Trophee Des Isles Regatta at St. Catherines Sailing Club

Launching for the Trophee des Isles 2018 © Sue Baudains

William Holden and William Queree, part of Team Jersey, with the Trophee des Isles © SCSC

Teams from Jersey, St Malo and Guernsey (which included three sailors from Alderney) gathered at St Catherine's Sailing Club in Jersey for the annual Trophée des Isles, sponsored by Nedbank Private Wealth, over the August bank holiday weekend. This is the largest junior regatta in the Channel Islands and saw over 50 youngsters from the age of 7 up to 18 taking part.

Saturday morning started with perfect sailing conditions and the competitive dinghies; Optimists, Toppers and Lasers managed four races for each class, with no discards.

St Malo dominated the Optimist class, winning all four races. Joseph Prenveille, Zachary Sabtucci, Thomas Daniel, Malo Delabre and Pier Paolo Dean of St Malo claimed the first five positions in this fleet of 24 sailors. The top Channel Islander was Jessica Watson of Guernsey in fifth place, and Grace Sherrington was the best Jersey sailor in 8th place.

The Topper class saw Harvey Godel of Jersey hold off newcomer Pete Washington, to claim top prize winning all four of the races.

The Laser 4.7 class was controlled by two sailors, teenagers Finn Rogers of Jersey and Louenn Chesnot of St Malo, who have been competing against each other since they were young lads in Optimists. With four races, they managed two bullets and a second and third place each, tied exactly on points; so Finn Rogers was declared overall class winner based on his better result in the final race. The top Guernsey sailor was Tabitha Dorey.

Two of the St Malo sailors lead the Laser Radial class, Guirec Le Fer and Youenn Chichoux, but Jersey sailors William Holden and Charlie Cadin certainly gave them a decent challenge, with Holden earning two second place finishes, while the final race saw Alex Finding from Alderney race through the field to claim victory.

Overall, Team Jersey provided the depth of sailors in all three classes of racing and recaptured the overall trophy from last year's winners, St Malo.

While the competitive racing was taking place in St Catherine's Bay, the regatta fleet comprised of novice sailors new to racing took part in eight windward leeward courses, and with one discard, Lance Armstrong was the clear overall winner with five bullets to his name.

Unfortunately, the conditions on Sunday were beyond safe operating limits and all racing was called off. Following the prizegiving and presentation of goodie bags from the sponsor, Nedbank Private Wealth, the sailors, and parents were enthralled by a presentation given by club member and training centre principal, Will Carnegie, of his exploits in the BT Global Challenge, circumnavigating the earth against the prevailing winds. More inspiration for the Junior sailors followed, by meeting Phil Sharp and going aboard his world record breaking boat, Imerys.

Sailors in all islands are looking forward to next year's event which will be hosted by St Malo.

Trophee des Isles 2018 - photo © Sue Baudains

Optimist main fleet results:

Topper results:

Laser 4.7 results:

Laser Radial results:

Optimist regatta fleet results: