Model Yacht Pond

The Model Yacht Pond is found on the Castle Emplacement beside Castle Cornet and is perfect for model boat and yacht sailing or racing, as well as being used by The Guernsey Sailing Trust for beginners’ sailing lessons.  It used to be called the Victoria Boat Pond after Queen Victoria, but generations of islanders have known it plainly and simply as the Model Yacht Pond.

It was built ‘for the amusement of all classes of society’ under the supervision of James Duquemin (1831-1914), Surveyor to the States of Guernsey, who was responsible for much sea-defence work, harbour improvements and roads, and who regenerated the harbour.  The work cost £905 raised by subscription and with a £300 grant from the States.    It was opened in the summer of 1887 by Miss Elkington, the young daughter of Lieutenant-General John Henry Ford Elkington, DSO (1830-89), Lieutenant-Governor from 1885 to 1889.

Stage cycle racing used to take place in the pond.  The French Air Force craftily hid aircraft there during the First World War, when they used it as a temporary seaplane base temporarily.  It also housed fairs in the First World War.   It survived bombing by the Germans in the Second World War.