Another French Article!

It's not about us specifically, but the picture is of us on the boat! They just keep coming! (I am currently drowning in midterms and lack of sleep, but I will be putting up my photos as soon as I am physically able. Photo cred for the last batch goes to Adam)  Link:  http://www.ouest-france.fr/actu/actuLocale_-3-000-etudiants-s-affrontent-a-la-voile-en-rade-_-1341922------29019-aud_actu.Htm

3 000 étudiants « s'affrontent » à la voile en rade

La course de l'Edhec est le plus grand rassemblement étudiant sportif de France. Elle dure jusqu'à demain samedi. Ambiance à la fois sur mer et sur terre.

Reportage

8 h. Le village de toile installé au Moulin-Blanc, s'éveille aux sons du Dj. Les équipes de la course à la voile de l'Edhec se préparent. Émargement des feuilles de départ et petit-déjeuner pour tous. D'étranges personnages déambulent : Schtroumpf, des danseurs en strass et paillettes, déguisement de poulet... D'autres animaux sont réels : canne, chèvre... Étrange pour une compétition de voile !

Une organisation 100 % étudiante

C'est pourtant une obligation. La canne et la chèvre ont été amenées par les futurs ingénieurs en agriculture de l'école d'ingénieurs en agriculture (Esitpa). L'objectif est de « faire la promotion de ton école et de montrer que ça te plaît, explique une étudiante de l'Esitpa. Et faire le plus de conneries pour passer au JT de la course ». En clair, il faut se faire remarquer.

Événement tant attendu et préparé par les étudiants tout au long de l'année, la course rassemble 3 000 étudiants français et étrangers. L'Edhec est devenue une manifestation nautique incontournable. La course mêle compétition et fête. Mais les étudiants présents soulignent « l'aspect professionnel évident » de la course.

Convivialité et ambiance détendue règnent sur le village. Mais celui-ci reste un lieu d'échanges privilégiés entre étudiants et entreprises. Et prend, du coup, la forme d'un vrai salon de recrutement. Plusieurs entreprises sont installées dans le village. Et certaines mettent le paquet pour attirer leurs futurs cadres.

« Super ambitieux »

Du côté des pontons, les équipages sont impatients de prendre le large. Tous dorent au soleil. Le vent d'ouest peine à se lever pour une fois. Sur mer, 170 équipages participent aux régates. C'est vingt bateaux de plus que l'an dernier. Cette année, l'Edhec met l'accent sur l'international avec plus de vingt nationalités présentes.

Jean Thillaye du Boullay, de l'équipage Léovoile (pôle Léonard-de-Vinci à Paris), se prépare depuis six mois pour cette course. Son équipage vient de remporter la Coupe de France de voile étudiante organisée par l'Edhec. « Notre objectif est de remporter ce trophée Mer 100 % étudiant et de nous qualifier pour la Sywok, la coupe du monde étudiant », lance-t-il.

Plus loin sur les pontons, le drapeau québecois flotte à l'avant de l'habitable. Cet équipage d'HEC Montréal a bien failli ne pas arriver à Brest à cause du nuage de cendres. Pour lui, la course marque l'achèvement d'une année de travail : « C'est un pari super ambitieux. La réussite, c'est d'y être. »

Picture Update

 

Team UCLA (USA)! Next to the University of Warwick (UK with a skipper from Norway)

 

 

Le Noir! Our boat during the 42e Course Croisiere EDHEC.

 

 

Kassandra and her German boyfriend, Victor, Morgan, Jake and Billy at the Northern American taste night in the 'Club International' tent.

 

Morgan, Jake, and Billy (Drew in the background) wearing the EDHEC UCLA Sailing t-shirts

Deborah at the EDHEC party, one of the International Organizers.

The Bruin EDHEC Team 2010 with the International Organizers and the EDHEC Business School Director with his wife.

Daily Bruin Article!

UCLA's student newspaper ran a story on our journey! It's the on the front page of the sports section and the centerpiece! From: http://www.dailybruin.com/articles/2010/4/27/smooth-sailing/

UCLA sailing team takes on international regatta in France

After months of fundraising and practice, sailing team takes on international regatta in France
By Steven Breazeale
April 27, 2010 at 12:54 a.m.


