GBR Match Race Girls

Today was the last day of racing in the Women’s division at Match Cup Sweden, rounding off a great week here in Marstrand. We’ve learned a lot and gained valuable experience in sailing these DS37 boats, which will be used for the Worlds later this summer. However today we made a few frustrating mistakes which unfortunately cost us dearly.

Having won the round robin stages we elected to sail against the 4th place finisher Katie Spithill in the semi finals. In the first match we controlled most of the pre-start, and set off from the line on opposite tacks. Spithill proceeded to bang the left hand corner which turned out to have paid off, arriving at the windward mark with a lead from which we could not recover.

The second match was much closer, with an even pre-start and the lead changing several times going up the first beat. Approaching the windward mark we luffed hard trying to force a penalty, but the umpires ruled that no infringement occurred. Several tacking and gybing duels ensued, however Spithill just clinched this one to go 2–0 ahead.

In match three we had a good start whereas Spithill was OCS and had to duck the line again. We split tacks up the first beat, this time with the right hand side being favoured. With a comfortable lead at the windward mark we extended throughout the race to take the score to 2–1 against.

In match four — a must-win for us to make it through to the finals — we dominated most of the pre-start before stalling in the last few seconds before the start. This let Spithill break away and approach the line with better speed, taking the lead upwind. They had a poor hoist and we sailed an excellent first downwind leg, overtaking the Australians. Spithill then engaged in a fierce tacking battle in the final upwind leg, during which she took a slight advantage once again. The final run was neck and neck, though in the last minutes they managed to find some extra breeze to pull ahead enough to win the semi-final 3–1.

In the other semi the two “local heroes” Linda Rahm and Anna Kjellberg had an equally close battle, with Kjellberg victorious 3–1, leaving us to face Rahm in a first to two points petit final for 3rd/4th playoff.

The first match of the petit final was very close with an even start, however the Swedish team held us out to the side upwind to take a small advantage which they maintained to the finish despite our best efforts to pass! Pre-start in the next match didn’t go quite according to plan, with errors on our part earning us two penalties — the first of which we have to take immediately on starting. This let Rahm sail away to a commanding lead, taking the petit-final 2–0 and 3rd place overall.

We’re a little disappointed to have ended up 4th, as generally we have been sailing well and have improved throughout the week — it has just been silly tactical errors that have let us down. However 4th in such a good field is still a credible result, and we’re confident we can learn from and work on minimising the odd few mistakes we’ve made this week.

Our next event is an RYA National Ranker in Plymouth in two weeks, before we return to Sweden for the World Championships at the end of the month. We’ll keep you updated!

Video round-up of the day’s action courtesy of Match Cup Sweden and Lemonwhale –

Today we’ve had the day off, enjoying both the fantastic weather and watching some of sailing’s greats battle it out on the men’s tour. The women’s 5th–8th places were also decided this afternoon, resulting in Claire Leroy (FRA) 5th, Nicky Souter (AUS) 6th, Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen (DEN) 7th and Sally Barkow (USA) 8th.

Tomorrow morning we sail the quarter-finals, and as winners of the round robin have elected to face Katie Spithill (AUS). The other quarter will see the two local teams of Anna Kjellberg and Linda Rahm (SWE) go head to head, before the finals are held in the afternoon.

The Match Cup Sweden website is streaming live video during the day in conjunction with Lemonwhale, as well as producing daily summaries (yesterday’s compilation below).