Sharp wins Normandy Channel Race for second year in a row

Jersey sailor Phil Sharp has won the Normandy Channel Race for the second year in a row.

He and co-skipper Julien Pulve got their boat Imerys home in six days, two hours, and fifty minutes to finish just ahead of their nearest rival in a thrilling finale.

The race saw thirty Class40 vessels battling it out over a 1000-mile route from Caen in France to Fastnet Rock off Ireland, via the Isle of Wight, and back.

It follows a third-placed result in Sharp's first event of the season in April, the 1000 Milles des Sables.

His focus this year is November's prestigious Route du Rhum, a transatlantic single-handed race between St Malo and Guadeloupe.