England wins 34th Student Yachting World Cup

La Rochelle, France (October 22, 2014) – Today was the last day of competition, and even though England’s victory at the 34th Student Yachting World Cup was already for sure, the top-5-ranking could change a lot with two more races: Italy was second with 46 pts, Ireland third with 47 pts, Norway fourth (52 pts) and Switzerland fifth (58,2 pts)… the USA followed with 59 pts!

The two windward/leeward races of the day took place under perfect weather: wind, sun and calm sea. A team match race closed the SYWoC at sea. This race was just for the pleasure of racing one last time in LA Rochelle’s waters, it wasn’t taken into account for the overall ranking.

The first race of the day (15th race) was run at 10-11 knts. The USA realized they had a false start and came back, but Ireland was OCS for this race… England led the course with Italy right on their heels all race long. Scotland did a great race finishing third. Japan ripped its spinnaker and so finished last.

Wales lead the second race of the day (16th race). England got second and Norway third. The Polytechnique team made a good tactical choice choosing not to follow the others at the beginning of the race: they took an optimal path and finished in a comfortable fourth place!

It was a bad day for Ireland who was OCS for the 15th race and ninth at the 16th race: they lost their third place overall to Norway.

The team match race saw England and Ireland sailing against Italy and Norway, then France (ESCE) and Scotland against Wales and Switzerland and finally France (Polytechnique) against Japan as the USA and Canada did not want to be part of it. The rules weren’t clearly understood by the competitors as for the finishing line: the last buoy and the committee boat materialized it and the usual finishing buoy had been removed.

Only crews taking part in the second match had understood it! As for the first match race, the four boats were really close at the end of the race but none of them crossed the finishing line! Norway and Italy came back and won this race. As for the second team match race, France was ahead on the three other boats but they waited for their partner, who was side by side with Wales but succeeded in pulling themselves out at the last second: France & Scotland crossed the line almost hand in hand! Japan won the last race over the Polytechnique team, which was leading but hadn’t understood the rules concerning the arrival.

Tonight was the closing ceremony. England was crowned world student yachting champion and also got the AGPM trophy (rewarding the best crew for the coastal races)!

Italy finished second of the competition and Norway third! Wales won the AGPM trophy as they had won the last race of the competition. Every crew ought to be congratulated for their amazing performances. The level of sailing was really outstanding this year and most races were very close.

Event website: http://www.sywoc.org

Report by event media.