4-0 to Lewin

Bermudan sailor top of the pile on day two of the Cicada International Women's Match Racing in Bermuda

During day two of the Cicada International Women’s Match Racing championship, hometown favorite and Olympian Paula Lewin of Bermuda sailed with grace and skill through the light, shifty breezes today in Hamilton harbor. She now leads the field by 4-0.

In race one, Lewin met and bested her rival as she dominated American sailing legend Betsy Alison, who despite strong performances has not done well on the scoreboard.

“It was a challenging race today and at some points during the two races we were on our back heels but we managed to pull it off and win,” Lewin said.

Lewin and Italian sailor Guila Conti, who is 3-1 after today's racing, are closing in on the semi-finals as well as a berth to compete against the men starting Tuesday in the Investors Guaranty presentation of the King Edward VII Gold Cup. “I think that this opportunity to sail against some of the best male match-racers is a superb way to develop our sport and we support that,” Lewin said.

Alison remains up beat despite a disappointing regatta so far and stands at 0-4 after today. “We have had some difficult days and today we did win both of our starts,” she said. “We made some small mistakes and we had some close matches against both Lewin and Clare Leroy. But, it just wasn’t enough.”

Young Guila Conti and her Italian crew are having a strong regatta at 3-1, as well as Kaartje Zuiderbaan of Holland who is also at 3-1. “For us today it all came down to getting that first shift just after the start. That was key,” Zuiderbaan said.

And, for the exuberant Italian, “we had a really, really good day of racing today. I could not have done it without my crew.”

Provisional results (after four races)

P. Lewin 4 – 0
G. Conti 3 – 1
K. Zuiderbaan 3 – 1
J. Axhede 2 – 2
C. Leroy 2 – 2
C. Sertl 1 – 3
B. Alison 0 – 4
I. Sakudo-Horikawa 0 – 4