It’s not over yet!

At the risk of making these monthly newsletters sound a bit like a met office report, the weather was not very kind to us during October with either too much or too little wind. The Condor Series was condensed into 4 races with Paul Raimbault fending off a strong challenge from Phil Aikenhead and Marc Haslam to take the series.

The Class Championships with plenty of trophies to be won have been re-scheduled to this Sunday 3rd November start of first race 11:30 with 3 races per class (and the weather is looking good)!!

As we move into the winter season we have some training sessions scheduled in the sailing calendar. This is a great opportunity to learn new skills or just get out on the water for some practice. This is open to everyone including those who want to learn more about running the racing such as mark laying, race recording, race officer etc etc. Please volunteer to help us run these training sessions.

Next year the Island Games are being held in Orkney during July and dinghy sailing will once again feature as an event. Very shortly a Notice of Race will be published detailing the race qualifiers which will be used as the basis for selecting a Jersey team. The team itself will comprise 4 sailors, 2 in ILCA7 and 2 in ILCA6. The Island Games is a great event to be involved in and be able to represent our island plus hopefully our sailors can bring back some medals. So look out for the NOR.

Finally all the hard effort making this year’s sailing season such a success both on and off the water can be celebrated at this month’s Annual Dinner and Prize Giving and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at this event.

One last item to look out for, the 2025 Calendar will be published very shortly on the website.

In the meantime Happy Sailing

Sailing Committee

Firstly congratulations to our Club Championship winners.

Ollie Boyle secured first place in the Hardy Cup after a close tussle with Pete Washington with the Championship only decided on the last leg of the final race. 

Charlie Hewgill won the U16 Little Hardy Cup racing against a mixed fleet of Laser Standard, Radial, 4.7 and Picos. Again this was a very competitive fleet with different winners in each race. Race 1 going to Elise Gibaut, Race 2 won by Lottie Ohlsson and Race 3 to Charlie who overall had some very consistent results. Runner up was Morgan Surcouf who made a strong challenge sailing a Laser Standard, however needed extra distance between himself and the slower boats for handicaps to work in his favour but nevertheless ended up a very credible 2nd overall.

Well done again to the winners and to everyone who qualified and took part in what was our third attempt to run this championship due to adverse weather.

The Condor Series is now underway with Paul Raimbault currently at the top of the leaderboard after two races. Unfortunately we had to cancel Races 3 and 4 because of that weather again! Anyway there are still 4 more races to go. 

We then finish off the season’s racing on Sunday 27th October with the re-sail of the Class Championships and hopefully we can make this a GRAND FINALE with a big turnout of boats.

On a final note your Sailing Committee has already prepared a draft Sailing Programme for next year and at this point we would like the membership to let us know if there are any changes you would like to see for next year. Just get in touch with a member of the Sailing Committee, we welcome feedback.

In the meantime Happy Sailing

Sailing Committee

Looking back at August, whilst it was a shame that we were not able to hold the Trophee Des Isles we did however have a very successful re-run of the postponed Regatta Races on Sunday the 18th. Conditions were ideal and we had an excellent turnout of boats with almost 30 boats on the start lines.

One of the standout points worth mentioning out of the eight races held there were seven different winners during the day highlighting the range and strength of skills across the fleets. So well done to those sailors namely: Martin Speller, Charlie Hewgill, Ian Simpson, Will Dengate, Peter Raimbault, Kai Surcouf and Tyler Horton.

The Junior Regatta was also extremely popular and a lot of fun was had by all. Again fantastic to see so many new and old members taking part.

During the month we wrapped up the Twilight Series and held the Tommy Horton Offshore Race in lightesh conditions. Well done to Paula Boyle winning both of these.

September starts with the re-run of the postponed Class Championships and thanks must go to the volunteers running this extra day in our calendar. STOP PRESS Unfortunately due to lack of wind once again this series has been cancelled. We will look at other available dates, perhaps third time lucky!!

The prestigious Club Championships will be held over Sunday 8th September. To qualify sailors must have completed during the year at least 8 races prior to the event. The names of qualifiers will be published in advance.

The format is divided into three categories.:

For the Under 16 Club Championship this will be held as an Open Handicap event (all types of dinghies). The Under 18 Club Championship will be raced in Laser Radial / ILCA6 dinghies and for the Club Championship this will be in Laser Standard / ILCA7. In each category there will be 3 races.

