Women's Worlds Match Racing Championship Media Programme

9 - 13 November 2022

Barfoot & Thompson Women’s Match Racing World Championship 9 – 13 November 2022 The Barfoot & Thompson Women’s Match Racing World Championships (WWMRC) will be held in New Zealand this November, bringing together the best female match racers from around the world. This major international regatta will see 14 international teams compete a round robin racing each other once, with the top 8 qualifying to the best-of-3 quarterfinals, semi-finals and final to decide both the 2022 Women’s Match Racing World Champion, and the overall winner of the inaugural Women’s World Match Racing Tour (WWMRT).

COMPETITORS Pauline Courtois FRA – ‘Match in Pink’ Normandie Elite 2022 WWMRT Leader – Won leg 1 in Normandie and leg 3 in Greece 2021 WWMRC Champion/World Champion – qualified 4x Womens Worlds Match Racing Champion Anna Oestling SWE – ‘Wings Racing’ 2nd ranked women’s match racing team – qualified through ranking 2022 Match Race Denmark winner (leg 2 of WWMRT) 2x Women’s Match Racing World Champion Megan Thomson NZL – ‘2.0 Racing’ RNZYS Performance Programme team 2022 USA Open Grand Slam – tied 5th overall Thomson competing at 470 world’s Celia Willison NZL – ‘Edge Women’s Racing’ RNZYS Performance Programme team 7th ranked women’s match racing team – qualified through ranking 4th at 2022 Women’s European Championships – WWMRT leg 3 Margot Vennin FRA – ‘Match Moiselles’ Normandie Elite 2nd at Normandie – WWMRT leg 1 3rd at 2022 Women’s European Championships – WWMRT leg 3 World Championship space earnt by 2nd place in Normandie Janel Zarkowsky USA – ‘As One’ 2nd at 2022 US Women’s Match Racing Championships - qualified Combination team of 1st and 2nd place at US Women’s Match Racing Champs

Juliet Costanzo AUS – ‘Easy Tiger Racing’ 3rd at Match Race Denmark – qualified for World Championships 2022 Australian Womens Match Racing Champions Johanna Bergqvist SWE – ‘Team Bergqvist’ 6th ranked women’s match racing team – qualified through ranking 1st 2021 Women’s Champions League Return to the Match Racing scene after doing Fleet Racing Nicole Breault USA – ‘Vela Racing’ 3rd ranked women’s match racing team – qualified through ranking 4x USA Women’s Match Racing Champions – ’15, ’16, ’18, ‘21 Margot Riou FRA – ‘APCC Women’s Sailing Team’ 8th ranked women’s match racing team – qualified through ranking Octavia Owen GBR – ‘Athena Racing’ 12th ranked women’s match racing team – qualified through ranking Ali Morrish GBR - Five by Five 17th ranked women’s match racing team – qualified through ranking Chelsea Williams AUS - CYCA Australian Womens Match Racing Championships qualifier TBC - qualifier from NZ Women’s Match Racing Championships

EVENT SCHEDULE

RACE PROGRESSION

Weds 9th Nov (Registration Day) Competitors briefing 6pm Opening Ceremony / Powhiri, light meal to follow 7pm

Round Robin - every team races each other once Knock out Quarter Finals - first to 3 points 5th - 8th single race knockout

Thurs 10th Nov (Race Day 1) - Sat 12th Nov (Race Day 3) First race 10am, conclusion based on weather Media boat / live streaming Sailors lounge / press conference / umpires debrief from 4:30pm Sun 13th Nov (Finals & Closing) First race 10am, conclusion based on weather Media boat / live streaming and commentary Immediately after sailing – medal / champagne ceremony on North Lawn Formal prizegiving dinner and special guest speaker 7pm

Knock out Semi Finals - first to 3 points Petit Final - 3rd & 4th - first to 2 points

RNZYS Media Contact William Woodworth bwoodworth@rnzys.org.nz (+64) 027 275 3757

RACE FORMAT The number of matches to be sailed each day will be determined by the Race Committee.

The course will be windward/leeward with optional offset legs in the event of cross course current, resulting in either port or starboard rounding, and finishing downwind.

Skippers will be seeded into a round robin based on World Sailing ranking list 30 days prior to the event.

