Last weekend 10 crews descended on the Isle of Wight for the annual sailing showdown between Lloyds of London, The Stock Exchange and the Baltic in the Finn Trophy. Owing to a no show from the Stock Exchange, the competition was intensified in an all or nothing competition between London’s insurance and shipping communities with five boats apiece racing head to head out of Cowes.

Idyllic sailing conditions with 10 knots wind gusting 15 knots, sunshine and warm weather saw keen competition from the start which quickly separated the wheat from chaff.

Peter Morton’s Salvo lived up to its name and reputation, taking line honours for the Baltic with a clear 10 minute lead in real time, ahead of Lloyds’ massive X-55, however in corrected time, this meant that the Lloyds flagship went to last position based on IRC. The Baltic’s hard-working crew included George Eddings of Holman Fenwick Willan and Orlando Browne of Swire Bulk.

The YBA boat similarly did the Baltic proud, storming to a third place in both real and corrected time, with Tom Day (Koch), Henry Smith (MOL), Will Porter (Braemar), Henry Guo (Arcelor Mittal), Lydia Dervenaga (Baltic Exchange) and Anamaria Deduleasca putting their J-109 through its paces. The AM Nomikos boat completed the IRC line-up where the Baltic line took 1st, 3rd, and 4th places. In the Cruiser class, the Baltic’s Lutine of Helford took an honourable 2nd place.

A glamorous prize giving dinner was held at the Royal Yacht Squadron and the joint organising committee declared the Finn Trophy as a dead heat between the Baltic and Lloyds for 2017.

To find out more or get involved in BESA events email Philip Bacon; pbacon@amnomikos.com

Photos from the weekend can be found on the Baltic’s Flickr account here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thebaltic/sets/