(Hamilton, Bermuda 29 October 2024) The cream rose to the top early on day one of the Aspen Women’s Match Race Regatta with Sweden’s Anna Östling the only skipper to remain unbeaten. Östling, who competed in last year’s Bermuda Gold Cup after winning the 2023 Women’s World Match Racing Tour, won all three of her opening day flights against Kristine Mauritzen, Juliet Costanzo and this season’s Women’s World Match Racing leader Pauline Courtois, from France. The Aspen Women’s Match Race is the final event of the 2024 Women’s World Match Racing Tour with the Tour championship to be awarded on Sunday.
The Swedish skipper is no stranger to success in Bermuda with her WINGS team, who have been recently nominated for World Sailing’s Team of the Year, and she is delighted to be back on the island.
“It’s so good to be here and I love this place,” Östling said. “I’m trying to figure out a way to live here so if anybody wants to hire me, I’m up for it. It was definitely controlled chaos out there today and I’m sure most of the girls can relate today to the chaotic feeling on board when it’s breezy, puffy, shifty, but it’s so much fun, we love being back here.”
One of the regatta’s flights did end in chaos with the Australian Easy Tiger crew led by Juliet Costanzo getting hooked up to their opponents Lea Vogelius from Denmark, with the boat suffering minor damage.
“To be honest I’m still figuring out what happened,” Costanzo said. “Race three, we were going downwind and we felt we were quite far away from the boat going upwind. It was quite a long distance but that didn’t really mean a thing when the massive puff came. We had a bit of a roll and our backstay and their top sheath where their backstay comes out got hooked. It was a big turn and I’ve never seen these boats turn so fast, I didn’t think they could. I’m just glad everybody is OK and that there was not too much damage.”
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Written by Ross Clarke, Sports Editor The Royal Gazette, Bermuda
About Women’s World Match Racing Tour
The Women’s World Match Racing Tour was launched in 2022 to continue the hugely successful legacy of the WIM Series (Women’s International Match Racing Series) providing a global match racing series for female sailors. The name of the series was re-launched as the Women’s World Match Racing Tour with its continued mission to expand and strengthen global match racing and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at every level. The Women’s World Match Racing Tour is the world’s first and only professional sailing series for women providing a valuable pathway for aspiring female world champions in the sport of sailing. See womenswmrt.com