Women’s Match Racing Dress Rehearsal As World Cup Touches Down In Weymouth

Skandia Sail for Gold - Weymouth and Portland, Great Britain

Skandia Sail for Gold 2012 kicked off today, featuring almost all of the medal contenders for the upcoming Olympic Games.

Over seven hundred athletes from 59 nations poured out onto Portland Harbour and Weymouth Bay, the cream of world sailing ready to put a marker down for the coming Olympiad. But conditions were tough, the forecast was for a transitional day, with a new wind arriving and strengthening throughout the rest of the week. So while Portland Harbour and Weymouth Bay delivered racing, it did so in fits and starts.

It was also a very long day out on the Women’s Match Racing course, they started at 10:00 and finished their eleventh flight at 20:20 - almost ten hours later. The only unbeaten teams at the end of the day were Australia’s Olivia Price who won six from six and Silja Lehtinen with four from four. And with Russia’s Ekaterina Skudina only losing one from six, these three currently top the standings, but there is a long way to go in this competition.

The Women’s Match Racing continues tomorrow at 10:00 local time at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy before the Medal Races bring the regatta to a close on Saturday 9 June.

Teams competing:
Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer, Debbie Capozzi - USA [ISAF Ranking = 1]
Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush, Kate Macgregor - GBR [2]
Claire Leroy, Elodie Bertrand, Marie Riou - FRA [3]
Ekaterina Skudina, Elena Siuzeva, Elena Oblova - RUS [4]
Silja Lehtinen, Silja Kanerva, Mikaela Wulff - FIN [5]
Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega, Sofía Toro - ESP [7]
Renee Groeneveld, Annemiek Bes, Marcelien Bos-De Koning - NED [11]
Olivia Price, Nina Curtis, Lucinda Whitty - AUS [13]
Silke Hahlbrock, Vera Dubina, Irina Lotsmanova - GER [17]
Rita Gonçalves, Mariana Lobato, Diana Neves - POR [20]
Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt - NZL [21]
Lotte Meldgaard, Susanne Boidin, Tina Gramkov - DEN [23]
Anna Kjellberg, Malin Källström, Lotta Harrysson - SWE [25]

ISAF Sailing World Cup Website : www.sailing.org/worldcup/home.php
Skandia Sail for Gold Website : www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk