Although she is a local sailor, Paula Lewin has made a name for herself in international match racing and yesterday she demonstrated her prowess by remaining undefeated in the Bermuda International Women’s Match Racing Championship, a Grade 1 event hosted by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

Lotte Pedersen of Denmark also is undefeated in the inaugural event, which continues through Tuesday. The winner and runner-up will advance into the Qualifying Round of the Bermuda Gold Cup, the fourth event on the Swedish Match Tour, scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

Lewin’s first of two matches on Hamilton Harbour was against world No.1 Marie Björling of Sweden where the two-time Olympian established an early lead and held onto it for the rest of the race.

“We were excited to wake up and see the fresh breeze because we feel very comfortable in these boats in these conditions,” said Lewin. “We controlled the start and we were able to hold onto our lead. It’s always great to win against Marie.”

Bjorling however, still sees room for improvement, having not only lost her match against Lewin, but also against Pedersen. “We were just too early judging the start with Paula,” she said. “I had a penalty and then got a second one quickly, which I had to take immediately, so I misjudged how long it would take us to do the turn. While we were turning, Paula tacked above us and that was it. We gained during the race, but we couldn’t catch her.”

Round Robin racing is scheduled to continue through Monday. The top four highest scoring skippers in the Round Robin will qualify for the semi-final round, which is scheduled for Tuesday, with the final round to follow.

The unseeded skippers qualifier round for the Bermuda Gold Cup also continued yesterday, with Andy Horton the lone undefeated skipper in the 16-team fleet. The round concludes today and the top six skippers will advance into the Bermuda Gold Cup Round One on Wednesday.

Results: Day 2 (Four flights of Round Robin

Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen (Virum, Denmark), 4-0

Paula Lewin (Paget, Bermuda), 4-0

Marie Bjorling (Frolunda, Sweden), 2-2

Klaartje Zuiderbaan (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2-2

Deborah Willits (Houston, Texas, USA), 2-2

Liz Baylis (San Rafael, Calif., USA), 1-3

Elizabeth Kratzig (Corpus Christi, Texas, USA), 1-3

Sandy Hayes (Scituate, Mass., USA), 0-4

Round Robin Results

Flight 3, Match 1

P. Lewin def. M. Bjorling

K. Zuiderbaan def. S. Hayes

L. Pedersen def. E. Baylis

E. Kratzig def. D. Willits

Flight 4, Match 1

P. Lewin def. E. Baylis

D. Willits def. S. Hayes

K. Zuiderbaan def. E. Kratzig

L. Pedersen def. M. Bjorling