VS Womens Match Racing, Day 1- Alison Leads

by Laurie Fullerton on 16 Oct 2005 A sailing marathon took place today on Hamilton harbor during The Virtual Spectator ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship where 12 teams from seven nations completed 36 races in a round robin elimination series that will ultimately decide this year's 2005 ISAF Women's Match Racing champion.

Sailing identical J24 Class keelboats without spinnakers due to the 20 knot + gusty winds, the teams who had consistently strong starts and boat handling skills were the ones to gain the most critical victories. At the end of the day, it was veteran American sailor Betsy Alison who emerged undefeated with a 6-0 score.

‘We had a lot of confidence going into the racing today and our experience in keeping the boat flat upwind was crucial,’ Alison said. ‘We are fortunate in that we know and sail the J24s well but we also had excellent crew work today.’

American Sally Barkow, the reigning ISAF world champion, must overcome a 3-3 deficit in order to stay in contention against the performances of sailors like Alison, and Sweden's Marie Bjorling who finished today with a 5-1 score.

‘We made small mistakes and that cost us but we will go out there tomorrow and do well,’ Barkow said.

Bjorling who is ranked number two in world match racing says she is pleased with her standing today and credits excellent crew work for the team's performance.

‘We sailed with a lot of discipline today and we made very few errors,’ Bjorling said. ‘The starts are really important and we had some very good starts which was great.’

Bermudian sailing legend and Olympian Paula Lewin was disappointed with her 3-3 performance today and expressed regret that she had not sailed in a J24 more often.

‘The J24s turned out to be a big learning curve for us. We have sailed this event in International One Designs before and feel we should have practiced more in the J24s,’ Lewin said. ‘Losing two races today by a small margin was disappointing but losing our third race to Betsy Alison was due to her amazing performance today.’

For Klaartje Zuiderbaan of Holland, ranked number four in the world after winning last year's Cicada women's match racing championship here in Bermuda, her current standing of two wins and four losses may be difficult to overcome in this competitive fleet.

‘Lets just say that we made mistakes today and you cannot afford to make mistakes at this level. There was a lot of breeze and we don't know the J24 that well,’ she said. ‘There were some things that we did very well and yet other things were not good enough. We are hoping to make tomorrow easier.’

Claire Leroy of France who is ranked number one in the world of match racing had a discouraging day and faces a 4-2 deficit going into tomorrow's racing.

‘Today was not a good day for us and we are disappointed,’ Leroy said. ‘We don't know the J24s very well and things just didn't go our way. We are hoping that tomorrow will be better.’

The only southern hemisphere team, skippered by Australia's Nicky Souter had a mixed day with three wins and three losses.

Saturday October 15
Updated at 6:03 local time, racing has finished for the day.

1 = Win
0 = Loss

Win/Loss Name vs Name Win/Loss
0 Zuiderbaan vs Braestrup 1
1 Bjorling vs Leroy 0
0 Axhede vs Barkow 1
0 Lewin vs Pedersen 1
0 Rahm vs Philippe 1
1 Alison vs Souter 0


Win/Loss Name vs Name Win/Loss
0 Leroy vs Zuiderbaan 1
0 Axhede vs Braestrup 1
0 Barkow vs Bjorling 1
0 Philippe vs Lewin 1
1 Alison vs Pedersen 0
1 Souter vs Rahm 0


Win/Loss Name vs Name Win/Loss
1 Bjorling vs Axhede 0
0 Zuiderbaan vs Barkow 1
1 Braestrup vs Leroy 0
0 Pedersen vs Souter 1
0 Philippe vs Alison 1
0 Rahm vs Lewin 1


Win/Loss Name vs Name Win/Loss
1 Braestrup vs Barkow 0
1 Leroy vs Axhede 0
1 Bjorling vs Zuiderbaan 0
1 Souter vs Philippe 0
1 Pedersen vs Rahm 0
0 Lewin vs Alison 1


Win/Loss Name vs Name Win/Loss
1 Barkow vs Leroy 0
1 Braestrup vs BJorling 0
1 Zuiderbaqan vs Axhede 0
0 Rahm vs Alison 1
1 Lewin vs Souter 0
1 Pedersen vs Philippe 0



Along with the women's championship, a continuous battle amongst 11 men and one woman rages as they compete in the open,' unseeded qualifying event for the King Edward VII Gold Cup and a shot at racing against the seeded challengers and a portion of the $100,000 prize money.

The unseeded sailors are some of the world's best and include teams members challenging for the 32nd America's Cup such as South African sailor Ian Ainslie of Team Shosholoza, New Zealander Cameron Appleton of the French K-Challenge Team and Poland's Karol Jabolonski who steers the Spanish Desafio Espanol challenge.

Seeded skippers entering the competition on Thursday include Eight top match race sailors (with ISAF Open Ranking): Ed BAIRD, #2 (USA), Russell COUTTS, #3 (New Zealand), Mathieu RICHARD, #4 (France), James SPITHILL, #5 (Australia), Ian WILLIAMS, #7 (Great Britain), Staffan LINDBERG, #10 (Finland), Gavin BRADY, #37 (New Zealand), and Chris DICKSON, #45 (New Zealand).

They will meet the top six finishers in the Grade 3 Qualifying event plus the Virtual Spectator ISAF Women's Match Racing World Champion and runner-up.

About The Virtual Spectator ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship:www.vssailing.com

The Virtual Spectator ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship 2005, scheduled for October 15-18, 2005, is set in Hamilton Harbour just off the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. ISAF will present the prizes on Tuesday October 19th, and the winner and runner up will be invited to participate in the Investors Guaranty presentation of The King Edward Vll Gold Cup Match Racing Tournament. The first place skipper will be known as The 2005 Virtual Spectator ISAF Women's Match Racing World Champion. All twelve competitors will share the $25,000 purse: first prize is $5000; second prize $3500; third prize $2750; and fourth prize $2500.