Quarter-Final action in Lysekil Women's Match

by WIM Series on 12 Aug 2017 World #1 Anna Östling won the Swedish battle against Caroline Sylvan in their Lysekil Women’s Match Quarter-Final. Trine Palludan (DEN), Pauline Courtois (FRA) and Renée Groeneveld (NED) follow Östling to Saturday’s Semi-Final:

“Today we did our job with the right attitude and with really good starts. It was obviously an advantage for us to sail a lot of matches” Östling says, referring to the six repechage matches she had to do, to even get to the Quarters.

On the waters of off Släggö Island in Lysekil, on the beautiful Swedish west coast, the westerly winds and the bright sunshine continued Friday, to offer sailors and spectators excellent conditions. First the crowds on the rocks saw the last four Quarter-Final spots being distributed, and then they were able to follow the exciting Quarter-Final matches. Anna Östling was the first skipper to secure her ticket to the quarters, by beating fellow club member from the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club, Caroline Sylvan, three – one:

“We had some difficulties in getting up to speed in our boat, and that’s extra tough when our opponent didn’t make any mistakes at all” says a clearly disappointed Sylvan.

The speed was definitely not a problem for Renée Groeneveld, who lost her first Quarter-Final match to Marinella Laaksonen of Finland, but then came back with three straight wins:

“In the first match our gennaker fell into the water and Marinella could slip by, but in the last three matches we got off the starting line very fast and in the desired position. Then we managed to stay ahead all the way round the course” the Dutch skipper comments.

Pauline Courtois also went through to the Semi-Finals with a three – one score, over Alexa Bezel of Switzerland, and the French skipper is looking forward very much to continue racing on Saturday:

“Today we only made very few mistakes, and we’re going to go on like that all the way through the final” she says with confidence, praising the local conditions.

“It’s a pleasure sailing, and winning, here in Lysekil!”

After her top placement in the round-robin, Trine Palludan of the Royal Danish Yacht Club defeated local hope Johanna Bergqvist three – zero in their Quarter-Final. But despite the score, the Dane didn’t find the matches very easily won:

“No, definitely not, we had to fight hard for it. Johanna put herself in good positions, to put the pressure on us, as soon as we made even the slightest mistakes. We got three good matches, that will help us a lot for tomorrow” Palludan concludes.

Lysekil Women's Match, the second competition in the Women's International Match Racing Series (WIM Series), finishes with semifinals and final on Saturday.

Results in the Quarter-Finals of Lysekil Women's Match:

Trine Palludan, DEN - Johanna Bergqvist, SWE, 3 - 0
Pauline Courtois, FRA - Alexa Bezel, SUI, 3 - 1
Renée Groeneveld, NED - Marinella Laaksonen, FIN, 3 - 1
Caroline Sylvan, SWE - Anna Östling, SWE, 3 - 1

Results in the Repechage Round Robin in Lysekil Women's Match (skipper, team, nationality, victories - losses):

1. Anna Östling, Team Anna, SWE, 5 - 1
2. Marinella Laaksonen, L2 Match Racing Team, FIN, 4 - 2
3. Johanna Bergqvist, Team Bergqvist Match Racing, SWE, 4 - 2
4. Alexa Bezel, ChicaCER Women Match Racing Team, SUI, 3 - 3
5. Linnéa Floser, Peregrine Racing, SWE, 2 - 4
6. Octavia Owen, Athena Racing, GBR, 2 - 4
7. Antonia Degerlund, Team Sköna Vibbisar, 1 - 5