Sailing along nicely
Features9 July 2010
Ronan Morrissey, current full-time MBA student and active member of the WBS Yacht Club, reports on progress in several sailing regattas this year.
The Warwick MBA has a strong reputation not only in the corporate world, but also in the world of yacht racing where WBS is currently ranked 3rd in the MBA Sailing league.
The WBS Yacht club has gone from strength to strength since its formal inception in 2008. It's a club that welcomes members from every variant of the Warwick MBA, and the wider WBS alumni association, to compete in regattas every year against other top business schools.
The most recent competition for the club was the Alumni Business Cup (AB) held in sunny La Ciota just south of Marseilles in France. It is one of the most popular events in the annual MBA sailing calendar, with its mix of extremely competitive racing and its unique onshore games which prove a great hit with all the competitors. Participating schools were aplenty with LBS, HEC, WBS, IMD, Harvard, WU Wien and crews from INSEAD.
The WBS team coming off the back of their 10th place at the Global MBA Trophy in Athens, Greece last April were looking forward to once again competing against other top business schools. The WBS team varied from the highly experienced to more novice sailors, a comfortable norm with the WBS yacht club, as new members regularly join to experience the thrill of yacht racing and to meet new friends from their alma mater and other leading business schools.
This inexperience didn't hinder the Warwick team too badly as they landed 1st position in the first race of the regatta and two top 5 finishes later the same day. However, this success wasn't to continue over the three days of sailing as extremely tough sailing conditions with high waves and a force 7 gale gave the edge to some of the more experienced crews in the regatta.
The WBS team did land some more top 5 places throughout the regatta and they ranked very highly in the onshore games with their skit lampooning the current financial crisis being very well received by the other crews with club rear commodore, Panos Anastasiou, stealing the show on the night.
Skippered by Chris Best, the team finished in 8th position (out of 12 competing yachts) which is an excellent finish considering the AB cup is an extremely competitive regatta with very experienced teams. Some business schools go as far as having the same team every year making them a cohesive unit on the waves. This 8th position maintains Warwick in overall third position in the MBA sailing league just behind LBS and INSEAD. All eyes now turn to the Cranfield regatta in the Solent off Portsmouth where the WBS team hope they can challenge for the title!
There are still places available for the final regatta of the season, the Rolex MBA cup in Portofino, Italy (Sept 23rd - 26th). The WBS yacht club is always interested in new members so if any current MBA students or Alumni are interested in joining the WBS yacht club please contact the Commodore, Chris Best
More information can be found here or join us on Facebook.
WBS Team AB Cup 2010: Skipper: Chris Best (DLMBA 1996-2001)
Crew:
Panos Anastasiou (FTMBA 2008)
Ronan Morrissey (FTMBA 2010)
Zhanel Adilova (DLMBA 2006-2009)
Tony Di Stefano (DLMBA 1988-92)
Abay Amanov(DLMBA 2006)
Jasbir Sembhi(DLMBA 2009)
The Warwick MBA has a strong reputation not only in the corporate world, but also in the world of yacht racing where WBS is currently ranked 3rd in the MBA Sailing league.
The WBS Yacht club has gone from strength to strength since its formal inception in 2008. It's a club that welcomes members from every variant of the Warwick MBA, and the wider WBS alumni association, to compete in regattas every year against other top business schools.
The most recent competition for the club was the Alumni Business Cup (AB) held in sunny La Ciota just south of Marseilles in France. It is one of the most popular events in the annual MBA sailing calendar, with its mix of extremely competitive racing and its unique onshore games which prove a great hit with all the competitors. Participating schools were aplenty with LBS, HEC, WBS, IMD, Harvard, WU Wien and crews from INSEAD.The WBS team coming off the back of their 10th place at the Global MBA Trophy in Athens, Greece last April were looking forward to once again competing against other top business schools. The WBS team varied from the highly experienced to more novice sailors, a comfortable norm with the WBS yacht club, as new members regularly join to experience the thrill of yacht racing and to meet new friends from their alma mater and other leading business schools.
This inexperience didn't hinder the Warwick team too badly as they landed 1st position in the first race of the regatta and two top 5 finishes later the same day. However, this success wasn't to continue over the three days of sailing as extremely tough sailing conditions with high waves and a force 7 gale gave the edge to some of the more experienced crews in the regatta.
The WBS team did land some more top 5 places throughout the regatta and they ranked very highly in the onshore games with their skit lampooning the current financial crisis being very well received by the other crews with club rear commodore, Panos Anastasiou, stealing the show on the night.
Skippered by Chris Best, the team finished in 8th position (out of 12 competing yachts) which is an excellent finish considering the AB cup is an extremely competitive regatta with very experienced teams. Some business schools go as far as having the same team every year making them a cohesive unit on the waves. This 8th position maintains Warwick in overall third position in the MBA sailing league just behind LBS and INSEAD. All eyes now turn to the Cranfield regatta in the Solent off Portsmouth where the WBS team hope they can challenge for the title!
There are still places available for the final regatta of the season, the Rolex MBA cup in Portofino, Italy (Sept 23rd - 26th). The WBS yacht club is always interested in new members so if any current MBA students or Alumni are interested in joining the WBS yacht club please contact the Commodore, Chris Best
More information can be found here or join us on Facebook.
WBS Team AB Cup 2010: Skipper: Chris Best (DLMBA 1996-2001) Crew:
Panos Anastasiou (FTMBA 2008)
Ronan Morrissey (FTMBA 2010)
Zhanel Adilova (DLMBA 2006-2009)
Tony Di Stefano (DLMBA 1988-92)
Abay Amanov(DLMBA 2006)
Jasbir Sembhi(DLMBA 2009)