Feb

GME Sponsored Yacht Claims the 2023 Hardy Cup

GME has proudly been a long-term sponsor of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) and their youth sailing academy for over 15 years, and recently the CYCA Youth Sailing Academy won the 2023 Hardy Cup to seal a fourth consecutive win in the prestigious regatta, becoming the most successful Club to race in the event.

The Hardy Cup is one of Australia’s premier match racing regattas and since its inception in 2001 has aimed at further developing the match racing and tactical skills of youth sailors. The Hardy Cup is a World Sailing Grade 3 Youth Event (U23) that consists of four days of racing with a double round-robin and knock-out series.

This year’s cup was hosted by the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron (RSYS) from 5-9 February, and consisted of 10 teams from Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain. The two CYCA teams were led by sailors Will Sargent and Chelsea Williams. Sargent was joined by crew Max Brennan, Mark Murray and Hamish Vass, while Williams’ crew was Nick Drummond, Riley Evans, Sarah Hoffman and Audrey Scheu.

With near perfect conditions over the first two days, the Race Committee was able to fire away the double round robin with no issue. After 18 races for each team, Sargent of the CYCA sat in second position behind Robbie McCutcheon of the Oban Sailing Club, while Williams’ three wins came in the second round robin.

Heading into the knockout stages, Sargent chose to race D’Arcy Kemp from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in the quarter-finals where they easily progressed through to the semi-finals in a 3-0 sweep. As second seed after qualifying, Sargent and his team then raced Josh Hyde of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in the semi-finals, coming away 3-1 winners to advance to the final.

Meanwhile, Williams finished 10th overall after losing to Massimo Henderson of the RSYS, 2-0.

The finals saw a re-run of the 2022 Hardy Cup, with RSYS pitted against the CYCA. With temperamental weather conditions including a thunderstorm throughout the finals, Sargent and his team persevered and sailed well to take out the series 3-1 and claim the Hardy Cup.

GME is proud to be partnered with the CYCA and extend our congratulations to Will Sargent and the team for their victory in the 2023 Hardy Cup.