Author: Maëllie GERNIDOS

The Tour des Ports de la Manche is back for its 41st edition. The race started on 6 July with nearly 100 boats setting off from Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue in the Manche department. This annual race is organised by the Département de la Manche and the Granville Yacht Club, and links six stages between ports in the Manche and Channel Islands. This year, it was Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue to Cherbourg, Guernsey, Diélette, Barneville-Carteret and Jersey before the finishing port of Granville.
Renowned for its festive atmosphere, the crews are very much a family affair, as Marine Thomines, the race’s press officer, points out: “Every evening, a crew meal is organised in the race’s host ports. The Tour des Ports is designed to be more than just a race and a podium finish”.
Each year, the Tour des Ports brings together around a hundred boats and 650 sailors from the west of France and sometimes from across the Channel. A new feature this year is that the MINI 6.50 sailing boats have joined the race, which is sure to rekindle the sporting spirit!
Unfortunately, the Guernsey leg on 7 July had to be cancelled due to poor weather conditions. The Jersey leg also had to be completed under power.
On 11 July, the 100 yachts arrived in the port of Granville to a warm welcome from Louis Duc, skipper of the last Vendée Globe. See you next year for the 42nd edition!

From 9 to 11 July, three Jersey residents who have recently joined the Franco-British Young Leaders programme attended a seminar organised by the Franco-British Council (FBC) to coincide with the Franco-British summit and the French President’s visit to the UK. This follows the recent signing of a 5-year partnership agreement between the Government of Jersey and the Franco-British Council.

A rich programme awaited them: a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the future of Franco-British relations, a meeting with Demis Hassabis, Nobel Laureate and co-founder of GoogleDeepMind and Arthur Mensch, CEO and founder of MistralA, Thierry Garnier, Kingfisher and Rt Hon Dominic Grieve KC, Attorney General and President of the Franco-British Society. It was an unforgettable experience for those in attendance, and one that will open up a whole host of new horizons for them to explore.

The Jersey-FBC agreement is set to run until 2030, follows direct engagement with the Franco-British Council in Jersey in 2024, and will provide opportunities for active participation by Islanders in multi-sector Council initiatives in sectors including energy, climate change and sustainability, defence, science, and society. The selection process for the new cohort of Franco-British Young Leaders 2026 will start at the end of the year and two places are reserved for Jersey. If you want to know more about it, do not hesitate to look here.

On 1 July, Lindsay de Sausmarez MP was elected to lead the Executive Government of Guernsey by the Great Electors, with the support of 22 votes from Members of Parliament, beating Mark Helyar MP (11 votes) and Jonathan le Tocq MP (7 votes). Lindsay de Sausmarez is the new head of the Policy and Resources Committee, which represents the executive government of Guernsey and is responsible for coordinating the actions of the States and allocating the budgets of the eight committees. She is the first woman to be elected as First Minister.

From 25 to 27 June, the Ille-et-Vilaine département welcomed Jersey and Guernsey sports officials to sustain and initiate cooperation in various sporting disciplines. The itinerary included meetings with local clubs, visits to sports facilities and social events. There’s plenty of scope for collaboration in athletics, swimming and skateboarding, to name but a few!

The islands of Jersey and Guernsey were delighted to take part in the European Garden Days organised by the French Ministry of Culture on the theme of ‘Gardens of Stone’. Candie Gardens in Guernsey and the Eric Young Orchid Foundation in Jersey welcomed the public to festive celebrations honouring the natural beauty of their gardens.

The Channel Islands are considering participating in other French or European cultural events and may well offer sites to visit during European Heritage Days. Watch the space… 

After a successful first visit in May, a technical delegation from the Normandy region travelled to Guernsey and Jersey to prepare for the event year “2027: European Year of the Normans“, which celebrates the Millennium of the birth of William the Conqueror. During this artistic visit, the delegation discovered the collection of Rennes artist Claude Cahun in Jersey, Victor Hugo’s house in Guernsey, followed in the footsteps of Auguste Renoir in Guernsey, visited the heritage sites of Elizabeth Castle, Mont Orgueil Castle and Castle Cornet, and ended with a magnificent private tour of La Hougue Bie and a performance by the Ballet D’Jerri. This was a great opportunity for the Normandy region to explore artistic ways of collaborating with the Channel Islands for the European Year of the Normans!

As part of the event year, “2027 European Year of the Normans“, a technical delegation from the Normandy region visited Guernsey and Jersey. “2027 European Year of the Normans” celebrates the millennium of the birth of William the Conqueror and invites partner countries, including England, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, France and the Channel Islands to celebrate this shared heritage.  More than just a festive event, “2027: European Year of the Normans” aims to highlight the Norman heritage shared across Europe through artistic, cultural, linguistic and other collaborations. The Normandy delegation was able to discover and understand the unique cultural heritage inherited from the Dukes of Normandy in the Channel Islands by meeting with cultural players and exploring specific avenues for collaboration. The Channel Islands still recognise the King of England as ‘Our Duke’, in respect of the Duchy of Normandy. This unique heritage, which is still palpable in the Channel Islands, will give the world a better understanding of their very special and charming status. A second visit is scheduled for June.

For the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Channel Islands, a French delegation (representatives of the regions of Normandy and Brittany and the departments of Manche and Ille et Vilaine) visited Jersey, Guernsey and Sark. Princess Anne was present in Guernsey and Sark to celebrate this historic moment for the Channel Islands. Elected representatives from Normandy and Brittany were able to interact and exchange views with their elected counterparts from the Channel Islands, as well as with the Bailiffs. It was a wonderful opportunity to honour the past and celebrate the future, while recalling the close links between the Channel Islands and France.