(Kiel, Germany)- The inaugural Women’s SAILING Champions League took
place at Kieler Woche in northern Germany on the southeastern part of
the Baltic Sea. With 10 teams from six nations, the Royal Danish Yacht
Club (KDY) and Hellerup Sejlklub made it a one-two victory for Denmark.
Kongelig
Dansk Yachtclub, aka the Royal Danish Yacht Club, won the inaugural
event of the brand-new Women’s SAILING Champions League. Over the three
days of the regatta which took place from June 16th to 18th June during
Kieler Woche, two Danish crews dominated the league racing in J/70
keelboats. There were all kinds of weather conditions over the three
days, but the final day saw spectacular conditions with a southwesterly
breeze blowing at 11 to 13 knots.Each team competed in 20 races across the three days, and the Royal Danish Yacht Club rarely finished out of the top two in any race. Strangely, the final heat proved to be their worst score, although that 4th place didn’t matter because the crew with skipper Henriette Koch, Anne-Sofie Munk-Hansen, Tina Schmidt Gramkov, Helle Ørum Ryhding and Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen had already notched up a commanding lead in the standings.
Koch,
who represented Denmark at the London 2012 Olympic Games, commented, “I
think it’s a pleasure we’re starting a new tradition– a new way of
sailing. It’s great to be the winning team in the first event. On top of
that, I think it’s brilliant to finally have a women’s sailing
championship!”Hellerup Sejlklub (Trine Abrahamsen, Christina Otzen, Katrine Munch Ejlev, Ida Hartvig, & Lærke Marie Sørensen) finished in second place. Both Danish teams were some way ahead of the chasing pack that were focused on who would grab the final podium place going into the last heat of the competition.
A
first place in the last race gave Akademischer Segelverein Warnemünde
team (Johanna Meier, Carolin Junker, Pia Sophie Wedemeyer, Andrea
Aachenbach, Lisa Schälke) third place overall, just one point ahead of
fellow German team from Deutscher Touring Yacht Club (Laura Fischer,
Anna Seidl, Mareike Weber, Monika Linder, Linda Weber) that finished on
equal points with Dutch entry International Yacht Club Amsterdam (Rikst
Dijkstra, Fettje Osinga, Milah Wouters, Irena Doets, Sanne Crum).Nynne Desirée Ammundsen from ISLA (International Sailing League Association) said, “It’s been a blast! Following 50 competitive women on 10 teams from different nations sailing in Kiel is a really good start. This is only the beginning. We have established a strong base and a solid foundation to make sure the Women’s SAILING Champions League concept goes from strength to strength. Having sailors from different nations, classes, levels and ages is exactly what ISLA is working towards, developing the league format. It’s great to see sailors respond so positively to this format.”
SAP Sailing Analytics provided 24/7 additional statistics and data for sailors, fans, spectators and media like GPS tracking, real-time analysis, and live leaderboard combined with 2D visualization. You can find all results on SAPsailing.com (http://wwww.sapsailing.com)! For more Women’s SAILING Champions League sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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