33rd Student Yachting World Cup - Day 2
by Icarus Sailing Media 16 Oct 2013 12:36 NZDT
14-19 October 2013
The Student Yachting World Cup had been especially intense in Pornic today. The weather conditions were tiring for the crews as it has been raining all day. Still, France kept a leap ahead in every race.
Yesterday, the French team dominated the races but got an OCS penalty in one windward leeward race. The final ranking of the first day was; the USA first (16 points), then France (2nd, 18 points) followed by Scotland (3rd, 20 points). The other rankings were Ireland (4th), Switzerland (5th), Australia (6th), England (7th), Belgium (8th), Defender (9th), Norway (10th), X-HEC (11th), Japan (12th), Germany (13th), China (14th).
As the weather conditions were not as good as yesterday, the first windward leeward race was an occasion to show how strong the crews were. Switzerland first dominated the race but had trouble in the third round and finished fifth. The leader of yesterday, France proved the former victories were not a fluke. They eventually won this race. Belgium and Australia were side by side but the latter had been faster to set the spinnaker in the last round and finished second.
The second race of the day was another windward leeward race. France crossed the finish line first again. They made a good start and kept their lead for the whole race. Scotland was behind them the first two rounds but the University of Louvain, the Belgium team, went over the Scots just before the finish. The USA had been in danger during the whole race, they were ranked first at the end of the first day but finished 11th in this second race. They had been struggling to get over the last teams but eventually did not make it.
The last race of the day was another windward leeward race. The coastal race that had been planned was cancelled due to poor visibility. The Committee decided to postpone it for the following day. For this final race, Japan abandoned as they had broken their spinnaker. The Defender showed they were not overtaken by the fresh teams. They made a nice start and fought for first position of the last race of the day against France. They were better than the French Riviera team on the downwind legs, however France was faster to tack and passed the Defender on the way back upwind to cross the line first.
Today has been a thrilling day of races. Weather conditions were tough and the teams came back to the harbour exhausted. France proved they will be strong competitors and are now in the top position on the podium.
www.sywoc.org