Large spectator crowds in Cork harbour saw world #1 Camilla Ulrikkeholm of Denmark defeat Sweden’s Caroline Sylvan 3 – 0 in their semi final of the 2014 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship.
In the other semi-final of the first event on the 2014 Women’s International Match Racing Series, the Swedish crew helmed by world #2 Anna Kjellberg went through to the final after beating Stephanie Roble of the USA.
It took some thrilling matches until the matter was solved with the Swede winning 3-2: “We managed to keep our good flow from the quarter finals, and I think we sailed five really good races against Roble,” analysed Kjellberg.
Kjellberg won the first match and Roble the next two. The exciting fourth match showed the crowds at the Camden Fort Meagher grandstand a whole bunch of the tricks that skilled match racing sailors at this top level keep up their sleeves. Finally it was the Swedish crew who best handled the shifty winds, complex tide and choppy waves, controlling their boat and the American opponent all the way through to the finish.
When entering from port for the fifth match, Kjellberg lost focus for a few seconds and did not keep clear of Roble, who approached on starboard tack, and was immediately penalised by the umpires.
“It’s so obvious that on this level you can’t afford the slightest mistake. I shouted to my girl’s that we’d have to do the match of our lives,” Kjellberg explained.
The Swedes managed to get over the starting line even with Roble and a frenetic tacking duel up the first beat began. After rounding the top mark the Americans didn’t fill their kite fast enough, allowing Kjellberg to stretch away by few boat lengths. On the second upwind the Swedes had extended their lead enough to quite comfortably take their penalty turn, and when Roble repeated her spinnaker problems on the last downwind, the Swedish victory was sealed.
“I saw Stephanie coming with great pressure from behind, but I never thought she was threatening us,” Kjellberg said.
Roble commented, “It was close racing and I’m proud of the way we sailed today. It’s a team effort around the course and we all worked very hard. Anna made less mistakes and that paid off, so I’m wishing her the best for tomorrow.”
With two Swedish teams in opposite semi finals, the odds for seeing them in the final of the 2014 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship were quite good. But as the other semi final was sailed between Ulrikkeholm and Sylvan, the Dane showed that it’s no coincidence she’s on top of the ISAF Women’s Match Race Rankings as she defeated her Swedish opponent in three straight matches.
“We got a penalty in the second prestart, after a stupid mistake from the skipper, but still managed to get ahead and win that one. And the other two matches I think we controlled very well, staying in the right position,” Ulrikkeholm said.
On the defeat Sylvan said, “They covered us completely and didn’t allow us any game room at all. We raced the best we could and learned a few new tricks, but they were obviously the best today.”
Results in the semi finals of the 2014 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship, the first event on the 2014 Women’s International Match Racing Series. The winning skippers advance to the final:
Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, defeated Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 3 – 0
Anna Kjellberg, SWE, defeated Stephanie Roble, USA, 3 – 2
The results in the sail-offs for place 5 – 8:
5. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA
6. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED
7. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, DEN
8. Claudia Pierce, NZL
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Links:
Results
http://www.matchracing.ie/results/
Event Website
http://www.matchracing.ie/
ISAF Event Microsite
http://www.sailing.org/Womens-Match-Worlds-2014.php
History
www.sailing.org/events/womensmatchworlds/18952.php
Past Results
www.sailing.org/events/womensmatchworlds/past_results.php
WIM Series Website
www.wimseries.com
The 2014 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship, June 3-8, is presented by the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the Port of Cork, the Cork County Council and the Irish Examiner media partner. The ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship is an annual event that was first held in Genoa, Italy in 1999 after a successful event was held as part of the 1998 ISAF Sailing World Championship in Dubai, UAE. Skippers are invited to attend the Championship based on their ISAF World Match Racing Ranking position. Denmark’s Dorte O Jensen is the most successful sailor having amassed four World Championship titles.
Find out more on the history of the event here
www.sailing.org/events/womensmatchworlds/18952.php
Images/Video
High-resolution rights free images from the 2014 edition are available to download on the ISAF Flickr here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedialibrary/collections/72157644940860236/
or the WIM Series Media page here: www.wimseries.com/media
Daily VNRs will be available to download for the duration of the regatta. Please contact Event Press Officer Philomena Maguire Hahnel below for picture/video requests.
About WIM Series
The 2014 WIM Series is hosted by WIMRA for the world’s leading women match racing sailors, and contested in five venues: Cork, Ireland; Vannes, France; Lysekil, Sweden; Sheboygan, USA; and Busan, Korea. An overall prize purse of 50 000 USD will be distributed by the WIM Series at the final event in Busan, Korea, in addition to the prize money at each of the five events included in the WIM Series. Sebago is clothing partner. Official suppliers are Sailnet, 1080 Media, MILK, Sailing Education Association of Sheboygan, Adstream and Match Racing Results Service.
Contacts
Event Press Officer
Philomena Maguire Hahnel
Tel: +353 842 515 804
Email: philmaguire@eircom.net
ISAF Communications Department
Tel: + 44 2380 635 111
Email: marketing@isaf.com
WIM Series Press Officer
Joakim Hermansson
Tel: + 46 70 604 25 04
Email: media@wimseries.com
