Kiwis top Normandy Match Cup
Published on May 20th, 2024
After the 2024 Women’s World Match Racing Tour cancelled the first two season events that were to be held in the USA, the tour finally got started at the Normandy Match Cup on May 17-20 in Le Havre, France.
Amongst the seven teams racing J/80s, New Zealand’s Megan Thomson and her 2.0 Racing crew of Maeve White, Josi Andres, Charlotte Porter and Rose Garcia Royo took the title over defending event champion Pauline Courtois (FRA)/ Match in Pink 2-0 in the finals.
Both finalists Thomson and Courtois had to fight for their slot in the final as both their semi-final matches (Thomson v France’s Kenza Coutard, and Courtois v the Netherlands’ Julia Aartsen) leveled at 2-2 with a decider race in each match for the first-to-three points.
Courtois’ Match in Pink – Normandy Elite team are no strangers to the final at the Normandy Match Cup as previous back-to-back winners of the event in 2022 and 2023. Courtois led the start of the first final but after an issue with their spinnaker hoist, Thomson was able to pass and take the first final point.
In the second match, Courtois again led the start with Thomson close behind. Leading the race to the final downwind leg, Courtois and team looked certain to level the score, but as both teams gybed simultaneously in their last run to the finish, Courtois’s spinnaker struggled to set properly in the breeze as Thomson surged ahead in the surf to roll past Courtois and cross the finish line ahead.
“It was all on the whole way around the course,” said Thomson. “Pauline and her team are very good here and we were pretty much in survival mode, but the girls were amazing and worked hard, the bodies are sore but it’s feels pretty good to get the win here in Normandy!”
In the petit-final, France’s Kenza Coutard/ Speedmeute beat Julia Aartsen (NED)/ Team Out of the Box to secure the 3rd place podium finish, with Aartsen in 4th.
Tour information – Race details – Results
Women’s World Match Racing Tour 2024
April 23-26 – Santa Maria Cup – Annapolis USA
May 2-5 – Casa Vela Cup – San Francisco USA
May 17-20 – Normandy Match Cup – Le Havre, France
July 1-6 – Nordea Women’s Trophy / Match Cup Sweden – Marstrand, Sweden
Sept. 5-8 – KDY Women’s Match Race – Skovshoved, Denmark
Oct. 28-Nov. 3 – Bermuda
A team’s Tour points total will be the sum of their best three (3) scores.
The team with the highest score at the end of the season will be 2024 Women’s World Match Racing Tour Champion.
2024 Notice of Tour: https://womenswmrt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/WWMRT-2024-Notice-of-Tour.pdf
The Women’s World Match Racing Tour was launched in 2022 to continue the hugely successful legacy of the WIM Series (Women’s International Match Racing Series) providing a global match racing series for female sailors. The name of the series was re-launched as the Women’s World Match Racing Tour with its continued mission to expand and strengthen global match racing and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at every level. The Women’s World Match Racing Tour is the world’s first and only professional sailing series for women providing a valuable pathway for aspiring female world champions in the sport of sailing. womenswmrt.com
Source: WWMRT