When the sails are unfurled and all of the contestants take their mark, the sight is truly majestic. There are 60 sailboats spanning hundreds of yards of water, painting the horizon with color and contrasting with the bright blue sky off the scenic coast of Brest, France.


However, these boats are not there to take a group picture. They are there to compete in the 42nd annual Edhec Boat Cup.


Last week, all of the top European universities came to Brest to compete against one another in the weeklong regatta, and in the midst of all the international competition, the UCLA sailing team looked to make its mark.


One of only two schools from the United States that competed in the regatta this year, the team played the role of ambassador and carried the banner for their own style of sailing into international waters.


The sailing team is one of the smaller club sports on campus but has been growing in popularity as well as skill level in recent years. The team normally competes in events up and down the California coast and occasionally travels to Hawaii for competitions.


But this all changed when fourth-year environmental science and accounting student Victor Weisberg showed up on the scene with the idea to expand the team’s competitive spectrum.


“My sophomore year, I lived in a co-op, and I’m French-American, and a guy I met there, who was French, told me about this awesome regatta in France with all these international schools,” Weisberg said. “He motivated me and other students to go to France and compete.”


In the previous two years, the UCLA sailing team has been the sole representative among American schools at the regatta and has raised the banner of Westwood alongside universities from countries such as New Zealand, Senegal and Switzerland.


Weisberg knew that the task of funding the annual trip to France would not be easy. Because they are a club team, they had to rely on fundraisers and donate money from their own pockets to compete and do what they love.


“We’ve outreached to small businesses, family friends, which are some of our biggest contributors. ... But what’s fortunate about this year is that because we’ve done it for the past two years, the organization that runs this tournament really values having such a great American school go, so they’re actually one of our biggest sponsors this year,” Weisberg said.


Getting such high praise from the international community is definitely an achievement, considering that 140 other colleges competed in the regatta this year, not all of them receiving funding.


The team rallied together, and after months of hard work and planning, raised a total of $22,000 to make the trip.


While a weeklong voyage to sail along the coast of France sounds like a luxurious vacation to some, the UCLA sailing team went to prove itself and compete against the best in the sailing world.


Sailing is a sport that demands communication between the crew and requires members to do their job. Because there are so many different details involved in sailing a 32-foot boat, like they did in this regatta, the team had to rely on each other to succeed.


The core group of eight crew members who made the trip to France has been sailing together for some time but had to get used to sailing large boats before they left.


“Normally in the United States, flying juniors (smaller, two-man boats) are the main boats that people sail on ... but in France we compete on 32-feet Grand Surprises, which are much bigger boats,” Weisberg said.


The Grand Surprises are no joke. They are huge boats, used exclusively in France, that require all eight members to pull their own weight. Weisberg accredited the back-of-the-fleet performances that the team has had in the past to the tough switch from the smaller American boats to the larger French ones.


“Communication was one of the things I was worried about before we left,” UCLA alumnus and sailing team member Jake Muhleman said. “In order to yell to the front of the boat you have to yell real loud because the coast of France is very windy.”


As if the switch to a larger boat didn’t make things hard enough for them, the competition that assembled at the regatta made the team’s journey even harder. Weisberg said a number of other teams pay for professional sailors, including Olympians, to compete with them.


But UCLA did not show up unprepared.


“A group of us had been practicing really seriously, and what was also exciting was our skipper ... who has had experience on these boats,” Weisberg said.


The team seemed to have better success this year in the multiple-race format and consistently finished in the middle of the fleet.


After a week of racing, their efforts fell just short, and they failed to qualify for the championship race.


With 140 different universities from all over the globe coming together to compete, one has to believe that the social life on land was just as fun as the race out on the water.


A whole “village” is set up that houses the 3,000 participants every year.


At night, mingling among the different countries and sampling the food and drink is a major part of the experience.


“It was real cool to get to know people from another part of the world. I will definitely try to maintain those relationships and keep in contact,” third-year mechanical engineering student Billy Edwards said. “The sailing community is a very tight-knit community, and to be a part of it was great.”


Edwards added that the sailing community in Europe takes the sport very seriously.


