Harry Price from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has topped off a superb year of match racing, winning the 2015 Musto International Youth Match Racing Championship today.
Not since Seve Jarvin in 2005 has a Youth Sailing Academy Representative from the CYCA won the Harken International and the Musto International events in one year.
“I’m pretty happy with that,” said Price in relation to the comparison to Jarvin. “Seve went to the same school as me and he has always been someone I look up to because he has gone above and beyond.”
With lighter conditions on the Harbour for the final day of competition Price capitalised from the first semi against Malcom Parker from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club.
“Conditions if you were in front today were pretty easy to extend on and we were really happy with our pre starts all day because we struggled a bit with those during the week but today we turned it on and managed to do really well,” Price said.
“I was really looking forward to the lighter breeze today because it gave us so many more options, having more experience on board was a plus too, have ‘Muz’ (Murray Jones) on the main next to me helped out heaps because he just tells me what to do and when to do it really helped, the crew work was exceptional.”
Having competed in the Musto event four times, Price was thrilled to finally score the top honour.
“I have to thank Pam Scrivenor for believing in me over the journey to be selected to represent the CYCA at all of the events this year, also Jay Griffin who has been my coach for the whole year and from whom I have learnt an incredible amount, even back in the day watching him match race when I was sailing against him if I was crewing.”
Price won all three matches in the final against the strong finishing William Boulden from the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club in Western Australia.
Boulden started the day with a semi-final match up with Leonard Fry from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Boulden took the first match and Fry the second before the boys from Western Australia stamped their authority to claim the third and deciding match.
Facing Price in the final Boulden was the first to admit that he came off second best to the 2015 Governor’s Cup Champion.
“Full credit to Harry (Price), he goes really fast and he is very hard to keep up with, even when you’re in front and you feel like you should have control you just feel uneasy because of his speed,” Boulden said.
“We couldn’t get over the final hurdle today but we are happy with the result having improved on our performance last week at Harken.”
Sam Miles from Musto Australasia attended the prize giving and was full of praise for the young sailors and their achievements throughout the regatta.
“It is great to see all of these young sailors showcasing their skills on the Sydney Harbour over the past four days and we are proud to support such a fantastic event,” Miles said.
“To see a good number of participants sailing in their Musto gear and we hope that as their ability and passion for sailing develops that they carry the same passion for the Musto brand.”
CYCA Director and Chairman of the Training and Development Committee, Anthony Dunn said that the club are thrilled to see the YSA thrilling on and off the water.
“Our YSA representatives have had fantastic results this year on the water and to see it all culminate over the course of this week during the Musto Regatta has been phenomenal,” Dunn said.
“Investing in the new Elliott 7s has paid off and we are pleased to offer a program that is producing some of the best youth sailors in the country.”
Final Placings
1 CYCA – Harry Price, Murray Jones, Benjamin Robinson and Jack Hubbard
2 RFBYC – William Boulden, Douglas Campbell, Sam Monkhouse and Damian Garbowski
3 RNZYS – Leonard Fry, Logan Andresen, Josh Wijohn and Matthew Hughes
4 RPAYC – Malcolm Parker, Evelyn Foster, Harry Hall, Travis Thorn and Ruby Scholten
5 RFBYC – Lachlan Gilmour, Alex Negri, Ryan Donaldson, Cameron Seagreen
6 RNZYS – Lucas Chatonnier, Taylor Burn, Jacob Willis and Cameron Moss
7 RYCT – Zac Pullen, Sam Tiedemann, James Brewer and Alec Bailey
8 RPNYC – William Eastman, Callum Pritchard, Stuart Williams, Zoe Bennett and Amy Anderson
9 SCST – James Hodgson, Ben Vercoe, Fergus Gillanders and Hayden Johnson
10 CNC – Tom Picot, Kim Goetz, Theo Bore, Owen Nicaise and Edouard Amatte
11 CYCA – Emma May, Rosie Lee, Alexander Chittenden, Caitlin Tames and Sophie Shannon
12 RPNYC – Oakley Marsh, Will Martel, Polly Wright, Angus Adamson and Jaymin Southee
– Stacey French
