Top match racing women ready for Korean take-off
– second stage of Women’s International Match Racing Series in Busan
The inaugural Women’s International Match Racing Series is in Korea for the second event. Nine world-class teams will race June 5 – 9 for coveted Series points and a championship title in the ISAF Women’s Match Racing Worlds in Dongbaek Park, Haeundae Beach in Busan.
London 2012 Olympic gold medalist Tamara Echegoyen hasn’t been on the match racing scene since taking third place here in Busan at her latest event, in October 2012. In the meantime she has kicked off a new Olympic campaign in the 49er FX, and now she’s looking forward to sailing some match racing again:
– I’m missing sailing boat against boat, I like it so much, Echegoyen says.
Ekaterina Skudina of Russia is currently holding second place on the ISAF World Match Racing Ranking, coming to the Busan event with a partially new crew:
– This year we haven’t had time for very much practise as a crew, but once you come to an event you always want to win, don’t you? she asks rhetorically and smiles.
An experienced World Championship sailor is Camilla Ulrikkeholm, having raced in four of the latest five ISAF Women’s Match Racing Worlds. She is now ranked fourth in the world, with her best championship result so far a sixth place in 2009, when the event was held in Lysekil, Sweden. She’s in Busan well prepared after a busy spring at her home waters near Danish capital Copenhagen, aiming for a better result than in previous championships:
– We’ve spent two months practising and racing with our six people crew in the DS 37s, and I think that may be an advantage in the 9-metre Bakewell boat sailed here in Busan, she says.
Katie Spithill, Australia, has spent the latest six months on maternity leave with her baby daughter. With the team members currently residing in three different countries, and with different focuses on work, study & family, they are looking forward to getting back out on the water for some fun. Her latest event in Korea was in 2010, finishing second:
– We are very excited to be back together for our first event after a long break, Katie Spithill says.
Also enjoying being back on the match racing scene is former Olympian Anna Kjellberg of Sweden, who has formed a new and talented team of ambitious young sailors:
– We’re in the beginning of a three year campaign in match racing. I don’t expect the results to come this early, but you never know, she comments.
Competitors in ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship in Busan, the second event of the inaugural Women’s International Match Racing Series (skipper/nationality/ISAF World Ranking):
Ekaterina Skudina, RUS, 2
Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, 4
Tamara Echegoyen, ESP, 9
Alexa Bezel, SUI, 12
Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 21
Claudia Pierce, NZL, 25
Susannah Pyatt, NZL, 52
Sung-Eun Choi, KOR, 130
Katie Spithill, AUS, 165
Standings in the 2013 Women’s International Match Racing Series after the first event in St Quay, France (skipper/nationality/WIMRS points):
1. Lucy Macgregor, GBR, 25
2. Julie Bossard, FRA, 22
3. Stephanie Roble, USA, 20
4. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 16
5. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 14
6. Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 12
7. Claudia Pierce, NZL, 10
8. Milly Bennett, AUS, 8
9. Alexa Bezel, SUI, 6
10. Morgane Dréau, FRA, 4
The inaugural 2013 Women’s International Match Racing Series is a professional sailing circuit, hosted by the Women’s International Match Racing Association for the world’s leading women match racing sailors. In match racing the crews meet two by two in exciting duels that can easily be followed and understood by the spectators.
An overall prize purse of 50 000 USD will be distributed by the WIMRSeries at the final event in Lysekil, Sweden, in addition to the prize money at each of the five events included in the WIMRSeries (date, event name, location, boat type):
* May 15-19 – Saint Quay Women’s Match Racing – St Quay-Portrieux, France – Elliott 6m.
* June 5-9 – Busan Cup International Women’s Match Race – Busan, Korea – K 30.
* June 20-23 – Danish Open Ladies Cup – Copenhagen, Denmark – J/80.
* July 11-14 – New York Women’s Invitational – Oakcliff, New York, USA – SM 40.
* August 5-10 – Lysekil Women’s Match – Lysekil, Sweden – DS 37.