And with their unique status as one of two American teams, the only other being from Oklahoma City University, the UCLA team members reveled in the opportunity to make their name and what they stand for known to the international community.


“We have for sure built up a brand. ... My sophomore year I went in and hung out with all these different schools ... and then last year I went back and everyone knew us already. They were like, ‘Oh, UCLA, sweet.’ We have just created a brand of UCLA,” Weisberg said.


The sailing team has not only made a name for itself in the international sailboat racing community, but it is beginning to shape how others view American collegiate sailing.


Weisberg and his crew have taken on the challenge and pressure of spreading the word of UCLA sailing.


“Everybody (at the event) even knows the 8-clap,” Weisberg said.

Ouest France Article

The article is in French and was printed with a picture. We'll upload a scan of the printed version ASAP, but for now here is the text! From http://www.ouest-france.fr/actu/actuLocale_-Ambiance-festive-sur-les-pontons-a-Treboul-_29046-avd-20100421-58077619_actuLocale.Htm

Ambiance festive sur les pontons à Tréboul - Douarnenez

mercredi 21 avril 2010

---

169 bateaux, 1 400 participants, 20 nationalités représentées et du soleil en prime : l'escale de la course de l'Edhec à Douarnenez a été remarquée.

169 bateaux, 1 400 participants issus des plus grandes écoles : la 42 e édition de la course de l'Edhec a fait une escale remarquée, hier, en fin d'après-midi, à Tréboul. Partis de Brest en début de matinée, les équipages sont arrivés à bon port dès 16 h 30, pour les premiers, et plusieurs heures plus tard, pour ceux qui ont voulu profiter du paysage.

Cette escale est un bel événement pour Douarnenez qui n'avait pas accueilli cette célèbre course-croisière de l'Edhec depuis plus de dix ans. La faute à des débordements enregistrés lors d'anciennes éditions et, aussi, à un reportage télévisé peu flatteur pour l'épreuve, diffusé il y a plusieurs années. À l'époque, semble-t-il, les équipages tanguaient plus à terre que sur mer... « Mais tout cela a bien changé,assure Thierry Montesquieu, l'un des 50 étudiants de l'Edhec en charge de l'organisation. Pour preuve, les sponsors qui nous suivent. » De fait, aucun débordement n'avait été signalé, avant l'arrivée à Douarnenez et, si les autorités avaient quelques craintes pour la nuit, les organisateurs semblaient convaincus que tout irait pour le mieux. « Même si, évidemment, ça reste un événement étudiant. »

Vingt nationalités

Sur les pontons, détente et bonne humeur étaient d'ailleurs de mise, sous un soleil estival. Chose étonnante, l'équipage californien de l'UCLA a même été moins dépaysé par le temps breton, que par son Grand surprise (leur bateau de près de 10 mètres) qui, pour le coup, porte donc bien son nom. « Cette course, c'est beaucoup de fun, même si on n'avait jamais navigué sur ce genre de bateaux avant. On l'a découvert en arrivant ! », confie, tout sourire, Jake Muhleman, 24 ans, skipper en chef.

Autant dire que pour un éventuel record, l'UCLA devra revenir... une quatrième fois. « Moi, mon rôle, c'est de les soutenir au maximum, de faire que tout se passe bien,confie Adam Pruett, leur coach, pas déçu pour deux sous. Mais on n'a pas eu de chance : sur les huit membres d'équipage prévus, deux n'ont pas pu venir et sont restés bloqués à l'aéroport de Los Angeles, à cause du volcan. »

Outre les Californiens, une vingtaine de nationalités sont représentées, dont des Canadiens, des Sénégalais, des Turcs... Tous devraient être réveillés dès potron-minet, pour mettre de nouveau le cap vers Brest, à partir de 9 h.

Retrouvez notre vidéo sur ouest-france.fr

Sunday - Back in Los Angeles

We all made it safely back to Los Angeles! Morgan and Drew took several pictures, and should be uploading them online promptly.

Again a big thank you to all of our supports! Without your contribution, our journey would have truely not been possible. We'll be continuing to update the blog with pictures, articles, and events as they come up - so be sure to keep http://www.bruincce.blogspot.com/ in your favorites/bookmarks.

