Nicky leads new crew to victory
'Nicky Souter, Sam Boyd, Luilly Taylor & Susan Veal being presented with the winner’s trophy - Australia Women’s Match Racing National Titles'
Yachting WA
Every year the Women's Match Racing National Championship is sailed to test up and coming women sailors in different locations, sailing conditions and boats. This year's event was hosted in Western Australia at the Fremantle Sailing Club in the J24 class.
The 3 day series was shaping up for good match racing conditions with variable south westerly breezes forecasted each day in the 8 - 13 knot wind range.
Unfortunately the rain settled in on the Monday morning, sucking away most of the breeze for the day, leaving the race committee, umpires and sailors stuck in frustrating fluky conditions. The wind was swinging from every direction on the compass and coming across in waves from Rottnest Island switching between glass and the slightest of breeze, making the conditions unfair for all in the match racing events.
Only one race was completed for the day, leaving the remaining races for the 2nd round robin incomplete and a final day of competition that would include the remainder of the round robin and finals.
Leading into the final day of racing, the competitors woke early to sunshine and a steady light nor' easterly breeze. The first races were raced in these conditions before the expected sea breeze kicked in for the final stages of the round robin. But this wasn't enough, and as time was of the essence, the 2nd round robin was left incomplete and the top 4 competitors were selected to proceed into the final series.
Having secured the top placing in the round robin events, with 9 wins and no losses, we easily secured first place ranking and were on a high and ready for the finals action. The top four, in order of qualifying were:
Nicky Souter RPAYC
Katie Spithill RPAYC
Amanda Scrivenor CYCA
Lucinda Whitty RSYS
As the winner of the round robin, we raced Lucinda Whitty from RSYS in the semi final series and managed to secure 2 wins in the 3 race series. Amanda Scrivenor from the CYCA came through with strong results in her semi finals against experienced match racer Katie Spithill and too finished with 2 wins in the 3 race series.
So the finals were set with a time limit too hanging over our head, we had to secure 3 quick wins against Amanda to win the National Championship title. We won the first 2 races convincingly and only just lost the third by seconds, but as the sun was beginning to set and a 4pm deadline in place, the race committee ran out of time and was unable to complete the final series with the first to 3 wins. The title was ours!
In addition to this exciting and memorable win, Yachting Australia announced the possibility of Women's Match Racing making a debut on the Olympic stage in London in 2012. A talent identification squad of 10 athletes has been selected from the national event to make up the Australian Women's Match Racing Team. They are:
Nicky Souter
Olivia Price
Sam Boyd
Katie Spithill
Amanda Scrivenor
Nina Curtis
Jess Eastwell
Lilly Taylor
Ray Martin
Susan Veal
From this team of 10, a team will be selected to compete in the Nations Cup Regional event to be held in New Zealand at the end of the month.
But more imminently, from this team, 6 have been selected to compete in the Australian Open Match Racing Championship held directly after the Women's National event hosted by the Royal Perth Yacht Club.
The crew to race at the Open Match Racing championships will be;
Nicky Souter (helm)
Olivia Price (trim)
Nina Curtis (main)
Samantha Boyd (trim)
Lilly Taylor (bow)
Amanda Scrivenor (bow)
Led by 10th ranked Nicky Souter, they will be a formidable contender for the open national title.
by Lilly Taylor & Susan Veal
Turners Beach, TAS
