34th Student Yachting World Cup La Rochelle 2014 - Second race day

by Kès des Elèves/Student Yachting World Cup on 19 Oct 2014 34th Student Yachting World Cup La Rochelle 2014 - Saturday, October the 18th: Second race day - Today’s sailing programme was quite the same as yesterday: two windward-leeward races and a coastal race awaited the competitors.

The weather was still incredible, especially for this time of the year. The English team made a really good job as they won every race of the day: they are clearly the great favourites of the edition! Two OCS were registered for each of the windward-leeward races: the competition is really firm and the crews try to spare any single second.

The first race of the day (race n°4) was played with a relatively unchanging wind at 11 knots (1,2 nautical miles). At the third buoy (half of the race), England and the USA were side by side, but then England dominated the second half of the race and finished 38 seconds ahead of the USA. After them, the third place was closely played and it was really tight: the Irish efforts to overpass the Welsh team when the finish line came into sight weren’t enough and they finished fourth a very few seconds before Wales. Italy and Norway were just behind. Scotland made a false start but they corrected it, but they never managed to catch up. Canada and Japan were disqualified for OCS…

As for the second race (race n°5), it was a real shame that Norway and France (ESCE) were disqualified for OCS as they would have finished respectively first and third of the race. Apart from that false start, Norway did a really great race leading all the time and crossing the finish line far ahead on England, who finally won the race.

The last race of the day was a coastal race of 15 nautical miles (race n°6). The wind had fallen down to 3.7 knots, so this was a really slow race, which lasted more than three hours and a half! The boats had to go underneath the bridge of Isle de Ré twice and the course required more technique than yesterday’s coastal race. England won that race too, but France had led until the third buoy (they finished third) and Switzerland (EPFL) made an amazing race ending second, reminding us of their good performances of last year. The Canadian team had troubles in the middle of the race being the last but they realized an impressive comeback.

The competition has a really high level, the slightest mistake can be disastrous. England’s sailing has been really breath-taking since the beginning of the race: they are leading the ranking with only five points now. The USA had a good sailing day, becoming second with 17 points. Ireland did well too, finishing third with 20 points. Scotland had a bad hair day, but great expectations rest on their shoulders.