Swiss International Women's Match: Fifth event added to 2018 WIM Series

Match Racing on Lake Maggiore © Claudia Somm

The Women's International Match Racing Series is proud to add a fifth event to this year's event schedule. Swiss International Women's Match 2018 will be the penultimate regatta of the series raced from 30 October to 3 November on Lake Maggiore.

The WIM Series 2018 kicks off this week with the opening event of the season in Helsinki, Finland. The series is proud to announce that a fifth event will be added to the Series that also visits Lysekil, Sweden and Ekaterinburg, Russia in August and St. Thomas in the US. Virgin Islands in December.

The Swiss International Women's Match takes place in late October. "We are always looking at developing the WIM Series and to expand into new areas and add new events that attract more competitors and fans", says Anna Holmdahl White, Director of the WIM Series and continues:

"We are very happy to announce the new event in Switzerland which will not only be raced in a beautiful venue, it will be a new challenge for the teams. Sailing on a lake surrounded by mountains puts new demands and skills on the crews competing. To add this fantastic venue, sailing on a lake and with Switzerlands great history in match racing the past years, brings value to our brand as the only professional sailing series in the world".

The event will be organized by Swiss Sailing League Association in conjunction with Yacht Club Locarno and sailed out of the Porto Patriziale di Ascona on Lake Maggiore. A line-up of 12 teams will be competing in the regatta that will be raced in the J/70 class with a crew of 4-6 sailors.

Alexa Bezel, 26 and skipper of Swiss Women Match Racing Team, has become a familiar name in the WIM Series after competing in a number of events the last couple of years. She has contributed greatly to getting the new event off the ground and is looking forward to racing in the event in October.

"Switzerland has a great history of Match Racing with Team Alinghi in the America's Cup and the St. Moritz Match Race, an amazing World Tour Event in the Open Class. It is great to continue the story and get to show a new aspect of Match Racing - Women Match Racing - in Switzerland. As host country I hope together with the organizing team and volunteers we can provide an unforgettable experience in Switzerland for the other Women Match Racing Teams.", says Alexa Bezel and continues:

"As a team we would like to show our season best performance at our home event. This event will be our third big event in 2018 after Lysekil and the Worlds in Ekaterinburg we hopefully turn all the lessons learned during the season into winning points. Sailing on a lake will be different to the other competitions we have. Sailing surrounded by mountains will be special and sailing perfectly maintained J70 will allow great and close racing".

The organizing team headed by Felix Somm, Race Officer of the Event, is determined in developing Swiss International Women's Match over the coming years as a regular part of the WIM Series. The first goal is making the first edition of the regatta a memorable event for all spectators and participants.

"We hope that the best Women's Match Race Teams in the world will participate and we can look forward to seeing exciting matches and the best sailors in the world racing on Lago Maggiore", says Somm who also explains that match racing and female sailors is on the rise in Switzerland.

"Hosting a WIM series event will send a strong motivating signal to young female sailors in Switzerland to organize sailing teams and participate in regattas. The WIM teams can serve as a role model for young women, that they can achieve world class results in the sport of sailing".

Event webpage of Swiss International Women's Match Race 2018

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