2016 WIM Series - Roble and Breault US hopes on Lake Michigan

by WIM Series on 21 Sep 2016 The Women’s International Match Racing Series (WIM Series). The Women’s Match Racing World Championship. The Buddy Melges Challenge.

Three coveted and prestigious events in a perfect match, beginning on Lake Michigan tomorrow. WIM Series Champion Stephanie Roble and US Women’s Match Racing Champion Nicole Breault are the local hopes, here to defend the Stars and Stripes:

“This is our home event and we love coming here. We all learned how to matchrace here in Sheboygan, and we’re ready to finish first here” says Stephanie Roble.

“We’re really excited to have this chance to race some of the top female match racers in the world” says Nicole Breault.

All 27 sailors in nine teams enjoyed the most perfect sailing conditions during Tuesday’s practise sessions on Lake Michigan with moderate winds and bright sunshine just outside the Sheboygan Yacht Club and the Sheboygan South Pier. But the forecast for the remainder of the week isn’t that promising, with some showers and maybe thunder expected:

“You can get just about anything out there. We’ve had a lot of light air days, so we anticipate some of that. But you can also see fog, or six foot swell and 20 knots of breeze. That’s the beauty of Lake Michigan, it’s totally unpredictable” says Maggie Shea, crewing for Roble in Epic Racing.

Tomorrow all the crews will go into race mode, beginning the event with a double round-robin, followed by quarterfinals and semis later in the week, and then the final on Sunday. Sheboygan hosts one of only four U.S. Sailing Centers, and is the site for international match racing. Sail Sheboygan and SEAS have been very instrumental in the development of women’s match racing, not just in the USA, but also worldwide:

”The Sheboygan Yacht Club is honoured and excited to be hosting a 2016 WIM Series event and the World Championship. Our members are supporting this event in a variety of ways, from race management and umpiring to shore support and community outreach. We look forward to meeting the competitors and showing them that Sheboygan Yacht Club truly is “’The friendliest club on Lake Michigan!’' states Denise Cornell, Vice Commodore of the Sheboygan Yacht Club.

In Sheboygan the competitors will race in the Elliott 6m, in the exact same fleet of boats that were used in the 2012 Olympics. Sail Sheboygan takes great pride in the maintenance of their fleet of boats, and probably the sailors will not find a better maintained and fairer fleet of boats anywhere in the world:

“My team and I have made an effort to train in the Elliott 6Ms twice to prepare for this week, but the Elliott 6m is still relatively new for us. We’ve learned a lot about how to sail the boat mechanically, but we’ll have to learn the nuances of the boat in a match race” Nicole Breault concludes.