I think we all have a really good feel for when a boat is going well or not and I think we just transfer that well into the 22.  We had also been match racing the J22 and J24 for a couple weeks prior to the Rolex event so our boat handling was flawless, which allowed us to get our head out of the boat and be tactically strong, all these factors probably made us look fast.

If you had a choice, what existing sail boat would you pick for women’s competition in Beijing 2008 and why?

SB:
Hard question because I don’t have a choice. Any boat would have their pros and cons, not sure there is a perfect one out there. Not sure – don’t really have an answer for that one. I actually don’t believe it is about the specific boat, but rather the competition you get to race against, so I would like to see the boat that brings out all the best female sailors, puts them on a level playing field and see who wins. That would be exciting.

What is the best way for you to end a tough racing day?

SB:
Depends… sometimes I like to just get away from it for a short time then get back to figuring out why it was a tough day, other times like to talk about it right away figure it out, then put it behind and look onto the next day.  It always helps to have a good coach in this situation because it is often easier to figure things out with an outside perspective, just the same when u have a good day they keep it in perspective as keep talking about things to improve on.

11-Jan-2006