WIM Series moves on to the US
– Sheboygan to host midway event September 21 – 25
Next week will see the Women’s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series) midway event, the Buddy Melges Challenge in Sheboygan, USA. With a line-up of nine teams from six countries, the event also holds World Sailing status as the 2016 Women’s World Match Racing Championship. Swedish World #1 Anna Östling sits at the top of the WIM Series leaderboard, after two back-to-back victories in the previous events in Helsinki, Finland and Lysekil, Sweden:
“We’re looking forward to a good battle” says Östling, who will race in Sheboygan with her crew of twin sisters Annie and Linnea Wennergren.
Anna Östling’s lead over WIM Series 2016 runner-up and WIM Series 2014 overall winner, Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby, currently equals to a dozen points. As the Danish skipper will not come to the Buddy Melges Challenge this year, it’s a golden opportunity for Östling & Co. to further stretch their lead. Quite soon Ulrikkeholm Klinkby will have her second child, and instead of sailing she enjoys some family life and well-deserved rest from the tough life on the international match racing circuit:
“We’re aiming to be back on WIM Series for the final event, the Carlos Aguilar Match Race in US Virgin Islands in early December” she greets from home in Danish capital Copenhagen.
Pauline Courtois sits on third place on the WIM Series so far, and in the absence of Ulrikkeholm Klinkby the French skipper has a great chance to further climb the leaderboard.
Another skipper to defend the French colours in Sheboygan is World #3 Anne-Claire Le Berre, coming back to WIM Series after a maternity leave. Le Berre is the reigning French national match racing champion after consecutive wins in 2014 and 2015, and she finished last year with a win in Busan, Korea, for a podium position on the 2015 WIM Series:
“I had my second child in July, so I have to admit that we haven’t sailed very much this year. But we still expect to be in the final in Sheboygan, because I have a very good crew and we know the boats very well. We’re really looking forward to some exciting racing in Sheboygan” says Le Berre, racing with Alice Ponsar and Mathilde Geron.
One unique feature of the WIM Series is that each venue offers a different type of boat and with it a different number of crew. In Sheboygan the nine crews will be sailing the Elliott 6m, the exact same fleet of boats that were used in the 2012 London Olympics:
“These boats will be sailed with a crew of three, so it’s a pretty dramatic change from the crew of six that each team sailed with in the last WIM Series event in Lysekil” WIM Series Manager Liz Baylis concludes.
Standings in the 2016 WIM Series after Lysekil Women’s Match, the 2nd event out of five (skipper, nationality, WIM Series points):
1. Anna Östling, SWE, 50
2. Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby, DEN, 38
3. Pauline Courtois, FRA, 36
4. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 32
5. Stephanie Roble, USA, 22
6. Marinella Laaksonen, FIN, 21
7. Renée Groeneveld, NED, 20
8. Lotte Meldgaard, DEN, 18
9. Sanna Häger, SWE, 14
10. Alexa Bezel, SUI, 12
11. Rikst Dijkstra, NED, 12
12. Johanna Bergqvist, SWE, 10
13. Antonia Degerlund, FIN, 10
14. Susanna Kukkonen FIN, 8
15. Diana Kissane, IRL, 7
16. Sanna Mattsson, SWE, 5
More information:
Monday’s press release: Skipper presentations and World Championship history.
Tuesday’s press release: US skippers Breault and Roble + Sail Sheboygan and SEAS
Wednesday: First day of racing in Sheboygan.
Sunday: Finals and prize giving.
For more facts, useful contact details and links, please see below.
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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.
An overall prize purse of 50 000 USD will be distributed by the WIM Series in addition to the prize money at each of the four events included in the 2016 WIM Series (date, event name, location, boat type):
- June 27 – July 1, Helsinki Women’s Match, Helsinki, Finland, J/80.
- August 8 – 13, Lysekil Women’s Match, Lysekil, Sweden, DS 37.
- September 20 – 25, Women’s Match Racing World Championship & Buddy Melges Challenge, Sheboygan, USA, Elliott 6m.
- October 25 – 29, Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race, Busan, South Korea, K30.
- December 1 – 4, 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, Sailing Education Association of Sheboygan, 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/
More information about the Women’s International Match Racing Series:
WIM Series Press Officer Joakim Hermansson, , +46 70 604 25 04
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
The Buddy Melges Challenge has been an ISAF Grade One match racing event in Sheboygan, USA, for a number of years. The event is named after the famous Olympian, America’s Cup sailor, boat builder, and Wisconsinite Buddy Melges, whose contributions to the sport have been long standing. The trophy for the event resides in the Sheboygan Yacht Club, and is a replica of the America’s Cup.
More information about the Buddy Melges Challenge:
Buddy Melges Challenge Press Officer Janet Weyandt, , +1 920 980 6894
www.sailsheboygan.org
www.seasheboygan.org
www.sheboyganyachtclub.com
www.facebook.com/SailSheboygan
www.facebook.com/sheboyganseas1
www.twitter.com/USSCSheboygan
www.instragram.com/SEASheboygan
The World Sailing Women’s Match Racing World Championship is an annual event that was first held in Genoa, Italy in 1999, after a successful event was held as part of the 1998 ISAF Sailing World Championship in Dubai, UAE. Skippers are invited to attend the Championship based on their World Sailing Match Racing Ranking position. Denmark’s Dorte Jensen is the most successful sailor, having amassed four World Championship titles.
World Sailing Communications Department, , + 44 2380 635 111
http://www.sailing.org/events/womensmatchworlds/index.php