Saturday

The final night was a lot of fun. We were able to hang out with the international organizers and many of the other teams. At the main party, a famous French singer came out at the end to sing several songs for all of the touranment goers.

This morning we cleaned our room and verfied that our boat was presentable to return.  In about an hour we are off to Paris for the night and tomorrow the flight back to Los Angeles.

We are all sad that it already over, but are sure to have great memories for the rest of our lives.

Again a big thank you to all of our supportors and sponsors. Although the entire team wasn't able to make it out (Eric + Richard had flight problems due to the volcano), we managed do well given the circumstances. Thanks to Leovoile's member Flovian for racing with us!

Friday Racing & EDHEC party

Friday racing started late in the afternoon - first race was around 3:30pm.   The wind picked up to about 10 knots and both starts were under black flags.

In the first race we had bad spinnaker problems - a wet kite is difficult to fill as it gets twists as it goes up.  But we still finished midfleet. In the second race we were great off the line. The windward pin was very crowded, but we smoothly made it in to start the downwind leg. The second downwind wasn't that good, and we lost several boats, finishing midfleet again.

We didn't make it in to the finals unfortunately, but given the circumstances of not having the orginial crew and not fully knowing the waters, we're extremely pleased with our performance.

This afternoon, the EDHEC Business School director hosted a function for all of the international teams. We met the director and his wife, and greatly thanked him for their school's donation to help us compete in the 42 Course Croisiere Edhec. We'll post a pictures as soon as the internet allows.

We're really sad that the tournament has ended for the non- finalists. Most international schools are leaving later this evening. We've all definitely made many, many new friends from around the world (including Sengal)!

A big thank you to Simon, Deborah, and of course Margaux; the international coordinators of the CCE 42e have been amazing in helping us attend the event and with administrative duties.

Tonight is the big party for all of the sailors, and we're excited to say our last goodbyes to many of the teams. Tomorrow we clean the boat and congradulate the winners before taking off to Paris via train.

This has been a truly wonderful experience for everyone on our team.  The event has been very welcoming of our presence and provided us with a great opporutnity to integrate not only with the culture of the international sailing community, but also with that of many international peers.  There is not a doubt in any of our minds that the experience was worth far more than the months of work and prepartation it required.  We would like to again thank all of our sponsors, without whom none of this would have been possible.  Those of us who can return next year to the 43rd Edhec Boat Cup certainly hope to do so and are very motivated to begin the necessary groundwork as soon as they return to the states.

Another update soon with pictures!
-Victor, Drew, Morgan

Friday Morning

It's Friday morning here in Brest and we have been delayed until two o'clock this afternoon to start sailing for lack of wind.  Most of us are spending the morning catching up on the sleep we haven't gotten for the last week.
We would all really like to get some good racing in today, but we don't know if the wind will cooperate.

Tonight is the last night we will be in Brest and we are looking forward to hanging out with the other schools here and trading some of our UCLA gear. 

-Billy

Thursday Update with Pictures!

Bonjour tous!

We did two races today. A tactical race in which we placed midfleet and an epic coastal race around the Brest region.  We caught some lucky wind and were leading the pack for a leg, but made a poor decision down a spinnaker stretch which pushed us back some. The wind picked up again torwards the end of the day, and we were pushing over 7.5 knot going upwind.  Tonight we made some punch to give out to the other international teams in 'le club inter' as the Canadians made pancakes! It was a North American taste.  (orginally we were suppose to make a chili with OCU).

Only one more day of racing before the finals! The CCE 42 is flying by fast.

OKAY and finally some pictures!

(the internet is super slow so unfortunately we cant get all the photos up but we will try again soon!!)

Monday Events and the Tuesday/Wednesday Race!

We just came back from our Port Escale to Douarnenez, just south of Brest.  First off, sorry for not updating the blog! Our schedule is totally packed, and we spend any free time interacting with other international crews like University of Warwick & Cambridge from the UK, HEC Montreal from Canada, and HEC Lausanne from Switzerland!


Unfortunately our last two crew members, Eric Richard, have been unsuccessful in securing a flight to Paris in time to compete in the regatta. This is really hurting our performance, as positions in the boat have changed due to lack of their presence. We have a friend from Leovoile now as a member, but its really not the same. The volcano also ruined OCU flight plans and aren't able to compete with us... All of us in France are really sad of this about once in million situtation and are now hoping airspace clears up for us to return safely.


