#sywoc – Ireland's UCD sailing team have beaten Canada by 12 points to win the Student Yachting World Cup in France after the series was shortened due to gales in La Rochelle. The Irish team took the lead on Tuesday and extended it after being reinstated in a race they were previously disqualified from.

The event had been decided on the results of 13 races and two discards. IRL were clear winners on 25 points from Dalhousie University on 37 points and Italy's CUS Brescia in third place on 41 points. 14 Teams competed. (See full results sheet for download below).

It is the second time Ireland has won the prestigious trophy, Cork Institute of Technology won in 2008.

The Irish team claimed victory by the largest margin ever recorded by an Irish team competing throughout the 32 year history of the event. Team Ireland dominated the regatta by consistently scoring podium places in almost all of their 13 races throughout the championship to finish on a total of 25 points while their closest rivals, Team Canada, finished on 37 points.

The regatta which was held in La Rochelle, France, saw the top 14 teams from around the world compete for six days in wide ranging sailing conditions and race course formats. Team Ireland set down a clear marker of their intentions on the first day of the regatta by carding two second places. Team Ireland took a little longer to find their groove on the inshore race course however carding an eighth place, leaving them in third place overall on the first evening.

UCD hike hard on their way to a World tite win in La Rochelle

From there, the team's ability and confidence improved as they learned how to sail the boat most effectively in the varying wind and wavy conditions that La Rochelle produced on a daily basis. Team skipper Aidan Mc Laverty produced some breath-taking start line manoeuvres when jostling with the other nations trying to ensure the team started at the most favourable end of the start line on each occasion. Team Ireland's tactician Barry Mc Cartin's research on wind and tides in La Rochelle paid dividends as he frequently called the best lines and angles to sail the team around the course.

Day two of the regatta brought similar sailing conditions with a short chop and 12 knots of breeze. Team Ireland carded once again two second place finishes and an unfortunate "Did Not Finish" in the inshore race due to a navigational error. It was at this stage in the regatta where Team Ireland's training began to show as sail trimmers Simon Doran and Cathal Leigh-Doyle ensured the team maintained the best boat speed in the fleet.

The regatta brought numerous twists and turns on day three as the team carded a third place finish followed by two first place finishes in race numbers 8 and 9. The team utilised their subs tactically by brining on Ben Fusco and Ellen Cahill for the night race. This six hour long race was started at 16.30 and provided a unique tactical challenge to the team who had to cope with pitch black darkness as they sailed around La Rochelle bay. The team fought extremely hard in the testing conditions and finished third only securing their place on the last 20 meters of the race. Team Ireland's pit crew member Alyson Rumball, played a crucially influential role in ensuring our sail changes went smoothly and quickly throughout the night.

Going into the final three days of the regatta, Team Ireland had the smallest of cushions over second place Team Canada. Team fitness allowed the team to push on in the increased winds. Team mast man Theo Murphy and bowman David Fitzgerald excelled in the conditions and allowed them to out manoeuvre the other teams downwind while Bella Morehead trimmed brilliantly downwind.

Unfortunately, the last two days of the regatta had to be cancelled due to winds gusting 40 knots on the race course. However, Team Ireland's lead of 12 points ensured they secured the prestigious trophy and won the regatta. As a result of their win, Ireland Sailing Team –UCD will return to defend their title next year in France.

The team have to thank everyone for their support in the lead up and during the event. Support from Ireland and across the world during the regatta has been amazing and kept the team motivated and focused on representing our country.

#sywoc – UCD sailing team extended their overall lead at the Student world Yachting Cup in La Rochelle France yesterday after producing video evidence to prove they should not have been disqualified from Tuesday's racing for a premature start rule infringement.

Overturning the decision means the UCD team now lead the world championships by 11 points overall.

According to team captain Cathal Leigh Doyle UCD discovered a video of the start oin question that showed UCD acutally under the line when the start flag was dropped!

There are only two races left to sail in the series and sailing is called off todaywith 27-33 knots. The forecast for tomorrow is similar or worse. The latest they can start a race is 1.30 tomorrrow.

#ucd – UCD sailing team lie second in La Rochelle, France this morning buoyed up by a string of consistent results that sees them chasing overall leaders Canada by four points after xx race sailed so far in the  Student Yachting World Cup.

UCD, captained by Cathal Leigh Doyle came second in six of the races so far which has tightened up the event leaderboard after discard. Yesterday UCD got out of the blocks with a second and another second and then a 13th.

