TEAM 470

Posted Jan. 30 for Erin Maxwell & Isabelle Kinsolving, World 470 Champions
Erin Maxwell (Stonington, Conn.) and Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.) concluded their winning streak down under in Melbourne, Australia, by winning the 470 Women's World Championship on Jan. 30. The impressive victory follows their win earlier this month at Sail Melbourne, an ISAF Grade 1 event.

The pair is sponsored by Stonington Harbor Yacht Club's Champion's Fund.

The team of 28-year-olds defeated a very competitive fleet of 58 boats from across the globe, finishing an emphatic ten points ahead of world's number one ranked team and silver medalists in this event, Italians Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol.

Last fall, Maxwell and Kinsolving finished second at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Sailing, narrowly missing the spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.

"If there was ever a way to make me feel better about not being selected for the Olympics, this is it," an ecstatic Maxwell said. "I don't know what the future holds but we're going to savor today, that's for sure."

"We're going to campaign for 2012 but jobs, graduate school and marriages come before that," Maxwell added.

Also representing the USA at the 2008 470 Women's World Championship were 2008 U.S. Olympic Team members Amanda Clark and Sarah Mergenthaler, who finished 11th overall.