A Slow Start to Racing in Lysekil
– but the sailors praise the new boats
The second stop of the 2017 WIM Series saw a dramatically different day from the blustery practice day yesterday. Very light and shifty winds led to postponements, long waiting and fewer matches than scheduled as Lysekil Women’s Match kicked off Tuesday with the first day of racing. Thanks to the new Fareast 28R boats, the sailors still came ashore with big smiles:
“Super fun boats with a fast and sporty feeling, really something new and challenging” says Swede Caroline Sylvan of the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club, who won one of her matches and lost the other.
The weight of the new Chinese boats in Lysekil Women’s Match is about a third of the previously raced DS 37s, and they are sailed with a crew of five instead of six as in the Danish precursor. Accordingly, they are quicker in the turns and with faster acceleration, characteristics that in combination with asymmetric instead of symmetric spinnaker is leading to a completely different tactical game on the race course:
“The large asymmetric spinnaker will easily make us broach when luffing the opponent too quickly, so we will have to be a little more careful. But that wasn’t actually a problem today” says Trine Palludan.
Despite being very used to the DS 37s from their home club, the Royal Danish Yacht Club in Copenhagen, Palludan & Co managed to win both their matches. They are now on top of the somewhat abbreviated leaderboard:
“We’ve practised a few hours in a borrowed Fareast 28R, but apart from that everything is new to us” says Josefine Boel Rasmussen, tactician for the Danish team.
Alexa Bezel (SUI) currently in second overall, is also undefeated. She won her only match of the day over World #1 and Lysekil defending champion, Swede Anna Östling:
“We lost the start to Anna, but were able to pass her at the downwind mark rounding. Then we kept our lead into the finish” Bezel describes the race, adding today’s only not completely positive comment on the new boat type.
“The asymmetric spinnaker is so large that it gets stuck everywhere in the manoeuvres, but I guess we have to learn how to sort that out” she says.
The Wednesday weather forecast looks more promising. Event organisers Sailnet and Lysekils Yacht Club Gullmar plan to run as many matches as possible, in order to catch up with the program.
Standings in Lysekil Women’s Match after the first day of the round-robin (skipper, team, nationality, wins – losses):
1 Trine Palludan, Team Kattnakken, DEN, 2-0
2 Alexa Bezel, ChicaCER Women Match Racing Team, SUI, 1-0
3 Renée Groeneveld, Dutch Match Racing Team, NED, 2-1
3 Johanna Bergqvist, Team Bergqvist Match Racing, SWE, 2-1
5 Anna Östling, Team Anna, SWE, 1-1
5 Caroline Sylvan, New Sweden Match Racing Team, SWE, 1-1
5 Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, FRA, 1-1
8 Antonia Degerlund, Team Sköna Vibbisar, FIN, 0-1
8 Linnéa Floser, Peregrine Racing, SWE, 0-1
8 Octavia Owen, Athena Racing, GBR, 0-1
11 Marinella Laaksonen, L2 Match Racing Team, FIN, 0-2
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The Women’s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series) is the first and only professional sailing series for women, hosted by the Women’s International Match Racing Association and joined by the world’s leading women match racing sailors. Match racing is sailed in two identical boats around a short course, providing fast action close to the crowds on shore. The intense racing is just as exciting for the spectators as it is strategically, tactically and physically challenging for the competing crews.
2017 WIM Series (date, event name, location, boat type):
- 16-21 June – 2017 Women’s Match Racing World Championship – Helsinki, Finland – J/80
- 7-12 August – 2017 Lysekil Women’s Match – Lysekil, Sweden – Fareast 28
- 13-18 November – 2017 Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race – Busan, South Korea – K30
- 30 November – 3 December – 2017 Carlos Aguilar Match Race – St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands – IC 24
The WIM Series is hosted by WIMRA. Official suppliers are Sailnet, Sebago, MILK, Adstream, Intertidal Ventures, Fredag and Match Racing Results Service.
Images: A number of hi-res images are available for download on www.wimseries.com/media/
Video: All videos are available on www.wimseries.com/videos/
More information about the Women’s International Match Racing Series:
WIM Series Manager Liz Baylis, , +1 415 691 6202
www.wimseries.com
www.facebook.com/WIMSeries
www.twitter.com/WIMSeries
www.youtube.com/WIMRSeries
www.instagram.com/WIMSeries
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Lysekil Women’s Match was founded in 2004, and is with a prize purse of SEK 300 000 the largest annual match racing event for women in the world. The 2017 Lysekil Women’s Match is sailed August 7 – 12, organized by Sailnet Lysekil AB and Lysekils SS Gullmar. The main sponsor of Lysekil Women’s Match is Preem, with the Lysekil Municipality as the host city. Sebago, Svitzer, Emerson and Kläppen are partners. BMW from Bilia Group is the official car.
A selection of high resolution images from Lysekil Women’s Match is available to download at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mwdr5nsj84i1iht/AABUlnrhwzKoMZU55YvbL9vYa?dl=0
More information about the Lysekil Women’s Match:
Press Officer Joakim Hermansson, , +46 70 604 25 04
Project Manager Anna Holmdahl White, , +46 73 068 42 92
www.lysekilwomensmatch.se
www.facebook.com/lysekilwomensmatch
www.twitter.com/lwmlysekil
www.youtube.com/lysekilwomensmatch
www.instagram.com/lwmlysekil
