Louvre’s Autumn Sailing Series is Underway
Louvre’s Autumn Sailing Series with the Guernsey Yacht Club is well underway, with two yacht races and one dinghy race in the past two weeks.
A total of 13 boats are contesting in the series, with eight in the racing class and five in the cruiser class. The yachts have been able to sail both planned races so far whilst, due to high winds, the dinghies have only completed one.
First Race
The first racer class course saw Mick Holland’s J122 Majic take line honours from Martin Ozard's Blackjack and Roger Martel’s Kaya 2. After nearly an hour and a half of close racing, Martin Priest’s Fandangle took the victory on handicap by a mere 27 seconds from Blackjack, with Majic third.
The cruisers sailed a similar course, with Commodore John Falla taking line honours in Banjaard from Knowles/Aslett’s Glory Days and McKerrell/Parkin’s Busker in third. Dino Castro’s Darkhorse came out on top by three and a half minutes from Banjaard with Ray Redlinghuys’s Mahna Mahna taking third place.
Second Race
The second race took place in a gusty northerly wind as the fleet sailed a windward-leeward course between St Sampson’s and Fermain.
After an hour and a quarter, just over a minute separated Majic and Kaya 2. On corrected time Fandangle again came out on top from Kaya 2, this time by only 16 seconds.
The cruisers sailed a slightly shorter course with the Commodore again taking line honours in Banjaard with Glory Days second and Mahna Mahna third.
Overall in the yachts, after the first two races, Fandangle with two firsts is leading the racers, with Banjaard leading the cruisers on countback, having equal points to Dark Horse.
Dinghy Race
The first dinghy race of the series was held under good sailing conditions. The set course was a tough 90-minute workout as crews hiked hard to keep their boats flat heading upwind and under control planing downwind.
Crew Caru Coetze jumped at the challenge and after the first beat upwind they flew away from the remainder of their fleet. They took line honours and kept their first place by about 30 seconds on corrected time after their handicap was applied too.
The slow dinghies class was dominated by the Lasers who won the first five places in a fleet of eight, with first, second and fourth positions all going to sailors (Joe Walters, Arthur Collenette and Emma Warner respectively).
Matthew Gilligan, Associate Director at Louvre, commented: “It’s been great to see the first few races take place after a challenging year for all sporting events. We are delighted to be able to support the Yacht Club with the Autumn Series and can’t wait to see how the remaining races go.”
Andrew Round, on behalf of the Sailing Committee, said: “The Sailing Committee wishes to thank Louvre Trust for their continuing sponsorship of the Autumn Series, and with five more races to go the series is wide open.”
The next set of races is due to take place this weekend - Saturday 10th October and Sunday 11th October