Lucy Macgregor - the new Women's Match Racing World championship

First ever British winner of the title in 12 years

If Lucy Macgregor and her British team felt pressure this morning in her semi-finals match against France’s Claire Leroy, it was nothing compared to the emotions she (and her teammates Annie Lush, Kate Macgregor and Mary Rook) felt coming from behind to win her first match racing world championship today at New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court. The British Olympic Women's match racing hope for the 2012 Games becomes the first British skipper to win the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship in the event's 12-year history.

The finals today played out better than anyone could have scripted. The Skandia Team GBR quartet had started this regatta in the best possible way with a flawless opening first round robin stage, beating all nine of their early round opponents before emerging as winners of a four-way tie from the second group stage to set up their quarter-final bout against current world number one Renee Groeneveld of the Netherlands. Macgregor’s team overcame the Dutch 3-1 to book their semi-finals berth against two-time World Champion and world number two Claire Leroy of France, which they pulled through to win by a similar margin having been tied at 1-1 heading into the final day.

Then up against, Sally Barkow, also a two-time world champion, the American led the British team 2-1 by consistently gaining the advantage to the right side of the course as the lead changed almost each leg. The final two races Barkow was able to pull even but Macgregor was just a little faster and crisper on the beats. In the fourth race, the British team passed Barkow while giving the Americans a penalty they could not overcome.

Finally, with the match poised at 2-2 going into the decider, the Skandia Team GBR crew gained the advantage at the start and led the American team throughout the race to take the fifth race win and seal the world title. “The time on distance was hard, and we were on our back foot the whole prestart,” explained Kate Macgregor, Lucy’s sister. “With the current going upwind we just made it.”

“We were gaining all the time,” said a beaming Lucy Macgregor, 23. “We just wanted to keep it close.”

“It was a really tight final, it was gusty and windy with big waves,” explained Annie Lush, who had previously won two Women's Match Racing World titles with Sally Barkow. "We didn’t do so well at the starts so were often behind, but we gained lots on the downwinds to stay in contention and in the fourth race we managed to give Sally a penalty she couldn’t overcome."

“It’s just fantastic. We had a lot on this week and it was a lot of hard work. For a lot of teams this was their goal for the year so there’s been a really high level of competition.”

In the context of their 2012 campaign, Lush added: “This is really big for us. We’ve had a successful year and have been doing well, winning silver in the Europeans and always up there in the World Cup events, but we haven’t been doing enough winning – so it’s fantastic to have come through and won! It’s real testament to how we’ve been sailing and how well the four of us have performed as a team as we we’ve been behind in a lot of the races this week but stayed calmed, sailed the boat well and pulled through. Kate and Mary have done a really good job.

“We owe big thanks to Ian Williams, who’s been out here coaching us this week. We’ve learnt a lot from him, and also thanks to John Robertson and our GBR Sonar teammates who we did a lot of work with before the event to make sure we were up to speed in the Sonars, which we’ve been using for this event.” Ian Williams is a double World Match Race Tour winner.

For Barkow, though her team of Elizabeth Kratzig, Alana O’Reilly and Suzy Leech, did not win, their second place qualifies them for the top level of funding for the US Sailing Team Alpha Graphics in 2011. They join only one other team in the US with this distinction, Paige Railey in the Laser Radial.

The petite finals match up for third and fourth also went to the maximum, three races. France’s Claire Leroy won the first match against Nicky Souter and then her Australian team gave the French a foul in the second; it was enough to win the race.

In the third and final race, with the boats nearly overlapped all the way around the course, Souter received a penalty on the final run in a wild broach and luff. The Australian team came out ahead then was able to hook the French and sailed them upwind 200 yards until they were able to clear their penalty with a tack and perfect set to win the series.

This world championship will certainly go down as one of the most competitive in history and Barkow’s coach, match race champion Dave Perry, put the state of women’s match racing in perspective. “This regatta indicates that anyone of eight or more teams can win a gold medal in Weymouth in 2012,” said Perry. “In the gold fleet round robin, four of the six teams were tied with three wins. All this shows is nobody has put it all together yet. There are no breakaways.”

The rest of the teams not sailing surely knew the anxious feelings today’s podium finishers felt. Watching from the 100-foot schooner Meteor, teams cheered and watch pensively as the boats raced around as if they were tied to each other. Whether they won or finished the regatta in the repechage series, all the sailors were hungry to carry on with their campaigns and set their sights on the Olympic Games.

After a week’s break, Lush and Lucy Macgregor will line up against the world’s top men’s match racing teams, including Skandia Team GBR’s Ben Ainslie and Iain Percy racing for TeamOrigin, at the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda – part of the World Match Racing Tour – at which they’ve been invited to compete.

Petit-Final

The petit-final match up to decide the bronze medal also went to the maximum, three races. Leroy won the first match against Nicky Souter and then her Australian team gave the French a foul in the second; it was enough to win the race.

In the third and final race, with the boats nearly overlapped all the way around the course, Souter received a penalty on the final run in a wild broach and luff. The Australian team came out ahead then was able to hook the French and sailed them upwind 200 yards until they were able to clear their penalty with a tack and perfect set to win the series.

This world championship will certainly go down as one of the most competitive in history and Barkow’s coach, national match race champion Dave Perry, put the state of women’s match racing in perspective. “This regatta indicates that anyone of eight or more teams can win a gold medal in Weymouth in 2012,” said Perry. “In the gold fleet round robin, four of the six teams were tied with three wins. All this shows is nobody has put it all together yet. There are no breakaways.”

The rest of the teams not sailing watching from the 100-foot schooner Meteor, teams cheered and watch pensively as the boats raced around as if they were tied to each other. Whether they won or finished the regatta in the repechage series, all the sailors were hungry to carry on with their campaigns and set their sites on the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.

The 2011 ISAF Women's Match Racing World Champion will be decided at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championship in Perth, Australia.

Results

1 Lucy Macgregor GBR
2 Sally Barkow USA
3 Nicky Souter AUS
4 Claire Leroy FRA
5 Genny Tulloch USA
6 Ekaterina Skudina RUS
7 Renee Groeneveld NED
8 Katie Spithill AUS