Stormy Skies at Student Yachting World Cup

La Rochelle, France (October 21, 2014) – Tuesday was the second to last day of the Student Yachting World Cup, crews knew that the ranking was not definitively established and that all could still change under that foul weather. Many hopes and dreams were in the air that morning. After those days of sun & light air, the weather was upside-down with a cloudy sky threatening heavy showers at any time and a strong wind fluctuating from 15 knts to 25 knts, Two windward/leeward races took place Tuesday as the wind became far too heavy in the early afternoon.

The 13th race began with a second start that occurred under black flag. Switzerland couldn’t finish this race because of a broken shroud, they had to come back to port. In the end, they got 5.2 points for this race, which corresponds to the average of their last races. Scotland did a great race finishing third. France finished second and England won this race.

As the wind increased to 20 knts spinnakers were prohibited for the 14th race. Boats had to wait for Switzerland’s return to the course before beginning this race. Switzerland was plagued by bad luck today as they had another technical problem during this race. Wales was leading at the last buoy but they broached there and lost the first place that went to England. Norway finished third, Ireland fourth. It was really close afterwards.

England showed that they could sail as well as usual under gale heading today’s two races. Victory is already in the bag for them and the BBC has already asked them for an interview. They even celebrated their triumph to come in the late afternoon. One can laud their astounding performances, they were first on eight races out of fourteen and their worse ranking is fifth. After England, Italy and Ireland are still on the podium and only one point separates the teams. Norway, Switzerland and the USA are just behind, and Wales had a good 14th race.

Competing in evenly matched Grand Surprise boats, racing concludes on October 22.

Twelve teams from eleven countries are represented: Canada (Dalhousie University), England (Southampton University), France (Polytechnique and the ESCE), Italy (CUS Brescia), Ireland (University College Dublin), Japan (Meijigakuin University), Norway (BI Norwegian Business School), Scotland (Strathclyde University), Switzerland (EPFL), the United States (California Maritime Academy) and Wales (Cardiff University).

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

Report by event media.