Danish Open Ladies Cup - Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen still on top

by Joakim Hermansson on 22 Jun 2013 At the 2013 Danish Ladies Open Cup, home sailor Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen remains on top after a second day with challenging conditions on the Skovshoved waters. She managed the gusty and shifty offshore winds up to just over 20 knots very well, and was beaten only by unranked Merel Witteveen of the Netherlands, who is now on a shared third place after British runner-up Lucy Macgregor.

'Today's races were extremely fun and exciting, in a lot of wind that required full concentration on boathandling and tactics' Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen comments, yet admitting a few mistakes that eventually cost her the match against Witteveen. 'We made two bad sets of the asymmetric spinnaker that we're not very used to handling, and that was surely enough for being defeated,' she explains without seeming to be too sad.

Merel Witteveen is an unranked match racing skipper who was invited to Danish Open Ladies Cup as a wildcard, now doing her first regatta at the helm of a match racing crew and sharing third place on the score board so far: 'It was amazing conditions today, a lot better than yesterday, and we're making so much progress all the time' Witteveen shines.

'We made a pretty good start and then managed to squeeze in before Lotte at the first top mark rounding. But she was on our tail all the way, and after every time she had a bad spinnaker set she came back and fought,' Witteveen continues, analysing the match in which she defeated the 'unbeatable' Dane.

After a couple of hours postponement due to lack of wind, the match races of Danish Open Ladies Cup got underway just after lunchtime. The race management of this third event on the inaugural 2013 Women's International Match Racing Series then used the exceptional Scandinavian bright light of the summer solstice, to continue racing until late in the evening. British Lucy Macgregor was one of the almost exhausted sailors that gathered at the Royal Danish Yacht Club for chicken barbeque and pasta salad when racing concluded. She is runner-up after having been defeated only twice, but both times by Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen. 'It was nice to have some breeze again today, and the match against Lotte was fun and close. We haven't sailed a lot with asymmetric spinnakers, but my team did a very strong job and improved every match' Lucy comments.

With three skippers tied for third place on a 6 - 5 record, every single match of the remaining seven flights in the double round robin will be extremely important to decide which four crews that will make it to the semi-finals.

Standings after the second day of round-robin in the Danish Open 2013 Ladies Cup, the third event on the inaugural 2013 Women's International Match Racing Series:

(skipper/nationality/wins/losses):

1. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, DEN, 10 - 1 2. Lucy Macgregor, GBR, 9 - 2 3. Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, 6 - 5 3. Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 6 - 5 3. Merel Witteveen, NED, 6 - 5 6. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 6 - 7 7. Stephanie Roble, USA, 4 - 6 8. Anna Kjellgren, SWE, 4 - 8 9. Anne Marit Hansen, NOR, 0 – 12

Standings in the 2013 Women's International Match Racing Series after two events, in France and in Korea:

(skipper/nationality/WIMRS points):

1. Tamara Echegoyen, ESP, 25 1. Lucy Macgregor, GBR, 25 1. Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 25 4. Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, 22 4. Julie Bossard, FRA, 22 6. Stephanie Roble, USA, 20 7. Katie Spithill, AUS, 19 8. Alexa Bezel, SUI, 17 8. Claudia Pierce, NZL, 17 9. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 16 11. Ekaterina Skudina, RUS, 15 12. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 14 13. Susannah Pyatt, NZL, 9 14. Milly Bennett, AUS, 8 15. Sung-Eun Choi, KOR, 4 15. Morgane Dréau, FRA, WIMRS website