2026 Warren Jones International Match Racing Regatta - Day 1

Marcello Torre and his crew, representing the host club, Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, head the leaderboard at the end of the first day of the Warren Jones International Youth Regatta. With a strong crew of Vassilis Katsaitis, Xavier Bates, George Elms and Raff Torre, they went through a tough opening day undefeated.

Three teams share second place, just one point behind the leader, New Zealander Josh Hyde and two Aussies, Cole Tapper and Ben Crafood. But for an uncharacteristic error by Hyde, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, he would have topped the leaderboard.

The young Kiwi had put up a dominant performance in testing conditions, but in a pre-start incident towards the end of the day, crashed into another boat and had a penalty point deducted from his otherwise perfect scoreline, to sacrifice the lead. Both Torre and Hyde had mastered both the conditions and opposition with skill and cunning.

Cole Tapper and Ben Crafood are products of the strong match racing academy at Sydney's Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, with Tapper the highest ranked skipper in the event at 3rd in the world.

The regatta has attracted 12 skippers, all under the age of 25, from as far afield as Denmark. The boisterous conditions on the opening day, with the fabled Fremantle seabreeze gusting in at 25 knots, tested the crews and the equipment, with both shredded sails and skin.

Cole Tapper is defending the trophy he won last year, while for Hyde this is his third attempt at winning this prestigious trophy, named after the man who masterminded Australia's historic America's Cup victory in Newport, Rhode Island in 1983.

Results after Day 1:

Marcello Torre RFBYC AUS 5pts
Josh Hyde RNZYS NZL 4pts
Cole Tapper CYCA AUS 4pts
Ben Crafoord CYCA AUS 4pts
Daniel Kemp RPAYC AUS 3pts
Zac West RSYS GBR 3pts
Ethan Fong RNZYS NZL 2.5pts
Hayden Smith RNZYS NZL 2pts
Matias Rossing RDYC DEN 2pts
Mia Lovelady RFBYC AUS 0pts
William McAullay RPYC AUS 0pts
Angus Cameron RFBYC AUS 0pts

For more information visit the event website, www.warrenjonesregatta.com.