Although lack of funding has already led to the withdrawal of two teams from next week's competition, Team Ireland under captain Cathal Leigh Doyle is celebrating a deal with sponsor Miagen in the nick of time.

A last minute  deal for the team has given them a boost for their world title assautl, a  title won previously by the Cork Institute of Technology.

The annual regatta attracts the top student sailors from around the world including Australia, Canada, Japan, the UK and the USA.

Heavy weather is due later on this week.

 

 

#youthsailing – Although funding issues have already forced the withdrawal of two international teams for the 2012 Student Yachting World Cup, Team Ireland from UCD is celebrating a title sponsor in the nick of time for next week's event in La Rochelle, France.

This Thursday, the Ireland Sailing Team - UCD travel to La Rochelle in France to compete at the 2012 Student Yachting World Cup. The annual regatta attracts the top student sailors from around the world including Australia, Canada, Japan, the UK and the USA.

After the team's last training session on Irish waters at the weekend UCD captain Cathal Leigh-Doyle thanked all the teams' official sponsors and formally announced that the team had finally secured a title sponsor "Miagen".

Cathal told Afloat.ie: "Miagen's signing today as the teams title sponsor adds perfectly to the great group of sponsors the team has secured over the last four months. We are delighted and honoured to have Dubarry, Martin Reilly Motors, CH Marine, Mast and Rigging Ireland, Meteo Forecasting Group, North Sails and Fotosail supporting the team. Without our sponsors we would not be going to this event"

Sponsorship though has been a worldwide problem for teams hoping to compete at this event this year as only as of two weeks ago, Team Scotland and Team Singapore had to pull out of the event due to lack of funding and sponsorship.

The UCD students earned the right to represent Ireland having won the Irish Student Yachting National Championships in Dun Laoghaire in March. The highly experienced team will not just be representing UCD but all corners of the island of Ireland. The 10 sailors hail from all over the country including Antrim, Cork, Down, Sligo, Wexford, Wicklow and Westport and between them share a wealth of skills and knowledge.

The team has been carrying out an intensive training program both on and off the water. The team has trained nearly every weekend under the instruction of their coaches Marty O'Leary and Maurice (Prof) O'Connell from North Sails. The Irish team have been training on board an A35 designed yacht in Dublin which is very similar to the "Grande Surprise" design boats which the team will be racing in La Rochelle, France. The yacht was generously lent to the team for their training program by the boats owners Joe Balfe and Joe McDonald to whom the team are extremely grateful. The team also frequently carried out two boat training sessions with another identical A35 named "Another Adventure" which was driven by Kenny Rumball.

Since last May the team has been searching for a number of service and financial sponsors in order to cover some of the costs associated with this very expensive regatta. The team contacted over 70 companies all over Ireland however the team were unable to secure a title financial sponsor until this week. A number of companies across Ireland agreed to provide their specific services free of charge which has covered a large proportion of the costs associated with the event and effectively enabled the team to travel to the event. Funding issues has been a worldwide problem for teams hoping to compete at this event this year as only as of two weeks ago, Team Scotland and Team Singapore had to pull out of the event due to lack of funding and sponsorship.

The team has also been carrying out an intensive fitness and strength training in UCD's High Performance Gym under the instruction of "". These training sessions were specifically designed and tailored for each team member specific roles on the boat.

Team skipper Aidan McLaverty competed at the event last year with Cork Institute of Technology when they came in third place and had this to say when asked how things were shaping up with a week to go:

"Training has gone really well, our coaches have been amazing and the team has really come together well. The next big issue for the team is the boat draw in France on Friday night. Last year we [CIT] had the worst boat in the fleet and it really affected our overall result - but we will have to wait and see!"

# ROWING: The Tullamore Time Trial drew a big entry on Saturday, with Dave Neale of UCD coming out on top with a time of eight minutes 26.40 seconds. Neale’s closest rival was Rory O’Connor of Queen’s University, who also learned his craft with Offaly Rowing Club. Sheila Clavin of St Michael’s in Limerick was the fastest woman, clocking 9:28.60.

Tullamore Time Trial, Saturday (Selected Results)

Overall: 1 D Neale (UCD) 8:26.40, 2 Neale 8:32.50, 3 R O’Connor (Queen’s) 8:39.00, 4 M McKibbin (Queen’s) 8:44.90, 5 McKibbin 8:56.40, 6 A Bolger (Carlow) 8:56.50. ]

Men – Open: Neale 8:26.40. Intermediate: McKibbin 8:44.90. Junior 18: Molloy (Athlone) 9:01.10. Junior 16: Egan (Athlone)

Women – Open: S Clavin (St Michael’s) 9:31.20. Intermediate: A Bulman (UCD) 9:30.40. Junior 18: Kelly (Carrick-on-Shannon) 10:06.60. Junior 16: McCabe (Carrick-on-Shannon) 10:41.30. Masters A: S Clavin (St Michael’s) 9:28.60.

