Zurich Segelclub top Swiss J/70 Women's Cup
by J/Boats 7 Sep 2019 10:53 BST
Swiss Sailing Women's Cup 2019 © Felix Kling
The 2019 edition of the Swiss Sailing Women's Cup enjoyed two glorious days of sailing, with a south wind in the 5 to 10 kts range. It was a great atmosphere on the lake for the fifteen teams from all four corners of Switzerland. In total, twenty races were sailed.
Saturday started windless. Towards midday, an initial breeze blew across Lake Zurich and the wait came to an end. But, after just an hour of sailing, the heat dominated again, and another postponement kicked in; an opportunity for more swimming and chilling in the lake. Late in the day, a beautiful south wind with 5-9 kts enabled Race Director Rolf Frey to fire off a few more races to complete the day.
On Sunday, the south wind welcomed the sailors, and after some passing rain dampened the euphoria, the south wind was back, the sun was starting to show, and like the proverbial Swiss watch, races were run in perfect precision.
The sailors offered thrilling sailing, and the fight for victory between YC Horgen and the Zurich Sailing Club (ZSC) remained exciting to the end. The ZSC team with Amrei Keller, Theresa Lagler, Zoé Straub, Annika Pellegrini won the duel- almost a match race- against YC Horgen with the Top Match Race sailor Alexa Bezel at the wheel.
The third podium place was hotly contested between the CV Lausanne and the sailors of the SV Thalwil. Lausanne took the third podium place tied, but took the bronze based on their victory in the last race.
Even though the winning teams clearly dominated on points- the two winners scored only victories and second places - the course was very close and exciting. Between victory and defeat were often only a few boat lengths. For this great and fair sailing, we congratulate all participants!
The Women's Cup was also a successful party on land. The paella on Saturday night was just as "WoW" as the wind on the water. Wonderful what the kitchen crew and the members of host ZSC served up, from the aperitif to the dessert.
It's gratifying to see that more and more women are actively involved in taking the helm into their own hands. The success of this event shows that women's sailing is on the rise. The initiative "WoW - Women on Water" is intended to motivate new teams as well as organizers to enter the women's sailing. We look forward to more WoW events and the Swiss Sailing Women's Cup 2020.
More Swiss J/70 Women's Cup sailing information here.