Roble & Breault US hopes on Lake Michigan
– Sheboygan Yacht Club welcomes the world elite this week

The Women’s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series). The Women’s Match Racing World Championship. The Buddy Melges Challenge. Three coveted and prestigious events in a perfect match, beginning on Lake Michigan tomorrow. WIM Series Champion Stephanie Roble and US Women’s Match Racing Champion Nicole Breault are the local hopes, here to defend the Stars & Stripes:
“This is our home event and we love coming here. We all learned how to matchrace here in Sheboygan, and we’re ready to finish first here” says Stephanie Roble.
“We’re really excited to have this chance to race some of the top female match racers in the world” says Nicole Breault.

All 27 sailors in nine teams enjoyed the most perfect sailing conditions during Tuesday’s practise sessions on Lake Michigan with moderate winds and bright sunshine just outside the Sheboygan Yacht Club and the Sheboygan South Pier. But the forecast for the remainder of the week isn’t that promising, with some showers and maybe thunder expected:
“You can get just about anything out there. We’ve had a lot of light air days, so we anticipate some of that. But you can also see fog, or six foot swell and 20 knots of breeze. That’s the beauty of Lake Michigan, it’s totally unpredictable” says Maggie Shea, crewing for Roble in Epic Racing.

Tomorrow all the crews will go into race mode, beginning the event with a double round-robin, followed by quarterfinals and semis later in the week, and then the final on Sunday. Sheboygan hosts one of only four U.S. Sailing Centers, and is the site for international match racing. Sail Sheboygan and SEAS have been very instrumental in the development of women’s match racing, not just in the USA, but also worldwide:
”The Sheboygan Yacht Club is honoured and excited to be hosting a 2016 WIM Series event and the World Championship. Our members are supporting this event in a variety of ways, from race management and umpiring to shore support and community outreach. We look forward to meeting the competitors and showing them that Sheboygan Yacht Club truly is “’The friendliest club on Lake Michigan!’" states Denise Cornell, Vice Commodore of the Sheboygan Yacht Club.

In Sheboygan the competitors will race in the Elliott 6m, in the exact same fleet of boats that were used in the 2012 Olympics. Sail Sheboygan takes great pride in the maintenance of their fleet of boats, and probably the sailors will not find a better maintained and fairer fleet of boats anywhere in the world:
“My team and I have made an effort to train in the Elliott 6Ms twice to prepare for this week, but the Elliott 6m is still relatively new for us. We’ve learned a lot about how to sail the boat mechanically, but we’ll have to learn the nuances of the boat in a match race” Nicole Breault concludes.

More information:
Sunday’s press release: WIM Series standings and midway preview.
Yesterday’s press release: Skipper presentations and World Championship history.
Wednesday: First day of racing in Sheboygan.
Sunday: Finals and prize giving.
For more facts, useful contact details and links, please see below.

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The Women’s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series) is the first and only professional sailing series for women, hosted by the Women’s International Match Racing Association and joined by the world’s leading women match racing sailors. Match racing is sailed in two identical boats around a short course, providing fast action close to the crowds on shore. The intense racing is just as exciting for the spectators as it is strategically, tactically and physically challenging for the competing crews.

An overall prize purse of 50 000 USD will be distributed by the WIM Series in addition to the prize money at each of the four events included in the 2016 WIM Series (date, event name, location, boat type):

• June 27 – July 1, Helsinki Women’s Match, Helsinki, Finland, J/80.


• August 8 – 13, Lysekil Women’s Match, Lysekil, Sweden, DS 37.


• September 20 – 25, Women’s Match Racing World Championship & Buddy Melges Challenge, Sheboygan, USA, Elliott 6m.


• October 25 – 29, Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race, Busan, South Korea, K30.


• December 1 – 4, Carlos Aguilar Match Race, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, IC 24.

The WIM Series is hosted by WIMRA. 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/

More information about the Women’s International Match Racing Series:
WIM Series Press Officer Joakim Hermansson, media@wimseries.com, +46 70 604 25 04
WIM Series Manager Liz Baylis, Liz@wimseries.com, +1 415 691 6202
www.wimseries.com
www.facebook.com/WIMSeries
www.twitter.com/WIMSeries
www.youtube.com/WIMRSeries
www.instagram.com/WIMSeries

The Buddy Melges Challenge has been an ISAF Grade One match racing event in Sheboygan, USA, for a number of years. The event is named after the famous Olympian, America’s Cup sailor, boat builder, and Wisconsinite Buddy Melges, whose contributions to the sport have been long standing. The trophy for the event resides in the Sheboygan Yacht Club, and is a replica of the America’s Cup.

More information about the Buddy Melges Challenge:
Buddy Melges Challenge Press Officer Janet Weyandt, Janet@WeyandtCreative.com, +1 920 980 6894
www.sailsheboygan.org
www.seasheboygan.org
www.sheboyganyachtclub.com
www.facebook.com/SailSheboygan
www.facebook.com/sheboyganseas1
www.twitter.com/USSCSheboygan
www.instragram.com/SEASheboygan

The World Sailing 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 World Sailing Match Racing Ranking position. Denmark’s Dorte Jensen is the most successful sailor, having amassed four World Championship titles.

World Sailing Communications Department, marketing@sailing.org, + 44 2380 635 111
http://www.sailing.org/events/womensmatchworlds/index.php