#corkharbour – Today the waters of Cork harbour saw the commencement of the first leg of the series to decide the 2014 ISAF Women's Match Racing Worlds Championship writes Claire Bateman
The initial stages of the competition started today with a Round Robin series where each skipper is scheduled to sail against each other skipper once and from there the top eight skippers will move on to the quarter finals from whence they will move on to semi finals, petit finals and the final. Racing will take place on this basis until Sunday, June 8th. By this stage one hundred and thirty one on one races will have been sailed.
A perfect June sailing morning with some 14 to 18 knots of North Westerly breeze going more towards the west as the day progressed, greeted the competitors on their arrival at the Royal Cork Yacht Club . With International Race Officer Peter Crowley in charge racing got under way on time. As forecast, some squally showers were experienced and provided some thrills and spills for both competitors and spectators.
Among the 13 international teams representing eight nations are two Irish entries skippered by Laura Dillon from Howth Yacht Club and Mary O'Loughlin from Royal St George Yacht Club in Dublin. The first race was between Dillon's Team Ireland 1 and Team Sweden 2 skippered by Caroline Sylvia. The first day nerves settled quickly and Dillon's team matched Team Sweden 2 on their every move. Team Ireland 1 crew Maria Coleman (ex-Irish Olympian) commented "The day was challenging for everyone, ensuring you gained the maximum of your upwind boat speed however this let us down a little today, but we know we have the pre- starts nailed". Unfortunately a mighty broach by Dillon cost the Irish team the race and it took some time to rectify.
Team New Zealand skippered by Claudia Pierce and crewed by her newly recruited Irish team mates had a sparkling day. "We had a great pre start against Anne Claire Le Berre's Team France pushing her out and making her do penalty turns at the start. This let us get away and sail clean for the race".
However, it was the two Danish teams that dominated the day. World #1 Camilla Ulrikkeholm and World #4 Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen ensured straight wins for all of their respective races. They were followed closely by Stephanie Roble of the USA with only one loss of the day
Forecast for tomorrow (Thurs) is for 10 to 14 knots from the south east.
Event organisers had planned a 'Sail in the City' festival for this Friday (06 June) but due to the forecast of heavy rain and strong winds the decision has been made to cancel the event.
All results provisional
