SPORT - Tassie ends NSW domination

The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania (RYCT) crew led by Elliott Noye has won the 2010 Australian Youth Match Racing Championship at Southport Yacht Club at the Gold Coast, recording the first-ever victory by a team from outside NSW.

Noye,
who outsailed some of Australia’s most experienced adult match-racing yachties in winning this year’s Tasmanian Open Match Racing Championship earlier this year, won 14 of his matches in the two round-robins and then went through to win the final on Monday (Sept 6) in straight matches.

The Tasmanians tied with Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron's (RYCT) Jordan Reece at the end of the two round-robins against other teams from Southport Yacht Club, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and Sandringham Yacht Club.

In the final,
Noye and his crew of Edward Snowball, Tom Ransley, Rowan Clark and Chris Jones, defeated the RSYS team 2-0 while in the petit final Jay Griffin (CYCA) defeated Joel Turner (Southport Yacht Club) 2-0.

Snowball sailed with Noye when they won the Tasmanian Open Match Racing Championship, beating notable sailors Nick Rogers and Rod Chamberlain,
who coached the RYCT team at the Youth Championship.

Noye will return to Laser sailing at the RYCT but will also represent Tasmania in the Australian Open Match Racing Championships on the Derwent River, Hobart in November.

In early January, he and another champion young Tasmanian George Jones will crew for Stephen Shield in his new Ridgeway Dragon in the Prince Philip Cup and World Championship on Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay. — Peter Campbell

Photo: Elliott Noye and his crew after winning the Tasmanian open match racing championship in June.