Dal crew captures second place in world sailing competition

When they gathered at the Halifax airport to depart for the 32nd Annual Student Yachting World Cup (SYWoC) hosted in La Rochelle, France, the members of this year’s Canadian team, an eight-person crew comprised of seven Dal students and one SMU student, realized they had substantial work to do.

It was not that they had come unprepared. Each crew member had immense sailing experience but the crew as a whole “hadn't actually all been on a boat [or even] in the same room together yet,” says Jacob Saunders, the second-year Dalhousie industrial engineering student who acted as lead tactician for the crew. After arriving in La Rochelle and spending several days practicing with their 32’ keelboat, however, “the confidence level [of the crew] got pretty high” he says.

So it came as a surprise some days later when, at the beginning of a key SYWoC race, an SYWoC jury member radioed the Dal crew and faulted them for being “on course side,” or "OCS." The jury determined that the Dal boat had been “over the starting line at go,” says Saunders. An OCS is difficult to recover from “because everyone else has fresh wind ahead of you and they’re taking it from you.”

Resiliency in action

Further aggravating the crew’s plight was the fact that OCS calls are typically made within the first few seconds of the race. But, in this case, the call was not made until “four minutes after the race began” says Ted Murphy, a fourth-year political science and economics student at Dal and skipper for the crew.

Danielle Boyd, a fifth-year English and psychology student at Dal and navigator for the crew, felt especially anxious about the OCS ruling. “I thought I was going to be thrown off the boat,” she says.

But, according to Saunders, instead of blaming one another or admitting defeat, the crew “stayed positive, focused and kept the boat going fast.” Having finally pulled away from the starting line six or seven minutes after rest of the fleet, the Dal crew was able to pull together, take some big gains and went on to win the race.

It was as a result of such competitive spirit and determination, sustained over 13 races during the week long SYWoC competition, that the Dal crew was able to clinch a second-place finish overall, a remarkable improvement on their impressive sixth-place finish at the event in 2011.

While the crew is happy about their finish, Boyd notes that the happiness is a bit “bittersweet.” This crew sails to win, after all.

Dal: No ordinary port of call

For many of the Dal crew, their connection with sailing has been life long, and several have a family history of sailing that extends generations.

Boyd says that a reputation as a haven for world-class sailing is “part of the reason I came to Dal.” She says that “the sailing program was really active when I [began at Dal] and it’s gone through waves, but it’s really good to see it picking up again.”

Saunders is likewise proud of Dal’s sailing accomplishments. “There are a lot of great sailors at this school,” he says.

In the week prior to the Dal crew’s departure for this year’s SYWoC, Dalhousie hosted the Canadian Collegiate Keelboat Nationals, which is the Canadian qualifier for next year’s SYWoC. A crew representing Dal, skippered by Saunders, won all seven races and emerged with a perfect score despite stiff competition from three other Canadian university crews.

Saunders says that he would like to see sailing become a “varsity sport at Dal one day [because] we’ve got so many great sailors here and we've got a great place to sail [and we have] a great relationship with the local yacht clubs.”

He would also like to see Dal compete more extensively in North America. “I think we could go down to the States and really kick some butt . . . Harvard and
Yale and all those schools who have sailing teams. We know we could
beat them.”

Reflecting on this year’s performance at SYWoC, Saunders says that “the connection with Dal has been great … we were all really proud to be representing Dal [and] we even got Valerie, our SMU member, wearing all the gold and black gear.”

For more information about sailing at Dal, see the Dalhousie Sailing Team’s Facebook page.

Team members:

Ted Murphy - skipper
Jacob Saunders - Main trim, Tactics
Graeme Saunders - Jib trim, Kite trim, Tactics assistance
Ryan Himmelman - Kite trim
Justin Hall - Pit
Valerie Keast - Squirrel
Danielle Boyd - Mast, Navigation
Dave Castle - Bow