Monday - The first day of official racing started off with a sick Billy!  Our main trimmer, Billy woke up in the morning feeling quite ill.  The medical official at Edhec became concerned as food and water didn't sit well or long in Billy stomach, and recommended that he go to the Brest Hospital for a more detailed analysis.  Fortunately, Billy was only dehydrated and after a couple of IV bags and a full days rest, he was back in action Tuesday. The first days races got postponed until the afternoon. With only 6 on the boat (as Billy was in bed) and without our last two members, we placed mid-fleet on the first and second race.


Tuesday/Wednesday - We had a slight altercation with another international boat at the first mark, which caused us to fall back in the first race. But we sailed really well and caught up mid-fleet for the finish. Today we had a medicore start, and made big gains by the windward mark. Unfortunately, some poor tactical decisions coupled with a problem with our spinnaker, caused us to lose a lot of ground.  Near the end of the race, the wind increased greatly and we were able to catch a couple of boats by the finish of the race.  At one point we reached 7.76 knots on a beat with a fully reefed mainsail!

Also of note, we were interviewed by a French journalist (Ouest France) in Dourarnenez and there was a very nice write-up with a picture in this mornings paper.  Once they post the story online, we will post it.


Here is a link with some epic pics from the CCE organization:
http://www.ccedhec.com/achat/photos.aspx

- Victor and Jake

WE PROMISE PICTURES VERY SOON!

First Day of Racing

Hey everyone,

We've been meaning to update but were pretty busy yesterday getting registered, getting the boat all set up and getting practice races in. My battery is about to die so this is going to be quick!

First of all, we're really sorry to say that Richard and Eric's flight has been cancelled yet again. Hopefully they will be able to make it out in the next day or two for the second half of the races!! We are really bummed they can't be here with us right now, and our team feels really incomplete without them.  GET HERE SOON GUYS!!!!!

Today is day one of racing, but there's no wind so we're postponed til around 2ish.  We're just hanging out around the village and watching the day events. Hopefully we'll get out on the water soon...They're going to keep us out late tonight and hope to get a bunch of races in during the afternoon when the wind picks up.

Tomorrow is a LONG race to a nearby island...over 30 miles. We then camp on the island for the night and sail back the next day....going to be a lot of fun, but COLD! The weather has been absolutely awesome though...warm and sunny during the day, way better than expected. We sailed in shorts yesterday! WOO!

Okay no battery left! More updates/pictures soon!!

Stuck in LA

While the majority of the team has successfully made it to France, one quarter of the team is still grounded in LA. Richard and Eric showed up for their flight on Friday at 12:30pm, and have since then had their flight rescheduled and canceled 3 more times. They have just been sent back home from the airport with instructions to return again "tomorrow," and to find a more specific time of departure either online or by calling the headquarters. For updates on their flights, they have been checking the Air Tahiti Nui website at  the link below.

Air Tahiti Flight Statuses (...stati?)

The original flight number was TN8, and has now been updated to TN408 (departing LAX, arriving CDG). As of now it is showing their departure at 2:00pm on Sunday, and so Richard and Eric will show up at LAX again tomorrow at 11:00 hoping that this flight is the one that will leave the ground.

They are remaining optimistic about getting to France, and are looking forward to joining up with the rest of the team to do some serious sailing! Also, a big thank you to everyone who has called or showed support regarding our flight trouble. More updates tomorrow from LAX!

Update from PARIS!!

We finally made it to Paris!

We spent what was left of the day walking around the city, eventually making our way to the Eiffel Tower...here's a photo! (we promise it's not photoshopped):

More updates soon!

~Morgan

Update from LAX!

So we've made it through security and are waiting at the gate with a new departure time of 6pm. Hopefully mother nature will cooperate, but everything really depends on the weather and which way the wind blows (har har har. Sailing joke kind of?)

Anyway, we're all hoping that the plane will at least take off and that the skies will clear by the time we land tomorrow...if not, we figure they'll have to put the plane down somewhere...preferably somewhere warm and exotic with all expenses paid :)

More updates soon..hopefully from Paris!!

