GKSS Ladies win City Hall J/70 WOW Regatta
by J/Boats 26 Jun 2023 22:27 AEST
GKSS Ladies win City Hall J/70 WOW Regatta © Lasse Eklof / Yachtphoto.se
It was the GKSS Ladies team that took home the victory in the Stockholm City Hall Women on Water Regatta. Julia Carlsson and her crew (Beata Carlsson, Johanna Thiringer, Louise Lindkvist, and Amanda Ferdinandsson) thus won a place in the final of the Women's Sailing Champions League in September.
"We have fought hard in all races. It has been difficult out on the water. The wind has come and gone. It's been a lot of twists and turns. But, we've managed to persevere and finish on top, so it feels very good," said Julia Carlsson.
Saturday offered sun, heat, and winds around 8-12 kts. With Sunday's rain, the crowd along the waterfront was somewhat thinned out and there were slightly lighter winds.
"It has been very nice to sail outside the City Hall and among all the nice boats. We felt a bit like tourists and took photos and videos," says Beata Thörneman, helmsman on board GKSS. "We have talked a lot and tried to analyze, but not overanalyze. We have learned from our mistakes and kept our spirits up. We have quite a lot of familiar routines on our boat and also sailed a lot together. These are a few reasons why we brought this home and won."
Second in the sixteen-team regatta was, somewhat surprisingly, Värmdö JS with Isabelle Lindsten as helmsman, and third was Ekerö BK with Sanna Häger as skipper.
In total, each crew completed nine races over the weekend. And the best five then met in a final. Julia Carlsson and GKSS won six of their ten races and finished five points ahead of Värmdö.
GKSS will thus become one of two Swedish crews in the final of the Women's Sailing Champions League, which will be decided in Sundby, Denmark, September 14-17. The other Swedish club that is ready for the final is Åmålsvikens SS.
Watch the interview (Swedish) of Team SANDQVIST, leader of the WOW Regatta after 1st day
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