PAULINE COURTOIS (FRA) - Match in Pink Normandie Elite Pauline Courtois is an unstoppable force on the Women’s Match Racing circuit and is the current World Sailing #1 ranked Women’s Match Racer as well as the current French Women’s National Champion. The Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team with her at the helm finished 2nd in the 2018 Women’s Match Racing World Championships and 3rd in 2019. The crew competed in several Open events last year at the Grade 2, 3, and 4 levels.

TEAM Pauline Courtois – Skipper Maelenn Lemaitre Louise Acker Thea Khelif Clara Bayol

ANNA OESTLING (SWE) - WINGS The team have been sailing together since 2013 and never misses a chance to a session on the water. We are passionate about our match racing campaign and work hard to reach our goals. As a team we have achieved a lot and not only won prestigious competitions, but also worked tirelessly to push women’s sailing forward. We love to sail, we love to compete and we love to win. Besides our goal to perform on the water we also dream of opening the door for next generation of women within match racing. With our project smallWINGS want to inspire girls to dream big and fly high. Sailing is a fantastic pathway for girls to develop as individuals, team members and leaders. Another important issue is to push decision makers to include women’s sailing and create new platforms. We want to open up opportunities for young girls to have a professional sailing career in the future!

The team are also ambassadors for the clean water projects in Sweden - Optimist för havet and The Perfect World Foundation’s project Save the Ocean.

TEAM Anna Östling – Skipper Anna Holmdal – Main and Tactic Annika Carlunger - Bow Annie Saeedfar Wennergren - Tail Linnéa Wennergren – Trimmer

MEGAN THOMSON (NZL) - 2.0 Racing Megan Thomson and her RNZYS Performance Programme team 2.0 Racing have been one of New Zealand’s premier match racing teams for the past few years.

The 2.0 Racing team are relishing the opportunity to win the Women’s World Match Racing Championships on home water after campaigning throughout the 2022 World Match Racing Tour’s US Grand Slam and impressing against some of the world’s best open Match Racing teams. While she isn’t competing around the world, Megan is the RNZYS’s Race Manager and has a wealth of knowledge from plenty of sailing on the Waitemata.

TEAM Megan Thomson - Skipper Ellie Copeland Chelsea Rees Josi Andres Anna Merchant

CELIA WILLISON (NZL) - Edge Racing Edge Women’s Match has been sailing together since 2018. The girls met racing in Auckland Harbour and teamed up to give the match racing circuit a shot. Going strong until the pandemic, when they took some time off to pursue careers and other sailing, the gang is back together on a 2022 European tour and cannot wait to return home for a crack at the World title where they first met.

TEAM Celia Willison - Skipper Charlotte Porter Serena Woodall Paige Cook Alison Kent

MARGOT VENNIN (FRA) - Matchmoiselles The Matchmoiselles made their first appearance on the circuit in 2017 in France.

The crew trains at the training centre in Le Havre. They participated in the 2018 and 2019 World Championships and finished 3rd on the circuit in 2019. Margot and her team are currently third overall in the Women’s World Match Racing Tour 2022 and bronze medalist at the European Championship 2022.

TEAM Margot Vennin - skipper Juliette Dubreuil - main and tactics Elena Circiello-Vaillant - trimmer Clotilde Ponçon - pit Chloé Salon - bow

JANEL ZARKOWSKY (USA) - As One We are Team “As One”, named for the mantra of the Georgetown University Sailing Team. “As One” means everyone has a part in the success or failure of the team; everything you do to make yourself better makes the team better. Janel, Meaghan, and Rose have match raced together for 4 years and are excited to invite Allie and Aimee aboard for the 2022 Women’s Worlds. We are excited to compete together as a team for the first time!

Between them, the ‘As One’ team has US Women’s and Collegiate National Sailing Championships, 7 All-American selections, and plenty of experience on the World Match Racing Tour and Women’s World Match Racing Tour. They also have local knowledge onboard with Aimee having graduated from the RNZYS Youth Training Programme.

TEAM Janel Zarkowsky – Skipper Allie Blecher Rose Edwards Meaghan MacRae Aimee Famularo

JULIET COSTANZO (AUS) - Easy Tiger Racing Easy Tiger Racing, skippered by Juliet Costanzo, is an Australian Women’s match race team competing in the Women’s World Match Racing Tour. They sail out of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht club in the fleet of Elliot 7s, having raced in the youth and womens international circuit for many years and so will be used to the Elliott 7 yachts will be sailed in. The team hold various titles including those of national and world championships, having just won the 2022 Australian Women’s Match Racing Championship. Having qualified after finishing in 3rd place at the Women’s Match Cup in Denmark the team is eager to carry this momentum into the World Championship.