#ANNALISE MURPHY - The Daily Sail reports on a busy few days ahead for Irish Olympic sailing star and August Sailor of the Month, Annalise Murphy.

As previously covered on Afloat.ie, the 22-year-old - who scored Ireland's best Olympic sailing result in 32 years at London 2012 in the Laser Radial class - will today join the crew of the Omani MOD70 yacht Oman Sail-Musandam in Dublin Bay as part of the MOD70 European Tour, in celebration of the 19th anniversary of the Round Ireland speed record set by the late Steve Fossett.

Meanwhile, Murphy is also busy supporting her fellow UCD students selected as Ireland's representatives in the 2012 Student Yachting World Cup, to take place in La Rochelle, France late next month.

Murphy, who returned to UCD this week to complete the degree in science she deferred for her Olympic training three years ago, said: “I’m great friends with the guys on the team from either sailing or my first year in UCD.

"They’re a really strong team and have a really good chance of winning at the World Cup. I wish them the best of luck."

#studentyachting – UCD will represent Ireland at the 2012 Student Yachting World Cup in La Rochelle, France from the 27th of October to the 3rd of November. Scroll down for the names of the ten member team.

The UCD students earned the right to represent Ireland having won the Irish Student Yachting National Championships in Dun Laoghaire in March. Cork Institute of Technology previously won the world student trophy in 2008 under skipper Nicholas O'Leary.

The highly experienced team will not just be representing UCD but all corners of the island of Ireland. The 10 sailors hail from all over the country including Antrim, Cork, Down, Mayo, Sligo, Wexford and Waterford and between them share a wealth of skills and knowledge.

The team's skipper Aidan McLaverty competed at the event last year when he and the team from Cork Institute of Technology took home the bronze. The Health and Performance graduate also trained previously with London Olympian Annalise Murphy and has won silver and bronze at world championships. The tactician for the team, Barry McCartin holds nine Irish National Sailing Championship titles across six different classes and has also competed internationally on the Olympic 470 class circuit.

The annual regatta in France attracts the top student sailors from around the world including Australia, Canada, Japan, the UK and the USA.

Team Captain Cathal Leigh Doyle, a UCD Business and Law graduate and Bowman David Fitzgerald have won numerous Irish national titles between them whilst medical students Simon Doran and Theo Murphy spent years competing in the Laser Radial class at international level. Ben Fusco has 9,000 miles of offshore experience and in 2009 won the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race with a record setting time. He also skippered the youngest team ever to sail around Ireland non-stop in 2010. The three girls on the team also have both national and international experience in spades. Isabella Morehead and Alyson Rumball both began sailing in Optimists from a very young age and quickly progressed to international regattas in Optimists, Fevas, 420s and 29ers. While Ellen Cahill has spent the past 18 months in California studying Biomedical Engineering at the University of California San Diego where she partook in both Team Racing and yacht racing,

This incredibly talented team know that experience isn't enough, they must train as much as possible over the next six week if they are to effectively challenge the reigning champions from Euromed Arthur Loyd in France. Utilising the UCD High Performance Gym, the team will be working on their strength and conditioning a minimum of two days per week with the gym's trainers. They will also spend every weekend, and evenings during the week on an ad hoc basis, on board their training yacht 'Adrenaline'.

Under the instruction of coaches Nicholas O'Leary, brother of Olympian Peter O'Leary and past Student Yachting World Cup competitors John Downey and Marty O'Leary, the team hope to ensure their best chances of bringing home the gold to Ireland, something which has not been repeated since 2008.

UCD Sailing Team

· Aidan McLaverty (Skipper) – from Belgooly, Co. Cork

· Barry McCartin (Tactician) – from Cushendun, Co. Antrim

· Cathal Leigh Doyle (Headsail Trim) – from Ballincar, Co. Sligo

· Isabella Morehead (Headsail Trim) – from Rochestown, Co. Cork

· Simon Doran (Mainsail Trim) – from Gorey, Co. Wexford

· Alyson Rumball (Pit) - Greystones, Co. Wicklow

· Theo Murphy (Mastman) – from Belfast, Co. Down

· David Fitzgerald (Bowman) – from Westport, Co. Mayo

· Ben Fusco (Shore Team) – from Kinsale, Co. Cork

· Ellen Cahill (Shore Team) – from Westport, Co. Mayo

TEAM RACING – UCD Sailing team travelled to the home of British Team Racing in West Kirby last weekend and came home with one of Ireland's best ever results, a third overall at the British University Sailing Championships.

