#sywoc – Ireland lies fourth at the The Student Yachting World Cup in France. Yesterday, the French team dominated the races but got an OCS penalty in one windward leeward race. The final ranking of the first day was: The USA first (16 points), then France (2nd, 18 points) followed by Scotland (3rd, 20 points). The others' ranking was Ireland (4th), Switzerland ( 5th), Australia ( 6th), England (7th), Belgium (8th), Defender (9th), Norway (10th), X-HEC (11th), Japan (12th),Germany (13th), China (14th).
As the weather condition was not as good as yesterday, the first windward leeward race was the occasion to show how strong the crews were. Switzerland first dominated the race but had trouble in the third round, they finished fifth. The leader of yesterday, France proved the former victories were not a blow dealt by fate. They eventually won this race. Belgium and Australia were side by side but the latter had been faster to set the spinnaker in the last round and finished second.
Today has been a thrilling day of races. Weather conditions were tough and the teams came back to the harbour exhausted. France proved they will be strong competitors and got the top position on the podium. (from Michalis Pateniotis, www.icarussailingmedia.com).
