Student Yachting World Cup

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

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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

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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

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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

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Year Location Winning team University

1980

 Italy

University of Bologna, Faculty of Engineering

1981

 Switzerland

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

1982

 Switzerland

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

1983

 Finland

Helsinki University of Technology

1984

 Sweden

Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

1985

 Switzerland

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

1986

 England

Aston University, Birmingham

1987

 England

Aston University, Birmingham

1988

 France

Ecole Polytechnique

1989

 Sweden

Lund Institute of Technology

1990

 United States

University of Rhode Island, Kingston

1991

 Norway

Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim

1992

 Denmark

Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen

1993

 England

University of Portsmouth

1994

 Finland

Åbo Akademi University, Turku

1995

 Switzerland

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

1996

 France

INSA Lyon

1997

 France

INSA Lyon

1998

 France

Institute of Engineering Science, Montpellier

1999

 Denmark

Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen

2000

 Scotland

University of Strathclyde

2001

Royan

 Netherlands

Erasmus University Rotterdam

2002

Toulon

 Netherlands

Erasmus University Rotterdam

2003

 Scotland

University of Strathclyde

2004

 England

Southampton Solent University

2005

No SYWoC organized

2006

Lorient

 Ireland

Trinity College, Dublin

2007

La Rochelle

 Switzerland

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

2008

La Trinité-sur-Mer

 Ireland

Cork Institute of Technology

2009

Marseille

 Italy

CUS Milano

2010

La Rochelle

 England

Southampton Solent University

2011

La Trinité-sur-Mer

 France

Euromed Arthur Loyd

2012

La Rochelle

 Ireland

University College Dublin

2013

Pornic

 France

Kedge Business School

2014

La Rochelle

 England

University of Southampton

2015

Le Pouliguen

 Switzerland

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

2016

La Rochelle

 Canada

Queen's University

2017 Marseille  Japan Kobe University
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