Lysekil Women's Match action commences August 5

by Joakim Hermansson on 15 May 2013 The 2013 Lysekil Women’s Match is set to take place 5-10 August and Danish match racing star Camilla Ulrikkeholm is one of the skippers already having accepted an invitation to this year’s event. British Olympian Lucy Macgregor, Claudia Pierce of New Zealand and last year’s rookie Alexa Bezel of Switzerland (runner-up in Lysekil 2012) will be some of her competitors. Olympian Anna Kjellberg and fellow Swede Caroline Sylvan will also participate in Lysekil.

‘We will race in all the events of the inaugural Women’s International Match Racing Series this year,’ Anna Kjellberg says.

‘The competition will be very tough, but we are aiming on yet another victory in Lysekil,’ Camilla Ulrikkeholm comments.

During her ten years on the match racing circuit the Dane chose never to go for the Olympics, but instead combining her occupation as an architect with her sailing career. Despite training sessions four times a week and holding sixth place on the ISAF world ranking, Camilla still thinks that she and her team are sailing on a hobby level, but most people wouldn’t agree on that. Her strong ambitions and ability to keep the continuity in her team have lead them to winning the event in Korea two years ago and to two consecutive triumphs in Lysekil. And despite full time work she is now taking her sailing even further:

‘We will do almost all the events on the WIMR Series, except for the ones in France and USA. We just can’t sort out our busy job schedules to go there.’

Since the end of her Olympic campaign in August last year, Swedish match racer Anna Kjellberg hasn’t been sailing that much. Now she is intensifying her racing again, starting already on Thursday this week with the first event on the WIMRSeries. In Saint Quay-Portrieux on the French Atlantic coast she will see the Olympic boat Elliott 6 again:

‘This time I will race with three crew instead of just two, she explains, revealing that Karin Almquist, Johanna Larsson and Therese Antman get the chance.’

Kjellberg is match race training at the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club in Långedrag just outside Gotheburg on the Swedish west coast, where the boat type DS 37 is the same as in Lysekil Women’s Match:

‘The DS 37 is a perfect platform when trying to form a new team,’ Anna explains, ‘Looking forward to this season and especially to the final event in Lysekil.’

‘Absolutely! Lysekil Women’s Match is always the pinnacle of the season,’ she laughs.

A total of twelve crews will participate in the Lysekil Women’s Match August 5 – 10, with six more crews to be revealed fairly soon. Initiator and project leader Anna Holmdahl White has some aces up her sleeve:

‘Several of the top sailors in the world have shown interest to race for our 50 000 USD prize purse,’ she says.

Lysekil Women's Match is with a 300 000 SEK (50 000 USD) prize purse the largest yearly event for women match racing sailors, concerning the mix of spectators, publicity and prize money. In match racing the crews meet two by two in exciting duels that can easily be followed and understood by the spectators.

The world’s leading women match racing sailors participate in the eighth issue of Lysekil Women’s Match, August 5 – 10 2013, arranged by Sailnet Lysekil AB in cooperation with Lysekils SS Gullmar.

Lysekil Women’s Match is the final stage of the Women’s International Match Racing Series, with events in France, Korea, Denmark, USA and Sweden, and the overall Series prize purse of an additional 50 000 USD will be distributed in Lysekil Womens Match Lysekil Womens Match ENG