2018 SB20 Australian Championship: Skippers Felicity Allison & Brett Cooper on sailing River Derwent

Cook Your Own Dinner, L-R Felicity Allison, Jill Abel, Mel Ford and Bridget Hutton © Jane Austin

Felicity Allison, skipper of Cook Your Own Dinner, is aiming for top women's crew in the 2018 SB20 Australian Championship and is hoping local knowledge, crew experience, and long friendships will be an advantage.

"We know the waters and we know the tricky conditions we have on the Derwent (River). Jill (Abel) and I have been friends since we were five; Mel used to be my skipper, and Bridget has been involved in the sailing family for many years," said Allison. "We have been sailing together for two years after deciding that Thursday night, being twilight night, is the cook your own dinner night, and that's how this started. We are competitive, we have our different techniques on the boat, and I think we should do reasonably well.

"There will be tough competition on the water; we know there aren't any niceties on the course, the starts lines are interesting and mark-roundings are a challenge, but when there is some wind on, they are a great boat to sail," said Allison.

Brett Cooper, skipper of Aeolus and current Australian Champion, describes the fleet as very competitive with numerous world title holders among the skippers, from Nick Rogers to Paul Burnell. "Typically, the Tasmanian sailors do very well – they have a lot of experience behind them – and the girls also do very well in these boats. With a crew limit of 270kg, it allows for up to four younger crew or three older crew, like us," said Cooper.

And Cooper has his thoughts on the challenges that the River Derwent will throw at the fleet today.

"You'd like to think you know it [the River] after sailing on it for 35 years, but it just never seems to be the same, and today is no exception. We have a cold southerly coming in and we will have an outgoing tide by the time we start; and we could have up to three knots of current coming down the river after the rains that we have just had," said Cooper.

"Getting the right side of the course is not easy. We need to sail for what the conditions are and not try to pre-empt them like we did in the Worlds in January," said Cooper.

Race Officer Ian Ross told the fleet in his briefing that there will be ten races with the Committee aiming for four races today and tomorrow.

Results will be posted click here.