Gdynia Maritime University GMU

The past week has been a very busy one for the Sailing Section at Gdynia Maritime University. Two University teams, POL-654 and POL-655, took part in the races as part of the Polish Cup in Krynica Morksa and immediately afterwards the Polish Academic Championships.

In Krynica, the crews competed in two categories. - In the Standard category, team POL-655, namely students Mateusz Grzempa, Wiktor Kreft, and Adrian Manista (all Faculty of Navigation Students) planned to push for first place in the Polish cup. The second team, POL-654, made up of Dr Jędrzej Charłampowicz (KLIST), Bartosz Sadowski (Faculty of Marine Engineering) Mikołaj Merkler (Faculty of Navigation) raced to maintain their lead in the Sport category.

The conditions on the water were very difficult and unpredictable, and our crews were unable on this occasion to come out on top. Team POL-655 came in 5th in the Standard category and team POL-654 came in 4th in the Sport category. Considering the number of yachts taking part in each race (nearly 40), the results do give the teams a lot of hope for upcoming races in the Polish Academic Championships.

A record number of 88 Omega class yachts competed this time around in the Polish Academic Championships. Among them were several medallists of European and world races and even Olympic class. Therefore, the level of competition was at the highest it's been in recent years.  

As in recent years, the races were organised into two main stages - eliminations and the finals. Winds during the elimination phase were very weak, and at times non-existent. Nevertheless, the two races went ahead. Team POL-655, Mateusz Grzempa (Faculty of Navigation), Wiktor Kreft (Faculty of Navigation), and Kinga Brzóska (Management and Quality Science) won their group comfortably. Team POL-654, who competed in the second group, came in 5th place. Both teams qualified for the gold group and a further two days of sailing.

On the first day of the finals, wind conditions were very good and six races were completed. However, our teams were unlucky to be pulled up for false starts, especially team POL-654, which was disqualified during a winning race. On the 2nd day, winds eased off and conditions were similar to those during the eliminations with only two races going ahead. Unfortunately, the conditions made the races difficult for team POL-654.  

Overall, our teams finished in high positions in the general classifications, giving them victory in the team's classification in the social and environmental science universities category.

Below are the rankings of our teams in the general classification and the social and environmental science universities category:

• 7th (2nd in the social and environmental science universities category)
  Team POL-654 - Dr Jęzdrzej Charłampowicz (KLIST), Bartosz Sadowski (Faculty of Marine Engineering student), Mikołaj Merkler (Faculty of Navigation student), and reserve Oskar Maguda (Faculty of Electrical Engineering student)
• 19th (4th in the social and environmental science universities category)
  Team POL-655  Mateusz Grzempa (Faculty of Navigation), Wiktor Kreft (Faculty of Navigation), Kinga Brzóska (Management and Quality Science) and reserve Adrian Manista (Faculty of Navigation).

The above results should be regarded as very good, especially taking into account the level of competition, including from competitors who often take part in professional sailing events. The overall winner of the regatta was a team made up of Katarzyna Harc (Medical University in Gdańsk), Patryk Kosmalski (PG) and Tytus Butowski (UG).