Coastal Race

Hey everyone,
We JUST got back from two days of long-distance sailing down the coast (I am writing this sans showers and changing just FYI, so excuse me if I leave out a few details). In short, it was an unforgettable two days that few of us have ever come close to matching. In length, yesterday's eight-hour, 30-mile race to a town down the coast was a test of our strength, endurance, and ability to cooperate as a team. After a fast-paced upwind leg that flew by quickly, the wind going downwind suddenly weakened, and we were stuck sometimes below 1 knot trying to get to our final destination. When we finally arrived, we learned we were one of the last teams to qualify, as most had either given up or had simply been to slow, so a small victory there!

We spent the night dancing and having fun with the other teams who made the trip, went to sleep late on the boats (it was freezing), and woke up early to get back to Lorient the same way we had come, by racing. Today's race was a lot faster than yesterday's, and we managed to maintain speeds well above 6 knots for long stretches of time. As I said, we're exhausted after all of this, so more to come, with some great pictures from Morgan. Thanks for reading!
-Jake G.

WE ARE ALIVE!!!!!

Sorry for not updating sooner, we didn't have any Internet access until yesterday evening and we had a busy busy day so we are just getting around to a post this morning!

Things have been amazing so far. We arrived in Paris on Friday morning and headed over to our gracious host's house--a family friend of Emelia's put us up on their houseboat on the Seine for the night! Thank you SO much to Pierre Denis and his family for taking us in for the night, we ate some incredible meals and were completely taken care of while in Paris and we are eternally grateful! It was a great way to see the city.

Recent UCLA grad and friend Manue Lataste and some other friends met up with us in Paris and were amazing enough to drive us down to Lorient.  It was a beautiful 5 hour drive through the French countryside, with a quick stop at McDonald's on the way (it's delicious here, and we were starving, give us a break).  We finally made it to the EDHEC village around 5pm and met up with our world-traveler teammates Victor Weisberg (he is taking a break from his internship in Switzerland to join us for the race) and Eric Newton (who is volunteering for the Peace Corps in Benin and was unable to make the race last year due to the volcano issues!) so we are super stoked to have a little mini reunion in Lorient :)  The boys had gotten started on our boat check and registration  but unfortunately the main registration closed right as we got here so we had to postpone a lot of our set up and logistical issues until the next morning.

We got up at 6am before the sun was even out to get to the village early and get our stickers on our boat, replace some parts, go through the line where we receive all our free food and items from our sponosors, etc etc.  We finally got out on the water around 1pm in time to participate in the big practice race at 2pm. We did well considering it was the first time all of us had been on the boat altogether (with Victor and Newton) but we definitely had some issues to work out. However by the end of the first race we were all falling into our designated positions and were feeling confident we could do well the next day for the first races.

Monday (yesterday) was the first day of racing!!!
Yesterday's races were by far the best we have done at this event over the past 4 years. We did SO WELL and it was only the first day, which means we only get better from here!!

We had some AWESOME starts off the line thanks to Jake, which put us in a great position for the rest of each of the races. Our first race we were top 10 in our fleet all the way through the second upwind leg, which is when we ran into some big issues with our spinnaker rounding the windward mark and we had to sail off into oblivion for awhile while we untangled everything...we had our spin and jib both down for a good 5 minutes while we scrambled to figure out what lines were fouled up, so we lost a lot of boats.  Despite that whole debacle, however, we finished 17th (out of 54 boats) which we were all surprised to see on the results when we came in...

The second race was okay but not our best, we went the wrong way on the last beat and ended up 26th, but the THIRD race was by far our best-- we placed 15th and had a really great, solid race. Everyone really knows their position now and are working together so things are moving much more smoothly.

We are really, really happy with how yesterday went and are excited to improve today and stay competitive throughout the week.

Unfortunately, with the internet issues, I'm having trouble getting photos up!! SORRY I know I promised! But I will do my best to get some up soon. In the meantime check out the updates of each day on the EDHEC website and maybe you will see us in a few photos of the village!

It's 8:30am here and we are about to head out for a long coastal race to another port 30 miles away. This only happens one day out of the week--we sail there all day today, spend the night camping/sleeping on the boat, and then sail back the next day.  Should be quite a long day but we're excited to see some French coastline!

What else??? Weather has been incredible, between 65 and 70 degrees for the first couple days, and today is the first day it's been cold (of course it's the day we have to sleep outside). But for this time of year, this is incredible weather, and it's supposed to stay sunny and nice so we're happy with that!

Ok we need to get organized and get going, but just wanted to update you all and say we are doing well! We will update again probably in a couple days when we get back from the other port.

