Leroy comes out on top

A report from the JPMorgan Asset Management Women's Winter Challenge Final

Bitterly cold and windy weather met the sailors lining up for the JPMorgan Asset Management Women's Winter Challenge Final over the weekend of 25-26 February.

However the cold conditions did not put a damper on Claire Leroy's determination, who with her team of Morgane Gautier, Dorothee Martin D'Auray, Elodie Betrand and Julia Touron, fought her way to the top claiming the winning position and a berth in the JPMorgan Asset Management Winter Challenge Final to be held on 10-12 March. Runner-up, Jenny Axhede from Sweden also claimed a slot on the Final.

The weekend's event had an international flavour with teams coming from America, Sweden, Germany, France, Holland and Great Britain to take part in the much talked about Women's Final.

With 20 to 25 knots of wind on Saturday the women were asked to reef their mains and not use their spinnakers. With such strong breeze, competitors focused mainly on keeping their boats flat and under control, but Leroy and Axhede showed early domination, neither losing a match on the first day.

On Sunday the windy and freezing conditions continued but the breeze dropped just enough to allow the use of spinnakers.

It soon became clear that the Swedish and French women were the ones to watch and both easily secured their places in the semi-finals. However the ninth-seeded British team helmed by Lucy Macgregor from Poole were sailing brilliantly and secured a semi-final slot by taking third in the round robin.

Three boats secured slots in the semi-final and an intense fight ensued for the fourth. With four wins a piece, a tie break was needed to determine which of three teams, Klaartje Zuiderbaan (NED), Josie Gibson (Burnham on Crouch, GBR) or Gemma Farrell (Weymouth, GBR), would go on to compete for a place in the final. After an intense tiebreak Gemma Farrell moved on to the semis while the other two teams sailed off for fifth and sixth place.

The other teams also sailed well with many matches closer than the result seemed. American helm, Sandy Hayes felt the trip had been truly worthwhile despite not winning many of her races. Her team presented Queen Mary with a burgee from her home club the Bayview Yacht Club of Detroit, commenting on how grateful they were to JPMorgan Asset Management for supporting the event.

Leroy and Axhede swiftly sailed through their semi-final matches to meet again in the final. In the first match Leroy got the upper hand and took the win. Leroy also seemed to dominate the second match until Axhede picked up a gust on the final downwind leg forcing Leroy to try to take her out at the finish; however a rare misjudgement resulted in Leroy hitting the mark and picking up a penalty. With the Final now tied at one race each it was down to a final deciding match. Leroy confirmed her number one world ranking by taking the last race and the final 2-1. Macgregor won the petit final sail-off to take third place and Zuiderbaan won the fifth/sixth place sail off, taking fifth place.

Leroy and Axhede will now join Ian Williams (Hamble, GBR), Mark Campbell-James (Brighton, GBR), Mathieu Richard (FRA), Bjorn Hansen (SWE), Johnie Berntsson (SWE), Damien Lehl (FRA), Andrew Cornah (West Kirby, GBR) and Iain Percy (Winshester, GBR) at the JPMorgan Asset Management Winter Challenge Final held on 10-12 March. This Grade 2 event will be the culmination of the winter series with the top finishers in each qualifier gaining slots in the final.

Results

1. Claire Leroy, Morgane Gautier, Dorothee Martin D'Auray, Elodie Betrand and Julia Touron, (FRA)
2. Jenny Axhede, Nina Bake, Annika Olsson, Annika Carlunger and Johanna Sarna, (SWE)
3 Lucy Macgregor, (GBR)
4 Gemma Farrell, (GBR)
5 Klaartje Zuiderbaan, (NED
6 Josie Gibson (GBR)
7 Katie Archer (GBR)
8 Silke Hahlbrock (GER)
9 Sandy Hayes, (USA)