Courtois leads WIM Series Lysekil

Lysekil, Sweden (August 7, 2018) – Last year’s WIM Series winner Pauline Courtois and her crew maintain a perfect track record having won all of their matches during the first day at Lysekil Women’s Match 2018 to top the score board. But it is a close race behind with four teams tied for second place behind the French team.

The teams were treated to spectacular conditions with sunshine and light but stable south westerly winds, near perfect weather conditions for match racing.

All crews will initially face off against each other in a round-robin to determine who will proceed to the quarter finals, with half of the racing in this initial stage completed today.

”We won all our pre-starts and managed to maintain our speed, which made it easy for us to stick to our strategy out on the course,” said Courtois. “We also didn’t get any penalties, but tomorrow we are facing of against the higher ranked teams and we will have to focus and take it match for match.”

But the French team aren’t leading by much, as four teams behind them are tied for second with four wins each. among them is Johanna Bergqvist (Bergqvist Matchracing) who took second place in the last WIM Series event that took place in Helsinki earlier this summer.

”The girls have done a fantastic job today, and everything felt very solid until that last match really, where we probably did every mistake possible, but perhaps it is good to gather all in one race,” shared Bergqvist.

The round-robin continues tomorrow with good weather conditions and good winds. The competition starts at 9:30am.

Teams are racing the Fareast 28r from August 6 to 11.

Day One Standings
1. Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, FRA, 5-0
2. Anna Östling, Team Anna, SWE, 4-1
2. Johanna Bergqvist, Team Bergqvist Match Racing, SWE, 4-1
2. Claire Leroy, New Sweden Match Racing Team, FRA, 4-1
2. Henriette Koch, Women On Water / Team Kattnakken, DEN, 4-1
6. Marinella Laaksonen , L2 Match Racing Team, FIN, 3-2
7. Alexa Bezel, Swiss Women Match Racing Team, SUI, 2-3
7. Margot Vennin, Matchmoiselles by Normandy Elite Team, FRA, 2-3
9. Antonia Degerlund, Team Sköna Vibbisar, FIN, 1-4
9. Ekaterina Kochkina, ProKaTeam Sailing Team, RUS, 1-4
11. Octavia Owen, Athena Racing, GBR, 0-5
11. Sanna Mattsson, Swedish Women’s Match Racing Team, SWE, 0-5

WIM Series – Event details – Facebook

Background:
The Women’s International Match Racing Association (WIMRA) was formed in 1996 and is an international association of women sailors whose mission is to expand and strengthen global match racing and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at every level.

WIMRA created the first and only professional sailing series for women in 2013 – the Women’s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series). The WIM Series delivers a global circuit of competition to test the world’s best sailors in a format of round robin and knock-out matches.

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

Source: WIM Series