Royal Southern Yacht Club Academy get ready for 35th Student Yachting World Cup 2015

The 2015 Student Yachting World Cup (SYWoC) takes place 13-20 October and will host around 150 competitors from 15 countries.

The ISAF-recognised event is hosted and run by students for students and this year four UK university teams are entered, with each one either skippered or crewed by a Royal Southern Academy member.

The Oxford University team is skippered by 19 year-old Lulu Wallis; Cambridge is sailed by Damien Arnol, 25 and 21 year-old Annabel Vose is heading up the Southampton University team. Vose is a 420 World and European Champion and successfully skippered a women’s match racing team to win the University World Championship last summer. She is joined by Academy members Jamie Diamond and Tom Harrison. The University of Strathclyde’s team captain is 22 year-old Peter Cameron.

Competitors will race a minimum two races per day in J/80s, enabling each team to showcase their talents with the aim of being crowned University World Cup Champion.

The Royal Southern Yacht Club’s Sailing Manager, Tim Thubron, said: “We’re hopeful that we’ll see some Academy members on the prize-giving podium at the end of this major event.”

The current and former Royal Southern Academy sailing members have enjoyed some success over the summer. Will Goldsmith, sailing with Anna Carpenter, were runners up in the J/70 National Championships and Goldsmith was also overall winner of the Melges 24 National Championships as well as the Melges 24 Dutch Open Championships.

In June this year, Alan Roberts became the top British Solitaire du Figaro sailor in 40 years, coming in ninth overall in this four-stage solo. Roberts had previously been awarded the Royal Southern’s 2014 Frank Heenan Award, presented annually to a Club member who has excelled at singlehanded sailing.

He said: “Having been a member of the Royal Southern for most my life, sailing Toppers and 29ers from the club and taking part in, and having a lot of fun in the Youth Splash weeks, it was great to receive this Award as my journey is just beginning into the vast world of offshore yacht racing. The Royal Southern has over the years supported me in various different ways and in a range of classes and types of sailing.”

The Academy is for 18 – 25 year olds, with memberships rate that remains the same up until the end of the member’s 25th birthday year.