Jersey teenager wins bursary to sail on tall ship

BBC News

29-05-2025

A teenage sailor has won a bursary that will enable him to join the a high profile race this summer.Jamie Le Marquand, 17, has been awarded £1000 from the 2025 Jersey Clipper Bursary and is set to sail from Scotland to Norway as part of the Tall Ships Race.The event starts on 4 July and Jamie, a dinghy instructor at the Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club, will be aboard the Excelsior, a Lowestoft smack built in 1921 to fish in the North Sea.He said: "I'm determined to make the most of this amazing opportunity.
He will be part of a crew of 17 people, only five of whom are full-time."We'll be used to help pull up the sales, hoist them up the mast... it'll be probably cooking, bit of cleaning and a lot of sailing."The bursary is awarded each year to an islander to help them undertake some form of maritime endeavour.The money will help cover the cost of the trip, including travel and kit, as well as a contribution towards the voyage itself.
'Demanding and testing'
Philip Jeune, who organises the bursary, said: "A lot of people know how to sail well, but getting on well with a tight knit team of people on the crew of a boat that's being sailed round the clock... it's demanding and testing."If you can do that and achieve that you learn extraordinary skills."A team of young sailors from Jersey's clubs received the runner-up award to compete in a UK regatta.