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Alison, Icyda, Leech and Hall Finish first Day with 5-1 Record

Sundsvall, Sweden is playing host to the 2003 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championships. Twelve teams, most ranked in the top ten internationally, from five nations are represented here. After completing half of the scheduled 22 flights, Alison and her team from the USA are tied with Malin Millborn of Sweden with 5-1 records. #1 ranked Marie Bjorling (SWE) and Marie Faure (FRA) both have 4 wins to their credit. Defending World Champion Liz Baylis (USA) had a tough day finishing with 2-4.

The winds were southeasterly ranging from 6 to 14 knots and flat seas. The twelve teams are competing in provided J 80 class boats with symmetrical spinnakers. As the breeze increased, the organizers decided to have the competitors change from the overlapping genoas to the smaller jibs for better sail control. Racing was close on the inner harbor right off downtown Sundsvall with spinnaker douses happening right in front of the yacht club. The inner harbor is a great venue for watching the racing, and plenty of spectators stopped by to check it out.

The round robin will continue tomorrow on what is forecast to be a cold, windy, rainy day – ah, its just Swedish summer! After the first round is complete, six teams will be eliminated and the remaining six will compete in the quarterfinals to determine the final 4. Stay tuned for more from Sundsvall

Team Challenge US Ahead in 1st Round of Match Race Worlds

With 20 of 22 flights in the first round completed, Betsy Alison and her team mates Lee Icyda, Suzy Leech and Dini Hall lead the competition with a 8-1 record while Sweden’s own Marie Bjorling and Malin Millbourn both sit at 7-2. With 2 flights remaining, these three are guaranteed places in the quarterfinals scheduled to begin tomorrow. The remaining three places are still up for grabs, as four teams vie for the final spots.

The conditions today were similar to yesterday – SSE winds from 8-16 knots with the fleet undergoing several headsail changes between matches. The main difference was that rain graced the playing field along with cooler temperatures, making both competitors and umpires uncomfortable as the day wore on. Tomorrow is expected to still be rainy but a bit colder and windier. A double round robin is scheduled for the quarterfinals, but may be abbreviated due to weather and time constraints.

Team Challenge US is using this World Championship as a cross training event for their Olympic Campaign. Alison and team believe that the match racing discipline complements the fleet racing they are doing in the Yngling. Quick decision making, teamwork and communication are key elements in match racing, and are essential to success in an Olympic discipline. Quite often, applying techniques learned in match racing can be the deciding factor in winning important races in fleet racing series like the Trials or the Games themselves.

Alison, Icyda, Leech and Hall recently finished third at the Santa Maria Cup – a Grade 1 Match Racing event in the USA just prior to coming to Sweden for the World Championship. "We are really enjoying ourselves here in Sundsvall. There is not a lot of external pressure on us to perform here at the Match Racing Worlds. The practice we had at Santa Maria has enabled us to work well together as a team, and our success so far shows that. We look forward to more exciting racing in the upcoming days," said Alison after racing today.

Team Challenge US Takes Fifth, But Looks Ahead to Kieler Woche

The winds proved fickle for the last two days of the ISAF Women’s Match Racing Worlds in Sundsvall, Sweden. The final day of competition was sailed in unstable and light northeasterly conditions – challenging enough that the RC had to extend the daily time limit in order to finish the event and run the Finals. In a 3-2 victory over Dane Lotte Meldgard-Pederson, Malin Millborn and her team from Sweden took the title of 2003 Women’s Match Racing World Champions. The racing was tight as the two teams traded wins in the best of five series. Big shifts in the wind caused delays as the committee worked to set good courses, and despite their efforts, many times the course became skewed after the start. In the Petit-Finals, #1 ranked Marie Bjorling of Sweden bested defending World Champion Liz Baylis in three straight to finish third for the event.

Though the first round took place in fairly steady ESE winds on the first two scheduled days of competition, a change in the weather brought much lighter, unstable northerlies. The quarterfinal round, originally scheduled to be a double round robin for the final six teams, was abbreviated to a single round making it imperative to be “on your game” in the inclement weather. The six quarterfinalists were Lotte Meldgard-Pederson and Nina Braestrop from Denmark, Marie Bjorling and Malin Millborn from Sweden, and Liz Baylis and Betsy Alison from the United States. Meldgard-Pederson dominated the quarterfinals closely followed by Millborn and Bjorling. Thougjh Team Challenge US started the Quarterfinals with two solid wins, the final slot for the Semis came down to a tie breaker between Alison and Baylis, won by Baylis who took the match between the two.

Team Challenge US (Betsy Alison, Lee Icyda, Suzy Leech and Dini Hall) finished fifth at the World Championship. Though this may on the surface seem disappointing, Team Challenge US is pleased with what they took away from the event; it was a great chance for the Olympic hopefuls to compete in a discipline that is totally different from the Yngling fleet racing that has required their full attention for the past year. They were the only team at the MR Worlds whose primary focus was not match racing. The Team believes that cross-training in other disciplines is key to being a strong, well rounded team and the one on one encounters in match racing certainly expand the “tools” available to them on the race course. Alison, Icyda and Leech are now in Kiel-Schilksee, Germany for Kieler Woche, the next major event on the calendar for Olympic sailing this season. All the top players in the Yngling fleet are expected to be there. Several days of training are scheduled for the Team before the competition begins on Wednesday.

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