Perth’s Iconic Youth Match Racing Regatta
The Warren Jones International Youth Regatta is a locally run match, iconic racing held in Perth, Western Australia.
With a number of high profile previous winners and alumni alike, the Warren Jones International Youth Regatta, founded in 2003 in the name of Warren Jones, a West Australian icon in the Sailing Community, is known for being a pathway for young, aspiring yachtsmen and women to achieve their match racing goals by allowing a platform for them to showcase their skills, launching them into the spotlight of the international circuit
In it’s 18th year, the Warren Jones International Youth Regatta will again be a Grade-2 Match Racing Event with locals, nationals and internationals alike encouraged to express their interest to compete in the Regatta. 12 teams of under-25-year-old males and females will be selected to compete upon the picturesque waterway that is the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia.
In 2020, the Warren Jones International Youth Regatta will be held from Monday 27th to Friday 31st January and will be hosted by Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club as part of the 2020 City of Perth Festival of Sail.
THE WARREN JONES STORY
Warren Jones of “Australia II” fame died suddenly on 17th May, 2002. His sudden and untimely death was a bitter blow to his many friends throughout Australia and around the World.
Warren made a fabulous contribution to local and international yachting with perhaps his greatest achievement occurring in September 1983, when as Alan Bond’s lieutenant, he led a group of Australian yachtsmen to victory to win the 1983 Americas Cup from the New York Yacht Club for the first time in 132 years of competition.
This feat brought Australia to the forefront of international sailing competition.
Warren also became one of Australia’s leading businessmen and community leaders and played a big role in the development of young sailors. He had a down to earth nature, enormous amounts of energy, a competitive spirit, great courage and determination to reach his goals and was always ready to give
the younger generation his words of wisdom and moral support.
The aim of this yachting regatta, named in Warren Jones’ memory and started by his many friends and associates, is to give a new generation of yachtsmen and women the chance to live their dreams – just as Warren did his.
The Warren Jones Regatta trophy was gifted by the “Australia II” Jubilee Committee who was awarded the New York Yacht Club’s trophy in recognition of “Australia II’s” achievement as being the “Greatest Benefit to the Sport in 150 years of the America’s Cup”.
The “Australia II” Jubilee Committee decided that the Warren Jones International Youth Regatta could use this prestigious award as a perpetual trophy for the event, named after Warren Jones, in a similar way that the America syndicate in 1851 was awarded their 100 Guinea’s Cup now called the ‘America’s Cup’ for future generations to race for.