As a bit of history, the winner of the Club Championship / Hardy Cup traditionally used to make a speech at the Annual Dinner and fill the cup with Champagne to share. So perhaps something to rekindle this year or maybe not the Champagne part?!!

Moving on, another key event this month  is the Jersey Regatta over the weekend 13th- 15th September. This is definitely not one to miss and if you haven’t signed up yet there is still time with entries closing 10th September.

Back at St Caths we start the Condor Series on the 22nd September, this is the last series of the year running through to October.

In the meantime Happy Sailing

Sailing Committee

July provided some nice sailing conditions and it was great to see so many dinghies from St Catherine’s participating at the Gorey Regatta. At the club we completed the Gala and Bel Val Series and well done to Marc Haslam and Charlie Hewgill winning their respective series. We also re-ran the Swan Verner Singlehanded race won by Ollie Boyle plus Rachael Surcouf crewed by Alison Horton were First in the  Crews Challenge.

The Personal Handicap series once again proved popular and despite being given a tougher handicap Ian Simpson managed to overcome this to win the series.

Looking ahead to August we have a number of special events. Firstly on Sunday 4th August the Tommy Horton Offshore Race, this is a bit different to our usual races with competitors sailing a much longer course usually outside the confines of the bay (provided conditions suitable). There are two trophies comprising First Overall and First Junior.

We have the Class Championships on the 11th August which is boat for boat level racing plus there is handicap racing for those without a class race.

The weekend 17th / 18th August is one to put in the diary with the Junior Regatta on the Saturday and a full day’s racing including lunch on the Sunday as we re-run the postponed Regatta races from June. Full details of these races are published on SI Amendment no 3 found on the Club Website – Noticeboard

The month ends with the big one being the Trophée des Isles.

This is an annual event hosted on a rotating basis by the sailing clubs of St Malo, Guernsey and Jersey and this year it is St Catherine’s Sailing Clubs turn to run the event.

The Regatta which is the largest junior sailing event in Channel Island waters will be held over the weekend Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th August .

Sailors from Jersey, Guernsey and St Malo will be competing for the prestigious Trophée des Isles team trophy as well as individual competitions in the ILCA 6/ Laser Radial, ILCA4 / Laser 4.7 and Optimist fleets. Also run separately there will be an Optimist Regatta fleet for the less experienced Optimist sailors. In addition we have some great Social events planned for the event. Please sign up early via WebCollect

Once again plenty to look forward to.

Happy Sailing 

Sailing Committee

The Trophée des Isles is an annual event hosted on a rotating basis by the sailing clubs of St Malo, Guernsey and Jersey and this year it is St Catherine’s Sailing Clubs turn to run the event.

The Regatta which is the largest junior sailing event in Channel Island waters will be held over the weekend Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th August .

Sailors from Jersey, Guernsey and St Malo will be competing for the prestigious Trophée des Isles team trophy aswell as individual competitions in the ILCA 6/ Laser Radial, ILCA4 / Laser 4.7 and Optimist fleets. Also run separately there will be an Optimist Regatta fleet for the less experienced Optimist sailors.

St Catherine’s Sailing Club is renowned for it’s hospitality and there are some superb social events on both the Saturday and Sunday evenings to look forward to.

The Notice of Race is now published on our Website Noticeboard under Racing and sailors are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible.

June’s weather was rather mixed to say the least and it was a great shame that our main regatta of the year was impacted by high winds resulting in the races for Friday and Saturday postponed, however Sunday proved much better and we managed to run a full programme of events including our up and coming Optimist Regatta Fleet with some very close racing between Lottie Ohlsson and George Edwards who tied for points with Lottie ultimately taking the series and Trophy De Paris on count back. Well done to everyone who took part.

As a reminder we are running the Saturday’s events on Sunday 18th August including the postponed Liberation Trophy Race and the Friday night races on Sunday 28th July.

In contrast the Commodore’s Regatta had perfect conditions and congratulations go to Ben Rogers who won the Commodore’s Cup and Morgan Surcouf the Commodore’s Plate. The Jubilee Regatta also benefited from nice conditions with a good turnout. Well done to Peter Raimbault who won the Jubilee Trophy, Jonny Jones being the first U18 winning the Buchanan Cup and Charlie Hewgill first Optimist winning the Jubilee Mug.

