This Is Guernsey

By Matt Lihou

Conditions weren’t perfect but a great improvement on 2007. (Picture by Chris George. 0600465)

GOING one better than its 2007 runner-up showing, Mad Cap was the winner of the annual Kleinwort Benson Yacht Challenge.

Skippered by Jamie Hamilton, who jointly owns the boat with his brother Grant, crossed the finishing line in St Helier just before midday.

In the end, it was a fairly comfortable victory, with around a seven- minute lead over their nearest rivals, Alice 2. After the 8.30am start off St Peter Port, the main positions didn’t change around much.  It was certainly a far cry from a year ago, when ridiculous weather conditions made for a slow and unpredictable race.

The winning skipper said: ‘We’ve been doing this for 20 years and never won it before, so we’re delighted. We got the lead very near the start and had it for the rest of the race.’

Mad Cap’s performance also helped to lead the Guernsey Yacht Club to a strong victory in the KB Team Trophy, which includes the top three boats from the same regional association. The winning boat was followed in by another Guernsey boat, Alice 2, and White Rabbit was the island’s next best in seventh position.

Their positional total of 10 saw them finish six clear of their nearest rivals from Jersey.

Simon Henning, the Guernsey Yacht Club’s commodore and skipper of Alice 2, said finishing second was a bit of a surprise.

‘I’m absolutely delighted with our performance, especially because it wasn’t really what we were expecting. To be honest, I would have been happy if we had managed to finish in the top 20,’ he said.

With 83 boats out of the 102 finishing, this year was certainly an easier race than 2007, although Henning said their performance wasn’t simply down to the weather conditions.

‘The conditions weren’t quite the same as they were originally forecast, which may have helped us a bit more than some other boats. However, the conditions were still far from perfect for us,’ he said.

After early fears that the race might have had to be postponed due to adverse weather conditions, the sun came out and allowed the event to run smoothly.

After the race, there was a 1960s retro-style party in St Helier to celebrate Kleinwort Benson’s 45th anniversary of its arrival in the Channel Islands. The awards were handed out during the presentation dinner. Many of the guests also donned fancy dress outfits for the occasion.

After the success of the yacht challenge, Sunday saw the official inter-insular meeting between Guernsey and Jersey for the Governors’ Cup.

This took place in Jersey with three short races, each lasting around 30 minutes. Guernsey continued their brilliant weekend by winning the trophy by the narrowest of margins.

After winning the first race comfortably, they sealed their victory by winning the second by just one point. Even a heavy Jersey victory in the final race could not do anything to change the outcome.

Guernsey’s strongest performer in the event was X-celerator, which had Martin Ozard at the helm.

After the two days’ worth of racing, Henning described it as ‘a fantastic weekend for Guernsey sailing’.

Article posted on 1st July, 2008 - 2.29pm