THE HYDROS CUP – MARSEILLES March 2010
The second weekend in March saw the beginning of the prestigious Hydros Cup offshore sailing races in the Bay of Marseilles. Amongst the crews eagerly contesting for a podium position in their class this year were an eight strong crew of Merchant Navy officer cadets from the Warsash Maritime Academy, based near Southampton . The team this year was skippered by our seasoned sailor cadet Graham Tullett (Maersk) and crewed by a mixture of cadets on HND and Foundation Degree Courses currently being run at the Academy.
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This year was the second time that the organisers Bourbon Offshore had extended this invitation to Warsash Cadets who were eager once again to accept the challenge. The Hydros Cup offers a rare opportunity for cadets from different European countries to meet those of a similar age undergoing the same training courses at colleges in different countries. On Saturday night, to welcome all the cadets, the organisers laid on a delicious evening banquet followed by a dance which was accompanied by a live band to round off a thoroughly entertaining day.
Amongst many other classes of yachts taking part in the races, the sponsors, Bourbon Offshore supplied 10 Gran Surprise 30 Racing Yachts for a series of races exclusively for officer cadets in training at various Nautical training colleges around Europe. Warsash raced on the yacht “Cloporte” and at the end of the weekend , despite a highly contested disqualification for allegedly crossing the line before the official start, the team came home in fourth position overall missing the podiums, but gaining a very respectable result.
The races extending over two days took part in the Bay of Marseilles with several races around the islands lying several miles offshore. Included in these, the Isle Chateaux D’If , infamous as the site of Alexandre Dumas’ prison where the Count of Monte Cristo was incarcerated. Crews from Germany, France and the United Kingdom all gathered in the shadow of the Notre Dame De La Garde Basillica with her golden dome atop the hillsides surrounding the Vieux Port at Marseilles.
In addition to cadets from Warsash, cadets from Bremen University and Elsfleth Seefahrteschule in Germany, Merchant Navy colleges at Marseilles, Le Havre, Nantes and St Malo each provided several crews in the Gran Surprise events. Overall winners of the weekends proceedings were the French Cadets hosting the events from Marseilles’ ENMM (The French National Merchant Navy School of Marseilles) in their boat “Cataclysme”. The French cadets managed to win all five races convincingly – an admirable achievement so well done to the crew led by skipper cadet Jaouen Le Scanff.