CYCA claims 20th consecutive NSW Match Racing State Title
by Cruising Yacht Club of Australia 20 Mar 22:58 PDT
19-20 March 2022
The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has won a remarkable 20th consecutive NSW State Match Racing title this weekend. Since its inception in 2001, only two yacht Clubs have ever won the event with Hunter Academy of Sport's entry helmed by Nathan Outteridge claiming the inaugural event.
Since then, some of Australia's top professional sailors have added their names to the trophy list including the likes of Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton, Kyle Langford and Will Ryan.
This year it was the CYCA's Finn Tapper, Will Sargent, Nathan Gulliksen, Ryan Ewings & Jess Tavener who defeated fellow Club Members Cole Tapper, Jack Littlechild, Charlotte Alexander, Hamish Vass & Chelsea Williams 2-0 in the final. This was Finn's second year winning the Championship as his team campaigns towards the Youth Match Racing World Championship to be held in Pornichet, France in late July.
Today's conditions were again just as tricky as yesterday. A very inconsistent light SW breeze desperately tried to make its way around to the east, forcing multiple race abandonments throughout the day.
The two CYCA teams made it a quick run into the Finals, taking out each semi-final 3-0. However, each race was just as intense as the last. RPAYC's Alistair Read and RSYS's Jed Cruickshank gave it everything to try and progress to the Finals, but were unsuccessful at their attempts.
In the Sail-Off, newcomers to match racing RPAYC's D'Arcy Kemp and RSYS's Xavier McLachlan both showed they are quick learners and will be challenging for semi-finals in the future. Whilst again the series was a whitewash 3-0 to McLachlan, both teams traded the lead in each race during the series.
The Petit-Finals saw the more experienced RPAYC team of Alistair Read, Antony Hawke, Cam Whiteside, Tiana Wittey & Nathan Bryant able to dispatch the RSYS team in 2 matches to claim the final podium spot.
For the Finalists, a tricky racetrack left no room for errors and in both pre-starts, it was Finn Tapper, the older brother of Cole Tapper, who was able to control his opponent to lead. Finn's team led comfortably off the start and headed in the right direction. From here Finn team extended in both races, showing a new speed edge not seen in the regatta so far.
The shorten series, a first-to-two point contest, also played right into Finn's hands and Cole couldn't revive his series to go down 2-0.
At the presentation all competitors thanked Club Marine for their ongoing support of the event which has now reached in 16th year as partners.