Beneteau 7.5 « GBR Match Race Girls - Olympic Match Racing Campaign

Team Macgregor wins in Antibes

Monday 13th October, 2008

With Ladies Match Racing adopted as the new discipline in the 2012 Olympics it’s great for Team GBR to see Lucy Macgregor step out and announce herself so convincingly on the world stage. This time Team Macgregor (Lucy, sister Nicky, Georgie Blaver-Mann and Ally Martin) beat World #3 Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen 3-2 in Antibes to win the ISAF Nations Cup Northern Europe Regional Final.

Whilst Team GBR celebrate the successes of Qingdao, Macgregor stepped away from the Yngling, moved back to helming putting her talents to good use in the match racing arena. The two time National Champion and current European Champion has set her sights on 2012 and has quickly put together a campaign that has seen her win and take 2nd in Grade 1 events in Germany and Portugal respectively, and now qualify GBR for the Nations Cup Grand Final in Brazil, March 2009.

Performances like this have seen Lucy and her team leap to 13th and top British helm in the recently updated World Match Racing Rankings despite only 5 from a potential 8 race results counting, this is hoped to be improved even further when the Rankings are next updated at the end of this month. What’s more impressive is the range of boats that they have mastered to achieve these results from the small and lightweight First 7.5 to the purpose designed, much larger, Swedish Match 40.

As well as the Match Racing Team Macgregor has also illustrated their versatility in fleet racing where they were top female boat at the J24 World Championships in Sardinia.

The team’s next match racing event will be the Rolex Osprey Cup in St Petersburg, Florida 21st–25th October.

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Tags: 2008, Antibes, Beneteau 7.5, ISAF Nations Cup Qualifier

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: