Warm and sunny conditions with a strong southerly breeze today welcomed the 81 sailors participating in the 2015 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship, the first event out of four on the 2015 Women’s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series), to Middelfart, Denmark. The rain waited politely until the last practise session in Match Racing Denmark’s fleet of Match 28 boats was over:
“It takes a while to learn a new boat, but we’ve also had some practise on our home waters and feel quite confident going into this event,” says World # 1 and defending World Champion Anna Östling.
During Tuesday’s practise session in Middelfart the Swedish crew of Team Anna had a few great fights against last year’s World Championship bronze medallist and WIM Series # 4, American Stephanie Roble of Epic Racing:
“It’s a shifty and tricky venue and we were happy to be controlling the Swedes a lot of the time. I like the boats a lot, they spin quickly and it’s good to be five on board,” Roble comments.
By Sunday we’ll not only know which of the top ranked sailors has captured the World Championship title, but also who gained points on this first event out of four on the 2015 WIM Series. The first two years of the WIM Series saw 39 professional teams from 19 countries competing for gold and glory. Entering the third season, more than 20 teams have already committed:
“We are really excited to get the WIM Series started for 2015 and cannot think of a better venue to kick off the new year. Match Racing Denmark is a fantastic organization that is professionally run and the venue is beautiful. With 9 of the top 10 in the world competing, the competition this week will be fierce,” says WIM Series Manager Liz Baylis.
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, United Arab Emirates. The winner in Dubai, American Betsy Alison, had to settle for second place in 1999, with Dorte O Jensen of Denmark scoring her first of three consecutive World titles. In 2006 Dorte O Jensen won again, and is with her four titles the most victorious ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship skipper ever.
World # 2 and defending WIM Series Champion, local hope Camilla Ulrikkeholm, finished on second place last year in Cork, and is certainly aiming to give the rest of the participating girls a fight for the gold medal this year. One of her opponents will be Klaartje Zuiderbaan of The Netherlands, who made her ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship debut already in the 1999 edition.
”We’re thrilled to be back in Middelfart and to be working with Match Racing Denmark again. They have an incredibly professional operation and I know it will be a good event following the successful ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final that was run here in 2013. It’s also great to have a full set of 16 teams – we are really pleased that 14 of the top 20 skippers are competing and I’m looking forward to some close and exciting racing over the next five days,” ISAF Competitions Manager Jon Napier concludes.
Previous winners of the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship (year, skipper, nationality, event place):
(1998 Betsy Alison, USA Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
1999 Dorte O Jensen, DEN Genoa, Italy
2000 Dorte O Jensen, DEN Florida, USA
2001 Dorte O Jensen, DEN Lake Ledro, Italy
2002 Liz Baylis, USA Calpe, Spain
2003 Malin Millbourn, SWE Sundsvall, Sweden
2004 Sally Barkow, USA Annapolis, USA
2005 Sally Barkow, USA Bermuda
2006 Dorte O Jensen, DEN Copenhagen, Denmark
2007 Claire Leroy, FRA St Quay, France
2008 Claire Leroy, FRA Auckland, New Zealand
2009 Nicky Souter, AUS Lysekil, Sweden
2010 Lucy Macgregor, GBR Newport, USA
2011 Anna Tunnicliffe, USA Perth, Australia
2012 Silja Lehtinen, FIN Långedrag, Sweden
2013 Tamara Echegoyen, ESP Busan, Korea
2014 Anna Östling, SWE Cork, Ireland
2015 ??? Middelfart, Denmark
2015 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship teams (skipper, country, ISAF World Ranking):
Anna ÖSTLING, SWE, 1
Camilla ULRIKKEHOLM, DEN, 2
Stephanie ROBLE, USA, 3
Anne-Claire LE BERRE, FRA, 4
Lotte MELDGAARD, DEN, 5
Caroline SYLVAN, SWE, 6
Klaartje ZUIDERBAAN, NED, 7
Pauline COURTOIS, FRA, 8
Milly BENNETT, AUS, 9
Johanna LARSSON, SWE, 13
Nina RAMM-SCHMIDT, FIN, 14
Katie SPITHILL, AUS, 16
Sanna HÄGER, SWE, 17
Rikst DIJKSTRA, NED, 18
Diana KISSANE, IRL, 60
Louise CHRISTENSEN, DEN, 66
2015 WIM Series events (date, event name, venue):
* July 8 – 12, ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship, Middelfart, Denmark.
* August 3 – 8, Lysekil Women’s Match, Lysekil, Sweden.
* September 16 – 20, Buddy Melges Challenge, Sheboygan, USA.
* October 28 – November 1, Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race, Busan, Korea.
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Links:
Results
www.wimseries.com/results/2015-isaf-womens-match-racing-world-championship-results/
Event Website
www.worlds15.dk/
History
www.sailing.org/events/womensmatchworlds/18952.php
Past Results
www.sailing.org/events/womensmatchworlds/past_results.php
WIM Series Website
www.wimseries.com
July 8 - 12, 2015, the 2015 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship is taking place in Middelfart, Denmark, hosted by Match Racing Denmark on behalf of the sailing clubs in Middelfart, Vejle, Fredericia, Horsens and Kolding. The championship is launched in cooperation with the Danish Sailing Association, ISAF (the International Sailing Federation), WIM Series (Women’s International Match Racing Series) and not least Middelfart Municipality, Developing Fyn, Sport Event Denmark, The Triangle Region and Destination Little Belt.
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 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 are available to download here:
sailingpix.photoshelter.com/gallery-collection/ISAF-Womens-Match-Racing-World-Championship-2015/C0000ezZvK4233vQ
Please contact Event Press Officer Ole Wejse Svarrer below for picture/video requests.
About WIM Series
The 2015 WIM Series is hosted by WIMRA for the world’s leading women match racing sailors, and contested in four venues: Middelfart, Denmark; Lysekil, Sweden; Sheboygan, USA and Busan, Korea. An overall prize purse of 40 000 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 four events included in the WIM Series. Official suppliers are Sailnet, 1080 Media, MILK, Sailing Education Association of Sheboygan, Adstream and Match Racing Results Service.
Images
A number of hi-res images are available for download on www.wimseries.com/media
Contact
Event Press Officer
Ole Wejse Svarrer
Tel: +45 2071 6465
Email: wejse@skriiv.dk
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
