Claire Leroy and Linda Rahm leads their semis in Lysekil Women’s Match
– Jenny Axhede and Katie Spithill eliminated, ending fifth and sixth

Lysekil, Sweden: World ranking leader and reigning world champion Claire Leroy from France is performing great in Lysekil Women’s Match. She won the first round-robin with a 10-1 score. Then she secured a slot in the semis by winning the next round-robin 4-1. Now she is leading 1-0 in her semi against Lucy Macgregor from Great Britain. Is there anything that can stop Claire from taking her first victory in Lysekil Women’s Match?
– The other competitors, she laughs.
– I had a tough match against Lucy today, and I know that Linda Rahm and Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen are really strong in these boats, she adds.

Home sailor Linda, and Lotte from Denmark, are sailing in the other semifinal, and Swede Jenny Axhede and Katie Spithill, Australia, was eliminated from further sailing after the second round-robin. Linda is leading the Danish crew 1-0 after a really exciting match, in which there never was more than just a few boat lenghts between them:
– We were leading until the last rounding, when Lotte passed us and gained a small lead. On the last downwind we had to work hard with the trimming, to get all the speed we could get out of the boat, says Linda, who gained a little more wind and managed to pass the Danish boat just before the finishing line.
– There was like a private Swedish wind fan out there, Lotte sighs, also complaining about the waves from the spectator boats that prevented her from keeping speed in her boat in the very light wind conditions.
– The current and the tricky wind conditions didn’t exactly make the tactics easier, she says, looking forward to Saturday’s races, that according to the forecast will be sailed in heavier wind conditions.
If the forecast is right it can be an advantage for the Scandinavian sailors, since they are more familiar with boat handling in the DS 37:s in tough conditions.

Results from round-robin 2 in Lysekil Women’s Match. The first four advanced to the semifinals:
1. Claire Leroy, FRA, 4 victories – 1 loss
2. Linda Rahm, SWE, 3-2
3. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, DEN, 3-2
4. Lucy Macgregor, GBR, 2-3
5. Jenny Axhede, SWE, 2-3
6. Katie Spithill, AUS, 1-5

Standings in the semifinals after one match in each semi:
Claire Leroy, FRA, 1 – Lucy Macgregor, GBR, 0
Linda Rahm, SWE, 1 – Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, DEN, 0

Lysekil Women’s Match concludes during Saturday with 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