For the Student Yachting World Cup 2009, we sailed Grand Surprise 32s built by the French boatbuilder Archambault. Twelve Grand Surprise 32s lined up in Marseille, France for six days of challenging racing. The international fleet hailed from countries as far as Japan and as close as the Polytechnic School of France. The fleet was well prepared and ready to take on the six consecutive days of challenging one-design racing including windward-leeward tracks, inshore point-to-point races and a night race.
From the perspective of the URI World Cup Racing Team, we knew this event would pose many challenges and exciting opportunities. The foremost uphill battle would be raising the funds to campaign an eight-person team in Europe for 14 days on a less than favorable exchange rate. Our second hurdle would be to engineer a practice structure to replicate a boat that does not exist in the United States and build the skills necessary to sail that “unknown factor” at a championship level with a collectively inexperienced crew. This was our first Student Yachting World Cup and we knew we needed hours of sailing together, and whether it was the J/24 Thursday night series in Newport, RI, a Beneteau 36.7 or a Farr 30, we were ready to sail any platform available.
Nelson Stephenson, the Commodore of Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, CT graciously loaned us his Farr 30 Team Bold and we were graced with the presence of many excellent coaches. The opportunity to work with outstanding sailors such as Tom Burnham, Jordo and Heather Schaeffer, Charlie Enright, Mike Coe and Mike Campbell, to name a few, was an unparalleled chance to learn and grow as a team. Participating in the Morning Light project showed that given enough time, the right platform and the opportunity to learn from each other and coaches alike, a young crew can achieve impressive levels of proficiency.
That theory held true for the URI World Cup Team as well. We made sacrifices to our educational and family commitments, threw social calendars in the bin and committed to using every spare moment to realize the team’s full potential. We had that opportunity because we put six months into the fundraising process in order to ensure our trip to the Worlds. Objective number one was arguably the most mission critical, but achieving a balance between fundraising and practice was more delicate than we had initially anticipated and supremely apparent during the championship in France. Without the intrinsic support of our advisor Art Tuveson, the URI Foundation and our coach Joey Mello, we would not have been able to tick the Fundraising box and focus on our second phase, which was the training.
The third and final phase of our campaign was the execution of 14 days of practice and competition on foreign soil. During the last half of October, the stage of the World Cup was finally staring us in the face and we felt as prepared as we could be after a six-month campaign. You can always want more training days and more preparation but at a certain point you have to get on the plane and step into the ring. For a blow by blow of the sailing competition, please visit our blog at sywc2009.blogspot.com. Our daily reports include race-byrace details, final score lines and references to our generous sponsors.
Suffice to say that we finished a very tight fourth to three very well sailed entries. Our sincere congratulations go to the Italian team from MC Milano for an outstanding event and an impressive performance on the course. The raging battle for a podium finish lasted all the way until the final race. On the U.S. entry, we sailed true to our mantra all week of leaving everything we had on the water. We sailed a very tactical last race in variable conditions and were rewarded for our efforts with the elusive first place finish we had been chasing all week.
The scenic beauty of Marseille was apparent in every part of our experience. Although the first week of our campaign was spent dodging dark clouds, rain, and high winds, the geography of our racing area was an amazing study. We jumped at the opportunity to deliver our Grand Surprise from Camargue, which meant a 60-nautical mile delivery past the French countryside. You can’t go to France without gaining a greater respect for fresh ingredients and fresh staples in your diet. We each ate about a baguette a day.
The weekend of November 6 - 8 I felt as though the entire experience came full circle. URI competed in the 2009 Kennedy Cup and although we didn’t have our best showing, it marked exactly one year since we had begun our campaign for the Student Yachting World Cup. Our collective experience campaigning for the World Cup engendered a tremendous amount of growth for every member of our team. The value of our campaign cannot be wholly determined by our fourth place finish but rather our delta in performance as a team and as individuals on a global stage. We wish this weekend’s victorious team from Cal Maritime the best as they start their campaign and know that the Student Yachting World Cup will bring the best out of them, just as it did for us.
