Women's Int'l Match Racing Series - No Saturday surprises in St. Quay

by Joakim Hermansson on 19 May 2013 At the Women’s International Match Racing Series in Saint Quay, there were no Saturday surprises, as all four of the crews that dominated the double round-robin also qualified for the semi-finals.

The event's sovereign Lucy Macgregor of Great Britain, and Klaartje Zuiderbaan from The Netherlands, both swept away their opponents (Milly Bennett of Australia and Swede Caroline Sylvan) with a clean 3 - 0 score in their respective quarterfinal. Sylvan admits a few mistakes that turned out to be critical in the quarterfinals against the Dutch helm, with her international crew from France, Slovenia and Great Britain:

'I think we made pretty good starts and got away ahead in our matches, but twice we sailed into light air after rounding the top mark, and then Klaartje managed to come with good speed from behind and roll us while we didn't have any pressure,' Caroline sighs.

'Summing up we've still had great fun in this regatta, learning a lot for the coming events on the new Women's International Match Racing Series this year,' she says.

Local hope Julie Bossard and American Stephanie Roble lost only one match each in their respective quarterfinals against Anna Kjellberg of Sweden and Kiwi Claudia Pierce:

'We had a good morning wrapping up the round-robin, but as we went into the quarterfinals our prestarts weren't too strong. We indeed got the side of the course that we wanted, but with Stephanie ahead of us it really didn't matter,' Claudia explains.

'In the first quarterfinal match we were ahead of Stephanie after the start, but then we made a stupid mistake and sailed to the wrong top mark, Claudia says, also revealing that she will bring her team to Korea, USA and Sweden for the inaugural Women's International Match Racing Series events.

'Hopefully we will improve along the way!'

Stephanie Roble opened her Saturday in France with three consecutive wins, to finish the double round-robin on 14 wins and four losses. Going into the quarterfinals as second seeds she and her crew from the Chicago Match Race Center decided to focus on what they had to improve:

'It was mostly communication issues, such as how to tack on the opponent, but our discussions obviously paid off in the quarterfinals,' Roble says.

'I think we had close quarterfinal races, not always knowing exactly where on the course to go. But my crew did an excellent job in finding that out, so I could concentrate on driving the boat fast,' she concludes.

Results after the quarterfinals in Saint Quay Women's Match Racing, the first event of the inaugural 2013 Women's Match Racing Series. The four winners advances to the semi-finals, to be sailed before the final on Sunday May 19 for the event prize purse of 7,800 Euros. Lucy Macgregor will choose her semi-final opponent on Sunday morning.

QF 1: Lucy Macgregor, GBR vs Milly Bennett, AUS, 3 - 0
QF 2: Stephanie Roble, USA vs Claudia Pierce, NZL, 3 - 1
QF 3: Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED vs Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 3 - 0
QF 4: Julie Bossard, FRA vs Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 3 - 1

Bennett, Pierce, Sylvan and Kjellberg will sail a Sunday round-robin to decide fifth to eighth place.

Results after the second round-robin in Saint Quay Women's Match Racing, the first event of the inaugural 2013 Women's Match Racing Series. The eight first teams advanced to the quarterfinals.

Place/name/nationality/victories/lost matches:

1. Lucy Macgregor, GBR, 15 - 3
2. Stephanie Roble, USA, 14 - 4
3. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 12 - 6
4. Julie Bossard, FRA, 12 - 6
5. Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 10 - 8
6. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 8 - 10
7. Claudia Pierce, NZL, 8 - 10
8. Milly Bennett, AUS, 6 - 12
9. Alexa Bezel, SUI, 5 - 13
10. Morgane Dréau, FRA, 0 - 18

The inaugural 2013 Women's International Match Racing Series is a professional sailing circuit, hosted by the Women's International Match Racing Association for the world's leading women match racing sailors. In match racing the crews meet two by two in exciting duels that can easily be followed and understood by the spectators.

An overall prize purse of 50 000 USD will be distributed by the WIMRSeries at the final event in Lysekil, Sweden, in addition to the prize money at each of the five events included in the WIMRSeries.

(date, event name, location, boat type):

* May 15-19 - Saint Quay Women's Match Racing - St Quay-Portrieux, France - Elliott 6m.
* June 6-9 - Busan Cup International Women's Match Race - Busan, Korea - K 30.
* June 20-23 - Danish Open Ladies Cup - Copenhagen, Denmark - J/80.
* July 11-14 - New York Women's Invitational - Oakcliff, New York, USA - SM 40.
* August 5-10 - Lysekil Women's Match - Lysekil, Sweden - DS Womens International Match Racing Series