Meet the Teams - 32nd Harken International Youth Match Racing Championship
by RPAYC 11 Nov 07:42 GMT
11–15 November 2026
2025 Harken International Match Racing Regatta © Down Under Sail
World championship medallists, national champions and emerging sailors from Australia and New Zealand will meet on Pittwater for the HARKEN International Youth Match Racing Championship 2026, hosted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (RPAYC) from 11-15 November.
Ten teams from five yacht clubs will compete in RPAYC's Elliott 7 keelboats and battle for the Rockin' Robin Perpetual Trophy, promising plenty of intrigue. Registration and practice take place on Wednesday 11 November, followed by four days of racing from Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 November.
The line-up brings together sailors with recent international podium finishes and national titles, alongside developing skippers ready to test their skills in one-on-one racing.
Daniel Kemp
Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club | Sydney, Australia
A previous HARKEN winner, Daniel Kemp returns with a world championship silver medal. He skippered Australia to second at the 2026 Youth Match Racing World Championship in Middelfart, Denmark, in June, before finishing fifth at the Governor's Cup in California. Kemp won HARKEN in 2024 and the Australian Youth Match Racing Championship in 2025, giving the host club an experienced contender for another victory on Pittwater. [3,4,5,6]
Crew: Joshua Paulson, Charlie Verity, Annabelle Sampson and Isabella Holdsworth.
Louis Tilly
Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club | Sydney, Australia
Louis Tilly arrives as the newly crowned Australian Youth Match Racing champion after a 3-0 final win over Ben Crafoord at Geelong in October. He also defended his Australian WASZP title in April and shared in Kemp's world championship silver medal as crew. His HARKEN lineup retains national title-winning teammates William Hough, William Troop and Oliver Ross, joined by Heidi Bates. [3,7,8]
Crew: Heidi Bates, William Troop, Oliver Ross and William Hough.
Ethan Fong
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron | Auckland, New Zealand
Ethan Fong brings a Hardy Cup title and fresh form from New Zealand's open match racing circuit. He won the 2026 Hardy Cup on Sydney Harbour in February and finished runner-up at the Oceanbridge New Zealand Match Racing Championship on 1 November. Fong also reached the final of the 2025 HARKEN championship, finishing second, and returns to Pittwater with a strong record against international opposition.
Crew: Lucas Day, Harry McMullen, Hayden Smith and Maddie Rist.
Robbie Wooldridge
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron | Auckland, New Zealand
Robbie Wooldridge also returns with experience of HARKEN's final four, having finished fourth in 2025 after winning 13 of his 18 round-robin matches. His 2026 campaign includes fourth at the Hardy Cup and sixth at Auckland's Toyota Youth International Match Racing Cup. Those results add further depth to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's two-team challenge.
Crew: Loik Eeman, Sally Roff, Ora Mead and James Blyth.
James Hayhoe
Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron | Sydney, Australia
James Hayhoe delivered Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron's first Toyota Youth International Match Racing Cup victory in Auckland earlier this year. He has since added second place at the 2026 OCIUS NSW Youth Match Racing Championship and third at October's Australian Youth Match Racing Championship. With an international regatta win and recent podium finishes in Australia, Hayhoe brings a strong season's form to Pittwater.
Crew: Michael King, Angus Renton, Lachie Jansen, Lauren Tandy.
Massimo Henderson
Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron | Sydney, Australia
Massimo Henderson completes Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron's two-team challenge. He finished fifth at the 2026 OCIUS NSW Youth Match Racing Championship, winning his placing series against Joshua Paulson 3-0, and sixth at the Australian Youth Match Racing Championship in Geelong. Henderson also finished eighth at Auckland's Toyota Youth International, gaining further experience against several skippers he will meet again at HARKEN.
Crew: Thomas Beatty, Sebastien Spencer, Christian Spencer, Felicity Cameron.
Heidi Ferguson
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia | Sydney, Australia
Heidi Ferguson heads the CYCA team after finishing third at September's John Messenger Women's Match Racing Regatta, securing the podium with a 2-1 win over Isabella Holdsworth in the petit final. She followed that with fifth at the Australian Women's Match Racing Championship in Fremantle. Her HARKEN crew includes Ali Braden, who was part of Chelsea Williams' winning team at those national championships.
Crew: Peter Rowe, Ali Braden, Charlotte Toll and Kelly Su.
Angus Cameron
Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club | Perth, Australia
Perth's Angus Cameron arrives after reaching the semi-finals and finishing fourth at the 2026 Australian Youth Match Racing Championship. His Geelong campaign included victories over Ben Crafoord and James Hayhoe on a five-win penultimate day. Earlier in 2026, Cameron also skippered Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club to second overall and first in the Under 23 category at the Sailing Champions League Asia Pacific Final in Newcastle.
Crew: Ashile Duffield, Diemont Ferriera and Eleanor Green.
Ash Napper
Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club | Sydney, Australia
Ash Napper brings national success in dinghies and skiffs to the host club's challenge. Napper and Taj Bridge successfully defended their Australian Flying 11 title in 2025, before Napper skippered Buckingham Marine to third at the Australian 13ft Skiff Championship at Belmont in January 2026, sailing with Theo Franklin. The RPAYC development sailor now takes on the HARKEN fleet in Elliott 7s.
Crew: Victoria Lin, Joe Corbel, Bella Primrose, Fife Crawfoord
Sophie Hart
Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club | Sydney, Australia
Sophie Hart joins the RPAYC challenge with recent success in Manly's 16ft skiff fleet. Skippering Whitefox Real Estate, she claimed handicap honours in both Short Course Series races on 24 October 2026. A member of RPAYC's Youth Development Squad, Hart will represent the host club in the international lineup.
Crew: Orlando Sadlik, Goro Tomishima, Hugo Butterworth and Charlie Snell.
It is not often that a club has the opportunity to host the world's three highest-ranked youth match racing skippers in the same event.
Ethan Fong, Daniel Kemp and James Hayhoe occupy the top three places in that order, while Louis Tilly's rise to join Robbie Wooldridge in the top ten means five of the world's top ten youth skippers will be racing. However, with ten competitive teams in the field, it's performance, not rankings, that determines the outcome.
The New Zealand teams will be looking to continue their recent success, the visiting Australian clubs will be eager to make their mark, and RPAYC's four teams will be doing everything they can to secure a home victory.
Whatever the result, the 2026 HARKEN International Youth Match Racing Championship promises four days of outstanding competition and another opportunity for RPAYC to play a leading role in the development of the next generation of international sailing talent.
With support from naming rights sponsor Harken Australia, the championship brings the ten teams together for four days of match racing on Pittwater. The scheduled racing area is near Scotland Island, with daily racing scheduled from 1000hrs.
Follow the teams, event updates and results through the HARKEN championship page on the RPAYC website.