Exciting lineup for Lysekil Women’s Match

Twelve crews will be competing in the Lysekil Women’s Match 2018. Now we can confirm more teams in the lineup and only only one spot remains.

After the first event of the Wim Series 2018 in Helsinki there are important points at stake in the event in Lysekil. Six skippers have already been confirmed; Anna Östling (SWE), Pauline Courtois (FRA), Antonia Degerlund (FIN), Johanna Bergqvist (SWE), Octavia Owen (GBR) and Sanna Mattsson (SWE). With less than one month left until the first start of the regatta on August 6, the lineup is almost complete.

The french match racing expert Claire Leroy will be replacing Caroline Sylvan as skipper of New Sweden Match Racing Team. Claire Leroy, 38, has two World Championship titles and was named ISAF Sailor of the Year in 2007. New Sweden Match Racing Team will be entering the regatta in Lysekil for the eighth time.

Team Kattnakken (DEN) won the first event of the series in Helsinki in June. In Lyskeil, Trine Palludan will be replaced with another Dane, Olympic sailor Henriette Koch, as the team’s skipper. “I look forward to helming my first match race regatta and it is amazing that Lysekil will be my debut”, says Henriette Koch.

“I’m very happy about the robust and high level sailing the team showed in Helsinki. Their starts were not too great but they read the course well and controlled the strategy and tactics. In Lysekil we hope and expect that we will be able to show some teeth and challenge the other teams with the skills of the crew as well as my 470 and Sailing Champions League experiences. We may also surprise the competitors and entertain the spectators with a bit untraditional way of match racing”.

Alexa Bezel has been a driving force in match racing in her home country Switzerland the last decade. She reached the final when she visited Lysekil the first time in 2012 but hasn’t gotten another try to win the regatta in four tries.

Marinella Laaksonen is one of the many talented Finnish match racing skippers sailing the WIM Series. She is currently ranked fourth in the world and her team had to settle with fourth place in the home event in Helsinki. Margot Vennin and her team are from Normandie and have been racing together for two years. They came close to fighting their way to the final in their first event on the WIM Series and now they will be coming to Lysekil for the first time.

Johanna Bergqvist and Team Bergqvist Match Racing lost the final of the Helsinki Women’s Match. But reaching the final was an important step for the team and this season they have a clear goal.

“We have done good regattas so far this year, we aimed at winning in Helsinki and we almost made it. But it feels great to be racing on a higher level and to be more competitive, challenging the best teams. We have done a lot of training and the feeling in the team is great. Our goal is clear, we want to win in Lysekil”, says Johanna Bergqvist.

Anna Holmdahl White, Project Manager of Lysekil Women’s Match, thinks that fans have a lot of great duels to look forward to. “In match racing it is always close margins that make the difference between winning and losing as well as what team ends up on the top of the podium”, says Anna Holmdahl White:

“The teams keep moving the sailing to new levels and it is very hard to pick favourites. Routine can take you far but there are a number of young teams who will be giving all they have to challenge the more established teams on the WIM Series”,

Due to a late withdrawal from skipper Allie Blecher (USA) there is still one spot left to be confirmed and the twelfth team will be presented the coming weeks.

Lineup Lysekil Women’s Match: (Ranking, skipper, country, team)

Anna Östling, SWE, Team Anna
Pauline Courtois, FRA, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team
Marinella Laaksonen, FIN,  L2 Match Racing Team
Johanna Bergqvist, SWE, Team Bergqvist Match Racing
Antonia Degerlund, FIN, Team Sköna Vibbisar
Alexa Bezel, SUI, Swiss Women Match Racing Team
Octavia Owen, GBR, Athena Racing
Margot Vennin, FRA, Matchmoiselles by Normandy Elite Team
Sanna Mattsson, SWE, Swedish Women´s Match Racing Team
Claire Leroy, FRA, New Sweden Match Racing Team
Henriette Koch, DEN, Team Kattnakken
12th team - TBD

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The Women¹s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series) is the first and only professional sailing series for women, hosted by the Women¹s International Match Racing Association and joined by the world¹s 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.

WIM Series 2018 calendar
(Name of event, Venue, Country: dates (boat type))
Helsinki Women’s Match, Helsinki, Finland : 25 - 29 June (J/80)
Lysekil Women’s Match, Lysekil, Sweden : 6 - 11 August (Fareast 28r)
Women’s Match Racing World Championship, Ekaterinburg, Russia : 14 - 18 August (Ricochet 747)
Swiss International Women’s Match, Ascona, Switzerland : 30 October - 3 November (J/70)
Carlos Aguilar Match Race 2018, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands : 29 November - 2 December (IC 24)

The WIM Series is hosted by WIMRA. Official suppliers are Sailnet, MILK, Sailing Education Association of Sheboygan, Adstream, 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:

Press Officer Fabian Bengtsson, media@wimseries.com
Race Director Anna Holmdahl White, anna@wimseries.com
Race Manager Liz Baylis, Liz@wimseries.com

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 2018 Lysekil Women’s Match is sailed August 6 – 11, 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. Emerson, Kläppen, Sebago, and Svitzer 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 Fabian Bengtsson, media@sailnet.se, +46 (0) 70 459 72 12
Project Manager Anna Holmdahl White, anna@sailnet.se, +46 (0) 73 068 42 92
www.lysekilwomensmatch.se
www.facebook.com/lysekilwomensmatc
www.twitter.com/lwmlysekil
www.youtube.com/lysekilwomensmatch
www.instagram.com/lwmlysekil