Author: robcotterill

Skolkovo Return to Winning Ways in Medemblik

31 August 2015

11949693_10206455713044455_2088952474_nSkolkovo sent two teams to the RSM Regatta in Medemblik, The Netherlands, and came away with first and second places. Third place was taken by RSM’s Alumni B team.

The regatta was made up of 36 races, each pitting a different combination of six of the 9 teams against eachg other, while rotating the teams among the boats. Each team sailed 24 races across the two and a half days of the regatta.

The winning team, Skolkovo 1, won 16 of the races, coming second in 6 and 3rd in just 2, to post a total of 34. Their compatriots in team Skolkovo 2 won 11 of the remaining races, ending the regatta with 43 points. RSM’s Alumni B team won 4 races, with 60 points. The remaining three races were taken by LBS Blue, who came in 4th.

The regatta was sailed in the 2012 Olympic class of Elliott 6metres boats, with crews of 3 or 4.

Continue reading “Skolkovo Return to Winning Ways in Medemblik”

Home Team win the Cranfield Regatta

23 August 2015

2 (271)Cranfield Business School won the 2015 edition of the Cranfield Regatta, winning three races out of the five. This season’s leading team, Skolkovo could only manage second place, winning the two other races. INSEAD came in third, while 2014 winners, LBS came in 4th.

The Cranfield team was led by a professional skipper and first mate, provided by the charter company.

The Cranfield regatta marks the mid point of the Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League, and is sailed on the waters of the Solent, between the Isle of Wight and the Mainland on the South Coast of England. The waters are famous for their tricky tidal currents, and frequent traffic – whether it be other racing yachts or massive cargo ships.

The Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League’s sponsor, Sunsail, provided the boats, the race committee and a lot of the organisation. The boats are Sunsail’s matched fleet of Beneteau F40s, which provide a different challenge to the smaller boats seen in most of the series’s regattas: Crews of 8, 42 ft boats and large symetrical spinnakers with dip-pole gybing. Continue reading “Home Team win the Cranfield Regatta”

LBS cling onto the top of the rankings

7 July 2015

2 (100)London Business School manage to hold onto the top spot in the MBA sailing rankings despite their 6th place at the ABC regatta in Le Havre. Meanwhile the Skolkovo team added a second first place in 2015 to their second place fron 2014 to move up three places to third place.  HEC move up to second place, while Kellogg/WHU drop from second to fourth after missing the ABC.

Rotterdam are the other mover, climbing 2 places to 6th.

LBS owe their position to their first place at the 2014 Cranfield regatta,  third at the 2014 RSM regatta and 4th at the 2014 Bocconi regatta, while Skolkovo are still handicapped by missing the 2014 Cranfield and Bocconi regattas.

Will everything change after this week’s 2015 Cranfield regatta?

Continue reading “LBS cling onto the top of the rankings”

Skolkovo take an early lead

6 July 2015

skolkovo logoMoscow’s Skolkovo School of Management’s sailing team take a commanding early lead in the 2015 MBA sailing league.  Their two wins in Athens and Le Havre put them on 2 points, 6  points ahead of second- place INSEAD and 8 ahead of third place LBS.

LUM drop to 5th place, as they did not make it to the ABC regatta.

INSEAD climb three places with their second place at the ABC, while HEC jump into 6th place, making up for missing the Global MBA Trophy by coming third in Le Havre.

School LBS GMT Athens ABC Le Havre TOTAL Position Number of Regattas change
Skolkovo 1 1 2 1 2 =
INSEAD 6 2 8 2 2 +3
LBS 4 6 10 3 2 =
Rotterdam 5 7 12 4 2 =
LUM 2 12 14 5 1 -3
HEC/Trium 13 3 16 6 1 +7
Warwick 7 12 19 7 1 -1
Kellogg/WHU 8 12 20 8 1 -1
IE 9 12 21 9 1 -1
Chicago 10 12 22 10 1 -1
Manchester 13 10 23 11= 1 +2
MIP 11 12 23 11= 1 -1

Skolkovo make it 2 from 2 regattas at ABC

5 July 2015

The unstoppable Skolkovo sailing team continued where they had left off in Athens: winning six out of seven races on the waters of Le Havre, and also winning the onshore games: demonstrating impressive engineering skills.

The racing was in J80s, and in strong winds:  Friday’s sailing was delayed becaus they were too strong, and there were a number of races where spinnakers were banned.

INSEAD came home second, with the one win that Skolkovo couldn’t manage, 2 2nds, 2 3rds and a 5th, plus a third in the onshore games. HEC came in third, although level on points with INSEAD on the water.

There were 11 teams competing: Three from INSEAD, three from HEC, two from LBS, a combined LBS/MBS team and a team from Rotterdam joining the Skolkovo team on the water.

The action now moves on to the Cranfield regatta in the tidal currents of the Solent.

abc table

Focus switches to France for the ABC

17 May 2015

10338291_10202398420418004_4338455905974301325_nThe Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League action moves to Le Havre in Normandy, Northern France for the Alumni Business Cup regatta, which starts on Thursday 28th May.

Eleven teams, each sailing 24ft J80 keelboats will take to the water on that Thursday.  Racing continues for three days on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

INSEAD have made this regatta their own since 2013, winning the last two events.  Will the reigning champions, led by Maarten De Vries be a match for the 2015 on- form team – Skolkovo – who come fresh from winning the Global MBA Trophy?  INSEAD are fielding three teams, the second of which is led by Marc Le Borgne who sails J80s regularly and knows the local waters, and so should do well. 2014’s second place team, HEC is fielding three teams, while current MBA league champions, LBS are fielding two and a joint team with Manchester Business School. Rotterdam School of Management will also hope to be in the mix.

