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Preparation for the 2013 season

Our team preparation for the 2013 MBA sailing season is underway with the crew members currently being confirmed. Our hope to take part in the Athens event did not happen due to scheduling issues but we are very firmly focused on the Cranfield regatta in July.

We are pleased to see some rule changes this year with the introduction of two classes, separating the professional skippers from the business school skippered teams. Last year we came 8th in the regatta (out of nearly 30 boats) but if you excluded the Sunsail professional skippers we came in at 3rd. We wait to see the impact of this on the MBA Sailing League.

See this link for more information on the Cranfield Regatta.

2013 MBA Regattas

The sailing group is currently getting the 2013 team mobilised. The Henley team are hoping to enter more than just just the Cranfield event this year, competing in at least one other regatta from the 'MBA Sailing' series. See http://mbasailing.com for full details of the regatta events.

Regatta photos

See our regatta photo album for our pics of the MBA regatta.

Race report

On the 7th & 8th July, Henley's sailing team competed in the 2012 Cranfield MBA Regatta, a weekend of tough ocean yacht races against business schools from all over Europe. Our team scored a great result, coming 8th out of 28 boats.

Weather on the Saturday was appalling with wind gusting to 30mph and torrential rain for much of the day. The crew experienced very rough conditions but battled on to complete the races. Some boats retired due to crew members becoming seasick.

Stop over on Saturday night was at Cowes with all the teams moored in the town's yacht haven. We proudly flew the Henley flag high up the mast and received many comments on our smart Henley branded shirts.

Sunday was a much better day with sunny, although windy conditions. The team performed well including an impressive sprint to the finish on the last race, overtaking four other boats due to a quick sail change as a storm hit.

Our team this year consisted of Steve Ellwood (skipper), Tim Lawson (team leader), Michiel Commandeur (first mate), Alison Fellows, Lynn Ellwood, Carl de Verteuil, Tom Brackenbury and Joanne Lloyd.  The crew are looking to take part in other regattas which are part of the MBA Sailing series in the future.

Great result in Cranfield MBA Regatta

The Henley team had a great result at the 2012 Cranfield MBA Regatta coming 8th out of 28 boats. This was an especially good performance as five of the top eight boats were run by professional skippers. Henley was one of the top three who had business school MBA skippers, along with LBS and Insead.

See below for the official results table. Click on the image to expand.

Second training day

A small but perfectly formed team of Tim, Paul, Alison and Michiel met in Swanick Marina for a day out on Sash. The weather was rough but we enjoyed our sail over to Cowes. Finding the marina's all busy we cruised up the river to the Folly Inn for lunch.

An afternoon cruise back was very relaxing and the day finished with a drink in the bar at Swanick. Not the most arduous training day but good to be out on the water in Sash.

Successful first training day

Saturday 26th May was the first training day for the team in 2012. Paul Bennett and Richard Steele hosted the crew on board 'Sash'. Fresh winds and a warm sunny day made for an excellent sailing session where we spent time in both the Solent and Southampton Water.

We had plenty of practice with all the main sail movements including spinnaker work. At the end of the day we sailed right past some massive cruise and container ships making Sash seem very small. Next training due on 23rd June.

Team for 2012 confirmed

The Henley team for the 2012 regattas is confirmed as:

Tim Lawson (Team Leader)
Steve Ellwood (Skipper)
Michiel Commandeur (First Mate)
Joanna Lloyd
Tom Brack
Lynn Ellwood
Alison Fellows
Carl de Verteuil

Our team coach is Paul Bennett.

MBA Sailing League dates confirmed for 2012

The 2012 MBA Sailing League Calendar is now confirmed as:

1. The Global MBA Trophy Regatta in Athens
27 – 29 April.

2. The Alumni Business Cup (ABC) Regatta in La Trinite Sur Mer, France
6 – 9 June.

3. The Cranfield Regatta in The Solent, England
6 – 8 July.

4. The RSM Regatta,in Lemmer, The Netherlands
24 – 26 August.

5. The Rolex MBAs Cup, in Santa Margharita Ligure, Italy
27 – 30 September.

The Henley team are looking at entering at least two regattas in the series this year. More news soon!

Recruitment for 2012 under way

We are looking to put together the crew to compete under the Henley Business School banner in the 2012 Cranfield MBA Regatta. This will be on the 6th to 8th July 2012 and will depart from Sunsail in Port Solent, Portsmouth. There will be a stop over in Cowes on the Saturday night. The boats used will Sunsail's fleet of Beneteau First 40 yachts.

The Henley team will usually have at least one practice weekend ahead of the regatta – details to be advised later. If you are interested in taking part, please reply to the author.

