Catch-up day at Normandy Match Cup

Le Havre, Normandy, France (Saturday 18 May) – Day 2 of the Women’s World Match Racing Tour Normandy Match Cup in Le Havre saw racing through to the early evening as the race committee took advantage of ideal conditions to complete the full double round-robin qualifying stage, catching up on the format from yesterday’s early abandonment of racing due to wind conditions.

Completing the first round-robin this morning, defending Normandy Match Cup champion and Le Havre local sailor Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink team led the stage with a 5-1 win/loss score. France’s Kenza Coutard finished the stage in second at 4-2, tied with New Zealand’s Megan Thomson and her 2.0 Racing team.

Courtois and team were proved once again the team to beat in the second round robin as they finished the stage undefeated with six straight wins, fast tracking the Match in Pink squad straight to the semi-finals.  The remaining six teams will race a shortened quarter-final stage starting Sunday, from which the top three teams will join Courtois in the semi-final knockout.

“Today was really perfect for us” commented Courtois “the conditions were the best with 12-15knots and we are sailing great as a team. The current around the port can be tricky sometimes and we certainly noticed it today, but we do sail here a lot and it’s fair to say that might give us some advantage.”

Sailing for the first time at the Normandy Match Cup, Australia’s Brooke Wilson, 20, and her Amphitrite Racing team have had to get to grips quickly with the Normandy conditions, however the team finished the double round-robin stage in 4th place with an overall 5-7 win/loss score.

“We are really enjoying the venue and the boats here” added Wilson. “Day 1 was tricky in the light conditions but today’s breeze was ideal and we started to spot the critical points during our matches when we knew we were in better positions. The current is certainly a factor around the race area but we feel we were managing it well.”

Racing continues tomorrow with a later briefing at 1030 due to a lighter forecast, with racing planned from 12noon CET (Central European Time)