The full list of participating teams is:

A Division:

  • LBS Blue
  • LBS Red
  • MBS/LBS joint
  • HEC 1
  • HEC 2
  • HEC 3
  • INSEAD 1
  • INSEAD 2
  • INSEAD 3
  • RSM
  • Skolkovo

LUM Storm up the rankings

23 April 2015

RSM Regatta champions and now second place at the Global MBA Trophy, LUM, the business school from Bari in Italy climb 16 places to 6th equal in the Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League rankings.  They share 6th spot with 2015 GMT winners Skolkovo, who climb 4 places.

London Business School retain the top spot with their 4th place in Greece, after their 2nd place in 2014. Kellogg/WHU climb one spot to second, with their 8th place, while HEC/Trium, who didn’t field a team in the GMT A division, drop one spot to 3rd.

The increased number of teams at the Global MBA Trophy means that non- participants were penalised: HEC, Bath, MIT Sloan, Bocconi and Sauder all drop places, while participants INSEAD, Rotterdam and Warwick climb. Continue reading “LUM Storm up the rankings”

Skolkovo Retain the Global MBA Trophy

20 April 2015
Global MBA Trophy 2015
Skolkovo 1 lead LUM as they approach the top mark

The Skolkovo teams at the Global MBA Trophy in Piraeus, Greece brought home first and third place in an impressive show of strength in the Platu 25 class.

This was the first regatta in the Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League 2015.

Skolkovo 1 led from the start of the regatta and brought home a 1-1-(2)-1-1-2 to win the trophy with 6 points, comfortably ahead of second place LUM with 8.

LUM won the two races that Skolkovo 1 didn’t, came second in 3 others and discarded a DSQ.

Skolkovo 3 scored 14, coming 3rd in all but one races.

The regatta, in its 11th edition, took place on the waters of Faliron bay in Piraeus, with the on- shore activities centres on the harbour of Microlimano. The event was organised by London Business School, with the race committee and other support provided by the Yacht Club of Greece, the boats by the Greek Platu 25 owners association and logistics by Sail PROmotion.

The first day of sailing saw brilliant sunshine and clear blue skies, which conjured up an early sea breeze, so that the races could start on time at 12:00, and take place with steady southerly winds. Skolkovo 1 won the first two races of the day, and came second to LUM in the third. Continue reading “Skolkovo Retain the Global MBA Trophy”

Final Line – up for Global MBA Trophy: April 17-18

3 April 2015

249494_10151647074883408_190244245_nTwelve teams will be vying to cross the start line first on Friday 17th April off Microlimano port in Pireas, Greece as the 2015 Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League kicks off.

The 2014 league champions, London Business School are hosting the event, and have one team in the A division.  Defending regatta champions, Skolkovo have entered two boats. Expect big things from RSM regatta champions LUM, while INSEAD will be looking to do better than last year’s third place.

The regatta takes place over two days in Farr- designed Platu 25 keelboats.  A B division, racing 40- ft boats will also take part.

Competitors are welcome in the race village from Thursday 16th. They will be hosted to a dinner on Friday evening and a gala prizegiving at the Yacht Club of Greece on Saturday 18th.

The full list of participating teams is:

A Division:

  • Chicago
  • IE -1
  • IE-2
  • INSEAD
  • Kellogg/WHU
  • LBS
  • LUM
  • MIP
  • RSM
  • Skolkovo -1
  • Skolkovo – 2
  • Warwick

B Division:

  • IE
  • LBS
  • Mixed Team

Sunsail Sponsors the MBA Sailing League

21 March 2015

SS eventsThe MBA Sailing League is excited and proud to announce that Sunsail, the world’s largest sailing holiday company, has agreed to sponsor the league for the 2015 season.

As part of the sponsorship agreement, Sunsail will provide a weekend’s sailing or racing in the Solent off the South coast of England to the business school team that wins the 2015 league. This prize is worth over €1,400.

The MBA Sailing league will become known as the Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League.

MBA Sailing league co-ordinator, Rob Cotterill, said: “Sunsail manage one of the biggest and most competitive regattas of the MBA sailing season, the Cranfield Regatta, so we welcome their decision to partner with the league and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”

The MBA Sailing League brings together five sailing regattas and the teams of MBA students and alumni who race in them, encouraging business school teams to compete throughout the season, and rewarding the most consistent and most successful.  The regattas that make up the league are the Global MBA Trophy, held in Athens in April; The Alumni Business Cup, held in different locations Europe in May/June; The Cranfield Regatta held in the Solent on the South coast of England in July; The RSM Regatta, held in the Netherlands in August and the Rolex MBA’s Conference and Regatta held in Santa Margharita Ligure, on the Lugurian coast of Italy in September. Business Schools who have ranked highly in the league include London Business School, INSEAD, Kellogg, HEC, Bocconi and Cranfield.

Founded in 1974, Sunsail is the world’s largest sailing and watersports holiday company, delivering great value sailing holidays with a cutting-edge fleet, in the world’s best cruising grounds worldwide.

Sunsail offers a wide choice of sailing holidays with over 800 yachts in 30 locations worldwide. Alongside Yacht Charter and Flotilla Sailing holidays, Sunsail also offer Sailing Schools, Team Building and Events, Racing and Yacht Ownership.