Trophée Charles C. Ritz Fly Casting Tournament

Farlows were privileged to sponsor the revival of an historic fly casting tournament staged by the International Fario Club recently. The event was founded by the late Charles Ritz in 1958 in Paris and originally held at the Tir aux Pigeons, the Paris counterpart of the venue for this year’s event, the Hurlingham Club, London. The Hurlingham Club proved to be the perfect location for this event, an oasis of calm in a quite unique London location. The pristine lawns ideal for measured casting and accuracy events.



As well as the casting competitions the guests enjoyed an exhibition of vintage fly fishing equipment with a link to Charles Ritz including examples of the legendary ‘Parabolic’ rods he designed. Paintings by Oliver Masmonteil and Kuni Shinano were on display and Gérard Piquard gave a demonstration of fly tying. Farlows AAPGAI master instructor Robin Elwes gave a fine casting demonstration to an appreciative audience.



This was a great event for Farlows to be involved with, our company has a long and proud association with the International Fario Club and it was great to see the effort made by both casting teams from around the world and amateur anglers to take part in this friendly, welcoming yet competitive event.

We would like to thank our co-sponsors Loop Fly Fishing for supplying Loop Cross S1 rods for the distance casting events and Cadno silk lines for giving guests an opportunity to cast a traditional fly fishing outfit. Patagonia Outdoor Clothing generously provided a range of their premium clothing and wading products as prizes. Fine, award winning English sparking wines were provided by Chapel Down and Bluebell vineyards, and the feeling amongst the guests was that they compared very favourably with the Ritz champagne that would have been enjoyed at previous events held in Paris!

COMPETITION RESULTS BY CLASS

Trophée Charles Ritz 2014 1st M. Laurent Sainsot 2nd Mr John Dart 3rd M. Olivier Masmonteil

Split Cane Grand Prix 1st Mr James Klein 2nd Dr Robin Lightwood 3rd M. Erik Masson

Distance 1st M. Laurent Sainsot 2nd Mr John Dart 3rd M. Olivier Masmonteil

Accuracy 1st Mr Gavin Frankel 2nd M. Olivier Masmonteil 3rd M. Gérard Piquard

Ladies 1st Mrs Willeke Van Der Swan 2nd Mrs Virginia De Zoete

Junior M. Deacan Duma