Day 4

Wednesday is moving day. After a postponement ashore until 1230pm, the fleet headed out to the Bay of Marseille for a W/Lx2 and an inshore race in a westerly that built from 4-7kts to a solid 8-12 by the end of the inshore race.

Race 9 of the event was a W/Lx2 with 0.7nm legs. We started pin third, with the intention of playing the left side of the course, which had more consistent pressure than the right. We had a decent start, but we were pinched off by the French Audencia team, who was OCS but did not return to the line. After a tack to port, we were leading to the right side. We rounded the windward mark in third, behind Scotland and Italy. Down the run, we showed superior boatspeed compared to the Scottish, and were able to soak low inside of them and beat them to the gybe on to port layline for the leeward mark. After rounding the leeward mark in 2nd, we played the left, covering most of the fleet. The defending champions, Cork Institute of Technology (Ireland) got to our right and caught a favorable shift, while the Scottish and Swiss, who were to our left, caught a bit of a shear and all three teams passed us, dropping us to fifth around the windward mark. We were closely followed by the second Irish team from the University of Limerick and the Welsh from the University of Cardiff. Down the run, our superior boatspeed enabled us to pull away from the Welsh and Irish, soaking low across their bows, while getting to the inside of Swiss and Scottish. We simultaneously gybed with the Swiss and Scottish on the port layline for the leeward mark, obtaining overlap and mark room. We passed both teams at the leeward mark, putting us in third behind the Italians and Irish from Cork.

Race 10 was an inshore race. From the starting line, we beat to a short (o.3nm) windward mark, then had a tight spinnaker reach to the cardinal markers of Carnoubier and Sourdaras. Afterwards, we headed back upwind, keeping the Frioul islands to our left. We set the spinnaker again after rounding Ilot Tiboulen and had a run down the backside of the Frioul islands to a finish. Because the beat was so short, we wanted to start at the boat, and either control the fleet to port layline, or tack out and establish ourselves early on starboard layline. After a poor start, we tacked to the right early. Our plan paid off slightly, as we rounded the windward mark in fifth, behind the English, French (Audencia), Czechs, and Irish (Cork). Positions stayed the same on the reach. We had a poor mark rounding, and lost lanes to the Swiss, who passed us. On the long beat up the islands, we played the shore, passing the Swiss in the last third, although we lost the Italians, who have an extra gear no one else seems to have (they had rounded the leeward mark in 8th, and by the next spinnaker set, they were up to 3rd). On the backside of the island, we were able to soak low, inside the leading pack, and beat them to a gybe. For the first 2/3 of the run, we were able to power reach in a good right pressure, passing 3 boats, getting up to 3rd place. In the last third of the race, the breeze lifted, enabling the Italians to reach under us, passing us just before the finish. We held off the French and the Irish, and finished fourth.

We were pleased with our performance today, as we were able to prove to everyone (including ourselves) that we are contenders for a podium finish. We still need to improve in our starting and in our upwind legs. If we can, we will be able to make plays up the scoreboard.

Student Yachting World Cup, Results after Day 4 (with 10 races, 8 scored)

1. Italy -- 11 pts
2. Czech Republic -- 29 pts
3. Ireland (Cork) -- 30 pts
4. USA -- 31 pts
5. Switzerland -- 35 pts
6. France (Audencia) -- 35 pts
7. England --4o pts
8. Scotland -- 50 pts
9. Ireland (Limerick) -- 64 pts
10. Wales -- 64 pts
11. Franch (Ecole Polytechnique) -- 70 pts
12. Japan -- 81 pts

The forecast for Thursday looks to be the best so far this week. With a potential for 3 races, including the rescheduled night race, we are looking to make more gains on the leaders.


Good night,

Team URI/USA