2024 Manly Cup at Manly Yacht Club
by Bevan McKavanagh 12 Dec 02:45 PST
7-8 December 2024
The 5th annual Manly Cup took place at Manly last weekend. A record turnout of 68 entrants over three O'pen Skiff Divisions along with ILCA 4 and 6. With those numbers it was always going to be a busy weekend on the deck at Manly Yacht Club.
The Manly Cup included:
- Green Fleet - sailors new to regattas and that have not raced before.
- Silver Fleet - those that may have done Green Fleet before and some racing.
- Gold Fleet - generally the older sailors who have had some experience racing, along with
- ILCA 4&6 - sailors who have graduated from O'pen Skiffs.
With 24 sailors signed up for the Green Fleet it was double the number we generally see which is a great sign for years to come. Those young sailors are future Silver and Gold Fleeters. The Green Fleet runs mostly independent of the Gold and Silver Fleets on a simple course where the sailors learn about racing and how the start sequence works. The Gold and Silver Fleets sail on the same course with the ILCA 4's and 6's on a slightly longer version.
Saturday's weather was looking rough to say the least; light and rainy. Our experienced Race Office, Dave Tallis pushed on and managed 2 races in light and flukey conditions. We followed in the afternoon with the infamous 2-Up Island Race. After lining all the sailors up in order of tallest to shortest we matched the tallest sailor with the shortest sailor and moved down the list of competitors until everyone was paired up with a partner. They then set of with a running beach start to their boats, a sail out to the inflatable island where they dropped off one team member, sailed on to a buoy rounding and back to collect their team member followed by a race to the finish on the beach. This is a popular concept that the younger sailors absolutely love. It's a chance for all the sailors to mix and older sailors pass on skills to the younger less experienced.
Saturday night and it was back to the club for dinner then a glorious evening on the Manly Yacht Club deck with mostly sunshine.
Sunday dawned and it was a classic Sydney day; blue skies with a light nor'easter blowing. It was straight into the Giant SUP race!! The 68 competitors were split into 3 groups of about 20 sailors, and they had to race their 17ft giant SUP around a simple course. Good times and absolute carnage!!
As the SUP race concluded the breeze kicked in with a classic, Sydney Harbour Sou'Easter! Perfect sailing conditions for Manly. It was back on the water for 3 races across all fleets. A quick break for lunch and then back out for 2 more races, giving us a total of 8 races, meaning all sailors would drop their two worst results.
This year's lineup of sailors included lots of new inexperienced sailors that we hope all had a really good time. It was great to see the attendance mostly made up of Green and Silver Fleeters.
A special thank you should go to the following people who volunteered their time to make it all happen: David Tallis (Principal Race Office), Marg from Marg's Yacht Photos, Bruce Davis (patron saint of all things junior at Manly YC) & Manly Yacht Club for offering so much support to the Juniors program.
Podium Results:
ILCA 4
- 1st Danielle Chapman (Manly YC)
- 2nd Max Burgess (Balmoral SC)
- 3rd Joel Ware (Mannering Park ASC)
ILCA 6
- 1st Jamie Gill (Manly YC)
- 2nd Henry Reed (Manly YC)
- 3rd William O'Sullivan (Manly YC)
O'pen Skiff (Gold)
- 1st Toby McKavanagh (Manly YC, winner of the 2024 Manly Cup)
- 2nd Maya Hodzic (Manly YC)
- 3rd Leon-Wei Petit (Noosa YRC)
O'pen Skiff (Silver)
- 1st Morgan Haines (Noosa YRC)
- 2nd Ben Hunter (Yarra Bay 16ft SC)
- 3rd Liam Ware (Mannering Park ASC)
Full results here