French running away with Student Yachting World Cup

Published on October 16th, 2013

Pornic, France (October 16, 2013) – Who will be the next Student World Champion? After the third day of the Student Yachting World Cup, the leader of the first days rubbed it in. France won again the two races of the day.

The third day has been composed of two races, one coastal in the morning and one windward- leeward races. The afternoon was devoted to rest.

In the morning, the wind was strong and the team was eager to struggle to overtake France. X-HEC and Norway made a false start, though Belgium and the United-States have good tacticians and started well ahead the others. Half way to the end of the race, Team USA was first followed closely by France. Eventually, the leader of the cup, France, won the race. England finished second and team USA third.

At midday, the cloud went away and the crews could enjoy the second race of the day below a bright sun. This time, the race was a windward leeward race. Germany made an astonishing start and got a leap ahead. However it did not last long as the impressive French team overtook them and got at the first place within the first round. The USA was side by side with the Defender struggling for the second place during the whole race. When they tacked to go for the last round, Defender cut their way and made them second. At the end, France crossed the line first, then Defender second and the USA third.

The races today proved that France was the leader of this edition. However the remained places of the podium are not settled yet as there is only a tiny gap of 4 points between Scotland (3rd) and Switzerland (7th). The future races would be interesting as the weather forecast foresees good racing conditions. Tomorrow, the crews are going to compete to confirm or improve their marks. No one will give up this fight to become the next World Champion!

With 9 races now completed, a boat’s series score is the total of her race scores excluding her two worst scores. Racing concludes October 19. Here are the provisional rankings after protests:

1- FRA, 7 points
2- USA, 24 points
3- SCO, 29 points
4- AUS, 31 points
5- DEF, 33 points
6- BEL, 33 points
7- SUI, 33 points
8- ENG, 41 points
9- IRL, 44 points
10- GER, 63 points
11- FRAX, 64 points
12- NOR, 69 points
13- JPN, 83 points
14- CHN, 85 points

The video highlights from the third racing day