Sweeping success
Matt Donald and Chris Townsend's Gweilo has swept the top honours at this year’s Cruising Yacht Club of Australia awards.
08 April 2021
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Matt Donald and Chris Townsend of Gweilo have officially been crowned the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Ocean Racing Yachts Persons of the Year.
The prestigious award is another jewel in the crown for Donald and Towsend with the TP52 also claiming top honours at the 2020-21 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore Series Prizegiving and Ocean Racer of the Year Awards.
Matt Allen’s Botin 52 Ichi Ban – the two-time overall Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race champion – scored second place in the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore Series, while Craig Neel and Bob Steel’s TP52 Quest finished third.
COVID-19 restrictions meant four of the six 2020-21 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore races were abandoned, leading to Gweilo being named winner of the Bird Island Race.
Christian Beck’s Juan-K 100 Infotrack was also named the overall winner of this year’s Cabbage Tree Island Race.
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Donald and Townsend collected the Jack Halliday Perpetual Trophy, given to the Overall IRC champion of the Blue Water Pointscore Series while bowman, Justin Mulkearns and mainsheet hand, Noel Drennan won the Roger Hickman OAM Trophy and the Troy McClean Memorial Trophy respectively for their roles in Gweilo’s series win.
Gweilo’s Kyle Dodds also found success with the Sally Gordon Memorial Trophy for Ocean Crew Person of the Year while Andrea Green was named Ocean Racing Navigator of the Year.
“We’ve come a long way in the last three years, worked hard at our program, made lots of modifications to the boat,” said Donald on the accolades.
“It all comes down to the camaraderie of the crew, in my view. We’ve got some fantastic sailors around us.
“We knew we had the right people, so we knew we’d be competitive. I think the accolades that have come to Gweilo over the last 12 months have surprised us a little bit, but when you look at the calibre of people that are sailing with us, it’s probably no surprise that we’ve done so well, which is quite an achievement.
“We’ll participate strongly in the [Cruising Yacht Club of Australia] Winter Series and we’ll go after the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore again, the pinnacle being the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. The boat has some great momentum.”
Other awards for this year’s ceremony included Jiang Lin being crowned Ocean Racing Rookie of the Year following their campaigning of Min River to overall PHS and ORCi wins in the Two-Handed Division of the Blue Water Pointscore.
Gordon Ketelbey was named the Ocean Racing Veteran of the Year award following their 2018 return to offshore sailing, despite a life-altering accident, as well as their entrance in the Bird Island Race, despite having broken ribs.
This year’s Cruising Yacht Club of Australia awards also saw the introduction of the Youth Ocean Racer of the Year award with the inaugural title being named to No Limit’s Charlie Gundy.
For a complete point list, visit the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore website here.
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