11th January 2009
By Peter Campbell
Tasmanian yachtsmen Nick Rogers and his crew of Leigh Behrens and Simon Burrows on Sunday added the historic Sayonara Challenge Cup to the swag of trophies they have won on Sydney Harbour over the past ten days, sailing Rogers’ International Dragon class yacht Karabos IX.
The 4-0 match racing victory against Sean Kirkjian, sailing Tatsu from the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club, regains the Sayonara Cup for the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania for the first time since 1996.
First sailed for in 1904 and won by the Victorian yacht Sayonara, the Cup is an interstate yachting challenge, which since 1984 has been sailed in the one-design Dragon class.
Rogers’ win follows an unbeaten victory in the David Graney Memorial match-racing series, a second in the Ted Albert Memorial fleet racing and then a hard-fought victory in the Prince Philip Cup, the Australasian championship for the Dragon class, which ended on Saturday.
“More than anything else I wanted to bring the Sayonara Cup back to Tasmania – and we did it with a convincing win,” Rogers said today.
”I think the fact that we have done a lot of racing over the past ten days helped us a lot,” added Rogers, who has now won the Sayonara Cup six times.
The best of seven match racing challenge was sailed in ideal conditions on Sydney Harbour, with a building north-easterly seabreeze, the first race sailed in 8 knots, the last in 15 to 18 knots.
“Rogers and his boat were faster on all points of sailing and in all strengths of wind, taking out each race by margins of a minute or more,” principal race officer Doug Talty said, describing the conditions as “a glorious day for yacht racing.”
“The starts were generally even but within a few minutes Rogers had his bow in front. While their flags were raised several times, each was green flagged, giving an easy victory to the Tasmanians.”
“Rogers’ fourth win was made even easier when Kirkjian’s bowman Kieran Cowan did a backflip over the side when the jib sheet broke loose. “They had to turn round and pick him up, yet still finished the race,” Talty added.
Kirkjian, who successfully defended the Sayonara Cup in 2000 and 2004 against challenges from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, started today’s Challenge at a disadvantage as the original Dragon he was to have sailed, Liquidity, sinking on Friday after a collision in the Prince Philip Cup.
While Tatsu, the replacement yacht was also a Petticrow-built Dragon, Kirkjian and his crew sailed the boat for the first time yesterday. Further information:
Peter Campbell – 0419 385 028 or email – peter_campbell@bigpond.com
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