Match Racing World Champs begin

Women's event starts today in Sweden

The fifth International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Women’s Match Racing World Championships begins today in Lysekil, Sweden. The prestigious event has been given a world championship status for the first time, ahead of the 2012 Olympics where match racing will make its debut on the programme.

Twelve skippers from eight different countries will lead teams in the competition, which runs from 28 July to 1 August. Teams will sail in DS37 yachts provided by the organisers. The six crew members will be expected to compete against one other team in each race, battling it out for four minutes to become the first to cross the starting line and secure the best position in the race. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to sail around the course, according to the official Lysekil Women’s Match Racing website; only which boat passes the finishing line first.

Great Britain will be rooting for 23-year-old Lucy Macgregor, who ranks third in the Women’s ISAF World Match Racing Ranking list. Meanwhile, Claire Leroy (FRA), the reigning World Champion and number one on the ISAF ranking, will be defending the World Championship title for the second year running. She said: "The standard of each contestant is similar, so you can't make any mistakes if you want to win.

“The Scandinavian teams have an advantage, being more familiar with the Danish DS37 yacht and sailing in their home waters, but other countries have improved and are able to lead, like Katie Spithill (AUS) did in Match Cup Sweden a few weeks ago. I imagine there will be a lot of surprises and I look forward to exciting racing."

The World Match Racing Ranking list has seen a 24 per cent rise, year on year, in the number of women joining it and this looks set to increase further now women’s match racing is included in the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.