Held in favourable conditions, the race in St Aubin’s Bay had to contend with an extremely busy route as yachts, jet skis and Hobie cats all made the most of the sun.
Smith and crew quickly moved out to the front of the pack and maintained their lead to the line, with the new pairing of Clive Russell and Giles Adu not far behind in second, and Colin Hidrio and Charlotte Bowman third.
It was also a good day for some of the other new crews, with Katrin Howarth and Rosemary Stachwell holding their position until the latter stages of the race, and the Moore Stephens ladies’ four can be pleased with their fourth place finish considering they were without a Cox on the day until Colin Jennet stepped in at the last minute.
Also taking part in the race was a one-off ladies’ crew with Micki Page, who is usually in a ladies’ four, teaming up with Tracy Mourant to row pairs just for the Nippy, despite having never sat in a boat together before.
