34th Student Yachting World Cup at La Rochelle - Day 5
by SYWoC Press Office 22 Oct 2014 03:00 PDT
15-22 October 2014
Today was the second to last day of regatta: crews knew that the ranking was not definitively established and that all could still change under that foul weather. Many hopes and dreams were in the air this morning.
After those days of sun & light air, the weather was upside-down with a cloudy sky threatening us of heavy shower at any time and a strong wind fluctuating from 15 to 25 knots! Two windward/leeward races took place today as the wind became far too heavy in the early afternoon.
The 13th race began this morning: a second start occurred under black flag. Switzerland couldn't finish this race because of a broken shroud: they had to come back to port... Finally they got 5.2 points for this race, which corresponds to the average of their last races. Scotland did a great race finishing third. France finished second and... England won this race!
As the wind increased to 20 knots spinnakers were prohibited for the 14th race. Boats had to wait for Switzerland before beginning this race. Switzerland was plagued by bad luck today as they had another technical problem during this race...
Wales was leading at the last buoy but they broached there and lost the first place that went to England. Norway finished third, Ireland fourth. It was really close afterwards.
England showed that they could sail as well as usual under gale heading today's two races. Victory is already in the bag for them and the BBC has already asked them for an interview! They even celebrated their triumph in the late afternoon! One can laud their astounding performances: they were first on eight races out of fourteen and their worse ranking is fifth! After England, Italy and Ireland are still on the podium and only ONE point pulls them apart... Norway, Switzerland and the USA are just behind! Wales did a really good 14th race today.
Tomorrow will be the last race day of the SYWoC.