Southampton head to Student Worlds

Institute team head for La Baule

For the second year running, the Southampton Institute yachting team is competing in the Student Yachting World Cup as the English representative and hoping to go one better from their second place finish last year.

The successful team is made up of eight sailors and one reserve, who have all been students at Southampton Institute in the last year, and they are considered to be the ones to beat. The Institute is now firmly established as the premier yachting institution in the university sector, winning the British Universities Sailing Association (BUSA) Student Yachting Nationals four times in the last five years and are current champions. They have represented England three times at the Student Yachting World Cup, producing outstanding performances to come second in 2000 and 2003 and third in 2001.

Mike Henning, Skipper of the Institute's yachting team, is confident of returning home victorious: "We were so close last year, so this year we are hoping to correct the mistakes that cost us dear last time. If we do that, we are confident of getting the result we know we can. The experience we gained from last year?s event was unbelievable, it is a totally different competition to the nationals and it is such a competitive fleet that 80% of the fleet are in with a chance of winning. We have been working hard on our skills and are now ready to go one better."!

Susan Hanley, Southampton Institute Sports Events and Planning Officer, adds: "We are really proud of our students and it is another pleasing side of how student sport is developing at Southampton Institute and is gaining an international reputation."

This year's event is taking place from Sunday, 24 to Sunday, 31 October, with races starting on Monday, at La Baule, near Nantes on the western coast of France.

In recognition of its yachting excellence, Sport Solent, the Sport and Recreation Service of Southampton Institute, has been successful in winning the bid to host the Student Yachting Nationals from 20-24 March 2005. The strength of the bid was based on the knowledge and experience of staff in SRS, the student sailing team and our collaboration with the Royal Southern Yacht Club who will be responsible for the race management. Bids were invited from all higher education institutions around the country. Among those that bid was Southampton University. The event will see around 25 universities competing in four days of racing, introducing approximately
200 students to the winning environment of Southampton Institute.