I'm on a boat...in Italy!!!

One of the best things about being in business school is getting e-mails with subjects like "do you want to go race a sail boat in Italy for the weekend?" and being able to respond with an emphatic "yes!!"

Sloan is full of opportunities and you never know what may come up next.  It turns out when you surround yourself with 406 globe-trotting students with adventurous tendencies, there are really no limits!  So it was that I found myself sitting at Logan Airport last Wednesday waiting to board a flight to Paris on the first leg of a journey that would take me to Santa Margherita, Italy to participate in the Rolex MBA Regatta.

It turns out that Rolex hosts a 3-day regatta every year off the coast of Italy between MBA students from around the world.  MIT has fielded a team for the last several years, but the first that I had heard about it was about 4 weeks before I boarded the plane.  Once I learned that sailing experience wasn't a prerequisite for the team (my sailing resume up to that point included a total of 4 outings on the 2-person MIT tech dinghy in the Charles), I jumped at the opportunity.

The journey from Boston to Santa Margherita included 2 planes, 3 trains, and 2 buses over the course of 18 hours with brief stops in Paris and Milan, but everything went smoothly along the way.  I arrived to the race site at about 3:00 on Thursday and met up with the rest of the MIT team (15 in total split between 2 boats).  The agenda was to race on Friday and Saturday with parties hosted by Rolex every evening.

Milan Central Train Station

Downtown Santa Margherita

Santa Margherita Harbor (Photo credit: Andrew Tran)

On the Docks

It felt wonderful to be back in Italy, and of course one of the first things we did was sit down to a wonderful meal on the harbor. 

On Thursday night we all attended a kick-off reception at a villa overlooking the town and had more Italian food, wine, and lots of fun.  It was also a great chance to meet team from the other schools, including Wharton, Tuck, Kellogg, Booth, Harvard, Columbia, and many more from throughout Europe, Hong Kong, and Brazil.  

After not much sleep, we woke up on Friday and were the first boat to head out of the harbor towards the race course.  It turns out that there were several of us on the boat with little or no sailing experience, but we were in luck in that we had an amazing skipper in Adam Traina (another LGO 15!).  He gave us all jobs (I was on the jib), and we set to work learning what the heck we were supposed to do.  We were so focused that we completely missed the start of the first race (whoops!).  By the time we got to the line, we were dead last.  But it turns out that we had a great boat and a crew with a steep learning curve, so we were able to catch a few teams and finish the race in 7th place.  Then we kept improving and placed 5th in the second race.  After we decided to call it a day, the race officials decided to do the same and we all headed back into port.

Hard at work (Photo Credit: Andrew Tran)

Friday night we all boarded a ferry to Portofino for some exploring before heading back to Santa Margherita for dinner and a party in the Rolex tent.  More eating, more drinking, more dancing, and not much sleep.  Fun times in Italy!

Portofino (Credit: Andrew Tran)

Fun times in the Rolex tent (Credit: Andrew Tran)

The next thing I knew, it was Saturday morning and we were heading out on the water for another day of racing.  This time though there was no wind and we had to wait for a couple hours before the racing could start.  So what did we do?  Rig up a rope swing from the mast of course!  Oh, and skipper Adam donned his full pirate suit!

Once the wind did pick up (barely), we set off racing.  We had a great start to the first race but quickly lost our wind and watched helplessly as other boats cut in front of us.  Then it was time for the last race of the day (and the regatta).  We started aggressively and kept a great line for the entire race.  We were first of the line and managed to hold our position for the entire time.  That's right, WE WON THE RACE!!!  We may have only been going 2 knots as we cruised across the finish line under light winds, but when the signaling cannon went off we were definitely the first ones to cross.  It was a fantastic way to finish the weekend of racing and the victory was promptly celebrated with a bottle of prosecco!  That finish was enough to launch us into 4th place overall for the best showing that MIT has ever had at the race.

Finishing the last race in 1st place!

Celebrating the finish

With the racing over, we were free to completely cut loose at the final and most over-the-top party of the whole trip.  We were all shuttled up to a castle high on the cliff and overlooking the Mediterranean to attend a conference and black-tie party that was personally hosted by the CEO of Rolex.  Words just can't describe what an epic time was had by the whole team!

The Sloan Crew (Credit: Andrew Tran)

Courtyard of the Castle (Credit: Andrew Tran)

Fun times with great friends (Credit: Andrew Tran)

Sadly, all great things must come to an end and so it was that I found myself retracing my route back to Boston on Sunday morning.  This time I had a couple extra hours in Milan so I took the chance to get downtown and see some of the sights.  After another hop across the Atlantic, I was back in Boston and ready to start another week of classes.  Looking back, this is probably the craziest weekend adventures that I have ever done but it was an absolutely incredible experience with great friends and lots of stories!  We're already plotting to recruit a team for the regatta next year :-)

Il Duomo in Milan