Forming the Finals at Women’s Match Racing Worlds

Ekaterinburg, Russia (August 17, 2018) – Ekaterinburg’s famous Verkh-Isetsky pond keeps presenting the sailors with great challenges and the penultimate day of the 2018 Women’s Match Racing World Championship saw the trend continue as the field was reduced to four teams in a strong northwesterly wind.

Defending World Champion Lucy Macgregor’s Team Mac from Great Britain had the night to decide their opponent in the Quarter Finals. “It wasn’t an easy decision at all. All of the teams have been sailing well and the teams who sailed the Repechage yesterday had more practice in the boats and looked to be sailing well.”

And with that thought they went with the ‘safe’ pick of the team that finished in the last qualifying spot of the Repechage round, the Finnish L2 Match Racing Team skippered by Marinella Laaksonen.

Although Team Mac defeated L2 Match Racing Team 3 – 0, the races were close and “it was really quite tough because the wind is very hard to read with the cloud cover, so you had to cover and sometimes you would lose on the shifts,” explained Macgregor. “Fortunately we were often able to extend before the windward mark which made the runs a little easier.”

Pauline Courtois’ French Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team also finished their quarter final 3 – 0 over the local Russian BERGAUF Sailing Team skippered by Milena Laverycheva in the blustery conditions.

Alexa Bezel’s Swiss Women’s Match Racing Team had a lively match with Russian skipper Ekaterina Kochkina’s ProKaTeam Sailing Team in their third match and received a double penalty at the leeward mark as they forced themselves inside at the mark when they had no rights. “Ah, I should have listened to my crew as they said ‘go behind, don’t go in there’,” laughed Bezel when ashore after re-grouping and winning the next match to take the quarter final 3 – 1 and advance.

The Danish Team Kattnakken skippered by Trine Palludan found themselves up against the wall as the Russian BornToSail team skippered by Alexandra Martynova took an early 2 – 0 lead in their quarter finals. But the experienced Danish team fought back. “We focused on sailing our boat well and tacking a lot!” Palludan revealed. “It was difficult to see the wind on the water, so we forced them to tack a lot and we covered them.”

The strategy proved successful as they came from a 2 -0 deficit to win 3 – 2 and move on to the next stage.

Team Mac again had the choice of opponents and chose the Swiss Women’s Match Racing Team as their semi final opponent leaving Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team to face Team Kattnakken. Each of the Semi Final matches went 2 – 0 before the racing was called for the day with the British and French in command of the matches.

The event will conclude tomorrow with the remainder of the Semi Finals followed by the Petit Finals and Finals.

The 2018 edition of the World Championship celebrates the 20th anniversary of the event. As the third event of the WIM Series, racing is held in Ricochet-747 boats from August 14 to 18.

Current Standings:

Semi-Final Results (in progress):
• Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, FRA leads Trine Palludan, Team Kattnakken, DEN 2 – 0
• Lucy Macgregor, Team Mac, GBR leads Alexa Bezel, Swiss Women Match Racing Team, SUI 2 – 0

Quarter-Final Results:
• Alexa Bezel, Swiss Women Match Racing Team, SUI defeated Ekaterina Kochkina, ProKaTeam Sailing Team, RUS 3 – 1
• Trine Palludan, Team Kattnakken, DEN defeated Alexandra Martynova, BornToSail, RUS 3 – 2
• Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, FRA defeated Milena Laverycheva, BERGAUF Sailing Team, RUS 3 – 0
• Lucy Macgregor, Team Mac, GBR defeated Marinella Laaksonen, L2 Match Racing Team, FIN 3 – 0

WIM Series – Event details – Facebook

Entry list:
• Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team – France
Pauline Courtois, Maëlenn Lemaître, Louise Acker, Nathalie Corson, Sophie Faguet
• L2 Match Racing Team – Finland
Marinella Laaksonen, Daniela Rönnberg, Marianna Kontulainen, Eva-Lotta
Hokkonen
• Team Kattnakken – Denmark
Trine Palludan, Anne Sofie Munk-Hansen, Louise Ulrikkeholm Bredvig, Joan Wester Hansen
• Swiss Women Match Racing Team – Switzerland
Alexa Bezel, Fiona Testuz, Manon Kivell, Nicole Bolliger
• Team Mac – Great Britain
Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush, Nicky Walsh, Kate Macgregor
• Athena Racing – Great Britain
Octavia Owen, Ruby Riggs, Amber Riggs, Hebe Hemming
• Matchmoiselles by Normandy Elite Team – France
Margot Vennin, Marie Zugolaro, Juliette Dubreuil, Adèle Marévéry, Sophonie Affagard
• APCC Women Sailing Team – France
Margot Riou, Clémentine Hilaire, Caroline Vandame, Tiphaine Ragueneau
• ProKaTeam Sailing Team – Russia
Ekaterina Kochkina, Svetlana Sidorova, Anastasia Gladysheva, Antonina Tikhonova
• BERGAUF Sailing Team – Russia
Milena Laverycheva, Olga Ivanova, Ksenia Trushkina, Tatyana Razumova
• BornToSail – Russia
Alexandra Martynova, Liudmila Dmitrieva, Anastasia Shcheglova, Yana Stokolesova

Standings in WIM Series 2018 after two events (team, skipper, nationality, points):
1. Team Kattnakken / Women On Water, Trine Palludan / Henriette Koch – DEN, 47
2. Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, Pauline Courtois – FRA, 45
3. Team Bergqvist Match Racing, Johanna Bergqvist – SWE, 40
4. L2 Match Racing Team, Marinella Laaksonen – FIN, 32
5. Team Sköna Vibbisar, Antonia Degerlund – FIN, 24
6. Team Anna, Anna Östling – SWE, 20
7. New Sweden Match Racing Team, Caroline Sylvan / Claire Leroy – SWE / FRA, 16
8. Team BAAM!, Allie Blecher – USA, 16
9. Matchmoiselles by Normandy Elite Team, Margot Vennin – FRA, 14
10. Swiss Women Match Racing Team, Alexa Bezel – SUI, 12
11. NZ Match, Celia Willison – NZL, 12
12. Stockholm Match Racing Team, Sanna Häger – SWE, 10
13. Swedish Women’s Match Racing Team, Sanna Mattsson – SWE, 10
14. ProKaTeam Sailing Team, Ekaterina Kochkina – RUS, 8
15. Team Skogman, Jassi Skogman – FIN, 8
16. APCC Women Sailing Team , Margot Riou – FRA, 6
17. Athena Racing, Octavia Owen – GBR, 5
18. Peregrine Racing, Hanna Ericksson – SWE, 5

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