London Business School’s sailing team continued their great 2013 form by winning the Cranfield Regatta on 6-7th July. The team won the four – race regatta with three first places and a second, giving them the minimum 3 points “after discards”.
The Cranfield Regatta is the longest running of the MBA league circuit, being in its 22nd year. It takes place in the Solent, the piece of water between the Isle of Wight and the British mainland, famous for its sailing tradition, and it’s tricky tidal currents. The regatta is organised by MBA students from the Cranfield Business School, and hosts teams from business schools across the world, with many UK business schools having it as their only regatta in the MBA league.
Twenty boats competed in the regatta, of whom eleven were from Cranfield itself, the other nine being from Bath and Exeter with two boats each, Henley, Kellogg/WHU, LBS, RSM and Warwick.
Kellogg/WHU took second place in the regatta, winning race 3, and coming second in race 1, while Cranfield 1 came in third.
The team are all very busy with their final preparations before the Fastnet. Preparing the boat, ourselves – and our work lives! We will be completely out of reach for maximum one week which is for many something unusual, and requires some special communications to the home front to keep loved ones up to date on what is going on.
Larger preparations for the race – looking at the course, the weather, the current, tracking, sponsorship stickers, charity details … the list goes on.
Some smaller preparation items are also ongoing – filming of our Fastnet race, cameras, hotels before and after the race – when will we finish, so when to book? Luckily Team Heiner will be able to take an extra bag for us to Plymouth where the race finishes so we will be able to have a change of clean clothes and a shower!
For those wishing to track our progress, you can visit the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) Fastnet tracking website, where the RORC have a tracking application showing the fleet, once the race starts. You’ll need to look for our boat, “Team Heiner One”.
We’ll be starting at 1350hrs BST on Sunday the 11th of August, following the traditional Fastnet course, which is a 608 nautical mile non-stop race. The race entails a gripping and punishing 608-nautical mile journey from Cowes, Isle of Wight to Plymouth via the Fastnet Rock, off the southern tip of Ireland.
Beginning at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, the Isle of Wight, the race passes noted landmarks in the English Channel including The Needles, Portland Bill, Start Point, The Lizard and Land’s End, ahead of the open water passage across the Celtic Sea.
The legs across the Celtic Sea to and from the Fastnet Rock are long and unpredictable. Openly exposed to fast moving Atlantic weather systems the fleet often encounters the toughest weather of the race on its approach to and return from Ireland.
The Fastnet Rock
The symbolic turn around the Fastnet Rock off the southern coast of Ireland; a rounding that heralds the race’s emblematic halfway juncture. The Fastnet Rock has significant standing in the minds of competitors, and is viewed as the halfway mark, even though the actual distance remaining is less.
The sense of achievement felt by crew must be tempered by a need to stay focused on the challenge ahead. The fleet then embark on the long return leg and the finish in Plymouth.
Distances on the course: Total = 608 nautical miles (1,126 km) The start of the Rolex Fastnet Race is from the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) line, Cowes, Isle of Wight. Yachts will race on a course of approx 608 miles via the Fastnet Rock to the finish line at the western end of the breakwater in Plymouth Harbour:
Cowes – Needles 16Nm
Needles – Portland Bill 34Nm
Portland – Start Point 54Nm
Start Point – Lizard 60Nm
Lizard – Lands End 22Nm
Land’s End – Fastnet 170Nm
Fastnet Rock – Scillies 154Nm
Scillies – Lizard 51Nm
Lizard – Finish 46Nm
We’re excited and a little nervous – but we’re sure looking forward to the race, the culmination of our campaign. Wish us fair winds and a successful race!
The Team – Ready to Go!
Author’s note: Route description is from the RORC official history of the Fastnet race guide.
The team competed in the RORC Channel Race on the weekend of 27th – 28th July after training and racing mostly on small boats and training on the Volvo60. The Volvo60 received a new mainsail and the boat and team were fit and ready to have their final test before the actual Fastnet.
3 boats participated in the IRC Z class and the third position was the final result. Although last in class, the team was not too far behind the professional sailors in their first race ever. Two learning points which can be tackled in the actual Fastnet: The first one was missing a mark by very swift steering but not 100% aligned boat handling in sail trimming, while arriving in a wind free spot, with current pressing backwards. It was frustrating to see the competition walk away at that time.
After the upwind mark was tackled, it became darker, slightly rainy, but on a fast downwind beat with the spinnaker pushing the boat to 12 knots. Some jibing was deliberately chosen to continue to profit as much from the wind and current as possible. We made good gains from this, taking back much of the loss from the mark-rounding mistake, giving hope.
The second learning factor was how to reef the new mainsail. On purpose the team wanted this final opportunity to know before the actual Fastnet race itself, to figure out the reefing system under pressure soon before the finish. This took some time, but was not disastrous since we did stay in the same position.
Overall we operated very well as one team on the Team Heiner One and were satisfied with the finish time of 13 hours and approximately 25 minutes. All of us were able to be on deck and make sure that the required tasks were taken care of. Team spirit is increasing that extra step with some key individuals being in the right place at the right time.
We have done our preparations and should be ready for the Fastnet. We understand that the 3rd and 4th day will have much impact on the result and this is something we will need to experience together!
Very light winds and a strong tide pushing us over the line
Tom from Team Heiner up the mast checking our new mainsail
A great moment – when we were ahead of both the IMOCA 60 “Artemis”, and the Volvo 70 “Monster Project” – both newer, faster boats than ours.The crew gets into their foul weather gear as we approach St. Catherines Point and the weather closes in
With the last training weekend and the delivery completed the MBA Fastnet Team is now looking forward to their first race which will be the Channel Race at the end of July.
