WIM Series Busan Cup - Day 1

Danish skipper Trine Palludan has secured an early lead for Team Ulrikkeholm in the Busan Cup Women's International Match Race, the 4th event of the 2016 WIM Series © Kim Wolf / WIM Series

Trine Palludan early leader

Danish substitute skipper beat World #1 Anna Östling

She's "only" a substitute for regular Danish skipper Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby, but apparently that doesn't matter much. As the round-robin in the 4th event of the 2016 WIM Series kicked of in Busan today, Trine Palludan led her crew to four straight victories, one of which was over World #1 and reigning World Champion Anna Östling of Sweden: "Today we just tried to keep things simple and avoid problems. I would lie if I said we expected this outcome, but I'm confident that we have great capacity within our team" Palludan states.

It was not until almost sunset that the very last match of the day got underway outside the Haeundae Beach of the Korean city Busan, hosting the Busan Cup Women's International Match Race. In the Scandinavian derby Trine Palludan faced Anna Östling in quite challenging sailing conditions, with some testing swell and winds that shifted a lot, both in direction and in strength. Despite the challenges the Danes managed to take control in the prestart, getting out on the first upwind a couple of boat lengths ahead of their Swedish opponents:

"Actually our prestarts went very well in all of our four matches today, and that was pretty much the key. I also think we found superior boat speed" Palludan explains.

"It's never fun to lose a race, but the wind had dropped a bit and we were a little late to trim our sails for that. They had better speed than us, but we learned something to bring with us for the rest of the week" says Anna Östling, currently on 3rd place with her 3 – 1 score.

Lucy Macgregor's two-year absence from the match racing scene didn't seem to have very much impact on her performance today. The British skipper went off the water early in the afternoon with a 4 – 1 score, for runner-up position so far in the round-robin. Her only loss came against Pauline Courtois of France, who was allowed to pass after the first lap, and couldn't get caught after that:

"Unfortunately we caught a fishing net instead, but I don't think that was a deciding factor. By then Pauline had already won the match" admits Macgregor.

American Stephanie Roble didn't race until late afternoon, to win all her matches but the one against Palludan:

"It's always a bummer to lose, but we learned something. We underestimated a major left wind shift at the start, and then they did a good job keeping their lead" Roble comments, tied for 3rd with Östling.

Katie Spithill sailed in the morning, posting three wins and two losses to be tied with the French skippers Courtois and Claire Leroy. The morning session saw some pretty dramatic weather changes, with almost no wind followed by 20 knots of breeze, heavy rain and then some sun and less wind again:

"We had our losses in the prestarts, due to being a bit out of practise. Despite very good crew work we started behind and stayed behind" says the Australian skipper, not seeming to be too disappointed about that.

The round-robin stage of the Busan Cup Women's International Match Race continues Wednesday on the beautiful waters outside Haeundae Beach.

Busan Cup Round-Robin Standings after Day 1:

1. Trine Palludan, DEN, 4 – 0
2. Lucy Macgregor, GBR, 4 – 1
3. Anna Östling, SWE, 3 – 1
3. Stephanie Roble, USA, 3 – 1
5. Katie Spithill, AUS, 3 – 2
5. Claire Leroy, FRA, 3 – 2
5. Pauline Courtois, FRA, 3 – 2
8. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 2 – 3
9. Renée Groeneveld, NED, 1 – 3
9. Diana Kissane, IRL, 1 – 3
11. Gyeong Jin Lee, KOR, 0 – 4
12. Milly Bennett, AUS, 0 – 5

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