At the end of March, UCD Sailing Club broke their long drought when their first Team won the IUSA Intervarsity Championship beating Trinity in the Final. This result enabled them to qualify for the British University Sailing Association (BUSA) Championship from the 11-13 April UCD 1 representing IUSA and Ireland at this select 32-team event. This was a closed entry event with over 200 British Teams having to ensure qualification. After 2011, this was only the second time Ireland were lucky enough to be given an automatic single spot allocation. It took place at West Kirby SC, Liverpool known as the home of British Team Racing and the venue for the coveted Wilson Trophy every year. It was superbly run and organised by University of Liverpool.

Travelling to and from by the Dublin-Liverpool ferry, the team assembled on Tuesday ahead of the three intense days racing Wednesday to Friday. Aidan McLaverty travelled from Edinburgh having just won the Scottish SUSA Championship with an Open Team so confidence was high before the first day.

Wednesday dawned to clear skies, sun and beautiful wind. It could not have been any better. The format of racing followed that of a Swiss-League whereby as every race was completed, depending on the result of that race chose your next opponent so that teams of similar win-percentage raced those teams around them continually. Racing soon got underway in typical on-time British fashion. Racing was intense, incredibly tight with the level of competition colossal. For a first day out and adjusting to sailing at a much higher standard of racing that the norm, UCD finished with 4 wins from 7 after Day 1.

Thursday awoke to more perfect conditions. 10-12 knots and an earlier start time meant many more races should be completed. Keen to improve on the day before, UCD in the first seven races were immense; winning starts with ruthless tactics around the course to move their way rapidly up the leader board including notable scalps against Oxford, Southampton, Durham, Swansea and Bristol. They occupied top position after 15 rounds for a period before losses to Cambridge and the other Southampton Day moved them back to 3rd at the end of Day 2. However, a clear marker had been laid down, enough to worry the opposition ahead of Day 3 Finals.

On Friday, the final day of racing, it was not the conditions from the days before. It was much lighter, shiftier, and unpredictable with conditions ever changing. More Swiss-League racing was completed with UCD achieving wins over Oxford and Durham in the morning to ensure their place in the quarter-finals where it was so, so close from 1st place to 10th place.

UCD faced Durham Blue again in their quarter-final and true to form, although losing their first race in the best-of-three encounter, they prevailed 2-1 to move into Semi-Finals. Here they would meet Oxford White, defending champions, a team they had raced twice already having won once and lost once to them already. In the first race, UCD looked comfortable off the start line when a huge right hand-shift put paid to their chances promoting Oxford to a strong 1-2 to take the first race with UCD unable to get close. In the second race, once the course had been re-laid, they raced again and this time unfortunately UCD misread the windward mark. This dropped them from a winning position and again handed it to Oxford. They made no mistake to win the match 2-0 and strike a devastating blow in UCD hearts.

The Final of the BUSA Championship was to be decided between Oxford White and Southampton Turquoise while UCD Ireland took on Southampton Magenta. In the best-of-three encounter, clearly still thinking of the semi-final they lost the first, however in the second and third races they improved, sailed better and won both races to secure the Petite final and 3rd Place in the BUSA Open Championship. Southampton beat Oxford 3-0 in the Final to deservedly take the title they had come so close to in 2011. For UCD, they were left reflecting on what could-have-been having beaten Southampton in Swiss-League. However they should be extremely happy with the overall result. It was the best Irish result ever at this such competitive team racing event; representing UCD and Ireland proudly on and off the water.

A great few days of racing, some of which will never be forgotten by this team but to do it required a lot of hard work over the year. We would like to thank University of Liverpool and West Kirby for hosting such a fantastic event as well as the students that allowed us to stay with them in their homes. Lastly we would like to thank UCD Sport, the rest of UCD SC and all our followers at home for their continuous and unanimous support throughout the few days. It really was a great help, we only wish you could have been there too.

UCD 1 Team:

Simon Doran & Aoife Cooney, Barry McCartin & Eimear McIvor, Aidan McLaverty & Bella Morehead

Results downloadable below