Australian sailing great Sir James Hardy dies

Hardy, who was born in Seacliff, South Australia on November 20, 1932, was the great-grandson of South Australian winemaker Thomas Hardy.

Immersed in a family of sailors, Hardy’s lifelong love of the water started young. His father Tom Hardy won the 1950 Sydney Hobart Yacht race in Nerida, the yacht he had built at Searle and Sons in South Australia in 1933 – a boat that Sir James would go on to track down after it was sold out of the family’s hands, and restore it. 

Striking out on his own, Hardy claimed the Australian championship in the Sharpie class in his late teens in 1959, the Olympic-class Flying Dutchman in 1964, and went on to claim the 505 world championship in 1966.

Hardy went on to represent Australia in sailing at two Olympic Games, skippered in three America’s Cup challenges – one that he should have won – and vied for line honours in four Admiral’s Cup regattas, helming Impetuous and helping his team on the course to claim the trophy in the wake of the infamous 1979 Fastnet race in which 18 people lost their lives.

But his name is more deeply etched in the America’s Cup, where he competed as crew, then skipper aboard Gretel (1967) and Gretel II (1970), onboard Southern Cross (1974) and Australia (1980) and finally as a relief skipper and advisor to John Bertrand’s Australia II win in 1983.

Hardy was inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame in 1994.

Last year, Hardy was inducted into the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Hall of Fame for his contribution to Australian sailing – the same motivation behind his receiving an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1975, and a knighthood in 1981.

His legacy will be Youth Sailing Australia, a school he helped to create that has turned out some of the nation’s, and the world's, biggest names in sailing.

Hardy died on Wednesday surrounded by family at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He is survived by his wife Lady Joan Hardy and his sons David and Richard.