Chernikeeff/RYA Womens Match Racing Championships Preview

GIRL POWER TAKES TO THE WATER

Seven female teams from throughout the UK are to take to the waters off Lymington in Hampshire over the weekend of 8/9 July 2000. They will be taking part in the Chernikeeff/RYA Women's Match Racing Championships.

Amongst the competitors will be 1996 Champion, Cordelia Eglin from Battersea who along with Shirley Robertson looks sure to qualify for the Match Racing World Championships. Eglin is now ranked second in the world in Women's Match Racing after winning the Grand One Event in Cowes in May. However, her team will be up against some tough competition including Lizzie Edwards' team who have a wealth of Match Racing experience behind them, with Lizzie herself having won the BUSA Women's Team Racing last year.

Victory at this event will give the winning team automatic entry into the Finals of the 2000 Chernikeeff/RYA National Match Racing Championships to be held in London in October. In addition, top teams could win the opportunity to represent Great Britain at the International Sailing Federation World Championship to be held in Florida, USA in November.

Match Racing is sailing at its most competitive with just two identical boats battling it out on the water at any one time. Teamwork and tactics make the difference between victory and defeat. With most races taking an average of 15-20 minutes, competition is fast and fierce and demands good teamwork, commitment and concentration.

Bill Edgerton, National Keelboat Coach, commented: "Without these Championships, it would be difficult to spot those with potential. Some of our top female sailors have honed their skills through match racing and this event serves to allow female sailors from across the UK compete on an equal footing with those at the pinnacle of the sport."

Competitors include:

• Georgie Corlett, 18, a student at Southampton University but originally from the Wirral, participated in the 1999-2000 National Team Racing Youth Squad and is representing the UK in the Czech Republic at the Pre Worlds regatta in September.
• Jessie Cuthbert, 22, will be sailing with her twin sister. These two from Stanstead already have a number of national and international titles to their credit.
• Lizzie Edwards, 22, from Bristol, a university student at Bristol, winner of the BUSA Women's Match Racing in 1999.
• Cordelia Eglin, 32,1996 Women's Match Racing Champion, second in the ISAF Match Racing rankings is an architect from Battersea, London.
• Nicole Johnson, a student at Oxford University and captain of the Men's University Match Racing Team.
• Belinda Kerridge, 26, a PR Consultant from Putney, was the Youth National Champion in 1992.
• Jo Wright, 23, a student at Southampton University studying Journalism. She was first in the 1997 Women's Nationals.