Mark wears the Henley colours mid-Atlantic

One of Henley Sailing Group's members, Mark Henry, recently sailed the Atlantic in the 2011ARC on a 49'Jeanneau Kotari. Mark had quite an adventure with engine and gear failures throughout meaning they were one of the few boats to have sailed the full distance. It took them just under 20 days and they experienced various conditions from F8 to F0!

Mark proudly wore his Henley cap all the way across the Atlantic demonstrated by this photo at the half way point, with over 1000 miles to the nearest land in Venezuala.

2011 Cranfield Regatta results table

The Henley team had an excellent regatta coming in 8th place out of 36 boats, a significant improvement on last years 12th. A full write-up and photos is being prepared, in the meantime here is the full results table.

The racing results shown in the table below are calculated by totalling the placing achieved in each race with the lowest position being discarded. The discarded positions are shown in light blue.

position	boat no	team	skipper	race 1	race 2	race 3	race 4	race 5	total
1st	4040	INSEAD	K Glover	2	4	2	1	3	8
2nd	4021	Cranfield 13	J Gair	6	2	3	4	1	10
3rd	4038	Bocconi	Menza	33	1	12	2	6	21
4th	4036	LBS 1	K Rasmussen	3	11	1	6	15	21
5th	4022	Glasgow	P Walters	16	3	7	3	11	24
6th	4006	Cranfield 2	P Methven	19	7	9	8	2	26
7th	4004	Manchester 1	R Drummond	12	5	10	7	9	31
8th	4009	Henley	R Willets	5	10	8	9	12	32
9th	4020	Leeds	K Rawson	18	8	6	13	8	35
10th	4002	Cranfield 1	A Wheal	4	15	13	15	5	37
11th	4028	Manchester 2	M Reid	15	17	5	14	7	41
12th	4037	MIP	U Alvassi del Frate	26	6	18	5	14	43
13th	4031	Smurfit	S Hayes	23	12	4	11	20	47
14th	4025	Exeter	A Peters	13	9	17	10	22	49
15th	4039	RSM	J Tinsobin	7	13	16	16	37	52
16th	4011	Cranfield 4	T Higham	1	21	30	22	16	60
17th	4010	Cranfield 16	E Ebney	8	16	19	21	17	60
18th	4016	Bath 1	S Horlock	9	30	15	12	24	60
19th	4032	Imperial 3	J Kemp	20	19	20	37	4	63
20th	4007	Cranfield 3	D Durston	11	26	24	24	10	69
21st	4012	Cranfield 10	R McQuillan	14	25	23	17	18	72
22nd	4033	Warwick	C Best	17	14	34	19	29	79
23rd	4026	Cranfield 15	D Griffiths	10	20	29	28	37	87
24th	4035	Cranfield 12	P Lovejoy	24	23	25	20	37	92
25th	4013	Cranfield 8	J Friggins	21	27	27	18	27	93
26th	4034	LBS 2	B Grosman	31	29	14	37	23	97
27th	4008	Cranfield 7	D Price	25	18	28	27	37	98
28th	4018	Imperial 2	J Ingham	27	28	22	23	26	98
29th	4030	Imperial 1	P Mercer	32	36	33	26	13	104
30th	4019	Bath 2	R Knight	37	34	21	30	19	104
31st	4017	Cranfield 9	S Davies	34	24	11	37	37	106
32nd	4005	Cranfield 5	C Sharman	22	31	31	25	21	108
33rd	4014	Cranfield 14	H Edsell	28	22	26	37	37	113
34th	4015	Cranfield 6	J Porter	29	32	36	29	28	118
35th	4042	Cranfield 17	N Hoare	35	35	32	31	25	123
36th	4029	Cranfield 11	A Lane	30	33	35	32	37	130

Ready for the 2011 regatta

The Henley team is finalised and ready to race at the 2011 Cranfield MBA Regatta in three weeks time. We have only been able to get one crew together this year but the team are raring to go and looking forward to an excellent event.

This years team is:

• Tim Lawson (ORGANISER)
• Michiel Commandeur (FIRST MATE)
• Qi Zhang
• Alison Fellows
• Tom Brack
• Joanna Lloyd
• Andrea Consonni

Lots of new faces this year so a great opportunity for fresh talent to make their mark on our performance. Photos of the event and an update will be posted here.

Team recruitment underway

We are still recruiting for the team to take part in the 2011 Cranfield MBA Regatta. If you are a current Henley MBA or Reading University student, alumni member or staff then you could be part of our crew.  

The regatta is an excellent event with great sailing and networking with other business school members and alumni. The Regatta is on the 22^nd to 24^th July, departing from Sunsail in Port Solent. An overnight stay is in Cowes and racing takes place on the Saturday and Sunday.

Contact us now for more details via email at tim@lawsonconsulting.co.uk

Now looking for team members for the 2011 Cranfield Regatta

We are looking to put together two crews to compete under the Henley Business School banner in the 2011 Cranfield Regatta. This will be on the 22nd to 24th July 2011 and will depart from Sunsail in Port Solent, Portsmouth. There will be a stop over in Cowes on the Saturday night. The boats used will be a fleet of brand new Beneteau First 40 yachts.

