His text dropped into my phone just as I was reading the article. Tom thought to send me a photo of the book. Tom remembered Boris staying at our house for a couple of weeks back when Boris was an unknown sailor and Tom was knee-high to a grasshopper. The first thing that he noticed on the coffee table was a book by the German sailor Boris Herrmann, who unbeknownst to Tom was the skipper of Malizia when they set the record. The funny part of this story is that my son Tom landed in Berlin this morning and with his friends found their AirBnB. That is incredibly impressive when you calculate that 641.13 nautical miles is a shade under 740 “real” miles. They covered 641.13 nautical miles at an average speed of 26.71 knots. I was killing some time on The Ocean Race website this morning reading about the new 24-hour distance record set by Team Malizia. Sir James was inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame in 1994.įunny story, at least I think that it’s funny. The Hardy Cup is an annual match-racing competition he endowed to encourage Australia’s most talented young sailors. ‘Gentleman’ Jim Hardy’s name will endure as a yachting champion and through the company’s well-respected wine brands. As guest crew, he would never take the helm unless invited, even though his skill at steering yachts was peerless and remained undiminished well into his 80s.
Anyone within earshot felt included and their contributions were always valued.
While his manners were immaculate – even slightly old-fashioned – the tone of Hardy’s conversation was relaxed and engaging. He continued to compete in Etchells and the major offshore races, principally in his own yachts Nyamba and Police Car, but also sailing as a helmsman for other owners in local and international events. Hardy was the skipper in a further two America’s Cup campaigns (1974, 1980) and backup helmsman and advisor to John Bertrand when Australia II finally won the Cup in 1983. “Going through an experience like that sort of washes out your soul”, he said.
He only shed that disappointment after surviving the horrific Fastnet Ocean Race of 1979 when a violent storm in the Irish Sea cost 15 sailors their lives. His close defeat as helmsman in the controversial Gretel II challenge in 1970 was a crushing blow. That victory prompted an invitation to join the crews training in Sydney for Australia’s second challenge for the America’s Cup. He won the world championship in the 505 class in 1966 defeating four-time Olympic champion Paul Elvström. Jim worked at a local market garden after school to pay for the materials to build his first real racing boat, a 12-foot Cadet dinghy. Jim’s father Tom, a keen yachtsman and chairman of the Thomas Hardy & Sons wine company, died in a plane crash in October 1938 when Jim was just six years old. The sea-going ancestral roots of the family go back to Thomas Masterman (‘Kiss me’) Hardy who was Nelson’s captain on HMS Victory at the battle of Trafalgar. The three-time America’s Cup helmsman, Olympian, world champion and Admiral’s Cup winner embodied the Corinthian ideals of the sport during a time when sailors from ‘Down Under’ were prominent and popular at the world’s major events. Sir James Hardy, perhaps the best-known Australian yachtsman of the 20th Century, has died peacefully in Adelaide aged 90.
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