The Sailing Season is Officially Underway!
The Omega-class racing section began the season with a marathon of sorts. First, over the weekend of 16–17 May, our students competed in Morąg in the Polish Cup regatta, and then, from Monday 18 May, they began competing in the Polish Academic Championships in Wilkasy. How did it go? It was a weekend of mixed feelings, but it ended with a medal!
Two debuting crews travelled to Morąg: POL-654, consisting of Bartosz Sadowski (Faculty of Marine Engineering), Adam Strelau (Management and Quality Science), and Jakub Werner (Faculty of Navigation); and POL-655, made up of Oliwia Kuliś (Management and Quality Science), Tytus Czajkowski (Faculty of Marine Engineering), and Oleksandr Tyshchenko (Faculty of Navigation). Both crews competed in the Standard category, which featured 21 classified yachts.
In light and variable wind conditions, the race committee managed to complete nine races, with our crews sailing with mixed fortunes. The POL-654 crew would finish 16th in one race, only to win the next. Nevertheless, the students ended their debut appearances in 13th place (POL-654) and 16th place (POL-655).
Straight from the regatta in Morąg, our yachts went on to the Polish Academic Championships, which are held every year in Wilkasy. A total of 79 crews representing 32 higher education institutions took part. Our University was represented by:
- POL-654: Mikołaj Merkler (Faculty of Navigation), Adam Strelau (Management and Quality Science), and Wiktor Kreft (Faculty of Navigation);
- POL-655: Oliwia Kuliś (Management and Quality Science), Ada Grześ (Faculty of Navigation), Oleksandr Tyshchenko (Faculty of Navigation), and Tytus Czajkowski (Faculty of Marine Engineering).
The conditions were even more difficult than in Morąg. Due to a lack of wind on the first day, the participants didn’t even go out onto the water. On the second day, the elimination races took place – five of them were completed – determining the division into the gold and silver fleets. The eliminations ended successfully for our teams, with POL-654 finishing in 7th place and POL-655 coming 18th. This was a good sign ahead of the final day.
Unfortunately, weather conditions made it impossible to complete the planned number of races. The committee waited for the wind, but whenever it appeared, it vanished shortly afterwards. Even so, the committee managed to run one race, which had to be drastically shortened due to the calm. Unfortunately, our representatives ran out of luck to repeat the previous day’s results in these highly unpredictable conditions. They finished 19th (POL-654) and 24th (POL-655), which meant 5th place for POL-654 and 9th place for POL-655 in the Social and Natural Sciences Universities classification. Fortunately, this was enough to secure third place in the team classification for this category, meaning that our university once again returned with a medal.
The results do not reflect the true level and potential of our crews. Unfortunately, this time they were missing a bit of the luck that is so crucial in such conditions. Nevertheless, we are proud that our sailors have once again won a medal at the Polish Academic Championships!
Over the final weekend of May, our yachts will head to Dąbki for the next regatta in the Polish Cup series.
Keep your fingers crossed.
