Marinassess Women’s Match Racing - RPAYC lead the way on rough Day 1

by Lauren Hopper on 11 Sep 2016 Blustery conditions met the fleet on the opening day of the 2016 Marinassess Women’s Match Racing Regatta with 2014 regatta winner, Milly Bennett and her team from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht (RPAYC) leading the way with a clean sweep on the day, winning all 10 races.

With winds peaking at 27 knots on the harbour, the women competing in this year’s event returned to shore exhausted as the Race Committee, led by Denis Thompson ran 40 matches across the day, leaving a relatively straight forward finals day ahead.

Runners-up in last week’s Australian Women’s Match Racing Championship, Caitlin Tames (CYCA) lies in second place, having dropped two races throughout the day. Fellow club member from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Lauren Gallaway follows in third. Gallaway had one of the more intense days which included blowing out her leech-line in the mainsail half way through the day then colliding with Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s Celia Willison which incurred a -0.5 point deduction for the kiwis.

Kathleen Stroinovsky (CYCA) and her star studded crew, including an Olympic Silver medallist and two past Match Racing World Champions on board had a tough morning but fought back in the afternoon to scramble their way into fifth position, tied with Kirsten Norris (CYCA).

The Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s Claudia Thackray is in seventh and Elyse Gueevara-Rattray (CYCA) went scoreless and finished the day in eighth place.

“It was an epic day on the water! Fantastic conditions for Match Racing but quite tiring towards the end. We were glad the Race Committee decided to end the day when they did!” commented Milly Bennett (RPAYC), “We really left no stone unturned on the race track and it was a great day for us as a team, especially having not sailed together for six months now” Bennett continued.

The final day of competition is predicted to have a light Westerly breeze shifting round to the East throughout the day. Racing can be followed live on the CYCA website and on the CYCA Twitter account.