Four Teams Punch Tickets for Quarters in Lysekil
– seven left to fight on for the remaining four spots
In bright sunshine and shifty westerly winds, the round-robin stage of the Lysekil Women’s Match concluded Thursday afternoon. Trine Palludan of the Royal Danish Yacht Club took nine matches to win it:
“Now we appreciate getting a little rest before the quarters” says Palludan, who, thanks to her top spot, can choose her quarter-final opponent.
Alexa Bezel, SUI, was the only skipper to beat Palludan in the round-robin, by taking the start and leading all the way to the finish of their match. The Danes came up close at the bottom mark, but touched the Swiss boat with their gennaker to get penalized:
“After that we felt a little bit safer” says Bezel.
“We lost too much distance to be able to do something” Palludan admits.
In Tour de France à la voile earlier this summer, Pauline Courtois crashed with her boat, and a crewmember was so hurt that she couldn’t sail in Lysekil. However, a partly new team doesn’t seem to bother the French skipper, finishing the round-robin in second with eight wins:
“Well, I have to admit we’re a little bit surprised, but I know we can handle gennaker sailing. We’ve raced a lot in J/80s and in First 7.5s” she explains, looking forward to continue racing in the event.
“We like the new boats and the conditions here in Lysekil, so we’re aiming high.”
Local hope Caroline Sylvan of the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club and the Dutch Match Racing Team’s Renée Groeneveld both finished the round-robin with seven wins and three losses each. Thanks to winning their match with Sylvan, the Dutch skipper places third:
“It wasn’t a bad day for us, but we made some mistakes in the starts. Generally we had good boat handling, but sometimes we made it a little bit too hard for ourselves” she says.
“Today we’ve learnt a lot. Because of the shifty conditions we had to change the trim all the time. Another important task was to look out over the course for pressure” Sylvan points out.
Palludan, Courtois, Groeneveld and Sylvan are now qualified straight into the quarter-finals, while the remaining seven crews have to continue fighting for the other four spots, in a repechage round-robin. Not very expected is to find World #1 and Lysekil defending champion Anna Östling, SWE, among the latter, but she’s not too upset about it:
“It is what it is. At least we get another six matches to learn more and get even better in these new boats. That’s not a disadvantage” she says.
Event organizers Sailnet and Lysekils Yacht Club Gullmar will conclude the Repechage Round Robin stage of Lysekil Women’s Match, the 2nd event on the 2017 WIM Series, Friday morning. Quarter-finals are to be raced Friday afternoon, with semis and final to follow Saturday.
Round-robin results in Lysekil Women’s Match (skipper, team, nationality, wins – losses):
1. Trine Palludan, Team Kattnakken, DEN, 9-1
2. Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, FRA, 8-2
3. Renée Groeneveld, Dutch Match Racing Team, NED, 7-3
4. Caroline Sylvan, New Sweden Match Racing Team, SWE, 7-3
5. Alexa Bezel, ChicaCER Women Match Racing Team, SUI, 6-4
6. Anna Östling, Team Anna, SWE, 6-4
7. Johanna Bergqvist, Team Bergqvist Match Racing, SWE, 4-6
8. Marinella Laaksonen, L2 Match Racing Team, FIN, 4-6
9. Linnéa Floser, Peregrine Racing, SWE, 2-8
10. Octavia Owen, Athena Racing, GBR, 1-9
11. Antonia Degerlund, Team Sköna Vibbisar, FIN, 1-9
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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.
2017 WIM Series (date, event name, location, boat type):
- 16-21 June – 2017 Women’s Match Racing World Championship – Helsinki, Finland - J/80
- 7-12 August – 2017 Lysekil Women’s Match – Lysekil, Sweden – Fareast 28
- 13-18 November – 2017 Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race – Busan, South Korea - K30
- 30 November – 3 December – 2017 Carlos Aguilar Match Race – St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands - IC 24
The WIM Series is hosted by WIMRA. Official suppliers are Sailnet, Sebago, MILK, Adstream, Intertidal Ventures, Fredag and Match Racing Results Service.
Images: A number of hi-res images are available for download on www.wimseries.com/media/
Video: All videos are available on www.wimseries.com/videos/
More information about the Women’s International Match Racing Series:
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
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Lysekil Women’s Match was founded in 2004, and is with a prize purse of SEK 300 000 the largest annual match racing event for women in the world. The 2017 Lysekil Women’s Match is sailed August 7 – 12, organized by Sailnet Lysekil AB and Lysekils SS Gullmar. The main sponsor of Lysekil Women’s Match is Preem, with the Lysekil Municipality as the host city. Sebago, Svitzer, Emerson and Kläppen are partners. BMW from Bilia Group is the official car.
A selection of high resolution images from Lysekil Women’s Match is available to download at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mwdr5nsj84i1iht/AABUlnrhwzKoMZU55YvbL9vYa?dl=0
More information about the Lysekil Women’s Match:
Press Officer Joakim Hermansson, media@sailnet.se, +46 70 604 25 04
Project Manager Anna Holmdahl White, anna@sailnet.se, +46 73 068 42 92
www.lysekilwomensmatch.se
www.facebook.com/lysekilwomensmatch
www.twitter.com/lwmlysekil
www.youtube.com/lysekilwomensmatch
www.instagram.com/lwmlysekil
