The Louvre Trust Autumn Sailing Series 2023 draws to a close for another year

The sailing conditions for the Guernsey Yacht Club’s autumn points series, kindly sponsored by Louvre Trust, was held from mid-September until the end of October. Earlier races benefited from the “Indian Summer” that we experienced this year with the wind in fact being too light for two dinghy races to be held. The often experienced “winter storms” then set in, leading to the cancellation of the last two yacht and the last dinghy race having to be cancelled. However, the Club managed to hold four dinghy and five yacht races.

The dinghy class attracted a turnout of twelve boats competing at various times. David Aslett in his RS Aero performed consistently, winning two races and placing second in another to score four points, there being one discard in the series. Regular competitors Reg and Nicky Barker were runners up with six points followed by Russel Plant in his Solo with ten points. First juniors were Max Coutanche and Heather Jones in their RS 200.

The racing in class 1 yachts was close with Blackjack (Martin Ozard) and Majic (Mick Holland) being separated by only one point after five races. Unfortunately, the adverse weather conditions meant that Mick did not have a chance to challenge martin further, Blackjack therefore winning the series. Third was Martin Priest in Fandangle.

The completion between the two RS Elites in class 2 yachts was even tighter, with John Knight in Fidelite and Rupert Dorey in Varmint both having six points after five races. Again, adverse weather conditions prevented a final deciding race; John therefore very narrowly winning the series on “count back”, David Aslett in Glory days placing third.

Competitors enjoyed a prizegiving with lunch after what should have been the final race, courtesy of Louvre Trust where Derek Baudains, CEO of Louvre Trust, presented the competitors with their prizes.