Clark368
Classs: 470 Women
Position: Skipper
US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics: Europe Dinghy (1998-2000), 470 Women (2001-2008)
Member of: Shelter Island YC, New York YC, Seawanhaka Corinthian YC
Education: St. George’s School/Shelter Island High School, Connecticut College (graduated 2005)
Birthdate: March 26, 1982
Birthplace: Southampton, N.Y.
Hometown: Shelter Island, N.Y.
Occupation: Full-time sailor and coach
Significant sailing achievements: Ranked No. 1 on the U.S. Sailing Team – 470 Women (2005-2008); Team Alternate/470 Women – 2004 Olympic Games; At 15, youngest female sailor to join the US Sailing Team in the Europe class
Biography: Clark grew up on Shelter Island, a small island of roughly 21 square miles situated between the North and South Forks of Long Island, N.Y. But her life was never confined by the shores of her home: by her mid-20s, she had traveled to some 40 countries to represent the United States at sailing regattas.
Clark’s parents took her aboard the family’s Herreshoff 12 when she was a toddler. At age 6 she started sailing an Optimist. By the time she was in her early teens, she was racing in places like Germany, Ecuador, and Spain and captured a silver medal at the Optimist European Championships in 1996.
At age 15 Clark started racing a Europe dinghy-then the women’s singlehanded Olympic class-and became the youngest female to make the U.S. Sailing Team in the Europe class. An unsuccessful bid for the 2000 Olympic Team followed. Clark planned to stay in the Europe, but to be competitive in a singlehanded Olympic class, she had to keep a lot of weight on-which added resultant knee and back pain.
When an opportunity to race the doublehanded 470 presented itself, she jumped at the challenge of a two-person boat and soon connected with crew Sarah Mergenthaler. Their bid together for the 2004 Games ended with a second-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. In 2007, they won the Trials after 16 races, taking first place in a co-ed fleet of 470 Men and Women contenders.
Recent results:
2008 11th 470 World Championships/Melbourne, Australia
2007 3rd 470 North American Championships/Miami, 3rd US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR/Miami, 6th 470 European Championships/Thessalonki, Greece
