Ten times Prince Philip Cup winner in the International Dragon class, Tasmanian Nick Rogers appears well on his way to another victory in the classic one-design keelboat class. Excelling on his home waters of Hobart’s River Derwent, Rogers yesterday steered Karabos IX to two straight wins on day two, his third first place of the regatta.
It is a remarkable return to racing a Dragon after four years of helming a high-performance SB20 sports boat, but Rogers gave full credit to his longtime Dragon crew, Leigh Behrens and Simon Burrows. “Leigh and Simon are sailing the boat very well and making good (tactical) calls which has allowed me to concentrate on steering,” he said after today’s racing.
Despite Karabos IX’s three wins, only four points separate the first three boats on the Pointscore after four races. Karabos is on six points from a score 1-3-1-1 while Whimsical, steered by 89-year-old Gordon Ingate from Sydney, is on nine points (2-2-3-2) while West Australian woman skipper Sandy Anderson in Linnea is on 10 points (4-1-2-3).
Ingate’s comment after yesterday’s racing was: “I’ll have to learn to sail in the same ocean as Nick!” However, he did finish just 10 second astern of Karabos IX in race four.
Peter Campbell
