Biggest prize money

August will see the return of Lysekil Women's Match

The best match racing women in the world will fight for the highest prize money in women’s match racing - 400 000 SEK/43 000 Euro - over August 1-6 at Lysekil, a pearl among Swedish seaside towns. This will be the second edition of the race, which in 2004 attracted the best sailors in the world and was visited by 25-30 000 spectators.

12 of the world’s best female skippers in match racing are invited. Among the participants we will see French Claire Leroy, ranked first in the world ranking of match racing and Swedish Marie Björling, ranked second. Björling won the Lysekil Women’s Match 2004 as well as the biggest prize sum ever in women’s match racing history (100 000 SEK, approx. 10 600 Euro), ”Lysekil is a fantastic arena and you have to sail really close to the rocks. Last time there were a lot of spectators sitting on the rocks. It is always great to sail with such a big audience," says Björling.

Organiser Anna Holmdahl describes the event: ”The idyllic town of Lysekil on the west coast of Sweden probably has the best match racing conditions in the world - they are always good and the current really forces you to dare to sail close to the rocks, which means close action for all the spectators watching the racing from the rocks.

”By using the fantastic environment and conditions we have in the Swedish archipelago, we want to create the world’s premier sail race for women, regarding the sportive side, the media, the spectators as well as the prize money. In the centre of Lysekil we will have a lot of extra activities for the public during the week.”

As in 2004, the oil company Preem is host of the event.

The inauguration of Lysekil Women’s Match for the Stena Bulk Trophy will be on August 1, and the races will take place during August 2-6.

Lysekil Women’s Match for the Stena Bulk Trophy is organised by Sailnet Lysekil AB and Live Göteborg in cooperation with the yacht club Lysekils SS Gullmar (LSSG). Official host of Lysekil Women’s Match is the oil company Preem with main partner Stena Bulk AB and Carpe Diem Beds of Sweden, Midroc Scandinavia and Lysekil Local Authority as partners.