Casa Vela Cup 2025 at St Francis Yacht Club - Day 2
by Women's WMRT 30 May 15:18 AEST
May 28-31, 2025
Day two of the Casa Vela Cup 2025, the opening stage of the 2025 Women's World Match Racing Tour hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club, delivered another thrilling day of racing with top-ranked French skipper Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink Normandy Elite Team continuing their unbeaten streak with fifteen straight wins in the qualifying round robin stage, asserting a dominant lead.
Courtois and crew of Maelenn Lemaitre, Louise Acker, and Laurane Mettraux, the defending women's match racing world champions, have been revelling in the San Francisco conditions this week, not dissimilar to the conditions of their home waters in Le Havre, France. "San Francisco really is one of the best venues in the world, we love coming here and the sailing conditions are ideal" said Courtois.
The second day of the event brought early blue skies and a classic westerly Bay breeze building from 15-16 knots in the morning to a fresh 18-20 knot breeze by the end of the day with gusts over 25 knots.
"It was a perfect day for match racing" added Principal Race Officer Becky Ashburn. "After a shifty start, the breeze certainly built during the day, and we were seeing some mid-twenty knot gusts on the course - the flood tide has fortunately also helped to keep the water flat this week."
Behind Courtois, local resident and match racer Nicole Breault and her Vela Racing team of Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer, McKenzie Wilson and Melissa Purdey secured five wins in the second round robin today building her total score to twelve wins and three losses. The team now sits in second position with three races left to complete the double round-robin stage. The top four teams from the double round robin will advance to the semi-finals with a knock out stage for places 5th-10th.
Lying in joint third place in the qualifying round with eleven wins and four losses is Sweden's Anna Östling/ Team Wings, and Julia Aartsen's Team Out of the Box from the Netherlands.
"We are pleased with our performance so far" added Östling who finished in second place at the last Casa Vela Cup in 2023 behind winner Celia Willison from New Zealand. "We have a new younger crew member with us this week - Svea Sahlin - and we know what to change to get the races we are losing to end our way. San Francisco always brings the wind, so we know what to expect."
Racing resumes tomorrow at 1030 local time with the final flights of the double round-robin stage to complete before teams head into the semi-finals. Courtois and team remain the ones to beat, but with San Francisco's famously unpredictable breeze and currents, nothing is certain and there is plenty at stake for the winning prize of a week's stay for the first placed team and guests at 'Casa Vela', a hand built 450 m2 (5000 sq ft) four bedroom treehouse on the beach near Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Cumulative Results after Day 2:
Pauline Courtois, FRA, 15-0
Nicole Breault, USA, 12-3
Anna Östling, SWE, 11-4
Julia Aartsen, NED, 11-4
Allie Blecher, USA, 8-7
Lindsey Baab, USA, 7-8
Kenza Coutard, FRA, 5-10
Katie Cornetta, USA, 4-11
Liz Hjorth, USA, 2-13
Caroline Bayless, USA, 0-15
Follow live results at www.matchracingresults.com/2025/wwmrt-casa-vela-cup