Next stop Sweden for Wot Chicks
'Wot Chicks at the Audi SB3 Queensland Match Racing Championship, Photo: Wot Chicks media'
Wot Chicks ©
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Katie Spithill's Wot Chicks finished second at the Audi SB3 Queensland Match Racing Championship sailed off Mooloolaba Beach on the Sunshine Coast over the weekend, a solid result given it was their first foray into the exiting sports boats.
'It was our first time in SB3's,' said the Sydney based skipper. 'They are very manoeuvrable in the pre-start and great for tacking duels, though match racing with an asymmetric spinnaker is not something we have ever done before so that was a learning curve.
'Our aim was to use this event as training before we depart for Sweden next week, and to measure the development of a few things we have been working on.
'We were very happy with our progress and we were able to identify our weaknesses for this event, which were time in the boats and racing with asymmetric spinnakers,' added Spithill who remains third on the ladder following the latest round of ISAF world women's match racing rankings.
Joined by longstanding crewmembers Nina Curtis, Nicole Douglass, Jessica Eastwell with Heidi Gordon travelling north as coach, the team enjoyed a welcome break from Sydney's cool and wet conditions.
'The weather was great, warm and sunny with light winds for the first day of racing on Friday then 15 knots both Saturday and Sunday,' Spithill recounted.
Sean O'Rourke combined a welcome break from university study in Sydney to record a remarkable perfect score win in the Championship, beating Spithill into second place.
As expected Australian's number one woman match racer probed and tested the winning Oceanburo crew for any weakness and while she cleverly won all three starts, O'Rourke's crew fought back, winning the decisive first use of the breeze to take the final with three straight wins. 
Next on the calendar for Wot Chicks is the Match Cup Sweden www.matchcupsweden.com/to be sailed six up in Marstrand on DS37's from June 29 - July 6. This will be the team's first big boat regatta for 2008. They will then return home for a few weeks in July before heading back to Europe for the Portugal Women's Cup and Lysekil Women's Match Racing Championships.
With the support of title sponsor Graeme Wood, founder of Australasia's number one accommodation website Wotif.com, Wot Chicks has a jam packed 2008 schedule with 14 events spanning 10 countries.
Wot Chicks is proudly supported by Graeme Wood, SLAM and Rudy Project.
by Lisa Ratcliff 
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Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg, QLD
