Derwent clash
Michael Cooper, skipper of Export Roo, and his team of David Chapman and Sam Tiedemann sailed into the history books, winning their first Australian SB20 title on the River Derwent in Hobart.
04 December 2018
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The 2018 SB20 Australian Championship was sailed over three days from the Derwent Sailing Squadron in Hobart.
It was a classy performance from the talented crew of Export Roo, which had a series score of 19 points from 8 races, with two races sailed on the final day, and capped off a four-year preparation for the win.
“It was a tough regatta – I take my hat off to my crew – they did an amazing job and carried me along for the three days,” said Cooper.
Cooper also had high praise for his competition noting the exceptional performance of Nick Rogers, Simon Burrows and Cole Dabner (Karabos) who finished in second place on 34 points, and Brett Cooper, Darren Jones and Nick Corkhill (Aeolus). Rogers also won the Master’s division.
Cooper’s experience and consistency was a key on the water, especially during the final race of the day where the team managed to keep everything together during gusts of close to 35 knots which decimated the fleet.
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“We were doing 20 knots downwind, but I think some guys were higher than that.
“We got to a point where it was probably better to drop some sails and be a bit conservative… so we nursed ourselves across the line while Nick [Rogers] fell over at the last minute,” said Cooper.
It was a tough day for Brett Cooper (Aeolus), getting into trouble with the spinnaker at the top mark of the last race, which dragged under the boat until Darren ‘Twirler’ Jones jumped into the water to cut it free, with the team finishing in fourteenth place in the last race of the regatta.
The women’s division of the championship was won by Felicity Allison, Bridget Hutton, Jill Abel and Mel Ford (Cook Your Own Dinner), which was an incredible result considering the crew retired from the last race today with gear breakage.
“We are actually really shocked to win because we had a very unfortunate last race with a broken outhaul inside our boom which meant we had to retire after that race, but we are feeling pretty good, it was quite an achievement,” said Allison.
The Youth Division was taken out by Will Sargent, Ben Reid, Ethan Galbraith and Issi DeClerk (Tas Racing Team) on 60 points, with Sargent helming an SB20 for the first time in the regatta, but it was a tough gig for the youth crews today.
“We struggled today in the breeze; the more experienced guys had what it took, we found ourselves out the back a bit, but we are very happy to win the youth division,” said Sargent.
The SB20 fleet in Hobart is one of the largest in one location in the world, and Cooper has his sights set on supporting the development of the class through encouraging young crews to sail them.
“It was great to see the young crews doing so well during the regatta and so nice to see the girls today – they laid over for half a leg but they kept going – we are all so proud of them,” said Cooper.
Cooper is still hunting an SB20 World Championship and expects to head to Hyeres (France) in 2019 and to Cascais (Portugal) for the Worlds in 2020.
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