The Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race kicked off Wednesday with tricky winds and some current on the waters just off of Haeundae Beach.
The American WIM Series leaders of Epic Racing mastered the delicate conditions well, posting four wins and just one loss: “the starts were especially challenging, but my crew did a fantastic job. They crushed it today” smiles Maggie Shea, substituting for regular skipper Stephanie Roble at the Korean event. But many other expected winners, including Australians, did not manage to sail as many races so are down on the current leaderboard.
After a 1,5 hours postponement early Wednesday morning waiting on a sail repair, racing in the Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race, the fourth and final event of the 2015 WIM Series, got underway. The waters just off of the stunning and crowded Haeundae Beach, offered winds that changed a lot in both strength and direction, with some big holes on the course. With a little current added, the formula for challenging and exciting racing definitely was at hand:“It was really shifty and really puffy. I made a few errors and lost a boat length or two in some situations, but my crew were able to get us back with trimming, boat speed and boat handling. Each race could have gone either way at some points, but they executed what we wanted” Maggie Shea said
“We certainly miss Steph. I have an appreciation now for how hard it is to drive these big boats.”
World #1 and WIM Series titleholder Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby is trailing Epic Racing, 7 points behind in the Series’ standings. The Danes won one match less than the Americans this first day of racing in Busan, but are still confident: “there are many races to go, so we’re not worried. The first races in a new boat are always a bit difficult, but I think we did quite well in the shifty breeze. I made a stupid mistake in one of the prestarts, but apart from that I’m not very disappointed” says the Danish skipper.
Swedish World #6 Caroline Sylvan is racing with a partly new crew for this regatta, and lost her initial races against Ulrikkeholm Klinkby and Shea, but followed up with three straight wins after that: “it seems like we needed a couple of races to get going, but now everything works fine and we’re happy with our first day here in Busan. We’re trying to have fun, taking one race at a time and learning a lot from every situation” she said.
Fellow Swede Anna Östling, Katie Spithill of Australia and French Anne-Claire Le Berre raced just two matches each today, but they all managed to win both. This trio is now the only undefeated teams in the event.
Standings in the round-robin of the Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race, the fourth and final event of the 2015 WIM Series (skipper, nationality, wins – losses):
Maggie Shea (substituting for Stephanie Roble), USA, 4 – 1
Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby, DEN, 3 – 2
Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 3 – 2
Anna Östling, SWE, 2 – 0
Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, 2 – 0
Katie Spithill, AUS, 2 – 0
Pauline Courtois, FRA, 2 – 3
Denise Lim, SIN, 2 – 3
Renée Groeneveld, NED, 0,5 – 3
Milly Bennett, AUS, 0 – 2
Diana Kissane, IRL, 0 – 2
Sung Eun Choi, KOR, 0 – 2