The last training weekend was very intense for the MBA Fastnet team. It started with match racing against each other on two J109s though the IJsselmeer and the Waddenzee. The races covered typical conditions of offshore sailing, demanding skill, courage, and endurance. After 22 hours of non-stop match racing through a day and a rainy night with little or no sleep, the first part of the training ended in Hoorn.
From there the train took the team to Vlissingen, where the Volvo 60 was waiting for another night sail on the North Sea to Den Helder. In nice reaching / downwind conditions the team went through drills of spinnaker hoists, gybes and drops all through the night.
The delivery of the Volvo60 turned out to be quite the opposite: a lot of time on land to relax and only 48 hours on the water – at least for most of the team. Two strong low pressure system forced the team to wait in the harbour for days. Unfortunately, the main was damaged after tacking against strong winds along the Portuguese coast. From here on it was motor sailing with jib and trysail to Porto. Given the continued bad weather forecast most of the team had to fly back home from Porto as there was no chance to get the boat to the UK on time to be back at work on Monday.
Even though everyone knows that sailing depends on the wind the MBA Fastnet team didn’t quite expect 9 days not to be enough to bring the Volvo60 from South Portugal to the UK. Team Heiner and three of the MBA crew continued to fight strong winds all the way up to the Netherlands.
For more details and pictures see also on our MBA Fastnet Challenge Facebook page!
Despite INSEAD’s win at the ABC regatta, London Business School’s second place keeps them at the top of the 2013 league, albeit with only 1 point seperating them from INSEAD.
The League table for 2013 only contains results from two regattas so far: the Global MBA Trophy and the Alumni Business Cup.
Kellogg/WHU, who were part of the “MBA Fastnet” team at the ABC, drop one place to third. AUEB also part of that team drop to fourth. HEC’s third place at the regatta means they come into the league in 5th place, level with Warwick, who missed the action in Marseille.
INSEAD’s All- Dutch team, led by Maarten De Vries, won the 21st ABCup, ending a three year period of LBS wins. The INSEAD crew won two sailing races, came second in three and third in three more, including – crucially – the shore games. Maarten and his crew have now won the trophy a record four times.
London Business School’s team “Blue”, skippered by Klaus Rasmussen and Rob Cotterill came second overall, and won the new “Stelton Sailing Trophy” for the team that won the sailing part of the regatta. LBS Blue had the same points, but more wins than De Vries’s INSEAD team, and so won on the water. They only managed 5th place in the on- shore games, which put them 2nd overall.
Winning the on- shore games with an impressive knowledge of wine tasting and art history, third place in the regatta went to the HEC/ INSEAD team, skippered by Philippe Lerique.
The Alumni Business Cup (ABC) has been held every year since 1992 in various locations across Europe. The 2013 edition was held in Marseille, France, based around the Islands of Frioul, just West of Marseille’s Vieux Port and Corniche. Six crews battled for the title: Two from INSEAD, two from LBS, One joint HEC/ INSEAD crew and a mixed team “MBA Fastnet”, made up of MBA alumni who are participants in the crew of a Volvo 60 Fastnet campaign. Organisers this year were Marc LeBorgne of INSEAD and Philippe Lerique of HEC. Continue reading “INSEAD Claim the Alumni Business Cup”
Seven teams are lined up to compete in the 21st Alumni Business Cup regatta in Marseille this week. Three from INSEAD, two from LBS, a combined “MBA Fastnet” crew, and an HEC/ Insead joint crew.
LBS and INSEAD should be able to consolidate their positions in places 1 and 2 of the league, as main competitors Bocconi, Cranfield and Warwick will not be attending.
Kellogg/WHU and Rotterdam are both providing team mates for the “MBA Fastnet” crew.
April saw the MBA Fastnet team complete their first training weekend on the boat that will take them to the Rolex Fastnet Race in 2013, the Team Heiner Volvo Ocean 60.
The setting was Portimão, a laid back tourist village on the southern coast of Portugal. Although the wind was very light, the conditions were perfect for testing out and tweaking the setup on the boat which had only been in the water for a few days after being refitted, antifouled and made ready for the upcoming campaign.
Friday was off to an easy start, beginning with some basic boat orientation as well as sorting out the sails and giving the boat a final clean and polish.
With only a couple of knots blowing for most of Saturday, the team had a good opportunity to test out the new rig and different sails in a relaxed setting. As this was the first time we had sailed on this boat as a crew, there were a few maneuvers to be smoothed out and a few boat peculiarities to get used to.
Sunday saw the team almost completely becalmed until very late in the day and most of the day was spent on going over basics like tacking, spinnaker sets and gybes as well as some motivational speeches by Roy Heiner. The team has their work cut out for them as they prepare for their next milestone in the Rolex Fastnet Campaign, the delivery from Portugal to the UK in June. We look forward to seeing the whole team together for the next part of the challenge! Stay tuned for updates!
London Business School’s first place in the Global MBA trophy means that they consolidate their place at the top of the MBA Sailing rankings, with their lead growing to 8 points over INSEAD.
Second Place in Athens’ Kellogg/WHU climb 3 places in the rankings to 8th. 3rd place INSEAD remain at second, while AUEB re- enter the rankings at 24th.
London Business School’s sailing team continued their great 2013 form by winning the Cranfield Regatta on 6-7th July. The team won the four – race regatta with three first places and a second, giving them the minimum 3 points “after discards”.
The MBA Global Sailing League 
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