Mary's LA dream is smooth sailing (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Mary's LA dream is smooth sailing

8:30am Thursday 25th June 2009

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MARY Rook enhanced her Olympic prospects last week by rewriting sailing history to win the Ficker Cup in Los Angeles.

The 23-year-old, who quit her job in March to concentrate solely on her dream career, has been earmarked as a serious contender to reach the 2012 Games in Weymouth and Portland.

Since the format changed from Yngling to Match Racing – a one-on-one duel – Rook has been sailing competitively and training practically non-stop.

This prompted a call up by top American sailor Sally Barkow to become part of her international Match Racing team that compete against all-male outfits.

And all her hard work came to fruition as she played a pivotal part in helping to capture the Ficker Cup – the first all-female team ever to do so.

Qualification for the 2010 Congressional Cup, which is the highest-ranking event in Match Racing, is a notable by-product of this success.

Rook, who undertook the role of jib trimmer in Barkow’s septet, gained vital experience that will assist her improvement as a helmswoman with the 2012 deadline drawing in.

The Lyme Regis Sailing Club member is currently ranked second after performing well in the two international Olympic-level regattas this year, which were held in Holland and Miami.

For anybody interested in supporting Rook and following her progress, log on to the newly launched www.maryrook.com where she will be keeping an up-to-date diary of her voyage to 2012.

Local support is growing and Rook would like to thank both Yeovil Plumbing Supplies for sponsoring a domestic competition and Swaffields Garage for loaning a vehicle to tow a large boat to Holland last month.

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