~Morgan

Volcano Trouble

It seems Mother Nature has thrown us a curveball, which in this case seems to be a volcanic eruption in Iceland. apparently the volcano has been active for the past month or so, although not in any capacity for the news to travel all the way to us Americans. That is, until yesterday evening when a significantly larger eruption spewed ash into the atmosphere. Since then, the ash has been migrating across Northern Europe and disrupting hundreds of flights arriving or departing in this area. At the moment, six of our eight teammates are in limbo at LAX awaiting word of when their flight has been rescheduled to. The remaining two teammates, Richard and Eric, will be joining them tomorrow with bunches of sailing gear and optomism that we will make it to Brest in time for check in on Sunday morning!

this photo is crom http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/15/iceland.flights/index.html?hpt=T2

The Team!

THE 2010 UCLA CCE 42 TEAM

Monday, April 12th Meeting -- Finances, Positions, Travel, etc!

Hi all!

We had a two hour-long meeting last night where we got a LOT done in preparation for our trip.

First off, the final tally is in:  we raised a total of $22,000 !! This includes donations from family, friends, sponsors, and team member's personal donations (several of us put in our own money to ensure we would make it). Thank you, again, to all of you who supported and believed in us. We can't tell you how excited we are to have this opportunity!!

We also finalized our positions on the boat and ran through who would be doing what throughout the week.  As you can imagine, things get pretty crazy on the water, especially when winds are blowing 20 knots and you can barely hear the person next to you. It's really important that everyone knows exactly what they're supposed to be doing at all times.  We will have Sunday as a practice day before racing starts next week, so we hope to get familiar with the Grand Surprise (the type of boat we will be sailing--these are only available in France, so only those of us who have attended the CCE in the past have experience on them) and get everything down in a day's time!

Finally, we are teaming up with Oklahoma City University to make chili and corn bread for the International Dinner! Every night, a team is designated to make a traditional food from their home country to feed the rest of the international teams...Germans bring sausage and pretzels, Canadians bring pancakes and maple syrup, etc. We think a good bowl of hearty chili after a day of cold sailing will go over well!

For those interested, here is a cliffnotes version of our schedule for the coming week:

Thursday, 4/15

• Depart LAX   12:30pm

Friday, 4/16

• Arrive CDG    8:25am
• Take bus to Paris, spend day sightseeing
• Spend the night in Paris

Saturday, 4/17

• Spend the morning sightseeing in Paris
• Take train to Brest!

Sunday, 4/18

• 9am Check In
• Paperwork, forms, licenses, prep work on boat, etc.
• Spend afternoon practicing

Monday, 4/19

• 9am Skippers Meeting
• 11:30am First Start

Tuesday 4/20

• 8am Skippers Meeting
• 10am First Start

Wednesday, 4/21

• 7:30am Skippers Meeting
• 10am First Start

Thursday, 4/22

• 10:30am First Start

Friday, 4/23

• 10:30am First Start

Saturday, 4/24

• Finals
• 4:35pm train back to Paris

Sunday, 4/25

• Depart 11:30am CDG
• Arrive 2:25pm LAX

That's the gist of it. Keep checking this site for updates from France! We will have access to internet and will hopefully be keeping up with our blogging :)

~Morgan

FOUR DAYS!

We have gotten some really incredible donations this past week that have been CRUCIAL toward reaching our goal....we are doing some final calculations to figure out how close we are, but we think that after these recent donations we are now very VERY close to our $20,000 goal!! THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!!! Every little bit has made a difference, and WE ARE GOING TO FRANCE thanks to you!

April 3rd Practice

Hey guys!

We managed to get everyone (except for Kassie, who is a working woman) on the same boat this past weekend for a race from Newport to Dana Point! Woo!  We ended up getting 3rd due to being over early at the start, but it was a beautiful day of sailing and the 2.5 hour race back to Dana Point could not have been better.  We had dolphins swimming at our bow, and even saw some whales!  We took a bunch of photos that I'm working on editing...I'll leave you with one shot of the group in front of the boat at the end of the day:

As always, a big thanks to Biff, Russ and Page for taking us out. One week until EDHEC!