£1,000 maritime bursary open to budding seafarers

Sunday 09 January 2022

A £1,000 maritime bursary that is this year helping two islanders take part in a 3,000-mile rowing race is open for applications once again.

The Jersey Clipper Bursary is now in its fifteenth year, offering budding seafarers of any age the chance to sign up for funding their nautical ambitions.

These could include training courses, participating in water-sports, taking part in an ocean race - the competition organisers say they are open to anything with a maritime theme.

The annual award from a legacy from three Jersey campaigns in the Clipper Round-the-World Race, and was established 15 years ago through funding from Dandara, Les Pas Holdings and UBS.

Further funding has been provided by UBS, enabling the trustees to give a main bursary of £1,000 and a runner's-up award of £500.

The most recent recipients of the bursary were Steve Hayes and Pete Wright - otherwise known as Dragonfish Row - who are competing in the forthcoming Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a 3,000-mile rowing race from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean.

Pictured: Steve Hayes and Pete Wright won last year's bursary.

The pair of athletes had no rowing experience prior to starting their challenge, and have been spending the past year training for their December row.

Steve Hayes, who is also general manager at the Somerville Hotel, said: "Receiving the 2021 Jersey Clipper Bursary stood out as a particular highlight for us as it was clear that the magnitude of our challenge was being recognized and supported by the local community."



He added: "With so much equipment required for our event, the bursary will be funding our essential, but hopefully not needed, liferaft."

The runners up from last year were sailing siblings Juliette and Russell Walton, who used the funding to help bring their catamaran and equipment to Spain to compete in the European Hobie Championships in September.

Pictured: Sibling duo Juliette and Russell Watson were last year's runners up.

Juliette said: "We faced some really tough competition but managed to finish fourth overall, which we were really pleased with.

"We couldn't have done it without the help of the Clipper Bursary."

The deadline for written applications for the bursary is the end of April 2022 - they should be no more 200 words and be e-mailed to philipjeune@gmail.com.