LOCAL resident and expert mariner Gordon Ingate OAM hit the record books once again last month, when sailing his nine-metre yacht ‘Jasnar’ with his regular crew in the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s Australia Day competition.

The course involved a sprint in the Harbour from the start near Shark Island, north to Manly before turning toward home, finishing back off Point Piper, twice around.

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Gordon says he won the event by about three seconds, so intense was the competition.

Even more remarkable is the fact that Gordon is now approaching 96 years of age!

Gordon began his extraordinary sailing career at the age of nine when he joined the 1st Chatswood Sea Scouts and he learned to sail the Scout group’s little gaff-rigged boat.

He moved on to the 6th Sydney Sea Scouts in Mosman Bay, and for the next few years spent many weekends at the boatshed sailing VJs, and 12, 14 and 16-footers.

His sailing prowess caught the attention of members at the nearby Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, and he was asked to make up crew on bigger boats – which was his introduction to what has become eighty years of successful ocean racing.

He qualified for the 1948 and 1952 Olympics but his employer refused to grant the minimum four months leave he needed to go to London and back by ship.

For over sixty years he has dominated the Dragon Class Championships, and has been successful in many Sydney-to-Hobart races, as well as the Admiral’s Cup, the Olympic Games and the America’s Cup.

‘Jasnar’ is the 29-foot-overall yacht that he skippered in the 1950 Hobart Race, at 24 years of age, with five young boys and a young lady of 19 years, who later became his wife.

Congratulations on all your achievements Gordon, and may there be many more!