In 1988, the New England Yacht Racing Council voted to name the New England Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship, the Frances McElwain Wakeman Trophy, since the Leiter Trophy had become the US Sailing Junior Women's Singlehanded Trophy in 1985. Frances McElwain Wakeman is a champion sailor from Cohasset, Massachusetts, a four-time winner of the Mrs. Charles Francis Adams Trophy, a longtime trustee of the Adams Trophy, and is dedicated to helping develop and encourage women's sailing. This event is an open event for women between the ages of 13 and 19 years.