50th EDHEC Sailing Cup set for Moulin Blanc Harbour in Brest, France
by Julia Glory 21 Mar 2018 13:30 PDT
20-28 April 2018
Moulin Blanc Harbour © EDHEC Sailing Cup
The EDHEC Sailing Cup is the biggest European student regatta. For its 50th edition, it will take place in the Moulin Blanc harbour in Brest, Brittany, from April 20th to April 28th, 2018. This event will bring together more than 3,000 participants and 12,000 visitors.
A regatta recognized by the French Sailing Federation
No less than 180 crews from 23 different nationalities battle out the victory. The regatta begins with a day of training. There follow several days of tough competition, each containing from 3 to 4 rounds. The regatta takes end by a "Grande Final" that gathers the best crews, and a 100% student final to reward the best students' teams. The participants can sail aboard one-design class (J80, Longtze and Grand Surprise) or IRC boats. Depending on their choice, two types of sailing courses are proposed: coastal courses and leeward courses. By the middle of the week, the IRC boats' users have the chance to sail along the Brittany coast starting from Brest to join another port. Given the difficulty of this region's water lot, a prominent level of competition is expected.
A half century of history
From 1988 to 1996, the International Challenge Whirlpool sponsored a float of 10 to 20 boats. In 1998 and 2017, the "Peace Boat Project" brought together Israelis and Palestinians on the same crew. Now, the EDHEC Sailing Cup is in partnership with the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta, a major regatta from the North-East of the United States. With this joint venture, they both aim at bringing the world's top college sailors together. Besides, many famous sailors sponsor this event such as Armel Le Cléac'h who won the IMOCA Ocean Masters World Championship in 2008 and Anna Tunnicliffe, best sailor of the year in 2009 and in 2011.
A student organization
The EDHEC Sailing Cup is wholly organised by an association of undergraduate students. This experience is a real immersion for them into the professional world. Indeed, the functioning of this student association is like a SME's one and the stakes are high: building a village of 20 000 m2 on the harbour to welcome all the visitors, ensuring the feeding, housing and the safety of all the participants, guaranteeing the media coverage of the event, finding sponsors and managing a 2.5 million euros budget.
The Peaceboat Project
At a time when different countries are in war around the world, this project wants to make of the value of peace one of the values of the event.
An Israeli-Palestinian crew in 1997 and 2017
Among the 180 crews, the event welcomed during its 30th edition, in 1998 a crew composed of 5 Israelis and 4 Palestinians. The EDHEC Sailing Cup was now the first step of the world tour that they were about to do. In 2017, this student association decided to bring Israelis and Palestinians on the same boat again. Aboard the boat, the nationality did not matter, neither did the country nor the conflict. They had all the same objective: winning the regatta and claiming peace. This participation was the result of a year full of financial, diplomatic and administrative struggles. Through its participation to the EDHEC Sailing Cup, this crew wishes to convey a message of peace to the young generation.
The perpetuation of the project
Today, the organisation team aims to perpetuate this experience and make it bigger. The goal is to highlight the different world's conflicts, such as the Armenian and Azerbaijani one. Thus, this year's objective is to bring together Ukrainian and Russian students on the same boat. The PeaceBoat project is a real logistic, financial and political challenge for this association which is based on innovation. The "Peace Boat" is a real forum for peace for an association which desires to constantly raise the bar.