Royal Danish YC (KDY) crowned Women's J/70 SAILING Champions!
by J/Boats 16 Oct 2022 21:17 AEDT
2022 Women's J/70 SAILING Champions League regatta © PatrickTho¨ni
The Cercle de la Voile de Vidy in Switzerland hosted the 2022 Women's J/70 SAILING Champions League regatta from October 7th to 9th on one of the most spectacular mountain lakes in the Swiss Alps- Lake Lausanne.
Twenty-four teams participated in the event from ten nations across Europe, with at least 110 ladies participating from Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Norway, Finland, and France. It was a remarkable testimony to the growth and strength of the J/70 one-design class across Europe to see such a diversity of women's teams.
Despite the tremendous enthusiasm and beaming smiles, sadly the weather Godz did not cooperate. For three days, the women's teams spent a fair amount of time waiting ashore for the winds to materialize on the lake. In the end, it was challenging for the CVV RC/ PRO team to get in six complete races in three rotations for the 24 teams. The teams sailed the familiar sailing league format of 15-minute races, rotating into the fleet of eight J/70s every race.
The racing was incredibly tight for the top women's J/70 sailing club teams throughout Europe. It was self-evident the most experienced and most practiced teams held an edge in all aspects of their racing, with the Danish and German teams predominating at the top of the leaderboard. Winning was the Royal Danish Yacht Club (KDY) led by skipper Lotte Meldgaard Petersen and her crew of Anne Sofie Munk-Hansen, Tina Schmidt-Gramkov, and Helle Orum-Ryhding. Their race tally of 3-3-1-2-2 for 13 pts total was just enough to edge out their opponents for the overall title- 2022 Women's SAILING Champions for all of Europe!
The balance of the podium was determined by a tiebreaker between two famous sailing clubs in Europe, tied at 14 pts each. Despite their roller-coaster scoreline of 6-1-1-1-1-4, the blitzkrieg of bullets enabled the Hamburger Segel-Club from Hamburg, Germany to take the silver medal. It was clear their extensive time racing on the Alster Lake in downtown Hamburg paid off sailing the light, flat, shifty wind conditions. The HSC team consisted of skipper Silke Basedow, Juliane Zepp, Maren Hahlbrock, and Lea Witt. Notably, Silke Basedown was also the 2022 winner of the Helga Cup in Germany, emblematic of the J/70 Women's German National Champion.
Getting the short end of that countback for the silver was another Danish team, Team SALT from the Aarhus Sejklub (ASK). Posting a steady 2-3-5-2-1-1 enabled them to take the bronze, led by Line Just-Emsvang and crew of Louise Halberg, Sofie Slotsgaard, and Christina Andersen. Notably, Team SALT was also the winner of the 2022 WOW Sailing Championship in Sundby (Copenhagen), Denmark.
Rounding out the top five was the Yacht Club Arbon from Arbon, Switzerland in fourth place (Livia Naef, Nathalie Winiger, Danielle Rast, Tessa Egli, and Dominika Vadurova) and another German team in fifth place- Munich Yacht Club with a team of Isabella Knaus, Valerie Knaus, Clara Borlinghaus, and Carina Wehr.
The Swiss Sailing League was the organizer of the Women's SAILING Champions League this year. The sailors found a magnificent setting at the Club de Voile de Vidy in Lausanne and received a lot of active support from the club's numerous volunteers and volunteers from Switzerland and abroad.
This top event in women's sailing was made possible by the sponsors EFG Private Banking, Streuli Pharma, the City of Lausanne, and the Fond du Sport Vaudois. One highlight was certainly the live streaming, which was realized by Wacker-TV. A team of over twenty made a professional live broadcast possible, to the delight of all the teams involved and those interested in sailing. The commentators Christian Sprecher (German) and Nathalie Birt (English) did a brilliant job. Even if you are not familiar with the sailing format or racing, it is fascinating to learn a lot about it. Many topics related to sailing in Switzerland were also highlighted to help more people access and understand it in a well-founded way.
The next Women's SAILING Champions League will take place from 15-17. Sept 23 in Copenhagen.
J/70 Women's SAILING Champions League results available here.
For more Women's J/70 SAILING Champions League information, click here.