SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- The 2023 US Snipe Class Women's National Championship was won by two Cornell sailing athletes, sophomore Sophia Devling ans junior Amelia Neumann, who took down 15 other teams to take home the gold. Neumann was also awarded the Susan E. Waskow Award for best crew.

"The regatta was an amazing opportunity for us to put together all of the skills we have been working on for the past year in college," said Devling. "Although we were very new to the boat, the conditions and style of racing were similar to what we see on the college circuit. I think that the biggest factor that led to our win was our communication and teamwork. We spent a lot of time sailing together last year, which helped us build trust in each other's tactical calls. Having this trust allowed us to act quickly on opportunities we saw to better our position each race, which is one of the most crucial aspects of sailing."

"The regatta was a great learning experience as it was the first time I had sailed a Snipe, and the first time Sophia skippered one," Neumann said. "The fleet is very welcoming to new members by sharing their wealth of knowledge about the boats as they require a lot of fine tuning. The regatta was very similar to college sailing as it was super shifty with a lot of pressure changes, and a condensed fleet. We found success by staying in phase with the shifts and positioning ourselves in the best pressure on the down winds. We were also able to make gains by working as a team to keep our boat speed and communication up, which is something we practiced together a lot during the college sailing season. Overall, it was a fun and rewarding experience and I hope to sail some more Snipe regattas."

Devling, Neumann, and the rest of the Big Red returns to the water September 9 and 10 at the Kings Point Open in Kings Point, N.Y., to kick off the 2023-24 season.