Rahm leads

A report from the Lysekil Women's Match in Sweden

During Thursday the very light wind conditions continued to cause trouble for the organisers of the worlds' largest match racing event for ladies, Lysekil Women's Match, with a total prize purse of EUR 43 000. Linda Rahm from the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club is still in the lead after having defeated her fellow club member Marie Björling, even though she then lost the second match of the day to her other fellow club member, Malin Källström:

"We got ourselves a penalty in the start, when I turned the tiller too much and touched Malin's boat when we tried to bear away. Though we were leading the match most of the time after that, we didn't manage to create a gap big enough to have time to take the penalty," said Rahm praising Malin for her good sailing. "We couldn't trick her into any new situations to clear our penalty, she is too experienced for that." Rahm is now leading with six victories and only one loss.

The wind conditions on the racing waters outside Lysekil's guest harbour were unstable during the Thursday, so the racing in Lysekil Women's Match couldn't begin until lunchtime. The day started with a French showdown between Claire Leroy and Christine Briand, but an incorrect umpire call decreased Christine's chances to win that match.

"We rolled a couple of times with the boat to get good speed when we went into the start, and the umpires penalised us for that, sighs Briand, the former 470 World Champion who has been match racing for just a little more than a year.

"The call was wrong since it was more than four minutes left to start when Briand rolled the boat," admitted international umpire Ewan McEwan, who has now changed the limit to five minutes in the sailing instructions.

Yet another penalty for Briand made it possible for Leroy to take the victory in their match. Leroy won four more matches and is now fifth in the competition, with her five victories and two losses, after three Swedes and a Dane. Christine Briand is on seventh place after three victories and two losses.

Swedish women Marie Björling and Malin Källström were amongst those who didn't race at all during Wednesday, so instead they had a long and tough Thursday on the race course. Both are now tied with Leroy on five victories and two losses, but the Dane Lotte Meldgaard-Pedersen holds second place due to a better relation between wins and losses (4-1 is better than 5-2). Six of the crews have done five races, the other six have raced seven matches so far.

Results after the second day of racing in Lysekil Women's Match:

1. Linda Rahm, SWE/Team Koncentra, 6 wins - 1 loss
2. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, DEN/Team Gerimax, 4 - 1
3. Malin Källström, SWE/Team Tuve Bygg, 5 - 2
4. Marie Björling, SWE/Team Panorama, 5 - 2
5. Claire Leroy, FRA, 5 - 2
6. Nina Braestrup, DEN, 3 - 2
= Christine Briand, FRA, 3 - 2
8. Marie Fauré, FRA, 2 - 3
9. Sally Barkow, USA, 2 - 5
10. Katie Spithill, AUS, 1 - 4
11. Elizabeth Kratzig, USA, 0 - 5
12. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 0 - 7

Lysekil Women's Match is with a SEK 400 000 (EUR 43 000 and $ 52 000) prize
purse the largest match racing event for ladies in the world. Twelve of the
most skilled women match racing skippers will be competing in Lysekil
Women's Match, arranged by Sailnet Lysekil AB and the local Lysekil Yacht
Club. Official event host is oil company Preem, with Carpe Diem Beds of
Sweden, Rybergs Charkuteri AB, Nobel Biocare, Castellum, Santa Maria and the
municipality and the trade centres of Lysekil as partners.