London Olympics aim for top women sailors

Victory tomorrow in the finals of the Hardy’s Australian women’s match racing championship will be a significant step for the winning crew towards representing their countries, Australia and New Zealand, at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Women’s match racing will be a new discipline in 2012, with the Olympic sailing regatta at Weymouth on the south coast of England, using Elliott 6s, slightly larger versions of the Elliott 5.9s being used for the Australian championship on the River Derwent.

Three of the Australian skippers are considered strong prospects for selection, either as helmspersons or in a combined crew such as the one that won the ISAF world women’s match racing champion in 2009. There is also one stand-out crew among the two New Zealand teams contesting the championship.

Sailing conditions were near perfect today, with a steady south-easterly seabreeze of 10-12 knots, freshening to 15 knots later in the afternoon. In fact, the race committee continued running matches until after 7pm, taking advantage of Hobart’s long twilight to complete the second round-robin between the ten teams.

Going into tomorrow’s finals, Olivia Price from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia heads the ratings with an outstanding nine straight wins in the second round-robin following seven wins in the first round-robin for a total of 16 wins.

A close second, with seven win today for a total of 15 wins, is New Zealander Stephanie Hazard from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. In third place overall is Nina Curtis from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney who also had seven wins today for a total of 14.

In fourth place is Amanda Scrivenor from the CYCA, who slipped slightly today for five wins, for a two round-robin total of 13 wins.

With today’s weather allowing for more tactical sailing as against the sometimes survival conditions of the previous two days, the matches saw some intense pre-race duelling that would do justice to America’s Cup contests. The standard of match-racing was second to none as the young women fought for supremacy.

Tasmanian Lucy Shepherd scored another win in the second round-robin today while Lisa Blackwood had two wins today, each finishing the elimination section two wins. Shepherd placed eighth overall, Blackwood tenth.

Of the other competitors, New Zealander Danielle Bowater placed sixth overall with six wins, Queenslander Sophie Lahey finished the two round-robins in seventh place with five wins, while Queenslander Jessica Hansen placed ninth with three wins during the round-robin.

To view the complete results table, click here


By Peter Campbell (Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania)