It’s still all to play for at the Aspen Women’s Match Racing Regatta on the Hamilton Harbor after rain prevented the round-robin stage from being completed. With one flight to go, Nicole Breault/USA, Julia Aartsen/NED and Lea Vogelius/DEN are still in with a chance of joining Sweden’s Anna Östling and Pauline Courtois/FRA in the semi-finals. In the Bermuda Gold Cup, the big four made their way into the knockout stages with Johnie Berntsson/SWE, Eric Monnin/SUI, Chris Poole/USA and Ian Williams/GBR advancing to the semi-finals.
By this stage of the Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta all four semi-finalists should have revealed themselves but the weather prevented the conclusion of the round-robin stage.
A heavy rainstorm brought the first flight to a premature halt and sent the skippers back to port for about an hour, with the second flight later completed and the third still to come when the wind speed dropped and the race committee called an early end to the day’s racing.
The remaining five races will be held on Saturday morning, when the final two semi-final spots will be decided. Anna Östling and Pauline Courtois, who was heavily bandaged after a scooter accident, confirmed their place in the knockout stages and they will be joined by two of Lea Vogelius/DEN, Nicole Breault/USA or Julia Aartsen/NED.
Vogelius, who has two races left to sail, and Breault, hold the upper hand knowing they are definitely in with a win and the American skipper knows exactly what she has to do to get over the line. “It was a frustrating day today and we would have loved to win our matches today but it wasn’t to be,” Breault said. “We’re going to have a nice dinner, get a good night’s sleep and do what we know. We’re going to come out against Martina Carlsson tomorrow – we have been watching them improve and we are going to take nothing for granted. We’re going to give them our best and I’m sure they are going to give theirs, so it should be a good match.”
Julia Aartsen’s only chance of making it through is by beating American Lindsey Baab and hoping one of her rivals loses, but she gave herself a chance to progress with a crucial point against Breault in their match yesterday. “That was nearly perfect,” Aartsen said. “But I was checking my heartrate at the end of the match and it was around 135-140 beats as the rate was intense. Tomorrow, we’re going to focus on ourselves and not on our opponents. I’m not sure what direction the wind will be but we’ll have a good preparation.”
The final day of round-robin action at the Bermuda Gold Cup promised a thrilling fight for the semi-final spots, the big beasts on the World Match Racing Tour showed their claws to book their place in the knockout stages.
Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson, who finished top of the leaderboard despite being docked a point for colliding with America’s Chris Poole in his opening race of the day, has made it through alongside Poole, Eric Monnin/SUI and Ian Williams/GBR. Williams, the eight-time World Match Racing champion needed two wins from his three races on the last day to guarantee qualification, which he did by beating Peter Wickwire/CAN and Berntsson.
Despite making it through, Williams is frustrated with small mistakes that left his qualifying spot up in the air for longer than he weeould have liked. “We’re really happy to have progressed to the semi-finals and the game changes now as round-robin racing is different to knockout racing as you are now up against the same type of competitor in the same level of boat,” he said. “We’ve had four days of warm-up and now it’s time to bring the fire and not make silly mistakes. We should have cut them out by now and been focusing on the details, which become more important such as winning the start.”
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