Wednesday: a relatively strong mistral didn’t deter the early comers from a healthy practice sail.
Thursday: the fleet of 11 JOD 35 started in a light morning breeze for a counterclockwise Round the Island race. Due to the weakening wind, an intermediary finish line was established at the South East Cape and was first crossed by Marc Le Borgne’s INSEAD crew a couple of seconds ahead of IMD, thanks to a few well inspired last minute gybes along the shore. The 2nd leg was a technical race starting from the spectaculer Cap des Mèdes and his Roche Percée and finishing in front of the Porquerolles marina. It was the new kids on the block i.e. the Austrians captained by Michael Hoffmann who arrived first at Porquerolles.
Friday: Porquerolles to Port-Cros and return: Sailing between the two islands wasn’t the thing to do in this Easterly wind. IMD, LBS didn’t make this mistake and finished first at Port Cros shortly followed by HEC, the only ‘local’ crew. Port-Cros was a wonderful stop. It is a lovely mini marina, tucked inside a beautiful and quiet bay surrounded by untouched hills covered with a dense forest. Returning to Porquerolles was a spinnaker leg which evidenced the trimming skills of the HEC and Insead (Maarten de Vries). After two days and 4 races, the first three teams (LBS, IMD and HEC) have exactly the same ranking, Insead and Vienna are only 2 and 4 points behind. Indeed the Saturday races and the onshore contests will be hard fought.
Saturday:
At the end of the morning a lazy westerly breeze enables the first race to be launched. After a brilliant start, Marc’s Insead crew leads the fleet around the Beautiful
islet of Grand Ribaud, After having silently rounded the Grand Ribaud a couple of meters away from the rocks, the fleet bears away to the Duc d’Albe at the other end of the bay, only to find that
wind is amost gone. The HEC team makes its way like no other and, in two puffs, finds itself gliding alone toward the finish line. The second race of the day was the last of the regatta and
confirmed the domination of IMD and HEC who end up with the exact overall number of points. The ultimate winner of the Alumni Business Cup.
Whilst the first 3 teams were regularly on the podium, all the other teams had their opprtunity to shine. The last three teams were each able to rank 4th, 6th and 7th in at least one race.