Sailing yachts take part in Classic Channel Regatta
Dozens of classic sailing yachts arrived into St Peter Port yesterday morning, after sailing through the night from Dartmouth.
More than 70 boats were taking part in the Classic Channel Regatta.
The vessels had been expected to arrive between 8am and 11am. But the boats ended up being very spread out. The first arrived at about 6am, while the last vessels, sailing around the south coast of Guernsey and then up the east coast, did not arrive until the early afternoon.
One of the first vessels to arrive was Sarabunde of Dart, which moored just after 6am.
Skipper and owner Anne-Marie Coyle said they had been kept going through the night on cake, chicken casserole and nuts.
‘We had the spinnaker up the whole way,’ she said.
‘Everything was timed to perfection.’
The 1972 vessel was a lovely vessel for the seven crew, who enjoyed quite a smooth journey to the island.
‘They [boats of that time] were very well designed,’ she said.
‘They were really designed for sailing.’
Miss Coyle said they always had a lovely reception in Guernsey. After continuing with the regatta to Paimpol, Miss Coyle said they planned to return to the Channel Islands and sail back to Guernsey, and then on to Alderney, Sark and Herm.
Kraken II was manned by a French crew, who arrived just after 8.30am. Deck hand Ben Street said the 1949 wooden French vessel was heavier than modern boats, but had given them a comfortable ride.
However, they did face some challenges.
‘There is a lot of traffic going through the shipping channels,’ he said.
‘The wind died down in the middle of the night, but then it picked up. We had to change the sail a few times, but we did have a bit of sleep.’
Richard Bryant was skippering the 1963 wooden Manduvi, which arrived at about 8am.
‘It’s been fine,’ he said.
‘There were no rain squalls – it was a nice crossing. All the boats sailed through the night and you could see the lights.’
He said crossing the shipping channels was a concern, as the yachts were under sail, but he described the commercial boats as being very kind and avoiding the vessels. The yachts departed for France this morning.
