Danish J/70 Women On Water racing at Sundby Sailing Club
by J/Boats 13 Nov 2019 22:08 AEDT
Danish J/70 Sailing League at Sundby Sailing Club © Frederik Sivertsen
After a great WoW (Women On Water) success in 2018, all sails were set for the second annual edition in 2019. The event was extended to 21 teams; this year WoW teams came from Portugal, Germany and Sweden to race on the Danish J/70 Sailing League boats. Host for the regatta was Sundby Sailing Club.
"For us, it's a great thing to be able to attract guests from abroad as well as from the local area, especially when there are so many other things happening around us. The community that we have in the club after a weekend like this continues for the rest of the year and we can use that weekend to bring our sailing community together in Sundby. This is also why we like to host the WoW event," says Jesper Lorents, who sits on the board of Sundby Sailing Association and one of the key people behind the event.
It was close racing at the top of the leaderboard. The KDY (Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub) Team of Pelle P (Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, Helle diameterrum Ryhding, Anne Sofie Munk-Hansen, Henriette Koch and Tina Schmidt Gramkov) was up against a formidable crew on Hellerup Sejlklub HS Wild comprised of Klara Ekdahl, Anna Ekdahl, Clara Svensdotter, Isabell Jobson and Julia Stålberg.
Despite the fact that both HS Wild and Pelle P only counted all podium finishes all weekend long, they were essentially tied going into the last race. In the crucial final race, Pelle P was leading at the bottom of the first of two windward-leeward legs.
However, a bad takedown of the spinnaker enabled the HS Wild team to blow by them and win the crucial last race, with Pelle P taking second. As a result, HS Wild won, with Pelle P in second and Plastic Change Team in third.
The sailing was difficult for the sailors. The event started out with very heavy fog and virtually no wind, then slowly improved over the next two days. Despite the conditions, all the teams kept their fighting spirit. One thing the women were very good at was "networking", spending a lot of team getting to know each other better during the repetitive postponements.
More information at sejlsportsligaen.dk and www.facebook.com/WomenOnWater.WoW