Squadron member and Tasmania's world champion sailor Nick Rogers (Karabos), with his crew of Cole Dabner and Simon Burrows, also squadron members, has blitzed the fleet to win the 2024 Australian Championship on 13 points.
Rogers dominated the regatta winning seven of the ten race series to secure his first ever SB20 Australian title. The trophy caps off a great 2024 for Rogers who was crowned the SB20 Tasmanian Champion.
"I feel absolutely fantastic - the first one I have won in the SB20s, and I'm pretty excited about it. We loved the conditions out there. Today, we tried to just stay away from the other two boats, {Nutcracker and Ares], but we ended up getting involved with them anyway, and winning those two last races, I couldn't believe it," said Rogers.
Rogers paid credit to his crew, especially the local knowledge of Dabner who grew up sailing on the River Tamar from the Port Dalrymple Yacht Club, and stressed the importance of preparation for events like this.
"We spent months going through it all - deciding what sails we would use, and everything we chose worked well." said Rogers.
Despite the intense forecast, Race Officer Peter Sluce sent the fleet off for their last two races in 14-18 knots of WNW breeze and on an incoming tide. The breeze was gusting over 20 knots which saw a few more thrills and spills on the race course.
Congratulations to Nick Rogers and crew for this outstanding achievement.
Words: Jane Austin