The Henley teams will usually have at least one practice weekend ahead of the regatta – details to be advised later. If you are interested in taking part, please reply to the author.

Photos from Cranfield Regatta

Poetry in motion...

Mark Henry, one of our team members, is a budding poet in his spare time. Here is Mark's tale of the regatta weekend:

Twas our weekend for racing as the HBS Crew; all of us keen to see how well we’d do
Our skipper said the start line will be over there, so I settled my nerves with a pre contest beer
The pit crew warmed up by drinking their tea; then eating a croissant & a doughnut (or three)
Ready for action for the start line we made; the race officer said ‘the first race course is laid’
The skipper said “Right guys now this is my call” & we all gathered around to listen to Paul
“We’ll put the sun in our faces and close haul on port tack”....................... 
So we broad reached to starboard with the sun at our backs

“Not quite the game plan” said the skip, with a sigh; “We’ll do better yet” yelled  the crew in reply
Charging the line on the course we had charted;.....we promptly charged back cos race 2 hadn’t started
“We can only improve from the position we’re in,” said Richard and Carl with stout hearts & a grin
“Well” replied Matt, “we have got sod all to lose; from here at the back we’ll cover all the fleet’s  moves”
We made up 12 places in the course of that race so we managed to wipe some of the egg from our face

Later;  Matt in his shorts and me in my cap were prepping the foredeck for the next racing lap
When from aft of the mast there arose such a clatter that we leapt from our chores to see what was the matter
Down to the cockpit we raced in a flash expecting any second to hear a loud splash
But running toward us with boat hook held ready; came flying our Dutchman yelling “boys hold me steady!”
He tried in vain effort bags of crisps to impale; like a harpoonin’ Ahab in pursuit of his whale
Though just like the story they evaded his stab and were caught at the stern by Kim with a grab

With much slicker sailing we were 10th in race 3; out thinking the fleet with a run to the lee
Pulling on halyards, with all of our might we were fast with both launching and retrieving our kite
Fine tuning the sheet and haul in on the guy, ease off the Cunningham then downwind we’d fly
Gybed round the mark, ported 62 then close hauled the last beat like a clipper we flew
This last of the day was our best race by far and pleased with our progress we set course for the bar

We figured we should motor to Cowes for the dinner; all of us wiser;.... at least one of us thinner
Then “ Bugger! Oh sod it! The props going round but we’re not moving forward or covering ground;
We’ll just have to sail in like they did in old days”;  so we tacked up Medina to many’s curious gaze
We made it in time to inhale lots more beer...; well that’s what I did - “stops dehydration my dear”
And finished the night swiftly swopping our boat ; so ending day 2 of our weekend afloat

Sunday began with Tim’s “morning to all”; Richard’s dawn tea’s maid; and red eyes for Paul
 We breakfasted quick and were out to the start; ready for action “to win; not take part!”
We headed inshore to seek a tide eddy; the main fleet did battle against 4 knots steady
Downwind of the mark amidst panics and broaches our training proved the value in what Paul had coached us
We moved up 8 places with our spinnaker tricks and finished race 4 in an excellent 6th

Then to our last race though we didn’t know then; that the wind & the tide would sort boys from the men
Like a true racing team Paul’s crew downwind came; and he cajoled and he guided and called them by name
“Grind Richard, Ease Michael, ease the mainsheet too Tim
Release Matt, Sheet in Carl; halyard to Mark could you Kim?”
Avoiding the carnage all around we sailed on; And finished in tenth having had to go long

Finishing 12th overall was a pretty good feat; but my favourite moment’s looking back at the fleet
Beam reaching towards us with spinnakers up; as I drained my post race 4 tea from my cup
I know that I speak both for Kim & for me that we’ve had a great time with you all out at sea
We’d be thrilled to go sailing with all or a few & maybe invite others to come join this great crew
To my crewmates I have these few words now to write ....
Happy sailing to all and to you all a good night.

Mark Henry, July 2010

2010 Cranfield MBA Regatta results

Full results table of the regatta for all 37 entries. Four race results are counted with one discard (in grey). The 37th boat did not complete any of the races and therefore is not in the table.

An excellent regatta for the Henley team

The Cranfield MBA Regatta 2010 took place at the weekend. The weather was glorious with hot sun and good winds resulting in near-perfect sailing conditions. The biggest ever entry included seventeen boats from Cranfield plus over ten other business schools.

The Henley crew finished 12th out of 37 boats, a massive improvement on last year and the result of training, good leadership and a lot of hard work by all the team. Well done everyone!

We will be posting some more thoughts on the weekend's sailing and social activities together with photos and video clips shortly.