Sailor Dana Rohde is following in her sister’s championship-winning wake.

On Friday, the 17-year-old Rohde won the U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship regatta, hosted by the Beverly Yacht Club in Marion. Sponsored by U.S. Sailing, the event is a national competition open to young women 13 to 18 years old.

In 2007, Krysta Rohde captured a national title when she won the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Women’s Singlehanded Championship. Since then, she placed well in other national contests before joining the Coast Guard.

This was Dana’s fifth attempt to win the event.

The Junior Women’s Championship, a race for solo sailors, took place over three days starting Wednesday. On Monday and Tuesday, U.S. Sailing coaches with collegiate and Olympic experience held clinics for the girls.

The regatta took place in the Centerboard shoals area of Buzzards Bay, off Converse Point. Sailors completed between two and four 45-minute races each day depending on weather conditions.

To prepare, Dana attended sailing clinics in Miami and Rhode Island this June.

The first day of races started slow, but turned more competitive as winds increased, she said.

“It was very fun,” Dana said on Wednesday. “The competition was fun, but strong. I’ve sailed with many of these girls before. We compete in a lot of the same regattas.”

The championship attracts sailors from across the country. Dana traveled to Marion from her home in Richmond Hill, Ga.

The regatta, now in its 36^th year, is much more than a race, according to Karen Manning, the event’s coordinator. Three years ago, Manning made the bid to U.S. Sailing that brought the regatta to the yacht club.

“This is an opportunity for the girls to experience this level of competition in a really supportive way. There’s an incredible sense of camaraderie,” said Manning, a Marion resident.

First-time competitors show up as strangers, but leave with friends, Manning said.

“When the new girls arrive they don’t know anyone and they develop these incredibly strong relationships,” she said. “The event has a really nice feel to it.”

It’s also a challenge.

“For the sailors that are used to 20 minute races in their home club’s harbor, this is an eye opener,” said Danielle Richards of U.S. Sailing. The agency governs the sport nationally and oversees everything from children’s sailing lessons to Olympic competitions.

Richards said being on the water for seven hours, two miles off shore, forces the girls to be self-sufficient.

“They need to plan and bring the right kinds of food, a bag of chips isn’t going to do. They need to bring enough water and be ready in case something on their boat breaks,” Richards said.

Manning said the Beverly Yacht Club was happy to host the event.

“The kids are really polite, wonderful, helpful, eager, and they’re good sailors too,” Manning said.