Blue Jade wins 50th Carey Olsen Inter-Island Yacht Race
by Emmanuelle Bonham 4 Jul 2013 13:22 BST
29 June 2013
Blue Jade has won the 2013 Carey Olsen Inter-Island Yacht Race. Racing into the wind tested the determination and skills of the 98 participating yachts and the X-362 skippered by Aden Clark completed the 50th anniversary of the most competitive yacht race in the Channel Islands' calendar in a corrected time of four hours and 55 minutes.
Fresh north-westerly winds greeted the crews at the start and were to continue for the majority of the race, turning lighter as the afternoon wore on. The leading yachts engaged in tacking duels along Jersey's south coast before turning at Corbiere to head for Guernsey and the finish line.
Guernsey yacht Blue Jade finished near the front of the fleet, and after the handicap had been taken into account skipper Aden Clark and his crew came out on top. They were joined in the top five by four Jersey yachts, Less Xpense, a winner in 1994 in second, 2011 winner Jackana in third, Genie in fourth and Jackflash in fifth.
Genie, skippered by Matt Perkins, also collected the prize for first young skipper and first quarter tonner, while Jackana was the first Beneteau to finish.
Line honours for the first yacht were claimed by Simon Henning in his Farr 45 Alice II while prizes for the lower handicapped boats all went to yachts from Guernsey. The first bilge keel prize went to Chris Sharp in Boondoggle, who also claimed the trophy for first Westerly yacht, with Martin Priest's Fandangle second. Dino Castro, in Dark Horse, won first long keel having also won the feeder time trial to Jersey on Friday night.
The Dogs..., skippered by last year's winner Allen Brown, won first Melges 24, John Falla in Banjaard won first Swan and in a new category for 2013, Martin Ozard and Steve Morris in Blackjack won first J boat.
The first three non IRC handicap yachts were Caldra, Busker and Moondance, with J Leveridge's Moondance also winning the new category for yachts using white sails only.
The first multihull boat was Sunbeam, crewed by the Horton family, while the Knowles family, on board Alectrona, claimed the first family crew trophy for the third year running.
The team prize was won by the Donkey J's; Blackjack, a J109 and the J122s Kaya and Majic, who came sixth, seventh and 14th respectively.
The first non-channel island yacht was Raven, of Dartmouth, who finished 23rd overall.
Guernsey Yacht Club commodore Jason Hobbs said: "It was fantastic to see nearly 100 yachts sailing from Jersey to Guernsey enjoying a competitive race in near perfect conditions. Winning the 50th running of this race is a great accolade so congratulations to Aden and the crew of Blue Jade."
Carey Olsen managing partner Alex Ohlsson congratulated the winning crews and all who took part in the 50th anniversary race.
"The 50th race made the occasion special for everyone taking part. As ever all the categories were fiercely contested with close competition taking place throughout the fleet. It was especially pleasing to see 500 people taking part in such a wide variety of yachts representing all parts of the sailing community."
The race ran from Jersey to Guernsey where sponsors, Carey Olsen, provided a marquee for a hot supper, prizegiving and live entertainment for the 500 crew members who had registered.
More information and full results at www.careyolseninterislandyachtrace.com