French dominating Women’s World Match Racing Tour

The Women’s World Match Racing Tour, launched in 2022 to continue the legacy of the WIM Series (Women’s International Match Racing Series), has completed three of the four events in its inaugural season of providing a global match racing series for female sailors.

Pauline Courtois (FRA) and her ‘Match in Pink’ Normandie team from France have been dominant thus far, most recently winning the 2022 EUROSAF Women’s European Match Racing Championship in Corfu, Greece.

Courtois’ team also won the opening event and finished second to Anna Ostling (SWE) at the next stage, which has positioned the French team far ahead on the overall leaderboard.

Sailing the Platu 25 in Greece, Courtois and team beat Dutch skipper Renee Groeneveld 2-0 in a first-to-two-points final in light winds.

After a wait ashore yesterday morning at the Corfu Sailing Club, the race committee doubted if there would be any breeze at all for the final day. Fortunately a light 2-4 knot southerly filled over the bay under the Old Fortress of Corfu to start the final and a shortened first-to-one-point Petit-Final.

Meeting in the Petit-Final were New Zealand’s Celia Willison/ Edge Racing and Margot Vennin/ Match Moiselles from France. After a near photo finish, Margot Vennin held the lead to clinch the single point, and 3rd place for the regatta.

As the quarter-finals and semi-finals had to be cut from the format due to the light winds, the final standings for 5th -12th position were taken from the round robin qualifying stage.

Details: https://womenswmrt.com/

2022 Schedule
June 2-6 – Normandie Match Cup – Le Havre, France (Beneteau First Class 7.5m)
September 23-25 – Women’s Match Race – Skovshoved, Denmark (DS37)
October 12-15 – EUROSAF Women’s European Championship – Corfu, Greece (Platu 25)
November 9-13 – Women’s Match Racing World Championship – Auckland, New Zealand (Elliot 7m)