Next Event - Stage 8
6 - 12 October
Hamilton, Bermuda
2008 World Championship Standings
To Win A Line 7 Squadron Jacket
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| BATTLE OF THE SEXES |
Malin Millbourne
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Jenny Axhehe on day 2 of Match Cup Sweden. Photo © Dan Ljungsvik dan@ljungsvik.com
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There is nothing in the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) rules to prevent women from sailing in what are predominantly men’s events – indeed, these are termed “Open” for this reason – yet few women participate in these, preferring instead to compete in events open only to women to earn points on ISAF’s Women’s Ranking List.
Part of the reason for this is that in some countries, like the USA, there are far more match race events for women than open events. This is a vestige of the momentum built up nearly a decade ago during the campaign to convince ISAF to choose match racing for the new women’s event slated for the 2004 Olympic Games. While the campaign failed politically, with the Yngling chosen for a fleet racing format instead, many events lived on and women’s match racing has grown to be quite healthy indeed: there are over a dozen women in the top 100 from the USA on the Women’s ranking list, compared with only three USA men on the Open ranking list. Most other countries have a more balanced mix.
This year’s inclusion of women at Match Cup Sweden is indicative of a growing trend amongst World Tour events. This event and the King Edward Gold Cup in Bermuda are two that invite women skippers, whilst at Troia Portugal Match Cup and the Brasil Sailing Cup they earn their place through qualifier events. In previous editions of this event, women had their own event being held concurrently, which made for very busy waters in the Marstrand fiord but no mixing of the two genders in competition.
“We are incredibly happy to get 16 so highly ranked sailors out of the world’s sailing elite to sail in Marstrand,” said Erik Centerwall of GKSS, Sports project manager of Match Cup Sweden. “That will guarantee a great restart of Match Cup Sweden. The ladies have always been a natural part of the event, with this year’s interesting news that they are racing against the men.”
Given the men’s superior physical strength in sailing the DS 37 boats used for this event, organizers have attempted to even the playing field by allowing the women’s team six rather than five total crew. This places an even stronger emphasis on having good crew coordination, which is critical for success in match race sailing.
In the first day of competition, this teamwork was eluding Claire Leroy (FRA), who has been at the top of the ISAF women’s ranking list for two years and was the women’s winner at this event’s last edition in 2005. “We have two Danish crew with me on my team this year, with English as our only common language, so we are struggling a little with acting quickly on decisions,” she said.
Nonetheless, she is enjoying the opportunity to race against the men’s teams, and expresses this with an understated, though optimistic tone. “We are learning a lot from them, and so we are going to try and learn to being quicker on our decisions [and execution].”
Jenny Axhede (SWE) hails from nearby Gothenberg and is ranked 8th in the world, and is also upbeat about having the chance to compete against the men. “We are really looking forward to sail in Marstrand, and to get to challenge the men gives the race a new dimension,” she says.
Malin Millbourne (SWE) from Stockholm is ranked 14th in the world, but is less sanguine about sailing against the men’s teams for what she sees is a gap in abilities created not simply by gender but by the difference in professionalism in the teams. “We are amateurs, with jobs and families, and these guys get to sail full-time. I didn’t know what to expect, but we have been happy to have managed well in the pre-starts and kept it close in many of our matches.”
On the difference between sailing against men versus women, Millbourne says “The level of aggressiveness, use of the rules, crew work, everything just happens more quickly compared to sailing against women.”
Millbourne also sees this as an excellent chance to observe and train up for future women’s events. “There is a big event coming up later in the summer, so this is good training for us for that, and its also good exposure for our sponsor,” she said.
Thusfar at the end of the first round robin competition, Axhede in Group A had defeated the Tour leader Ian Williams (GBR), Millbourne and Leroy had defeated Eric Monnin, and Leroy had defeated Millbourne.
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Newsletter - September 2008
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