London Business School raced hard on the final day to retain the Alumni Business Cup Trophy, held in the waters off Venice Lido last week. The Alumni Business Cup, hosted this year by MIP Politecnico Di Milano is one of the premier events in the MBA Sailing league calendar, with the focus very much on the racing: up to 12 races over three days in a fleet of identical Salona 37 yachts. The participants were: Insead (with three boats), Athens, Chicago Booth, fresh from their victory at the Global MBA Trophy in Rhodes, Columbia, a joint HEC – Insead boat, a joint IE- Rotterdam boat, IMD, LBS, MIP and WU, Vienna.
Thursday, day one of racing saw no one crew dominant. Insead 1 came first in two of the races, but also got a 3 and a 5. Columbia and IMD won the other two races of the day, pulled in a second place each, but also scored low on the other two races, while LBS was consistent, bringing in three thirds and a second. At the end of play, just 4 points separated these four: Insead on 10, LBS and Columbia on 11 and IMD on 13. Races were windward- leeward, twice around on a very short course because of the lack of wind.
That evening was the “onshore game” – unique to this regatta – where crews compete in a different contest to mix up the scores a bit and give the less strong racers a chance to shine. This year’s game involved cooking a “finger food” meal in 45 minutes and giving a presentation on a theme of travel & exploration. This shook up the rankings, with IMD scoring first place, with a presentation involving an elephant and a princess, LBS coming third, dressed up as astronauts, while Insead 1could only manage 6th and Columbia were relegated down the field with 12th. Points from the game count towards the regatta result and cannot be discarded.
Friday was incredibly frustrating: The race committee had only just started the fifth race, when they were informed of an upcoming storm by the coastguard. This led to the race being shortened to just the one lap, and then racing being abandoned. Frustratingly, the storm passed over the mainland and the sailing area was pretty much unaffected, leaving many disgruntled crews.
Mixing up the results somewhat, Insead 2 won the race, with IMD in second and Columbia in third. IMD finished the day with a lead of 4 points on 10, with LBS on 14, Insead 1 on 16 and Columbia on 22, and Insead 2 on 24.
Saturday’s racing was much more exciting, with a decent wind at last for races 2- 4. LBS were first to the top mark in the last three races, crossing the line in second place in the first three of the day, and then romping home minutes ahead of the next boat in the final race. Columbia had crossed the finish line ahead in race 3, but were disqualified for being over the start line before the start, which gave LBS another first place. The other two races were won by Insead 1 and the hosts, MIP, while IMD had a bad day, bringing home an 8,3,4,3.
As a result, and after discarding 2 results, LBS won the regatta with 17 points, 3 ahead of IMD on 20 and 5 ahead of Insead 1 on 22. Columbia could not come back from their disastrous onshore performance, and scored 32. Counting sailing results only, LBS also won with 14, followed by Insead 1 with 16, IMD with 19 and Columbia with 20.
Chicago Booth, without their winning skipper, could not repeat their strong form from the Rhodes regatta, coming in last in eight of the races, to win the very fine “wooden spoon” trophy for last place overall.
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