EDHEC Sailing Cup

Three French students from the prestigious EDHEC Business School willing to broaden the sport of sailing, Jean-Luc Picot, Francis Prat, and Pierre Jouannet, decided in 1968 to organize a student regatta. It took place from May 1 to May 4, 1969, in Dunkirk. For its first edition, the then-called EDHEC Business School Cup, gathered 18 crews and was won by a Dutch team. Older than the Vendée Globe, the Volvo Ocean Race and another sailing event, the EDHEC Sailing Cup constitutes a precursor in the high-level competitions.

Seven years after its creation the regatta reached 100 crews from 10 nationalities and took its actual name, the "EDHEC Sailing Cup". 329 boats attended the 18th edition, a record. For the 19th edition the Organizing Team decided to build a Village to welcome participants, partners and activities in one place. The same year the "Chaîne Avitaillement", an open-air free supermarket, was also created. For its 23rd edition, 20 international boats participated in the regatta including the first African boat, from Tunisia, and boats from the United States and from Brazil. In 1994 was created the Land Trophy. It was first created as a replacement of the Sea Trophy. Since it was a great success, it became a full trophy. In 1998 an Israeli-Palestinian team participated in the regatta – it was the ancestor of the "Peace Boat."[3] 6,000 participants attend to the EDHEC Sailing Cup in Brest. In 1999, the EDHEC Sailing Cup became the leading student sporting event in Europe.

To give a more sporting dimension to the event, the Sand Trophy was created in 2007. For the first time in 2010 was organized the Orange Port of Call, a coastal race that gathers the participants, at night, in an area away from the Village under a marquee build up for the occasion. In 2013, the EDHEC Sailing Cup and the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta, organized by Storm Trysail Foundation and Larchmont Yacht Club, created a partnership. It enables the winners of each regatta to have their costs of participation for the other one covered.

Among the renowned sailors who have participated at least once in the event are Eric Tabarly, Alain Colas, Franck Cammas, Olivier de Kersauson, Vincent Riou, Jean Le Cam, Marc Thiercelin, Yves Parlier, Marc Pajot, Yann Eliès, Yvan Bourgnon, Jean-Luc Van Den Heede and Jimmy Pahun.[4]

Grand Surprise boats at race during the 37th Edition in Les Sables d'Olonne.

The Sea Trophy, created in 1969, is the historic heart of the EDHEC Sailing Cup and remains the biggest trophy of the EDHEC Sailing Cup. Each year, the competition gathers more than 230 boats. The French Federation of Sailing (FFVoile) and its National Race Committee supervise the race.[5] It is open to all monohull boats with a length overall between 8 and 16 meters (approximately 25 to 50 feet) with a rating of 14 to 33.5 net handicap as well as Longtze boats. The three common boats used are Grand Surprise (around 40 boats), J/80 (around 40 boats) and Longtze (around 10 boats). The competition is divided in several rankings: An Overall Ranking, a 100% Student and the 100% International, and each competition is rewarded by different prizes. The results of the EDHEC Sailing Cup are used in order to choose which French team will be selected for the Student Yachting World Cup.

The EDHEC Sailing Cup is an event organized by students for students. Indeed, the entire event is organized by students, from the logistic to the communication of the event and its 3 trophies. Divided into four divisions - Logistic, Sports, External Relations and Communication - with a head office, the association works likes a real SME, with presidents that devote their whole gap year to this mission.