Olympian, world champion Greg Hyde inducted into Australian Sailing Hall of Fame
His first foray into sailing wasn’t quite the success he wanted. But that didn’t deter Greg Hyde from becoming one of the greats of his sport.
Manly
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He is one of Australia’s greatest sailors and when Clontarf’s Greg Hyde was recognised at the highest level when inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame it bought the house down.
This former world windsurfing and Cherub champion, Olympian and Sydney to Hobart winner dominated numerous classes during his heyday and is widely recognised as one of the most naturally gifted sailors in the country.
But his start in the sport was a little less impressive.
“Bathtub with a mast and a sail and it didn’t float,’’ Hyde laughed.
“That was my first taste of sailing.’’
Hyde was one of four sailors inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame in Sydney last weekend.
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Hyde was honoured alongside round the world racer and Sydney to Hobart multiple winners Adrienne Cahalan, famed ocean racers and boatbuilders Magnus and Trygve Halvoresen and sailing visionary Mark Foy.
“This is excellent,’’ said Hyde who dominated the world of windsurfing for years, won a Sydney to Hobart overall (IMS) on Cuckoos Nest in 1993 and in 16-foot skiffs was the first skipper to win every heat of an Australian championship.
The career of the 1984 Olympian, who finished sixth on debut at the Los Angeles Games, changed tack when he was truck down by a usually fatal form of encephalitis in mid 1996 which left him in a coma for several weeks.
“He had great sailing skills and amazing tactics but was also amazingly competitive and courageous. These things, after he fell sick, made him survive,’’ said Greg Johns, one of Australia’s most highly regarded windsurfers and close friend.
But after learning to walk, talk and read again, Hyde returned to the water, finishing sixth in the Australian 16-foot skiff championships despite missing two heats with illness.
In 2008 he had a stroke which resulted in partial right-sided paralysis, short-term memory loss and speech difficulties, but this setback again failed to keep him off the water.
Hyde campaigned the 2.4m class in a bid to represent at the 2012 Paralympics in London and won a gold medal at the 2009 Masters Worlds Games in the Access 303 (45+) and the Access world championship in 2012.
“This has been so much fun,’’ Hyde said of his sailing career.