SB20 Class at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania Showdown Regatta - Day 1
by Jane Austin 31 Oct 2020 16:37 GMT
Nick Rogers holds a narrow lead in the SB20 one design fleet racing in the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania Showdown Regatta.
Rogers, sailing Karabos with Will Keyes and Simon Burrows, had a consistent day on the water winning two of the five races sailed, to finish the day on 9 points (2,3,1,1,2).
Rogers is leading Phil Reid, skipper of Mind Games, who is on 12 points (1,5,3,2,1) after a very solid day of sailing. Reid has the current SB20 Australian Champion Will Sargent onboard for the weekend along with tactician Rohan Langford, who will be keeping the pressure on Rogers on the final day of sailing. Andrew Smith, sailing Willie Smith, is in third place on 16 points (3,1,5,3,4) from Stephen Catchpool (Rebellion) on 20 points.
The fleet relished the consistent 16-18 knot south easterly sea breeze which kicked in after Race Three. Australian Laser sailor Sam King dusted off his SB20 Masterclass to sail in the regatta with talented Australian 9er sailor Chloe Fisher and fellow Laser sailor John Lynch from Launceston. Lynch, a student at the Australian Maritime College in Launceston also used to race against Angus Calvert in the windsurfer class. King is in fifth place on 21 points.
SB20 Australian President Scott Glanville welcomed a new team representing the Fahan School, an independent all-girls school in Hobart. "It's fantastic to see not only youth sailors but also female sailors out on the water regularly," said Glanville. The Fahan School team includes Lily Zeeman (skipper), Emily Nicholson, Meg Goodfellow and Claire Cunningham, all Fahan alumni or finishing students.
Three races remain in the eight-race series with one discard after six races. Racing gets under way at 10:55am.
Results are available here.