The newly-created Swiss Sailing League Women’s Cup was hosted by the National Youth Spot Center Tenero and the YC Locarno on Lago Maggiore, Switzerland. The 15 women’s teams from across Switzerland enjoyed a total of 18 races over the two days of racing in highly variable wind and weather conditions. While the first day was partly sunny with good winds, Sunday saw little wind and lots of rain. In the end, it was Team M. NIL from Zurich, skippered by Nathalie Winiger and crew of Meret Gebistorf, Irina Hotz and Livia Naef that won with three firsts, two seconds and a third.
Day One: After 15 races (each team sailed five races) with winds ranging from 4 to 10 knots, the SC Thalwil Team, skippered by Mara Bezel with crew of Giulia Corelli, Fiona Müdespacher and Alexa Bezel were leading. The racing was tight; so close that SC Thalwil was leading on a tiebreaker over Team M. Nil. Then, just one point back was the Zurich SC Team with Armei Keller, Franziska Gluer, Olga Henneberg, Zoé Straub and Karin Nordstrom. The racing was fast and thrilling, and the lead changed constantly. In addition to the top three teams, Team CER, Société Nautique de Genève, Regattaclub Oberhofen and Thunersee Yachtclub all celebrated chances for victory in at least one race. The sailors from Club de Voile de Lausanne showed their potential with two race wins, but were thrown back to seventh place by a premature start.
Day Two: The one and only flight determined the outcome for the Women’s Cup for the day. That meant that all 15 teams could sail just one race in the final showdown due to the terrible weather. The day dawned with continuous rain and very light winds from the north. After an initial postponement, the YC Locarno PRO sent the teams out in breeze of 3-6 knots. Team M. NIL and SN Geneve each won races, as did Thunersee YC. However, SC Thalwil had a fourth place. As a result, Nathalie Winiger’s crew on Team M. NIL won the regatta with 10 points total. The balance of the podium and the top five were determined by tiebreakers. At 12 points each, Zurich SC took the silver with a 2-1-5-1-1-2 tally over Team SN Geneve (Laurane METTRAUX, Nathalie BRUGGER, Elodie-Jane METTRAUX, Marie van der KLINK, Coraline JONET) that had a 1-3-3-1-3-1 record. Then, the battle for fourth saw a tie-breaker on 13 points each, with Team SC Thalwil taking the fourth with a 1-2-4-1-1-4 scoreline over Team Thunersee YC (Sophie MOSEGAARD, Fiona SCHÄRFER, Maya SIEGENTHALER, Linda FAHRNI, Monika MEIER) that had a 2-2-2-2-4-1 tally for fifth place. For more Swiss Women’s J/70 Sailing League information, visit https://swiss-sailing-league.ch/women_cup2018/.