James Hodgson, Harry Price, Emma Harrison & Max Cottier have taken out the first match racing regatta for the 2018/19 youth circuit, going undefeated throughout the one-day event against six other teams from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, The Scots College and Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.
Each year, the Shelving Systems Match Cup provides a great training event for teams heading to either the Australian Maid Youth Match Racing Regatta in Darwin, or the Governor’s Cup, and this year was no exception. Although Hodgson is unable to attend either event, his crew, Harry Price is now heading overseas for the World Match Racing Tour and Governor’s Cup. For the host yacht club, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the results couldn’t have been better, with the top four positions all coming for the CYCA Youth Sailing Academy.
Hodgson came away with convincing wins in each of his six matches, beating the top ranked skipper and defending champion, Tom Grimes (CYCA) in the final flight to seal the regatta title. The rest of the field looked very evenly matched with new match racing teams, Jack Littlechild (RSYS) and Hugo Stoner (Scots College/CYCA), both showing some strong results, finishing fifth and fourth respectively on three wins and three loses.
The battle for the podium positions were only decided in the final flight, when the two top ranked skippers, Tom Grimes and James Hodgson met. After a even start, both boats were never more than two lengths apart for the first half of the race, but a close bottom mark rounding saw Grimes take too much room, collide with Hodgson and receive a penalty. Grimes was then forced back to the less favoured left-hand side as Hodgson pulled away to claim his sixth win, gifting him the regatta and relegating Grimes to third place overall behind another CYCA entry skippered by Finn Tapper.
For Tapper, taking second place overall was a welcome relief after a last-minute crew change was made when one of his teammates fell ill during the week. With Tapper’s team preparing for the Australian Maid Youth Match Racing Regatta starting on Wednesday 4 July, Tom Grimes will now join the crew, replacing Jake Liddell.
The Shelving Systems Match Cup is supported by CYCA members Phil Tomkins and Garry Linacre with Shelving Systems having now been the naming rights sponsor to the event for the past four years.
Overall positions
1. James Hodgson 6–0 100%
2. Finn Tapper 4–2 67%
3. Tom Grimes 4–2 67%
4. Hugo Stoner 3–3 50%
5. Jack Littlechild 3–3 50%
6. Charlotte Griffin 1–5 17%
7. Jess Tavener 0–6 0%