A special thanks must go to our House Committee and their helpers for the superb catering at all these Regattas. It has certainly been a busy month for them.

Looking ahead to July we have the Twilight Evening Series running plus completion of the Gala and Bel Val Series.

The big event of the month is the Gorey Regatta over the weekend 12th – 14th July with the Tommy Horton Feeder race to Gorey on the Friday evening with racing in the Royal Bay over the whole weekend. The event has the honour of being one of the oldest Regattas in the world and has a great atmosphere on the beach from where competitors launch from. Sign up for the regatta here: https://www.goreyregatta.org/

Our final event in July is the Personal Handicap Mini Series 1&2 on the 28th July. For this event we apply a personal handicap to sailors based on their performance during the year, this makes it tougher for our top sailors to win and easier for newcomers and less experienced to feature at the top of the podium.

As mentioned earlier we are also running the postponed the Single Handed Swan Verner Cup and Crews Challenge at the end of the above mini series.

So plenty to look forward to.

Happy Sailing

Sailing Committee

Once again we have had another excellent month of sailing at St Caths, both the Farley and Verner Series have been completed and congrats go to Paula Boyle and Ollie Hunt winning each series respectively.

The Liberation Day Regatta was another great success although it was a shame the wind died for the final race however well done to Jamie Washington, Ollie Boyle and Henry Edwards who won the Beagle, Vega Fast and Vega Slow races respectively. We hope to run the postponed Liberation Race later in the year.

The Summer evening series is well under way with a very close battle going on between Henry Lucas and Paul Raimbault with just 0.3 of a point splitting them with 2 races remaining.

Looking ahead to June we have a packed programme of events with three Regattas, starting with the Commodore’s Regatta combined with the Double Handed Series on the 9th June and then the main event of the year being the Annual Regatta over the weekend 14th-16th June.  Racing for this starts on the Friday Evening with the Single Handed and Crews Challenge and then there is a full programme of events over the whole weekend with something for everyone including the Optimist Regatta fleet with racing on Sunday morning for our younger less experienced sailors. 

We then finish the month off with the Jubilee Regatta on the 30th June, so plenty of opportunities to have fun and go sailing!

Full details of all events are published on the Website Notice Board and nearer the time you can sign up on Web Collect

Happy Sailing 

Sailing Committee

As we move into a new month of competitions its worth highlighting we have had some great sailing at the club during April. Both the Amy and ANRP Series have now been completed and congratulations go to ‘Team Haslam’ with father and son Marc and Oliver winning each series respectively. 

Looking ahead our evening sailing starts on Thursday 2nd May competing for the recently re-assigned Rhys Perkins Trophy.

We also have the start of the Sunday Farley and Verner Series. Don’t forget that the 3 Fast and Slow Series running throughout the summer also count towards the two Long Series’ Mavourneen and Bery Malco Trophies and you can track your progress on the results page accessed via our website.

The big event during the month is the Liberation Day Regatta. Three races are scheduled starting with the Vega Pursuit followed by Beagle Open Handicap finishing with the Liberation Day Trophy. These races are always held in this order to signify the three important timeline of events during the Occupation then Liberation of Jersey during the Second World War. Firstly the Vega Red Cross ship brought the much needed supplies to the island during the occupation, then HMS Beagle brought the liberating forces and subsequent Liberation of the island.

With regard to the Regatta, due to tidal conditions the first race starts at 9am promptly. This is a pursuit race where slower boats start first chased down by the faster boats who are subsequently started on a handicapped basis with winner being first over the line after 60 minutes from the first  starting signal. The three races will be held “back to back” followed by lunch on the terrace provided by our House Committee and is sure to be a fun day not to be missed.

Finally we wanted to highlight the club championships which take place on 8th September. Although there is still plenty of time to go, those who have read their sailing instructions will see that to qualify you must have completed at least 8 races prior to the event. More details of the event will follow in due course.

Thats it for now, have a great month sailing

Sailing Committee

An SI Amendment has been posted on Club Web Page Racing / Notice Board changing start time of first race to 15:00hrs.

An SI Amendment has been posted on Club Web Page Racing / Notice Board changing start time of first race to 15:30hrs.