French seal early win at Student Yachting World Cup

Pornic, France (October 18, 2013) – Outstanding weather greeted the 14 teams on the penultimate day of he Student Yachting World Cup, with day five to have 3 windward-leeward races with two laps each and one coastal race. The excellent performance of the French team sealed their victory with a day remaining.

At the first race of the day, Team USA, Belgium and Germany made a bad start and had to cross the line again. Still, France and Switzerland the two leaders of the cup started well along with the Defender. They were all sailing really fast today and completed the whole coastal race in less than an hour. At the second mark, Australia overtook France and was heading toward the finish line in the top position. Despite their good start, Switzerland got trouble tacking around a crowded buoy area. Australia finished first before France, Ireland, and UCD ( the Defender ).

The last three races were windward-leeward races. At the first one, the current was really strong. It was making the start really difficult for each crew. The teams had been cautious and only Norway had to redo their start. At the end of the first lap, Team USA was crossing first the line followed closely by France and Defender. The latter one was sailing very well today. Eventually, France passed them all and finished this race first. Then the UCD team came second and Australia third. The Chinese seemed to be coming to terms with their J80, they finished 11th.

As the second windward-leeward race started, the current strengthened. The waves were tight. Conditions were tough for the crews. All the crews had trouble to manage to place themselves for the start. Anyway, a general recall followed the start. This time all the teams were keeping distances in order not to be disqualified. Team USA had a great start; they were faster than the others. All the boats were in crocodile line. There was not much space to lack at each mark. The UCD team got trouble with the rudder. They could not finish the race. Crossing the finish line, Norway claimed for damage on their boat.

The wind did not slow down for the last race of the day. The UCD team and Norway had to quit the race because of damages on their boat. The crews paid more attention not crossing the starting line too early this time. France led the float at the beginning thought the float is like an Indian line, no one could predict who would win the race. Approaching the finish mark; USA, England and France was side by side. Just before the buoy, Team USA led the float then England and France. However, France tacked first and speeded up. Eventually, France won the race. Then came England and USA.

The races today settled down the future Student World Champion, France is already known as the new champion of the 33rd edition of SYWoC. Switzerland confirmed their second place. Racing concludes on October 19.

Provisional ranking*
1 – FRA – Kedge BS (22 points)
2 – SUI – EPFL (58 points)
3 – USA – Team USA (64 points)
4 – AUS – Maquarie University (72 points)
5 – ENG – University of Southampton (74 points)
6 – BEL – UCL (85 points)
7 – SCO – Team Scotland (87 points)
8 – DEF – UCD Team Ireland Powered by Energia (95 points)
9 – IRL – Dublin Universities (96 points)
10 – GER – RWTH Aachen University (133 points)
11 – NOR – NTNUI Sailing (143 points)
12 – FRAX – X-HEC (150 points)
13 – JPN – Kobe University (184 points)
14 – CHN – Xiamen University (186.4 points)

* There are quite a lot of protests so the ranking may change

Video highlights from the 5th racing day

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

Report by Michalis Pateniotis