(Middlefart, Denmark)- When she’s
not racing J/70s on John Brim’s RIMETTE or competing in various match
race events on J/22s or J/80s, Steph Roble is often found sailing
with her EPIC RACING Team in some big match race event around the
world. This year, she qualified for the ISAF Women’s Match Race Worlds
in Denmark. Here is Steph’s commentary on her team’s experience:“Seven days, 24 races total, 2 practice days, high of 60*F, lots of rain and wind ranging 5-35 knots. This was Epic Racing's challenge in Middelfart, Denmark during the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship. The team, comprised of Steph Roble, Meg Six, Jamie Haines, Elizabeth Shaw & Janel Zarkowsky, was ranked third going into the event & finished the event last year with a bronze medal for USA. With 15 other teams to defeat and eyes on the gold medal, we knew it was going to be a week of extremely hard work and keeping mentally stable through the challenging conditions.
We started the event a little rougher than expected, finishing the first five races 2-3. We shook off the bad races and just kept pressing forward by taking away as many lessons as possible. Our fire was fueled for the next races of the round robin (where each team races the others once) and won the next 10 races in a row against our toughest competitors!! This was not easy work for the team as it consistently blew 20+ knots for 3 days straight. The team was exhausted but so eager to win.
Everything clicked perfectly with our teamwork, communication, boat speed and tactics. We just kept firing off wins on the board! This momentum carried us forward to be seeded 2nd after the round robin. After a lot of discussion, we chose our quarterfinal opponent Team Sylvan from Sweden. The forecast was totally different from the round robin: light air, like really light air. We had no idea what the boats were like in these conditions, but we were confident that we are a fast team and trusted ourselves to keep things simple and smooth. This mentality ultimately helped us defeat our Swedish opponent in the quarters 3-0.
Knowing we did not have a choice for our opponent in the semi finals, we were at ease and ready to race anyone. We were paired up with Camilla Ulrikkeholm from Denmark, who is an extremely tough competitor with a strong team. We beat her in the round robin, so we were confident going into racing. We started even or ahead each race but just didn't have the speed and boathandling that Camilla's team had. We lost the semi's 1-3.
This was devastating to our team. But we had to rally immediately to sail the petite finals (racing for 3 &4 overall) against LeBerre from France. The team did an excellent job recovering and demonstrating that they weren't going home without that Bronze medal. We handily defeated the French team, despite some heated moments, 2-0!
Standing on the podium with bronze medals around our necks and the American flag waving, we were very proud of our finish! A huge thank you to Helly Hansen for supplying us with the proper gear we needed for the Danish "summer"! The team was warm, dry and mobile in all of our layers and outfits. Not to mention, we looked really good too! Thank you to all of our sponsors who made this incredible event possible for us, we hope we made you proud! And thank you to all of you who sent encouraging words throughout the event!
Next up is the Lysekil Women’s Match Race in Lysekil, Sweden. The same team will be sailing, minus Liz Shaw and adding in Maggie Shea and Sally Barkow (she raced in the Volvo Ocean Race on TEAM SCA)!! We are feeling strong and confident going into the event!”
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