Our recent consultation with our members resulted in a strong consensus towards proceeding with our plans to race to Guernsey at the end of August.

Our core focus for this event will be to make certain that it is fully inclusive for our younger sailors who may not have had the opportunity to meet the vaccine requirement for leaving the pontoon to enter St Peter Port.

We will be introducing additional arrangements to address some of the current limiting factors resulting from Covid measures in the Channel Islands. We are also mindful that some of these may change as we move closer towards the date of the event and we hope for further relaxations.

• The current limitation allows all boats to land on the pontoons outside of the marina but any crew who have not been double vaccinated 14 days prior to the date of arrival, will not be permitted to leave the pontoon area and enter St Peter Port. The pontoons have very limited facilities.
• Crew that do meet the vaccination requirement must carry evidence of the vaccinations. This can be the NHS app.
• All crew are required to use the travel tracker application 48 hrs prior to landing. https://covid19.gov.gg/guidance/travel/traveltracker Your local address for this will be S.Y. (Your Boat Name), Marina Facilities, Albert Pier, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 1AD
• Regardless of vaccine status, boats can use fuel facilities as this does not need you to actually go ashore.

For boats that have no crew eligible to leave the pontoon area and enter St Peter Port, our sponsor will provide provision packs including refreshments and meals. JOG will provide these boats with assistance for any extra provisions where requested.

For boats with just some crew that are ineligible to enter St Peter Port, we will again provide provisions for those individuals not permitted to leave the pontoon area, including food and drinks.

For boats without suitable toilets, we will arrange some volunteer boats to make their heads available to you.

Although we have provisional arrangements for a formal social gathering and welcome on Sunday morning at the Yacht Club, we may re-locate this depending on circumstances “on the day”. This will be moved to the pontoon area if our younger crew would otherwise be excluded.

We will be in touch with entrants nearer to the event to get numbers and any dietary requirements. More details regarding the volunteer boats and contacts for provisions will also be provided.

The above measures require more planning and you can do your bit to help JOG and its younger crew by making your race entry as early as possible to help ensure that this a great event for our first foray across the Channel in two seasons!

Martin Banfield, JOG Secretary