6 UCD students will attempt to become the first Irish Team to retain the Student Yachting World Cup , in Pornic, France, October 12th to 19th. From ICRA we wish the UCD team all the success in retaining this prestigious title.
The Student Yachting World Cup is an annual sailing regatta bringing together the best student yachting teams from all around the world. The event will see the teams compete in 6 days of intense racing on ‘J80’ yachts with a variety of courses including coastal and night races.UCD qualified to represent Ireland as winner of last years competition and we have started our campaign and training schedule so that we will be ready to fight to win the cup and bring it back home to Ireland in October of this year.
The international college competition is now using J80 sportsboats instead of the larger A35 which means only half the crew number are required.
There is a also a significant change to the UCD crew line up, only two of the last years champions remain, the rest of the 2012 winning team has graduated. Bella Morehead, Ben Fusco, Sophie Murphy and Conor Murphy and UCD Sailing Club commodore Vinnie Varley complete the crew line up. This team comprised of sailors from the UCD Sailing Club have all been sailing and competing together for the past few years.
Howth has also put together a team to take part in this edition of the Studet Yachting World Championship. The core of the crew is part the winning DCU squad, but other colleges are involved. Ryan Scott (DCU) is helm, while mainsheet/tactician is Shane Giviney (DCU). Tactical input can also be expected from mid-boat crew Diana Kissane (TCD) and Sam O’Byrne (also TCD), while the bowman is Luke Malcolm (Dublin Institute of Technology).
This Howth College team (there actually was a third level College of Howth once upon a time, but that was back in the late Mediaeval era) have had only a few weeks to get organised on a training programme and seek some action. Yet they were on the upward graph in the recent British Match Racing Series in J/80s when the final day’s racing had to be scrubbed, despite which they placed four overall.
We are posting updates as we get information on our facebook page and twitter feed.
UCD Team to defend SYWoC 2013 Title: Philip Doran, Bella Morehead, Ben Fusco, Sophie Murphy, Conor Murphy and Vinnie Varley
Howth Team Hopefuls: Ryan Scott , Shane Giviney, Diana Kissane, Sam O’Byrne, Luke Malcolm
