This was Rotterdam Erasmus School of Management’s first entry into the Cranfield Regatta, and their eighth place, along with their great showing in Athens means that they climb up to second overall, jumping a massive 7 places. They are ahead of Warwick because their 36 points come from just three regattas compared to Warwick’s four.

London Business School’s second place consolidates their lead in the MBA sailing league, a full 18 points ahead of Rotterdam. Warwick’s 7th place at Cranfield is an improvement of six places compared to their 2009 result and means that they also overtake Insead to stay in third place.

The teams that finished near the top of the Cranfield table make the biggest jumps in the rankings. The winners, Exeter, improved on 21st place in 2009, and are now in 5th place, up 18.  Manchester’s 4th place in their first event in the MBA season places them 7th,  Henly climb 9 places to 11th, while Portsmouth, Imperial, Aberdeen, Leeds and Ashridge also place in the league table for the first time.

Big losers were MIP Milano and Kellogg/WHU who both drop 5 places as crews who did Cranfield climb above them.

The league says farewell to Bradford, London Cass, Cambridge Judge and GISMA, who did not return to the Cranfield regatta this year.

The fleet of spinnakers from a leading boat

Cranfield Regatta trophy with a very impressive performance,  winning  three races out of the five

sailed, and discarding a third place.

This was the 19th annual Cranfield regatta, held on the Solent in Sunsail’s fleet of identical Jeanneau Sunfast 37s.

Business Schools from all over the UK took part, along with teams from Rotterdam School of Management, and Smurfitt, Dublin. In all, there were a record 36 boats participating, 17 from Cranfield and 19 from other schools.

It was a much more competitive event than for the last couple of years, with strong crews from London Business School, Manchester and Smurfitt battling it out for second place, and Rotterdam, Warwick, Henly,

Portsmouth and a couple of Cranfield boats being there or thereabouts.

Day 1 saw Exeter well ahead of the fleet, winning two and coming third in the other race.  Smurfitt were looking

the best of the rest with a second and a first place, but their score was marred by a 9th in th third race.

Manchester and Cranfield 2 took the other two 2nd places on offer, but also lacked consistency, so LBS with a 3-4-3 were lying second overnight.

The first race  of day 2 sealed the regatta for Exeter. Another bullet meant they were uncatchable at the top of

the table, and could safely discard the final race – which they promptly did.  The battle was on, however, for second place, as Smurfitt and Manchester had a chance of discarding their poor results. In the 4th race, London  Business School,  with just another 4th place beat them both in the first race. Manchester were 5th,

while Smurfitt had a nightmare, and came in in 19th.   For the final race, London Business School finally found the form that had won them the trophy in 2009, and brought home a first place, allowing them to discard one of their two fourths.  Smurfitt came in second, but  had to carry their 9th from race 3, along with two 2s and a 1, to finish 3rd overall, and Manchester has another disappointing race, bringing home a 5th to finish in 4th place.

Full results:

MIP Politecnico di Milano’s second  second place in two regattas in 2010 makes them the team to watch. Coming second in the Alumni Business Cup at their first attempt,  means that they rise six places to 4th place, from only those two regattas.

Columbia continue their descent from the table by not turning up to defend 2009’s 3rd place.  They drop seven places to 18th.

At the top, LBS improve their points tally by one, after their victory compared with second place in 2009. Insead’s points worsen by one, coming in 5th rather than 4th. Warwick remain in third, with an 8th place – but they are now just a point ahead of MIP.

HEC climb 5 places to 8=, Vienna are up 6 to 16th=, Harvard return to the league with their 11th place.

Sadly Kingston, a long- time competitor at both Cranfield and the ABC, drop out of the league. They’ve not competed since the ABC in 2009.

IMD take the start on day 1

After three years in a row coming in second place, and for the first time since they originally entered the event in 1993,  London Business School won the Alumni Business Cup regatta in La Ciotat, France.

The ABC website is here: http://www.alumnibusinesscup.org/abca/Home.html

The 18th ABC regatta took place in La Ciotat and Cassis, near Marseilles in the South of France. Racing took place over three days in “Grand Surprise” 30- ft day racing yachts on the 17th, 18th and 19th June. There were five technical windward- leeward races and two coastal races, plus a practice race. Twelve teams of MBA Alumni from as many schools competed for the trophy.

The regatta was the most evenly competed for years, with five crews battling it out near the top of the rankings: LBS, last- year’s winners IMD, 2007 winners Vienna, 2006 winners Insead and first- time entrants MIP, fresh from their second place in the Global MBA trophy in Athens.

Vienna, for the second time in three years, won the regatta “on the water”, but had a poor result with the on- shore games, meaning that LBS and MIP overtook them in the overall results.

Warwick surprised everyone to win the practice race, but could not repeat that form, their best result being a 3rd in race 2.

