This weekend our boy Ignacy had the most incredible experience – Sailing in a Race from Geneva to Rolle and back. After almost 24 hours of preparation and Sailing College Du Leman finished a brilliant 2ND PLACE out of 55 boats in a time of 11h 4min 28sec! This is his view on the journey:

“On Saturday, the 8th of June at 13:00, a sailing competition began in Geneva, went to Rolle (a small village halfway between Geneva and Lausanne), and then returned to Geneva—a journey of around 60 kilometers on water. The CDL sailing crew hoisted their largest sails, as the wind was low and no improvement was predicted. However, due to the experience of the coach (who had already won more notable competitions such as the Bol d’Or) and the synchronization of the crew, the CDL’s boat, Surprise, quickly pulled ahead of others in their category.

Sailing on the French side of the lake, the boat caught substantially more wind, reaching a maximum speed of 3.5 knots (6.5 kilometers per hour). As the sun began to set, at 19:30 the boat passed Rolle and started heading back to Geneva. However, because Rolle is located on a headland, the water was sheltered from the wind. Despite this, compared to other boats that were stationary, the CDL ship managed to move half a kilometer in 1½ hours by utilizing every slightest movement of air and eventually reached the open wind part of the lake.

Later, as one of three ships that managed this, the CDL’s Surprise began their exactly 5-hour-long journey back to Geneva (departing Rolle at 19:34 and arriving in Geneva at 00:34). In the darkness, the boat separated from the two other competitors in the same category. From one crew member’s perspective, the most interesting part happened not more than 10 meters from the finish line, as one of the previously separated competitors appeared, stealing wind from them while going head to head and almost touching sails with the CDL boat.

Upon arrival at the port, the captain checked the results and found that the CDL’s 2nd place was nearly stolen, as the other boat was recorded as arriving just one second later.”

Ignacy Stebelski
(Léman)

Well done Ignacy, next stop: Bol d’Or !

Have a look at some moments of his journey.