Carey Olsen Jersey Regatta and GBR IRC Channel Islands Championship 2025
by Bill Harris 11 Oct 07:37 AEDT
26-28 September 2025
Oppies and F18 - 12th Carey Olsen Jersey Regatta © Bill Harris
The Carey Olsen Jersey Regatta swansong proved to be a story of two halves, this year. Originally scheduled for 12th - 14th September, high winds caused this 'flagship' event to be postponed to 26th - 28th September when conditions were certainly more benign but not without their own challenges. This was the first time in the Regatta's twenty-seven year history that the event did not run a true course. There's a first time for everything!
Unsurprisingly, the short notice shift saw a few boats drop out but others signed up so that just under seventy boats eventually raced in St Aubin's Bay over the three days. Fortunes were mixed, across the board, for the fleet of cruisers, dayboats, dinghies and sport catamarans with some classes being less fortunate than others as the breeze came and went.
The race programme opened on the Friday morning when a light easterly breeze provided good, if challenging, racing within the confines of St Aubin's Bay, all thoughts of the planned coastal race out in the tide duly binned. Allen Brown and partners' Melges 24, The Dog's........!, sailing against the IRC Class 1 cruisers proved to be quickest round the course with David Jones and Geoff Blackstone's X332, JAX, taking Class1 honours with Alex Ohlsson and Neil Maclachlan's J109, Jai Ho' second. Don Thompson's lovely Foxhound, racing in YTC Class 3, took line honours and the race ahead of Nick O'Hare's Westerly Fulmar, Honky Tonk.
Conditions degenerated as the morning wore on with the dinghy and sport catamaran programme being abandoned as the wind died. The dayboats, however, motored out to the line to successfully complete two races in the very light airs. Malcolm Annan's Oysterman and Gary Hollicks' Tosher, Tykki Duw, won a race apiece with Ben Jones' Cornish Coble, Baloo, third in both races.
Saturday showed a vast improvement with a constant moderate southerly breeze that provided great racing, across the board. Once again, The Dog's........! took line honours in the combined IRC class with JAX taking two wins ahead of Jai Ho to claim the day in Class 1. Justin Horton and partners' Farr 727, Fahrenheit, sailed well to win both races in IRC Class 2Q with Jason Manning and team on Farr 727 Super Q constantly in close contention. The honours in Class 3 went to Hani Salem's UFO27, Matchless, with convincing wins in both races, ahead of Foxhound.
Winning two out of three races, Baloo claimed victory in the dayboat class, ahead of Jamesina and Tykki Duw.
Honours in the F18 sport catamaran class were claimed by Adrian Jesson and Paul Martin sailing their Hobie Wildcat to victory in both races, ahead of Andy Hart and Michael Kinross' Wildcat. UK National Champions Ollie Voak and Megan Roworth with two wins, sailing Ships & Giggles in the fourteen boat strong Hobie 16 class, pipped Luke Paxton-Garnier and Steph Egan's Time2Spare by just one point after three exhilarating races. Aaron Le Cornu and Rachael Smith were third. Sailing Hobie Dragoons, Lottie Ohlsson and Capucine Bacquet vied with Ava Martin and Arthur Jennings for honours in the junior sport catamaran class taking the series of three races by just one point. Cameron Castle and Rafael Le Marquand were third.
Sailing his Laser, Ollie Boyle took all three races in an impressively competitive 'fast' dinghy class with Morgan Surcouf's Laser second and Nick Querée's Laser Radial third in a class of fourteen dinghies. Izzy Ohlsson, sailing her Optimist, Finnish Line, won all three races in the slow dinghy class ahead of Jack Hewgill's Optimist, Blue Fin. Alex Le Rossignol's Optimist, Little Dipper, was third.
Conditions on Sunday were really challenging with a forecast for light winds starting in the south, slowly veering to the north as the day wore on. Not what the race committee ordered! Whilst the breeze held up at the start it slowly petered out causing courses to be shortened to enable races in progress to be successfully completed.
The Dog's........! took the first of two races in the combined fast IRC class but, with no wind in sight, decided to head off home. Jai Ho took this race ahead of JAX, both boats waiting patiently, thereafter, at the race committee's pleasure. Fahrenheit notched up another win in the first of two races for Class 2Q, Super Q having retired. With no wind in sight, both boats retired.
The F18 sport catamarans came to the line, shortly after the cruisers started, for the first of three races. On a shortened course, Jesson and Martin took the race ahead of Hart and Kinross. With the wind dying, the F18 fleet decided to head back to the beach, RIB assisted. The first inkling of a breeze greeted them as they were about to beach so out they came under a light north-westerly breeze whilst the race committee geared up to get racing under way, again. Their remaining two races were run successfully with honours split between Graeme Monks and Julian Adamson's Hobie Tiger and Hart and Kinross.
To everyone's relief, the long wait paid off and the breeze, albeit light and veering, held up throughout the rest of the afternoon. The second cruiser race ran successfully with JAX chalking up her third win to take the Class 1 series, two points ahead of Jai Ho.
Regrettably, the Hobie 16 fleet, scheduled to race at the time the wind was at its most feeble and, with no improvement in sight, had retired after several boats had launched but had failed to make any significant progress towards the race area.
The dinghy fleet, waiting patiently at its RCIYC base, sailed out with the breeze to successfully complete all three of its scheduled races, the final race starting just two minutes before the cut-off time. Ollie Boyle, again, won all three races to clinch the Class 8 series ahead of Morgan Surcouf and Nick Querée. Likewise, Izzy Ohlsson chalked up another three race s to give her the Class 9 series ahead of Jack Hewgill and Alex Le Rossignol.
The Prize-giving was held in St Helier Yacht Club on Sunday evening when RCIYC Commodore Jeremy Swetenham and Carey Olsen's Chris Carpenter presented the trophies and winners' prizes. The 12th GBR IRC Championship prizes, kindly sponsored by North Sails, were awarded to JAX for IRC Class 1 and Fahrenheit for IRC Class 2Q. The new Carey Olsen prize for Under-18s was presented to Izzy Ohlsson.
Regatta Chairman, Bill Harris, in closing proceedings presented a framed picture of a Regatta racing scene to Carey Olsen Chairman Alex Ohlsson, thanking him and his colleagues on behalf of the Regatta community for their friendship, sponsorship and great contribution to the Jersey Regatta over the past six years.
Top results - Best in Class:
Class 1 cruiser (IRC) - Jax - David Jones & Geoff Blackstone
Amalgamated Class 0+1 (IRC) - The Dog's........! - Allen Brown & Partners
Class 2Q cruiser (IRC) - Fahrenheit - Justin Horton & Partners
Class 3 (YTC) Matchless - Hani Salem
Class 4 Dayboat - Baloo - Ben Jones
Class 5 F18 Sport catamaran - Andy Hart & Michael Kinross
Class 6 Hobie 16 - Ships & Giggles - Ollie Voak & Megan Roworth
Class 7 Hobie Dragoon - Lottie Ohlsson & Capucine Bacquet
Class 8 'Fast' dinghies - Laser - Ollie Boyle
Class 9 'slow' dinghies - Optimist - Izzy Ohlsson
GBR IRC Channel Islands Championship (sponsored by North Sails):
Class 1 - JAX
Class 2Q - Fahrenheit
Channel Islands Masters Dinghy Championship (sponsored by Carey Olsen):
Apprentice Master - André Le Rossignol (Laser Radial)
Great Grand Master - Keith Le Page (Guernsey) (Contender)
CI Masters Champion & Grand Master - Nick Querée (Laser)