Guernsey Rowing Club captain Ben Vaudin can see the irony, coming at the end of a fairly still and gloriously sunny week, that both Saturday’s planned staging of the 26km inter-island spectacle and Sunday’s reserve date have been ruled out for weather reasons.
‘It’s Sod’s Law – we’ve had a week of weather like this, and the one day the race is on, the wind really picks up,’ he said.
Heat had also been a consideration for the Jersey-based organisers, even after a drop the forecast suggested 30C, and they ultimately pulled the plug yesterday morning after conversations with the Met Office suggested even stronger winds than initially projected.
Hopes of a 2026 Sark to Jersey now rely on organisers in the sister isle finding a replacement date without clashes.
‘That feels a little bit remote now, the chances of being able to find a suitable date,’ Vaudin added.
‘Obviously, it’s really disappointing for all the crews from both Guernsey and Jersey who were hoping to take part.’
From a personal standpoint his quad, Nova Wealth, had been going in realistically targeting both the class and overall victory in the race.
‘We’re gutted, because we’ve been training for quite a long time and we were hoping we might have a chance at an outright win,’ he said.
‘The goal was to go and win the Sark to Jersey.’
But the hard training is not wasted, given that the other annual offshore epic of the Channel Islands calendar – the Gorey to Carteret – is lined up for 25 July.
‘That’s always an amazing event,’ the captain added.
Rowers had prepared last weekend with the toughest annual event in solely Bailiwick waters, the aptly-named Clameur Challenge, where Nova Wealth extended their winning streak.
But it also saw Simon Johns and James Coquelin from S2J champions TPA make their long-awaited return to action, albeit in the men’s doubles, where they edged season-long class winners Markham and Mahy by 24sec.