TEAM Juliet Costanzo - Skipper Jemma Hodgson Sarah Parker Ruby Scholten Rosie Rowell

JOHANNA BERGQVIST (SWE) - Team Bergqvist Team Bergqvist are doing a comeback to the Women’s Match Racing circuit after a couple of years almost only doing sprint racing. We won the 2021 Women’s Champions League in Cascais, 2nd at Nordea Women’s Trophy 2021, and won Women’s sprint nationals in Sweden 2020.

TEAM Johanna Bergqvist - skipper Isabelle Bergqvist – main/tactics Ellinor Hansson - trim Fanny Edgren - bow Clare Costanzo - float

NICOLE BREAULT (USA) - Vela Racing Nicole Breault’s youth racing was mainly in the I-420 Class; she won the US National championship twice and represented the US six times at World Championships. After earning All American honors sailing for Yale University, Nicole trained in the Olympic 470, twice competing in the US Trials for the 1996 Atlanta Games and then the 2008 Beijing Games. During the 12 years in between, Nicole taught high school history and coached both sailing and soccer. Nicole got hooked on match racing after 2008, and put together her own Vela Racing program in 2012.

She and her team have raced competitively in the California Dreamin’ Series and in the US Match Racing Championship Series over the past 10 years. They were the 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2021 US Women’s Match Racing Champions. Their international exploits include 1st in the Women’s Division of the 2015 Nations Cup and runner-up in 2019.

TEAM Nicole Breault - Skipper Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer - main Dana Riley Hayes - trim Karen Loutzenheiser - float Julie Mitchell - bow

MARGOT RIOU (FRA) - APCC Women’s Racing A diverse women’s crew!

We were able to combine our different profiles (dentist, veterinarian, engineer, nautical expert) and our different sailing experiences (solo, crew, dinghy, habitable) to create a high-performance crew of sailors from the best of French women’s sailing.

TEAM Margot Riou – skipper Maiwenn Deffontaines Tiphaine Ragueneau Chloe Le Roux Blandine Jaffrain

OCTAVIA OWEN (GBR) - Athena Racing Team Athena Racing made their first debut on the WIM series in 2017 Lysekil.

The team has since competed on the circuit 2018 and 19. The team previously achieved a double Women’s Match Racing National championship title and three times runner up, and an ISAF silver medal at the team racing world championships.

TEAM Octavia Owen – Skipper Chloe Collenette - main trim Arwen Fflur - Jib trim Charlotte Fensom - Pit/Mast Jasmine Boote - bow

ALLISON MORRISH (GBR) - Five by Five Racing A majority Scottish GBR team, this is our first year competing on the Women’s World Tour after a few years of being consistently on the podium in the UK. We can’t wait to visit New Zealand to compete against the best in the world.

TEAM Alison Morrish - skipper Emily Robertson - main trim Anna Carpenter - kite trim Rebecca ‘Boo’ Coles - jib trim Sarah Jarman - bow

CHELSEA WILLIAMS (AUS) - CYCA This young Australian team representing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia qualified for the event through the Australian Women’s Match Racing National Championship just over a week ago. Skipper Chelsea Williams is a past Australian Match Racing National Champion, having won the event in 2019. Mainsail trimmer and tactician, Jess Tavener, recently returned to Australia after competing at the Youth Match Racing World Championship and US Grand Slam Series. Jess will also compete in the WMRT Final next month in Sydney as part of an Australian team. Trimmer Charlotte Alexander brings a wealth of knowledge to the team having won the 2019 Sailing Champions League in St. Moritz, Switzerland. This will be the teams first appearance at a WWMRT event and at a World Championship event together.

TEAM Chelsea Williams - Helm Jessica Tavener - Main Charlotte Alexander - Trim Sofia Higgott - Strategy Audrey Scheu - Bow

SAMANTHA NORMAN (NZL) - Sailing Mums Samantha Norman’s Sailing Mums team were the final qualifier for the World Championships by virtue of being the top-ranked unqualified crew at last weekend’s New Zealand Women’s Match Racing Championships. The Sailing Mums won the 2020 NZWMRC and will be a tough challenge for everyone in the field with former 470 World and Olympic champion Polly Powrie and veteran ocean racer Bex Costello among her crew.

TEAM Samantha Norman – skipper Miranda Addy Polly Powrie Bex Costello Hana Hielkema