The Student Yachting World Cup ‘defender’, 2010 Champions Southampton Solent, won the first race on Wednesday, the second day of racing off La Trinité-sur-Mer in Quiberon Bay, Brittany. Solent retained their 2nd place at the end of the day, but were just 3 points behind the leaders, the French Euromed team. The Swiss team from Lausanne had a great day, moving up 5 places from first night, to displace Southampton into 4th, but on count back, as they are on equal points. Cork Institute of Technology “broke its boom vang (kicking strap) and couldn’t run the first race”, so did well to keep in their behind Southampton.
Provisional leaderboard on Wednesday night:
1 Euromed Arthur Loyd, France (11pts)
2 Solent University, England (defender) (14pts)
3 EPF Lausanne, Switzerland (29pts)
4 Southampton University, England (29pts)
5 Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland (43pts)
6 University of Dalhousie, Canada (46pts)
7 Maine Maritime Academy, USA (53pts)
8 CUS Milano, Italy (56pts)
9 Ecole Polytechnique Madrid, Spain (60pts)
10 Glasgow University, Scotland (61pts)
11 Nautical School Dom Henrique, Portugal (63pts)
12 NTNU, Norway (63pts)
13 Jaguiellonian University, Poland (74pts)
14 Xiamen University, China (88pts)
15 Kobe University, Japan (95pts)
The event PR people, icarussailingmedia.com have been producing daily videos – all posted on YouTube. See Tuesday edition.
You can follow the action on the Event Website and Facebook – event page.
And Michalis Pateniotis of www.icarussailingmedia.com reported on the first day’s racing as follows:
“Full action day with 4 amazing races in SYWoC 2011 today
“Fortunately and unlike the previous days, today the sailors had a day full of exciting, passionate sailing. A day with thrilling moments, suspense and… the occasional disqualifications due to false starts! The crews started early in the morning with two windward – leeward races followed by an inshore and a night one, the forth and last of the day.
“The weather was ideal today, a little clouded, with the occasional squalls passing through the racing area, and a welcoming breeze of around 15 knots. The first race started at 10:30. The Italian team rounded first the weather mark, taking advantage of a masterful start. They kept up with their good performance and grew the distance from the rest boats, crossing first the finishing line. Behind them, were the two English teams with a close racing – but the Cup defenders used wisely their experience and finished second, leaving behind the other English team.
“The second race started almost immediately, a few minutes later. Now it was time for the French team to use their experience and knowledge of the area, thus winning the race. They had a very good start, with the British defenders on their tail. At the first downwind leg the British managed to overtake them, but the French did not lose their composure and with some smart moves regained the first place on the second upwind. A lead they hold until the finish of the race.
“The postponing of the races the days before made the committee anxious to do as many today as possible. They proceeded pretty quickly on the third, inshore race of the day. The boats would start with a small upwind leg and then would head towards the small island of Houat, 9 miles to the South. The boats rounded two small rocks that were in front of the island and then headed east, downwind to the finish line.
“The finish line of the first inshore race served as the start line for the fourth and last race of the day. Another inshore race, scheduled to finish at night time. The boats had to do almost the same course as with the 3rd race of the day, but in the opposite direction and, this time, round the island of Houat. Not many things changed at the finishing order, so the French team scored their third victory for the day. The defenders of the Cup were very close behind them again, but not as much as to worry the French. But the battle for the third place between the second boat from England and team USA was fierce. The British were luckier though and with a big shift on the finish line managed to beat the Americans for less than just a meter.
“It goes without saying that the sailors were exhausted after a long day, but very happy with so many exciting races having boosted their adrenaline! The organizing committee welcomed them on land with warm soup and mouth watering delicacies. Tomorrow the start will be a bit later. The sailors will have some time to recharge themselves, and of course think of what they did right or wrong in today’s races . Come back tomorrow for the day’s exciting update!”
Is Ben Saxton creating hysteria aboard Southamton?
