Team Salt crowned J/70 Women-on-Water (WOW) Sailing Champions
by J/Boats 25 Sep 2022 04:40 NZST
17-18 September 2022
This past weekend, the Sundby Sailing Association hosted the 2022 Women-on-Water J/70 Championship in Sundby, Denmark from September 17-18, with sailing taking place just offshore on the northwestern part of the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Sweden.
The regatta followed the standard sailing league format, with 4-5 women per crew, short course racing of 12 minutes each, and teams rotating into boats. The format proved quite popular, the event was "over-subscribed" and attracted twenty-four top women's teams from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, and Austria. It was quite a remarkable turnout of leading women's teams to race J/70 one-design sailboats-- 108 women sailors total!
The women's teams were every bit as tough as regular "open" class teams in major J/70 events. The two days of racing were blessed with great sailing conditions, permitting the KNS Race Committee and PRO team to fire off nine rounds of races with three flights in each-- a total of 27 races! It was impressive race management and the women's teams were super-enthusiastic and efficient about the boat swaps between races.
The regatta went off smoothly until the final round on Sunday. Just one ninth-round flight of eight teams could complete races before time expired, so the other sixteen teams had to compute their average scores to add in scores for the ninth race. It was too bad, as the top three teams were essentially tied on points and only one sailed their final race.
Nevertheless, it was fiercely competitive and super-intense for the top three teams that traded off winning races and taking podium finishes in every single race! The protagonists included Team SALT, Hellerup Sejlklub's WILD Team, and Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub's TEAM PELLE P.
In the end, Team SALT was the "gold standard" for the regatta, winning eight races and scoring just one 3rd for a total of 11 pts. The Team SALT consisted of Line Just, Christina Andersen, Louise Halberg Nielsen, and Sofie Slotsgaard.
Despite the leader's dominance, Hellerup Sejlklub's WILD Team (Hellerup Highfliers) themselves won six races, had two 2nds, and added in their 9th race average of 1.25 to finish with just 11.25 points... a mere quarter-point back from first! The HS WILD Team consisted of Trine Julie Abrahamsen, Sille Christenasen, Ida Hartvig, and Helle Hansen.
Just a wee bit off the pace of the leaders, Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub's TEAM PELLE P took three 1sts, four 2nds, a 3rd, and 1.75 avg score for a total of 15.75 pts for the regatta! A fine showing from the Royal Danish YC women's team! Their crew consisted of Tina Gramkov, Helle Orum, Lotte Meldgaard, Anne Sofie Munk-Hansen, and Sara Wright.
Rounding out the top five in fourth place was the Flensburger Deern's Team (Birte Berger, Nele Soeker, Berit Bellin, and Johanna Baur) and in fifth place was the KSSS (Royal Swedish YC) Team (Sandra Sandqvist, Andrea Nordquist, Johanne Sommarlund, Hanna Helberg, and Marlin Tengstrom).
At the awards ceremony, when all was said and done, it was apparent the women sailors were incredibly enthusiastic about the regatta format, the great sailing, and, most importantly, the great camaraderie between the women sailors. Many new friends were made and the hope was that for next year all of the other half-dozen plus teams that could not make it might be included in an expansive women's event format! The feeling was that at least 36 women's teams could sail in the 2023 WOW Sailing League if they could all be accommodated by WOW's event management.
THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT to Sundby Sejlforening, the local heroes and parties, and the Dansk Sejlunion and all their great partners!
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