INSEAD share the Rolex spoils with Tuck in Santa Margherita

22047993_1957689321112455_4413410634771941142_oThe final regatta of the Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League, the Rolex MBA’s Conference and Regatta, was as usual the biggest event of the year, featuring 50 boats and 400 sailors.

The “A” division was split into an “Open” class of 10 J70s and an “Offshore” class of 9 Beneteau 36.7s.

INSEAD took their third title of the season to win the Open class, capping off a dominant year with three first places out of five. Second place was 2016’s winner of the MBA’s cup, MIT with IESE third.

Tuck, in their only regatta of the year, won a very competitive Offshore class, with two firsts. HEC and Goethe rounded off the podium, winning a race each.

The MBA’s cup was presented jointly to INSEAD and Tuck along with a joint INSEAD/ Bocconi team in the “Cruising” class of handicapped non- spinnaker boats. Continue reading “INSEAD share the Rolex spoils with Tuck in Santa Margherita”

INSEAD stake their claim to the 2017 title with Cranfield Regatta Win

INSEAD won their second regatta of the year at the Cranfield Regatta on the Solent, off the South coast of England. Once again, a regatta was dominated by a single team, as Kit Glover’s crew won five of the six races.

The Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League’s fourth regatta was the biggest to date with 13 teams lining up on the start line, with a strong contingent from the host school, Cranfield, with six boats.

One of the Cranfield crews came in second, while ABC winners Skolkovo could only manage third. Continue reading “INSEAD stake their claim to the 2017 title with Cranfield Regatta Win”

Skolkovo retain the ABC title

The team from Skolkovo kept hold of the Alumni Business Cup trophy, through a strong performance on the water on the Ligurian coast off Sestri Levante, Italy. They pipped London Business School by just 2 points in the end, after a relatively poor performance in the onshore games, which LBS won.

This was the third regatta in the Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League.

Evgeniya Semykina’s team won seven out of the ten races, with LBS taking six second places. But the onshore games could not be discarded, and so the regatta came down to the last two races.

Third place was taken by Marc LeBorgne’s INSEAD team, keeping the French School’s claim on the league going strong. HEC, Kellogg/WHU and a second INSEAD boat made up the six- strong fleet. Continue reading “Skolkovo retain the ABC title”

INSEAD win MBA Winter Regatta

Spyros Papantoniou and his crew from INSEAD romped home to win the MBA winter at Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, winning all 5 races.  The regatta was held over the 10th and 11th of March in the Canary Islands, and was hosted by Instituto de Empresa (IE).

Trailing in INSEAD’s wake were four boats from London Business School, who ended up 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. The other participants in the regatta were IE and RSM. Continue reading “INSEAD win MBA Winter Regatta”

London Business School are the 2016 Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League Champions

182131_361050597296498_1517972939_n-e1344174985834Following their fourth place at the Rolex MBAs Cup regatta in Sta Margherita, LBS finish the year on 19 points, four ahead of Skolkovo who did not participate in Italy.

London Business School won the Cranfield regatta and came second in Athens, while coming in fifth at the ABC and missing the RSM regatta.  Skolkovo won three out of the four regattas they participated in, coming second at Cranfield.

INSEAD are third with 29 points, while MIT Sloan surge up the table to 6th following their victory at the Bocconi regatta. Continue reading “London Business School are the 2016 Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League Champions”

Skolkovo win their third Global MBA Trophy

IMG_8123 - resizedSkolkovo Moscow School of Management came away from the 12th Global MBA Trophy in Mikrolimano, Pireaus, Greece with their third victory in three attempts. Their number 1 team put on a flawless display on day 1 of the regatta, finishing with three first places, and they rounded off day two with three seconds. This was 2016’s first regatta in the Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League.

London Business School won second place, by winning the last race, and coming home second in the first two. INSEAD were third, while Skolkovo’s second team were punished for inconsistency, finishing fourth despite winning two races.

114 sailors arrived in Mikrolimano to sail on the 11 Platu 25s that made up the “A division, and the 7 Beneteau 49s in the “B” division. The regatta began with unseasonably strong winds on Thursday 21st April, which meant that crews were prevented from practicing by a “Lima” flag on the Yacht Club flagpole. Forced to enjoy the warm sunny weather, the sailors registered for the event, attended the briefing and then gathered at the Yacht Club of Greece’s magnificent clubhouse overlooking Pireaus and Faliron bay. Continue reading “Skolkovo win their third Global MBA Trophy”

RSM kick off the year with a win in Lanzarote

The fourth MBA Winter Regatta in Lanzarote, Club-Regattas-©JamesMitchell-94The Canary Islands, saw the RSM crew led by Yannis Pagoulatos take home the trophy.  The team won two races, and consistently came home in the top three to finish with 11 points.

IE team 1, led by Santiago Alvarez de Toledo were excluded from racing on day 1, with technical problems, but managed to score 4 1st places and a second on day 2, to finish in second place  with 13 points.

Third place was taken by the highly fancied INSEAD/HEC/RSM mixed team, while last year’s winners, LBS1 came in 5th.

The regatta had a new format this year, with an owners’ representative on board each boat to advise the team and provide safety back- up.

Race: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total:
RSM 2 1 (5) 1 2 2 3 11
IE 1 (7) 7 1 2 1 1 1 13
INSEAD 1 2 2 3 3 (4) 2 13
IE 2 3 3 3 (4) 4 3 4 20
LBS 1 4 4 (6) 5 5 6 6 30
LBS 2 5 5 4 (6) 6 5 5 30

Strong Line- Up for MBA Winter Regatta

The Crews will be lining up for the first race of the MBA racing season – the first race of the MBA Winter Regatta –  on Friday morning off Puerto Calero in Lanzarote, The Canary Islands.

Last year’s MBAWR winners, LBS will be up against a very strong mixed crew from HEC/Insead/RSM: These two are expected to be fighting for the honours.  Up against them are another crew from LBS, two from IE and one from RSM, all vying to cause an upset.  The “A” division crews will be sailing 4-5 man J80 sportsboats.

For the first time the Winter Regatta also has a “B” division, sailing in 36- 40ft boats. IE has sent a massive three boat contingent to add to their A division crews. There’s also a crew from HEC to challenge for the Div B title.

The racing takes place on Friday and Saturday, and the crews can expect a warm welcome from the Canarian weather and the local hospitality at the events on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

The weather forecast with 6 days to go is for strong Northerly winds on Friday, calming somewhat on Saturday.

Skolkovo are the 2015 Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League Champions

skolkovo logoMoscow’s Skolkovo School of Management, in only their second year participating in the Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League have emerged as champions.

Despite being unable to compete at the Rolex MBA’s Regatta in Santa Margharita Ligure, and so scoring a maximum 19 points for that regatta, their consistent first and second places in the other regattas of the season has meant that they out- score London Business School, whose joint seventh place in the Bocconi – organised regatta gives them 25 points to Skolkovo’s 24.

Skolkovo have taken the league by storm in 2015. where they were able to compete, they won in Athens, Le Havre and Medemblik, and were second to a local pro skipper in the Solent. Continue reading “Skolkovo are the 2015 Sunsail MBA Global Sailing League Champions”

Home Team win the Cranfield Regatta

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”