Australian Women’s Match Racing Championship - Souter leads

by Jennifer Crooks on 31 Aug 2009
Australian Sailing Development Squad member Nicky Souter and her crew of Nina Curtis and Nicole Douglass, representing Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, have a commanding lead in the compasscard Australian Women’s Match Racing Championship, after finishing day one with ten wins.

PRO Mark Pryke pushed through 50 round robin matches completing round robin one and one flight of round robin two. Racing commenced on time at 1015hrs with a course being set just west of Clarke Island. Breezes were consistent westerlies of 15 -18 knots throughout the morning and swung around to WNW after flight six. As the afternoon wore on the breeze continued to swing up to 120° from WSW to NNW.

For Nicky Souter the result couldn’t be better. 'I am really happy with my crew’s performance – it was a perfect result. We had good strong breeze at the beginning of the day, which allowed us to have consistent boat speed'.

'When the breeze began to shift in the afternoon we couldn’t bank on being on one side of the course as it was different each time we started. We are looking forward to tomorrow’s matches,' concluded Nicky.

The calibre of the fleet ensured that there was close racing in many flights. Catherine Trew and her crew of Keats Thomson, Alex Paton and Josie Roper, representing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, were pleased with their performance as they defeated some higher ranked competitors.

'I am pretty happy our performance today. We are sailing 4-up and that additional crew member helped us this afternoon when the breeze got shifty. The extra person meant that we were all able to stick our heads out of the boat and pick the shifts'.

'The girls were all switched on today and we were really happy to beat higher ranked teams that have been sailing for two months overseas,' concluded Catherine.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for 10-15 knot westerlies in the morning with an easing of conditions around lunchtime, once again providing challenging conditions for the competitors and the race committee.

For results of Day One Round Robin and a full list of competitors click here