There was no place, unfortunately, for Howth Yacht Club's Diana Kissane in the quarter finals of the 2016 Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race Championships in Korea this week. The Dublin crew won two but lost nine in a highly competitive fleet. Lizzy McDowell, Isabella Morehead and Ellen Cahill were part of the KIssane crew line–up at the prestigious event.
Experience, experience and nothing but experience, that's what really counts when it comes to match racing, the chess game of sailing. And Claire Leroy has got loads of it, with two World Championship titles, several years as number one on the world ranking, and double triumphs in the Busan Cup Women's International Match Race under her belt. Now the French skipper has just won yet another round-robin. In Korea. With an impressive 9 - 2 score. Is she on her way to a third Busan title?
Claire Leroy and her Mermaid Sailing Team had a really successful Thursday on the waters just outside Haeundae Beach in Busan. The French team won six straight matches, and didn't lose a single one during the whole day. That perfect score took them all the way to the top of the leader board. In testing conditions with 20 knots of shifty and puffy breeze, combined with a lot of swell and some current.
The Busan Cup Women's International Match Race continues Friday with the quarterfinals, to conclude Saturday with semis and final.
Round-robin result in the Busan Cup Women's International Match Race, the 4th event of the 2016 WIM Series (name, nationality, wins - losses). The top eight advances to the quarterfinals:
1. Claire Leroy, FRA, 9 - 2
2. Lucy Macgregor, GBR, 8 - 3
3. Trine Palludan, DEN, 8 - 3
4. Anna Ostling, SWE, 8 - 3
5. Katie Spithill, AUS, 7 - 4
6. Stephanie Roble, USA, 7 - 4
7. Pauline Courtois, FRA, 6 - 5
8. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 5 - 6
9. Renee Groeneveld, NED, 4 - 7
10. Diana Kissane, IRL, 2 - 9
11. Milly Bennett, AUS, 1 - 10
12. Gyeong Jin Lee, KOR, 1 - 10