Light winds plague Lysekil Women’s Match

Lysekil, Sweden (August 4, 2015) – Local hope Caroline Sylvan is undefeated and alone at the top of Lysekil Women’s Match, the second stage of the 2015 WIM Series, after a first day severely shortened when the wind died just before lunch.

“We’re sailing really well and everything works perfectly aboard,” Sylvan said. “We’re solving all problems and finding the right wind shifts and tactics.”

Among Sylvan’s matches was against fellow club member and World #2 Anna Östling of the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club. “Our fault, we made a mistake,” a sighing Östling notes. “We had the match and should have won, but just a small mistake is enough when the margins are as small as here.”

Also sailing well was French Anne-Claire Le Berre with three victories in as many matches, but she also received a half point deduction after a collision.

Lysekil Women’s Match started Tuesday morning in perfect sailing conditions, with southerly winds up to 15 knots and a Swedish high summer temperature that tempted large spectator crowds to occupy the cliffs and the promenade surrounding the waters of Lysekil.

Unfortunately, the unusually warm weather also caused the race committee some problems, as the wind disappeared at lunchtime. After a fruitless waiting for at least a small puff, further racing was finally cancelled at around six, without any races at all for the half of the field that didn’t race in the morning matches.

As early as the very first match, there was still enough wind for Anne-Claire Le Berre to be able to bump into Swede Johanna Bergqvist’s boat so badly that it caused damage. For the French that collision not only caused her a 270 degrees penalty turn, but also a half point deduction. Now she’s on 2.5 points in the results.

Annabel Vose made her Lysekil Women’s Match debut, and got herself a victory over another newcomer, Sanna Häger of the Swedish capital Stockholm. The greatest challenge for the British team was to master the big DS 37s, raced with a crew of six.

“Everything happened a lot faster than we’re used to, but we learned so much and are really positive and happy, looking forward to meeting the rest of the teams,” Vose says.

Lysekil Women’s Match (Aug 3-8) continues Wednesday and Thursday with the round-robin, before Friday’s quarter finals and Saturday’s semi finals and final.

Day One Standings
Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 3 – 0
Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, 2,5 – 0
Anna Östling, SWE, 2 – 1
Annabel Vose, GBR, 1 – 2
Sanna Häger, SWE, 0 – 3
Johanna Bergqvist, SWE, 0 – 3

Have not yet raced:
Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby, DEN, 0 – 0
Stephanie Roble, USA, 0 – 0
Pauline Courtois, FRA, 0 – 0
Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 0 – 0
Alexa Bezel, SUI, 0 – 0
Juliana Senfft, BRA, 0 – 0

WIM Series – Event website – Worlds standings

Report by Joakim Hermansson

Standings in the 2015 WIM Series after one stage out of four (skipper name, country, WIM Series points):
1. Lotte Meldgaard, DEN, 25
2. Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby, DEN, 22
3. Stephanie Roble, USA, 20
4. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, 16
5. Anna Östling, SWE, 15
6. Katie Spithill, AUS, 14
7. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 13
8. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 12
9. Milly Bennett, AUS, 10
10. Pauline Courtois, FRA, 8
11. Louise Christensen, DEN, 6
12. Diana Kissane, IRL, 4
13. Rikst Dijkstra, NED, –
14. Johanna Larsson, SWE, –
15. Nina Ramm-Schmidt, FIN, –
16. Sanna Häger, SWE, –

2015 WIM Series events (date, event name, venue):
* July 8 – 12, ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship, Middelfart, Denmark.
* August 3 – 8, Lysekil Women’s Match, Lysekil, Sweden.
* September 16 – 20, Buddy Melges Challenge, Sheboygan, USA.
* October 28 – November 1, Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race, Busan, Korea.

Background: The 2015 Women’s International Match Racing Series is in its third season, providing a four-event professional sailing circuit organized by the Women’s International Match Racing Association for the world’s leading women match racing sailors. An overall prize purse of 40 000 USD will be distributed by the WIM Series at the final event in addition to prize money at each of the four events.