Day 1 belonged to the Insead boat skippered by Marteen de Vries, ending the day ahead with a very consistent 3,2,2.  The day 1 race honours were shared between LBS, Vienna and IMD, and Insead led LBS, Vienna and HEC that evening.

Day 2’s coastal races and big seas saw Vienna come to the fore, pulling off a similarly consistent 2,2,3, with the races being won by MIP, LBS and IMD. MIP made great strides too, scoring 1, 4,2.  By the time of Race 6, the wind had built to such a level that the committee banned the use of spinnakers.Unfortunately Insead (deVries)’s form did not hold,  especially after their bad luck in race 4 to see the committee place the finishing mark right on the other side of the course from where they were sailing.  After the discards kicked in,  Vienna had 10 points to LBS’s 12 and IMD’s 13.

On Day 3 , the wind had really set in hard. The Audi Med Cup professional sailors, down the coast in Marseilles had their racing called off. The ABC race committee decided to start a race, but to enforce a strict sail plan of a reefed main and storm jib.  In the heavy airs, MIP sailed to their second win, with Marc LeBorgne’s Insead team grabbing second.  Vienna’s 3rd meant that they won the on- the- water regatta, with 13 points, ahead of LBS with 17 and MIP with 20.  The regatta was called off after that race, as teh winds had built, and a committee boat’s float had been burst after a collision with one of the competing boats

The “onshore games” involved flying model aircraft, where the winning technique seemed to be to send the plane low so that it skids along the ground, rather than flying high in a graceful arc back towards the launch point. They finished with each team asked to do a presentation/sketch based on the book “Le Petit Prince”, whose author came from the area. MIP won the onshores with an incredibly well prepared presentation. LBS came second, by creating a 1 metre high prince and bringing on the King of Rock and Roll.  Vienna, unfortunately came 12th – last – in the onshore, and so lost their regatta lead.

London Business School’s own report of the event is here:  http://lbsalumnisailing.blogspot.com/2010/07/lobon-business-school-win-abc-regatta.html

At the top of the table, Insead’s victory means they retain second place overall, with 33 points. LBS, despite dropping from 2nd in 2009 to 4th in 2010, remain on top, but with 18 points rather than 16. Warwick’s 10th makes their 3rd place more vulnerable, just 3 points ahead of Kellogg/WHU. Columbia’s drop means that Kellogg/WHU, Cranfield and Smurfitt all climb one place to 4th, 5th and 6th=. Bocconi and Rotterdam join Smurfitt at 6th=.  The top 10 is rounded out by Bath at 9th.

Tuck and Athens drop out of the table, as their points from 2009’s Global MBA trophy fall off. Said make their first entry at 25th=

London Business School hoist their gennaker

Rotterdam School of Management brought home the hard fought Division A title of the Global MBA Trophy (GMT) regatta in Piraeus, Greece, winning the final race of the series, to push last year’s division A champions, London Business School down into second place. The final result was still in doubt 2 hours after the finish as both crews waited on the results of a protest which was eventually ruled out of time.

Meanwhile in Division B, Insead’s “Blue Ocean” team battled it out with MIP Politecnico di Milano’s boat 2, to bring home the result and , on handicap, to win the overall trophy.

More details to come later.

Insead’s win in Athens, and fourth places in both France and Italy give them second place, only two points ahead of Warwick,  whose best results were 6th in Greece and Italy.

Winning division A in the Bocconi MBA’s Cup, first- time entrants HEC shoot up the MBA league table from a lowly 29= to 12th.  Until this Regatta, HEC had only competed in one regatta each year (The ABC) and so missed out on league places.

Second in Sta Margharita were Kellogg/WHU, who also climb the table, up 7 to 5th, and third place Sauder climb 6 to 15th.

LBS cling on to top spot, despite a poor showing in 11th, while Insead overtake Warwick to claim second place.  Chicago enter the league table for the first time. Their 9th place in Italy means they get to 22=.  The league bids farewell to Harvard, IESE, Ipade and NYU-Stern,  all of whom were in Sta. Margharita in 2008, but did not return this year.

The full end of 2009 table is:

The MBAs Cup in Santa Margharita Ligure, Italy, took place on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th September 2009. A total of 32 boats and 260 participants enjoyed Bocconi’s hospitality.

The Bocconi website has a report here

The results for the “A Division” Regatta are shown below.  As there were 14 boats participating in this division, all non- participating schools are awarded 15 points towards their league standing.

1 HEC

2 Kellogg/WHU

3 Sauder

4 Insead

5 IE

6 Warwick

7 WHU

8 Columbia

9 Chicago

10 Bocconi

11 LBS

12 Rotterdam

13 Wharton

14 Duke

2008 winners, Henley drop 6 places to 18=. 3rd place Cranfield lose 6th spot to Rotterdam, and Bath lose 8th to Smurfit.

Said (Oxford) drop off the table altogether.

There’s no change at the top of the table, with all five teams staying in place.