Jock Sturrock

Who was Jock Sturrock?

Alexander Stuart "Jock" Sturrock MBE was a noted Australian yachtsman who won over four hundred national and state championship yachting races.

He won his first Australian yachting championship in the 12-foot Cadet dinghy "Monsoon" in 1932 at the age of 12 in Perth. At 18 he helped pioneer the introduction of the International Star Class into Australia, and won the first 8 Australian championships in that class. He was 3-time Australian 6 Metre class champion, 3-time Australian Dragon class champion, and 2-time Australian 5.5 Metre class champion.

He represented Australia in four Olympic Games, 1948 London, 1952 Helsinki, 1956 Melbourne, and 1960 Rome. He was the Australian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the Rome Olympic Games.

He achieved international public recognition when he skippered Australia's first challenge for the America's Cup in Gretel in 1962. Although defeated 4 to 1 by Weatherly, Gretel's victory in the second race was the first by a challenger since 1934, and is widely recognised as the first of the events that resurrected the America's Cup as an international sporting competition. He also skippered Dame Pattie, Australia's second America's Cup challenger, in 1967, which was beaten 4–0 by the highly controversial defender Intrepid.