The Student Yachting World Cup, held in La Rochelle, France, is an annual keelboat sailing regatta that hosts teams from all over the world. This year, eight schools represented various countries, with Queen's representing Canada.
On November 7th, 2016, Team Canada, represented by Queen's University, became the second North American team to win the Student Yachting World Cup in its thirty-six year history.
The Queen's team started slowly having to figure out the new boats but with careful and deliberate debriefs, attacked their weaknesses as they attacked the competition, and moved steadily up the leader board. After posting a 3-1-1-2 on the penultimate day, Canada sat in first place by three points.
The final two races would be one last fleet race and a medal race that could not be dropped. The first race of the final day Queen's managed to extend their lead to four points, but after missing the first shift during the medal race the team looked in dire position. The entire team thought the same, as they were concerned that they may have just missed their chance for gold - but nobody gave up. The team pushed hard, passing boat after boat to finish in fourth place and win the regatta by one point.
The Queen's sailors couldn't believe it. For hours, they checked over the results meticulously, confirmed that there were no protests involving the Canadian Team. After months and months of fundraising, training, and hard work, it appeared that Queen's Sailing may have won their first world championship regatta. As it finally came time for the trophies to be handed out, the Irish won the night race trophy, England 2 (Southampton) won the coastal trophy, and the overall trophy, top spot on the podium, national anthem, and champagne went to Canada represented by Queen's Sailing. The California Maritime Academy deserve a very honourable mention for sailing so well and being such fierce competition to the end, finishing second by a single point.
The team could not have done it without the work and support that came well before the event: Support from Lunenburg Yacht Club, the Kingston Yacht Club, and their respective members. Thanks also to the Thompson family who held a fundraiser in their own home, as well as the many local business in the Kingston, Lunenburg, and Oakville areas for donating to our fundraisers. Thanks to Hugh McGughan who gave us nearly free reign of Breakaway J, and Michael Hull who had us out on Ritalin both to race alone and with his coaching. Finally thanks to the endless support from friends and family leading up to and during the event, one word of encouragement is never insignificant.
