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Celia Willison and her Edge Women’s Match team have narrowly missed out on the 2023 match racing world tour title after finishing sixth at the season-ending KDY Women’s Match Race in Denmark at the weekend.
Edge ended the four-event Women’s World Match Racing Tour championship two points behind Sweden’s WINGS match racing team, led by Anna Östling.
Another Kiwi crew, Megan Thomson’s 2.0 Racing Team, finished third overall – four points behind Willison. -and despite not competing in Denmark.
It’s the first time that two of the top three teams on the Women’s Tour leaderboard are from New Zealand.
WINGS were crowned overall winners after taking out the event in Skovshoved Harbour. They arrived in Denmark one point behind Edge on the overall standings and needed to finish higher than fourth at the event to secure the title.
Using their years of experience sailing the DS37 boats at home in Sweden, WINGS managed to sail a strong regatta with a flawless 3-0 semifinal win over Denmark’s Camilla Ulrikkeholm, before going on to defeat Denmark’s Lea Richter Vogelius 3-0 in the final.
Celia Willison and her Edge Women’s Match finished second overall on the Women’s World Match Racing Tour leaderboard. Photos: sailing.pics
The Edge team, meanwhile, had a tough start, finishing the round-robin stage in fifth before losing to the Netherlands’ Julia Aartsen in the match for 5th/6th place.
“I’m so happy with how we raced this week, the whole team worked together like a machine,” Östling said.
“With almost a flawless performance in the boat, we managed to nail the very shifty conditions with some good match racing moves too. The Women’s WMRT really is the ideal platform we need to get the best women racing each other. We have been pushed by so many teams this year and we love the atmosphere and the community which the Women’s world tour provides.”
Edge Women’s Match made their international debut by winning the New Zealand Women’s Match Racing Championship in 2019 and, following a Covid-enforced hiatus, competed in two of the four events on the Women’s Tour last year.
They finished the inaugural season second overall to Pauline Courtois’ French team, before a strong start to their 2023 campaign.
Willison won the inaugural Casa Vela Cup in San Francisco in April, before finishing second to Östling at the Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis a week later. American Nicole Breault’s Vela Racing team was third and Thomson fourth.
Courtois defeated Thomson in the final of the Normandie Match Cup in Le Havre in May, the penultimate event on the tour, with Willison beating Östling in a six-match petit final to take third.
Both Willison and Östling head to Bermuda next weekend to compete on the Open World Match Racing Tour as 16 teams prepare to line up for the 71st edition of the famous Bermuda Gold Cup. – with womenswmrt.com, Sailing Intelligence
Final standings at the 2023 KDY Women’s Match Race hosted by the Royal Danish Yacht Club:
1. Anna Östling (Swe)
2. Lea Richter Vogelius (Den)
3. Camilla Ulrikkehom (Den)
4. Kristine Mauritzen (Den)
5 Julia Aartsen (Ned)
6. Celia Willison (NZ)
7. Juliet Constanzo (Aus)
8. Brook Wilson (Aus)
Overall standings in the 2023 Women’s World Match Racing Tour championship:
1. Anna Östling (Swe)
2. Celia Willison (NZ)
3. Megan Thomson (NZ)
Full results and standings here.
