Six crews advances in Lysekil Women’s Match
– Claire Leroy won the first round-robin with a 10 – 1 score

Lysekil, Sweden: Claire Leroy from France has sailed very well, losing only one match in the first round-robin in Lysekil Women’s Match. Among the home sailors Jenny Axhede ended up with 7 – 4, while defending champion Linda Rahm and fellow Swede Anna Kjellberg both scored 6 – 5. Thanks to her victory in the match against Anna, Linda took the last slot in the next round-robin:
– This was even more exciting than we had expected it to be. We had finished our matches and counted and counted when the last matches were sailed, but we thought that we could make it, Linda says, being right about that.

Anna Kjellberg, who made a real break-through in early July, reaching the final and finishing second in the event in Marstrand, Sweden, was eliminated from further sailing in Lysekil Women’s Match with the smallest possible margin. Her loss against Linda Rahm cost her the slot in the next round-robin:
– Of course we feel a little unhappy being so very close to getting another chance in the event. But we’ve had great fun and we’ve learned a lot, making a lot of things work easier onboard, Anna analyses.
– But we’ll be back, we’ve only just begun, she promises with a big smile.

Thursday’s matches in Lysekil Women’s Match were sailed in high pressure weather with weak winds, burning sun and strong current, which put the sailors to test. Jenny Axhede lost her two first matches for the day, against Katie Spithill, Australia, and world no 1 Claire Leroy, but later managed to win the last match against Silke Hahlbrock from Germany:
– We gated in from port but wanted to get to the starboard side of the course. That was really difficult to achieve. Now we are aiming for the new matches, everyone is important, Jenny says.
An obvious sign on the difficult circumstances during Thursday was that Claire Leroy lost her first match so far during the event, against American Liz Baylis. Claire won the start, made the umpires give Baylis a penalty and had a comfortable lead on the first upwind, but she lost the match anyway:
– We threw away all our advantages in choosing the wrong way up the course, Claire laughs, saying that they at least made all their mistakes in one single match.
– Our next goal is to reach the semi finals, which we expect to do. So far we have placed second in Lysekil twice, and we hope to do better this year, she says, laughing again.

Results from round-robin in Lysekil Women’s Match. The six first advances to the next round-robin:
1. Claire Leroy, FRA, 10 victories – 1 loss
2. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, DEN, 8-3
3. Lucy MacGregor, GBR, 7-4
4. Katie Spithill, AUS, 7-4
5. Jenny Axhede, SWE, 7-4
6. Linda Rahm, SWE, 6-5
7. Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 6-5
8. Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, 5-6
9. Elisabeth Baylis, USA, 4-7
10. Silke Hahlbrock, GER, 3-8
11. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, 2-9
12. Sabrina Gurioli, ITA, 1-10

Lysekil Women’s Match continues during Friday with a new round-robin, including the six best sailors from the first one. Two crews are excluded after that, leaving four semifinalists for Friday afternoon. Saturday will show the closing of the semi finals, and then the final.

Lysekil Women’s Match, sailed July 29 – August 2 2008, is with a SEK 400 000 (€ 43 000 and $ 67 000) prize purse the largest women match racing event in the world. Twelve of the most skilled women match racing skippers are every summer competing in Lysekil Women’s Match, arranged by Sailnet Lysekil AB and the local yacht club Lysekils SS Gullmar. Main sponsors are oil company Preem and shipping company Stena Bulk, with the municipality of Lysekil, Carpe Diem Beds of Sweden, Musto, Evidens and Ridderheims as partners. In 2009, Lysekil Women’s Match will have World Championship status.
For further information see www.lysekilwomensmatch.se