Ladies Match Cup

Monday 29th September, 2008

Lucy Macgregor, fresh from European Championship victory, took the Ladies Match Cup on Lake Constance this Sunday 28 September. With crew Ally Martin, Georgie Blaver-Mann and Bex Marriott she dealt with a difficult range of weather conditions to win from Silke Hahlbrock of Germany the current world ranked #2 match racer.

10 teams from the top of the Women’s Match Racing world rankings gathered to fight for this ISAF grade 1 event. To win they had to complete two round robin series, semi finals and finals, sailing Beneteau First Class 7.5s.

Macgregor and her team sailed a great opening series in winds varying from 3kts to 25kts, only dropping a couple of races. They comfortably qualified for the semi finals along with Hahlbrock (GER), Christelle Philippe (FRA) ranked #7 and Julie Bossard (FRA) ranked #18.

In the semi final Macgregor was selected by Bossard, the Round Robin winner as her opponent. A mistake by Bossard. Macgregor and her team sailed two fantastic races, with good crew work and decision making, leading the French from start to finish to put themselves into the finals with a 2–0 victory. Hahlbrock beat Philippe by the same margin.

The first race of the final was again convincingly won by Macgregor. This time in very little wind, emphasising her ability to sail fast. However what little wind there was did not stay long enough for the final to be completed. But with Macgregor having been the most consistent sailor and knocking out her higher ranked opponents, she was crowned champion, celebrating in style with a shower of champagne. Hahlbrock settled for 2nd place and Philippe won the petit final to take 3rd ahead of her compatriot Bossard.

Overall Results:

  1. Lucy Macgregor (GBR)
  2. Silke Hahlbrock (GER)
  3. Christelle Philippe (FRA)
  4. Julie Bossard (FRA)
  5. Lorenza Mariani (ITA)
  6. Charlotta Thorelius (SWE)
  7. Madlen Frey (GER)
  8. Karin Hagström (SWE)
  9. Maria Ramires (POR)

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Macgregor wins Eurosaf Championship

Sunday 14th September, 2008

Ten strong teams met at St Quay on the north Brittany coast for the European Women’s Match Racing Championship from 9–13 September. Lucy Macgregor and her team of Ally Martin, Imogen Wellington and Holly King improved all week to win the Championship in a tense a 5 race match with Italian Sabrini Gurioli and her team.

Sport Nautique St Quay Portrieux ran a superb event. They provided 10 first class 8 boats and spares so that all the teams could sail all the time. Racing was held near to the shore to give the spectators a grand stand view and weather was generally warm and sunny with breezes between 5 and 15 knots.

For two days the teams sailed a double round robin giving plenty of time to get used to the boats. Racing was very tight with only the team of Anne-Claire Le Berre getting substantially away from the rest. Two teams were eliminated from the draw for the quarter finals and, of course, all the others teams were back on level terms again.

At this stage Macgregor and team started to excel. Two 3–0 wins against Christelle Phillipe of France and current world ranked number 2 Lotte Meldgarde Pedersen of Denmark gave them some resting time. Gurioli had longer and more tense matches against Silke Hahlbrock, world ranked 3, and then Le Berre.

The final was sailed in 12–15 knots of breeze. Racing was extremely tight with boat handling at a premium. But in the end a good spinnaker hoist at the final windward mark gave Macgregor’s team just enough space to take the final race and the championship.

Overall Results:

  1. Lucy Macgregor (GBR)
  2. Sabrini Gurioli (ITA)
  3. Anne-Claire Le Berre (FRA)
  4. Lotte Meldgaard Petersen (DEN)
  5. Julie Bossard (FRA)
  6. Silke Hahlbrok (GER)
  7. Christelle Phillipe (FRA)
  8. Rita Goncalves (POR)
  9. Sandra Azon (ESP)
  10. Maija Saijonmaa (FIN)

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European Champions!

Sunday 14th September, 2008

My biggest thanks for this week in St Quay has to go to my crew, Ally Martin, Imogen Wellington and Holly King. With the four of us having never sailed together before and Ally doing bow for just her second event after the Nationals, it is fair to say we had a bit to do! With 10 teams competing from 7 Nations racing was close in the double round robin stages with only the French team of Anne-Claire Le Berre making a break at the front. Our round robbing stage did not go so well however with us learning to sail together and a few boat handling errors we finished a disappointing 7th but knew as a team we had come a long way and were now much better prepared to go forward.

Thursday saw us begin to excel in lighter breeze of only 5knots. The draw put us against Christelle Philippe in the best of 5 quarter-final. After winning the first start we cruised through our races winning 3–0 and progressing us through to the semi-finals against Lotte Meldgard Pedersen. The semis saw another strong performance by our team, again winning 3–0 from the best of 5 series.

It was a brilliant feeling knowing we were through to the finals specially having worked so hard and having come so far as a team to get there. We also knew that the journey was far from over and we’d be disappointed if we just came away with second. Sure enough the journey was far from over and we were in for a thrilling five race final against the Italian team skippered by Sabrina Gurioli.

During the first race it remained light winds and after an equal start we held slightly more speed to gain the lead and extend throughout the race to win. 1–0 Macgregor. Sabrina pulled back however in the 2nd and 3rd races after poor starts by me. 1–2 Gurioli. The pressure was now mounting, knowing that one slip up could give Sabrina the race win and overall title in a building sea breeze. After another equal start in the 4th race and what seemed like a never ending tacking duel where Imogen, Ally and Holly put in a simply brilliant effort, we managed to give Sabrina a penalty at the final windward mark giving us a slight advantage. A better hoist from Sabrina put us equal going down the final run and all our focus was on not getting ‘hooked’ and getting a penalty ourselves. After a couple of huge swerves and near misses we were able to regain control and surf to the finish to put the scores equal and everything depending on the final race. 2–2 back to square one. The decider race and the breeze had now built to 15knots with chop and certainly, tensions were high! During the pre-start we got into circles with Sabrina and with 2knots of tide running through the course the big decision was when to break out of the circles and head for the start line. After a great call from Ally we broke first and had a great start with a solid cover on Sabrina. Although the Italians kept the pressure on we were able to keep cover, stick to basics and stay between the opposition and the finish line to cross the line first and as 2008 European Champions!

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