Midsummer Match Cup in Skärhamn, Sweden - Day 3
by Fabian Bengtsson 27 Jun 2019 19:34 BST
25-29 June 2019
Home town favorites Berntsson Sailing Team against Pauline Courtois in the Round Robin of Midsummer Match Cup 2019 © Tommy Nielsen
Strong shifty winds put the mixed teams to a test in Midsummer Match Cup when the Round Robin was finished today. Berntsson Sailing Team is the only Swedish team to advance to the quarter finals.
The conditions on the Race Arena in Skärhamn were difficult to master today and the wind picked up to over 15 knots. Ian Williams and Team GAC Pindar ended up on top of the scoreboard and now have the advantage of choosing their opponents when the quarter finals begin tomorrow. Match in Pink by Normandie Elite Team and skipper Pauline Courtois (FRA) won both their matches today and are looking forward to continuing racing in Skärhamn.
"We have to stay focused and with conditions like today it's important to have very good boat handling and to keep your eyes on the shifts because it makes the race course quite difficult", says Pauline Courtois who sails with Nathalie Corson, Eric Le Joliff and Cédric Chateau.
Johnie Berntsson had five points at the start of the day and needed to bring home a couple of important wins. After loosing to Williams the team recovered nicely and won against Eric Monnin (SUI). After winning against fellow Swede Nicklas Dackhammar and Chris Poole's Riptide Racing they finally ended up on fifth place.
"We have things we need to improve but our greatest strength is that we always come back after a bad result and that's very important now in the quarterfinals. We need to lift our performance now that we start the quarter finals", says Johnie Berntsson.
Nicklas Dackhammar started the day with a win against Ian Williams. They got a good start against Eric Monnin but lost the advantage on the second lap. They still had a chance at getting through to the next round when they headed into the match against Maxime Mesnil but got a bad start and couldn't recover. Johanna Bergqvist had an impressive race against Torvar Mirsky (AUS) yesterday but was also knocked by narrow margin.
"It's tough because we made a number of small mistakes and you can't afford that when you race against the top skippers in the world. Now our goal is the Women's Match Racing World Championship in Lysekil in August and this was a perfect warm up", says Bergqvist.
The pairing in the quarter finals will be decided tomorrow and the racing will be live streamed on the website midsummermatchcup.com and on the event's Facebook page.
Final Results of Round Robin:
1. Ian Williams, Team GAC Pindar (GBR) (11-2)
2. Nicolai Sehested, Gringo Sailing Team (DEN) (10-3)
3. Eric Monnin, Capvis Swiss Match Race Team (SUI) (9-4)
4. Maxime Mesnil, Match in Black by Normandie Elite Team (FRA) (8-5)
5. Johnie Berntsson, Berntsson Sailing Team (SWE) (8-5)
6. Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandie Elite Team (FRA) (8-5)
7. Lucy Macgregor, Team Macgregor (GBR) (7-6)
8. Torvar Mirsky, Cetilar Mirsky Racing Team (AUS) (5,75-7)
9. Nicklas Dackhammar, Essiq Racing Team (SWE) (5-8)
10. Johanna Bergqvist, Team Bergqvist (SWE) (5-8)
11. Will Boulden, Alpha Racing Team (AUS) (4-9)
12. Chris Poole, Riptide Racing (USA) (3-10)
13. Anna Östling, Wings (SWE) (3-10)
14. Måns Holmberg, Stratsys Racing Team (SWE) (2,25-10)
Find full results at midsummermatchcup.com