CLAIRE LEROY WINS WOMEN’S EVENT IN MATCH CUP SWEDEN

To get to the Finals, Leroy and her team of Marie Riou, Claire Pruvot, Elodie Bertrand, Annie Lush, and Magane Gautier first dispensed with local-based Linda Rahm (wife of Tour skipper Mattias Rahm) and her Stena Bulk team in three straight victories. For the Finals, Leroy met a new sailing sensation making her debut at this event, Anna Kjellberg from Gothenburg, who is sailing in her first World Match Racing Tour event. And while Anna surprised Leroy and delighted the thousands of spectators on shore cheering her on by winning the first match, the World Champion rebounded to take the next three races and the top prize.

Meanwhile Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Mathieu Richard, (FRA), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), and Mattias Rahm (SWE) and their teams were resting up today for the Semi-Final and Final stage of the Open event scheduled to start bright and early tomorrow at 0830 local time. Not until tomorrow will it be determined who plays who in the Semi-Finals, but when asked today who he’d like to race against, Magnus Holmberg (SWE) of Victory Challenge, before heading off to spend the day with his family, said “I really don’t have a preference, it doesn’t matter because every team is so strong.”

In contrast to Holmberg who has been match racing for decades and been at nearly every edition of this event, young Mirsky is here on his first anniversary of Tour competition and regards himself as the underdog, yet is totally relaxed today.

“We had such a stressful day yesterday with all the racing and protests, it’s only now sunk in where we are,” said the 22-year old from Perth. We have exceeded our expectations by making the Semi’s, so anything more we achieve will be great.”

While there is no cross-over in points or prizes between the Women’s and Open events being held here concurrently at Match Cup Sweden, there is still some synergy between the two groups. In some cases, it is observational: both Katie Spithill (AUS) and Sandy Hayes (USA), who finished seventh and eighth respectively, have been on the bleachers watching the action, as well as many other women’s skippers and their crews.

“This is an awesome opportunity for us to watch and learn from the men,” said Hayes. “There are so few chances we get to do this, and I’ve been learning a lot of moves we’ve not seen.” Hayes is competing next week at the Mayor’s Cup, a Grade 2 women’s match race event in Long Beach, USA, sailed in similarly-sized 37-foot boats, and Spithill will be returning to Sweden in a few weeks to compete in the DS 37’s again at the Women’s Grade 1 Lysekil Women’s Match event held just north of Marstrand.

And in some cases there might even be a bit of coaching: Linda Rahm admitted they were having some problems with her team’s performance, but that all improved today when she won two straight matches against Jenny Axhede in the Petit Finals.

“Yesterday we had a chat with my husband Mattias, and we agreed to try a more aggressive style today,” said Mrs. Rahm. “It worked out and we will bring this to Lysekil Women’s Match. Third place is almost as good as first place. To get back and win after the Semi-Finals is a great feeling.”

Racing for the Semi-Finals and Finals will resume tomorrow here in Marstrand. With attendance now estimated to be close to or beyond a record-breaking 130,000 visitors, this will be the largest edition of this fourth-stage Tour event yet.