Young sailors representing RSYS in Hardy Cup
by Peter Campbell on 11 Feb 2008
RSYS’’s Stuart Pollard (6) in close racing - Warren Jones Regatta John Roberson
Three teenage Laser sailors have joined forces to represent the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron as a Youth Team in the Hardy Cup ISAF Grade 3 Match Racing Regatta on Sydney Harbour this week.
Competition in the first round robin this morning was delayed for at least an hour and a half because of lack of wind, but a light breeze began to fill in late morning.
The Hardy Cup has attracted the best young match racing sailors from Australia and New Zealand, plus a Swedish team, with the host club, the RSYS, nominating two teams.
The experienced senior team comprises Stuart Pollard (helm), Ben Barzach (Middle), Ian Quartly (bow) and Kate Brown (front) while the RSYS Youth team is David Chapman (helm), Edward Quartly (middle) and Thomas Scardifield (bow).
The Youth team was chosen following the National Bank New Zealand Youth Match Racing Championship conducted in Auckland by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in which David Chapman and Edward Quartly each skippered a team.
Chapman’s team placed sixth, Quartly’s 10th in a close series and as a result Chapman was chosen as helm of the Youth Team for the Hardy Cup.
Chapman, 19, is a son of RSYS Rear Commodore Richard Chapman and his wife, Rowena, and, like Quartly and Scardifield, is a graduate of the Squadron’s Youth Development Program.
This will be their first Hardy Cup, but they have been training for the past six months in the Squadron’s Elliott 6 sports boats under direction of match racing coach David Adams.
Apart from the one Swedish team, this year’s Hardy Cup will be a three-way contest between teams from Western Australia, New South Wales and New Zealand, headed by Perth’s Torvar Mirsky and Auckland’s Adam Minoprio who last week fought out the Warren Jones Youth Regatta on the Swan River.
The Hardy Cup fleet also included two women teams, both from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, led by Nicky Souter and Nina Curtis.
The Hardy Cup continues through to next Thursday, 14 February.
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