Above: Jim Hardy and regular crew Max Whitnall raced their 505 Black Bottle at Brighton in South Australia to win the 1966 World Championships. This was Hardy’s first international title and it was also – remarkably – the first sailing world championship ever held in the southern hemisphere. And promoting the family product (left) aboard his cherished Nerida. Restored, sunk in a storm in Sydney in 2007, then delicately raised and restored again, the Mylne gaff-cutter was originally built for his father Tom Hardy in 1993
effort, resulting in the fine S&S-designed Courageous emerging as Cup defender… but only after Olin Stephens made his views known to the NYYC race committee on what he thought was the fastest boat available to defend the Cup. Skippered by Ted Hood with Dennis
Conner as starting helmsman, the crew of Courageous optimised and refined their campaign throughout the summer to secure the series 4-0, with a winning margin in the final race of seven minutes and nineteen seconds; whereupon Jim Hardy commented, ‘Today truly Coura- geous was quite outstanding. She was almost disappearing into the sunset – I was glad the race was only 24 miles long.’ Returning in 1980 with Alan Bond’s
Australia to race against the Dennis Conner-skippered Freedom, Hardy was again successful in beating the Americans in one of the races. But now enough was enough: ‘I’ve learnt a lot in three chal- lenges, but I’ve no desire to try again… ‘In future I’d like to be a coach or advisor
to help someone like John Bertrand to win. John’s a professional, cold and calculating. He can do it whereas I’ll always basically be a Corinthian at heart.’ So for the 1983 Cup series Jim was
reserve helmsman and mentor to skipper John Bertrand. ‘Jim was absolutely essen- tial to the success of the Australia II team in winning the America’s Cup in 1983,’ said Australia II trimmer Skip Lissiman. ‘Jim’s experience and wisdom from
those previous campaigns was crucial to us, he helped guide us through the chal- lenges and pressures of that America’s Cup series, particularly when John [Bertrand] pinched a nerve in his neck during the Challenger Series… at which point Hardy seamlessly stepped aboard to skipper Australia II to eight wins from nine races. ‘It was quite something to see him do
that, so calmly and expertly.’ Hardy was made an OBE in 1975 and
knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1981 for services to yachting and the community. In 1994 he was inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame, in 2000 he was awarded the Australian Sports Medal, and in 2017 he was an inaugural inductee to the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame as a member of Australia II. He competed in four Admiral’s Cups.
Critically as helmsman of the Ron Holland- designed Impetuous, he was one of the winning team in the brutal 1979 edition with its storm-lashed Fastnet Race. Another famous yacht Hardy was
connected with was the fractional-rigged Dubois 42 Two-Tonner Police Car – another member of that same 1979 Aus- tralian Admiral’s Cup team, which Jim raced to Hobart on four occasions. Famously the crew usually put on their police uniforms for each prizegiving, plus at the start and finish of their races; after a race from Brisbane to Gladstone the senior sergeant in Gladstone was not amused to find race crew in boisterous post-race celebrations. It was bad enough to see uniformed men with their shirt tails hang- ing out, downing beers at the yacht club, but the sergeant was outraged to learn that two uniformed race crew had placed them- selves on point duty in the main street, enthusiastically directing the traffic up a dead-end street. Gentleman Jim had to do some fast
talking to explain to the police officer that the crew’s actions were not a serious threat to law and order. As always with Sir James, diplomacy won the day. Reflecting in later life on the sport that
he loved, Hardy said, ‘I feel lucky to have seen two distinct eras of sailing. I grew up in an era of cotton sails and galvanised iron rigging and watched the development
of synthetic sails and stainless steel. It’s given me a respect for the character of both.’ This sentiment explains his caring for his personal yacht Nerida, which was built by his father in 1933. Nerida was sold after the death of Jim’s father, but Jim found her again in Sydney in 1970 and restored her to her original condition. Meeting Jim Hardy for the first time at
an Australia Day regatta prizegiving, I expected that I would head up, shake his hand, smile for the photo and depart stage left. When he asked me in mid-handshake which boat I raced I said a Finn – and he was delighted. ‘A Finn! Would you like some advice?’ Aware of his extensive Olympic and Cup background I could hardly refuse, and when I leaned in a little closer to receive his priceless wisdom, Jim looked at me firmly with a twinkle in his eye, and said, ‘Blue – just try to keep the boat under the mast…’ as a broad smile spread across his face. The measure of a person can often be
gauged by the comments from those they leave behind. When I was researching this article I received a long phone call from a close friend who raced regularly with Jim, but who spoke to me now from the bleak surroundings of a cancer ward while connected up to monitors, tubes and drips. The reason he called was that he was
desperately trying to impress upon me the integrity, honour, dignity and humour of Jim Hardy – and just what a fine human being he was. He spoke and I listened, and during our conversation there were long periods of silence, with just the quiet, steady rhythm of wheezing faintly audible as he fought to summon the strength to tell me another great anecdote about a good man. Above all the trophies, medals, race wins and headlines, this told me an enor- mous amount about the man that was James Gilbert Hardy.
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