Twin brothers Louis and Marc Ryckmans’ Voltstar Yeah Baby is the Overall Winner of the Peter Rysdyk Memorial Trophy for the 2024 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race. URM Group has claimed Line Honours.
This is the first in the six-race Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore, culminating in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
The 2024 running is the Ryckmans’ tenth Noakes Sydney Gold Coast. Their yacht Voltstar Yeah Baby is their fourth yacht of that name. This is their first Noakes Sydney Gold Coast with their Akilaria Rc2 and their first major Overall victory on the yacht.
Voltstar Yeah Baby finished the race in the early hours of Monday 29 July, at 03:03:40 hours, with an elapsed time of 1 day 14 hours 3 minutes and 40 seconds. Discussing their experience racing up the NSW coast, Marc Ryckman emphasised the importance of sailing with your mates and sticking to your navigational plan, saying “It’s one-third the boat, one-third the crew and one-third luck. We’re grateful luck favoured us and had a great experience sailing with this crew up the coast.”
Louis Ryckman added, “We’re honoured to have won the race. We competed in our first race twenty years ago, having retired in our first offshore race and have now gone on to win a race, with a lot of learning in between. The Noakes Sydney Gold Coast is a fantastic race and we’re grateful to share this win with all the competitors.”
On their Line Honours victory, owner of URM Group, Anthony Johnston says, “I was sorry not to have been on board this trip. It looked like the guys had great conditions, suited to our boat, and sailed a fantastic race.
I am really happy. We were confident leading into it, having made a number of modifications and training really well, but you need to get the job done. I am particularly pleased at how well the team has come together and welcomed in the new faces.
We were looking for a strong perfomance to lay the foundation for the season ahead – with the aim to defend our Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water title and have another crack at Hobart.”
The race conditions provided a great runway up the coast for many of the double handed competitors, with double handed entries claiming second place IRC Overall, first place IRC Division 2, and first, second and third in IRC Division 3.
The Lombard 34 Mistral had been in close contention for overall victory. Co-skippers Rupert Henry and Greg O’Shea sailed an impressive race, often sailing alongside much larger competitors including David Hobb’s Elliott 13 Quantock and Darryn Purdy’s Marten 49 Indigo II. Mistral persisted through both a slow start and a slow finish. The wind dropped off significantly during their last ten nautical miles to the finish line, forcing the yacht to bob and crawl their way across the Gold Coast as they chased patches of breeze.
Forty-eight yachts finished the 2024 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race to conclude this year’s event.
Commodore of race organiser, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Dr. Sam Haynes declared the race a great success. “The 2024 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast was an incredible test of skill and endurance as competitors experienced variable wind strengths. It truly is a fantastic race.”
The newly appointed Commodore of race finishing partner, Southport Yacht Club, Glenn Burrell said, “We’re proud to be the Race Finishing Partner of the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race since its inception in 1986. We value our great partnership with the CYCA and enjoy running a race with such a great history and tradition. We’re looking forward to next year and hosting the 40th edition in 2026.”
The Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race is made possible through the support of naming rights partner, Noakes Group. Noakes Group has supported sailing in Australia for more than 30 years.
Official website
www.goldcoast.cycaracing.com
Facebook: @SydneyGoldCoastYachtRace
Instagram: @sgcyachtrace
