2:40 AM Tue 9 Mar 2010 GMT
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'Katie Pellew and crew in action in New Zealand. Supplied by Craig Heydon, Yachting Australia'
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The Australian Women's Match Racing Team has finished top of the table at the New Zealand Women's Match Racing Championships with Katie Pellew winning the 2010 title ahead of fellow Australian Nicky Souter.
The Australian crews dominated the round robin stages of the regatta with Souter and crew of Jessica Eastwell, Amanda Scrivenor and Rayshele Martin recording 17 wins and just one loss, ahead of Pellew and crew Nina Curtis, Lucinda Whitty and Stacey Jackson with 16 wins and two losses.
Souter kicked off the semi finals against New Zealand's Stephanie Hazard and progressed to the final with a two to one victory while Pellew and crew defeated Sam Osborne of New Zealand two-nil.
Pellew took victory in the opening race of the all-Australian final by 46 seconds and was declared the regatta winner after the race committee was unable to complete any further final races in the allocated time.
'For my team and I to be able to win the Leith Mossman Memorial Trophy again and have our name on there for a third time is a great feat,' said Pellew who had previously won the regatta in 2003 and 2006.
'This year the event was scheduled with an extra day, to assist in completing the format,' she said. 'We sailed a double Round Robin, Semis and almost completed a full final, so the Race Committee did an excellent job getting all the races off.'
'For this event we sailed with four crew rather than the three person Olympic format, which made for a crowded boat! Luckily Nina, Lucinda, Stacey and I are good friends and we had a great event and really enjoyed sailing together as a team,' said Pellew.
The Australian Women's Match Racing Team will next be in action at the Harken Women's International Match Racing Regatta at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia before the squad packs up and heads to round three of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Spain.
'As a squad we were very proud of our results, to again sail in a different team combination and go through the regatta neck and neck, and clear ahead of the other teams was a good step in our progression as a squad towards 2012,' said Pellew.
'Nicky and I have now stepped straight into the Louis Vuitton Series in Auckland, where we have joined the Umpire Team as observers on the back of the AC Boats, which will help increase our rules knowledge and awareness and allow us to learn from some of the top sailors in the world,' she said.
For more information go to
www.australiansailingteam.com.au
by Craig Heydon
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