The Student Yachting World Cup (SYWoC) is an annual sailing competition for students which was created in 1979 and is held in France.
36th edition
The 36th edition of the Student Yachting World Cup took place in La Rochelle, France. The competitors sailed from November 2 to November 7 on Grand Surprise class sailboats.
The Student Yachting World Cup
The SYWoC is an annual sailing competition organized by students at the École Polytechnique, a French engineering school, seeing the world's best student sailing teams confront each other in a week-long series of races. Every year, the SYWoC takes place around All Saints' Day and gather about 200 students in a large French harbour. Earlier editions have taken place in La Rochelle, Lorient, Royan, Marseille, La Trinité-sur-Mer, Toulon.
Each country can be represented in one team. This team is chosen on the basis of its national or international races, as well as on advice from the national sailing federation. The winner of the last edition and the Ecole Polytechnique, the organizing university, are also invited.
The World Cup is composed of several regattas, usually between 10 and 15, taking place during the whole week. The crews sail on Grand Surprise, a profile boat built for competition. The regattas are of "banana" or coastal type. A night regatta, starting in the afternoon and ending after nightfall, is also organised during the competition. An international jury arbitrate the regattas.
Two prizes are awarded every year: AGPM Trophy: Besides the general ranking, the competition provides an “inshore” ranking, determined from the inshore races. The winner of the ranking is awarded the AGPM trophy. Student Yachting World Cup: the winner of the regattas is awarded the Student Yachting World Cup which he shall bring back into play for the following edition.
History
The Student Yachting World Cup, former Course de l'Europe, has been organized since 1979 by students at the École Polytechnique. Each year, the best sailing teams from universities all around the world meet and compete in thrilling yacht races.
When the "Course de l'Europe" was created in 1979, only a few European countries participated. Other teams have joined in, from Eastern Europe, Japan, the United States or Australia, thus making it a real World Cup.
The race changed its name to "Student Yachting World Cup" and became the only competition to deliver the ISAF title of "Student Yachting World Champion". Today, between 15 and 20 teams, from Europe, America, Asia and Australia, compete each year for the title.
Past winners
Year Location Winning team University1980University of Bologna, Faculty of Engineering1981Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne1982Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne1983Helsinki University of Technology1984Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm1985Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne1986Aston University, Birmingham1987Aston University, Birmingham1988Ecole Polytechnique1989Lund Institute of Technology1990University of Rhode Island, Kingston1991Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim1992Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen1993University of Portsmouth1994Åbo Akademi University, Turku1995Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne1996INSA Lyon1997INSA Lyon1998Institute of Engineering Science, Montpellier1999Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen2000University of Strathclyde2001RoyanErasmus University Rotterdam2002ToulonErasmus University Rotterdam2003University of Strathclyde2004Southampton Solent University2005No SYWoC organized2006LorientTrinity College, Dublin2007La RochelleEcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne2008La Trinité-sur-MerCork Institute of Technology2009MarseilleCUS Milano2010La RochelleSouthampton Solent University2011La Trinité-sur-MerEuromed Arthur Loyd2012La RochelleUniversity College Dublin2013PornicKedge Business School2014La RochelleUniversity of Southampton2015Le PouliguenEcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne2016La RochelleQueen's University2017MarseilleKobe University
External links
Ecole Polytechnique institutional website