~Morgan

Aaaand...we're off!

Hey guys!

Sitting in my apartment right now surrounded by half-packed bags and loads of UCLA gear... we leave for the airport in half an hour and are running around taking care of last minute errands before heading off to France!  We are super excited and can't wait to be sitting on that airplane...

A few last minute sponsors to thank!  Grenzebach Glier and Associates and AnyArt have generously sponsored the EDHEC team and we will proudly display their logos on our boat this week!!

Check back for an update from PARIS!!!!

~Morgan

Thanks!

One week to go!! As we’re cramming to get our classes squared away, buying our last pieces of gear, and going over the fundamentals of sailing, we’d like to take a moment to thank those who have helped us get here:

First, a huge thank you to Zhik Sailing Gear, which generously donated shorts and shirts, as well as extending a significant discount on equipment to our team.

Also to SailFast, which has given our team a discount on attire and provided sailing shirts for on the boat.

Finally, our thanks to Sound Boatworks, which donated hats to us. We are extremely excited about this trip, and we thank you all for helping us make it all possible.

Check back next week, we will be updating often from France!

-Jake G

Introducing Your 43rd Course Croisiére EDHEC Team!

Hello all!

It's been awhile...sorry we haven't kept you updated on the status of this year's EDHEC trip.  If you want the short version: WE ARE GOING!!!  For a little more detail, read on.

We've put together a team of six sailors this year: Jake Muhleman, Scott Barber, Morgan Glier, Emelia Pelliccio, Nora Brackbill, and Jake Greenberg.  We still hold out hope that Billy Edwards may be able to join us, and we are super excited to have Victor Weisberg take a break from his internship in Zurich to come help us out for the week as well!

We are once again lucky enough to have the incredible support of the EDHEC Business School, who will be sponsoring our return for the 43rd CCE! Thank you for your continued support EDHEC!

We've been practicing as much as possible, heading down to San Pedro and Dana Point every weekend we can to get some sailing in.  Our team is really coming together and we're falling into some set racing positions. Every member has a skill they're really good at, and we're trying to capitalize on those abilities so we can really do well in France. So far things are looking good!

We are still actively looking for sponsorship--particularly monetary sponsorship--so if you would like to support our team, or know someone who would like to contribute, please contact us at uclasailing(at)gmail.com

Okay, that's about it for now. Keep an eye on the blog for an update with our new t-shirt design (courtesy of veteran Bruin CCE member Megan Sullivan!) and details on our upcoming raffle!!

For now, here are a few photos from our last practice--

~Morgan

Another Article! News from France

From News from France. A publication of the French Embassy to the United States in Washington DC.
http://www.info-france-usa.org/IMG/pdf/nff/index.pdf
May 31st 2010

UCLA SAILORS PARTICIPATE IN FRENCH REGATTA

For the third year in a row, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) sailing team participated in the 42nd annual Course Croisière EDHEC (CCE) in Brest, France. Organized each year by the French business school EDHEC in Lille, the event drew approximately 3,000 participants, 10,000 visitors, and over 165 student sailing crews from all over the world. According to the CCE website, the regatta is Europe's largest student-run sporting event. This year's competition took place between April 17-24. The UCLA crew's participation in the CCE began in 2008 when French exchange student Thibaut Chabrol from Pôle Universitaire Leonard de Vinci in Paris presented the idea to the sailing team. Each year since, the group has worked tirelessly to organize the trip and raise funds for the sailing club."For us, the CCE is more than just a regatta," explained Victor Weisberg, captain of the squad that traveled to Brest. "It's an opportunity to mount an international project — to create a budget, to find sponsors, to organize donation events, and particularly to travel and build relationships with dozens of European students who share our passion for sailing."

For more information on the UCLA sailing team, please visit: http://www.bruincce.blogspot.com/.

West Marine Fundraiser and Alumni Regatta!

To all of our sailing friends and family in the Los Angeles area (or elsewhere!):

West Marine is sponsoring a UCLA Sailing Team fundraiser on TUESDAY, MAY 25th in Marina del Rey.  5% of every purchase made during store hours will go toward the team on this day. We're asking that any and all sailors, boaters, water-lovers of any kind come out to the store to support us on the 25th!

If you are not in the area and still want to support us by making a purchase, please contact us at uclasailing(at)gmail.com to arrange something.


Also, for those in the area the following weekend, Friends of The UCLA Sailing Team (FOUST) is hosting the annual UCLA Sailing Team Alumni Regatta on Sunday, May 30th. If any alumni, avid sailors or UCLA supporters are in the area, we encourage you to come out for a great day of sailing!  Please contact us at the email listed above if you'd like to attend.