Please select your home edition
Edition
sMRT AIS Man Overboard Beacons AUS / NZ

Australian Match Racing Championships title to Evan Walker

by Peter Campbell on 17 Nov 2010
Close racing between Evan Walker and Nick Rogers in the final of the Australian match racing championship - Australian Match Racing Championship Andrea Francolini Photography http://www.afrancolini.com/
Australian Match Racing Championships - Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Youth Sailing Academy graduate Evan Walker yesterday stamped himself as one of the nation’s outstanding young match racing helmsmen with a hard-fought victory in the Hardy’s Australian match racing championship.

Sailed on Hobart’s River Derwent in blustery westerly winds with chilly mountain gusts of up to 33 knots, Walker came from behind to win his semi-final against young fellow Sydney sailor David Chapman.

He then held off the tenacious veteran Tasmanian yachtsman Nick Rogers in a final that could have gone either way.

Sailing four-up, with Olivia Price, Jack Hubbard and Amanda Scrivenor as crew, Walker beat Chapman, from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron 2-1 in their best-of-three race semi-final.

Walker then won three extremely close races from Rogers, a champion International Dragon class sailor from the Royal Yacht of Tasmania, to win the title 3-0. Sailing with Rogers were Simon Burrows and Julian Salter, a considerably older combination than the young Sydney crew.

In the second race of the final, Walkers boat crossed the line less than a metre in front of Rogers’. In all three races the two identical Ellliott 5.9s were never more than two or three boat lengths apart, sailing in conditions where seamanship skills took over from tactics as the ‘bullets’ ripped down from Mount Wellington, above Hobart.

'I was fortunate in having two girls in my crew who have had lots of international match racing experience and success over the past year or two,' Walker said back the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania. 'We knew Rogers would be a tough opponent in the heavier conditions but we just managed to hold him out.'

The two women, Olivia Price and Amanda Scrivenor, will continue match racing tomorrow when they assume the role of skippers of their individual teams in the Australian women’s match racing championship. Scrivenor was part of the women’s crew that in 2009 won the ISAF women’s world match racing championship in Sweden.

'The racing today was very tight, but it is obvious that all of them do a lot of match racing,' Rogers said of his opponents. 'They were always thinking ahead with their tactical moves.'

Evan Walker, 23, got involved in the boat-for-boat tactical discipline of match racing through the CYCA’s Youth Sailing Academy in 2002, each weekend travelling down to Sydney from his parents’ home on Lake Macquarie

He was the ISAF (International Sailing Federation) world youth champion and Australian Youth Sailor of the Year in 2005. In 2006 he won the Australian youth match racing championships, followed by back-to-back Australian open match racing championships (today was his third) and twice won the prestigious Hardy Cup at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.

V-DRY-XVetus-Maxwell 2021 v2 FOOTERExcess Catamarans

Related Articles

Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup Day 2
Philip Köster triumphs again in Pozo Izquierdo The 37th edition of the Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup delivered a thrilling second day this Sunday, once again marked by strong winds and the talent of the world's best windsurfers.
Posted today at 8:47 pm
A perfect start to the 5th annual AEGEAN 600
Cloudless blue skies, crystal clear waters and perfect 12-15 knots of northerly wind At the very southern end of the Greek mainland at Cape Sounion in Attica, today's start to the 5th edition of the AEGEAN 600 was perfect: cloudless blue skies, crystal clear waters and perfect 12-15 knots of northerly wind.
Posted today at 8:39 pm
29er Europeans at Lake Garda day 4
One race, one storm, and one big lay day vibe With qualification wrapped and the fleet now split into six groups—Gold, Silver, Bronze, Emerald, Purple, and White—Day 4 of the 29er Europeans kicked off with early optimism and an earlier-than-usual launch in pursuit of the morning breeze.
Posted today at 7:09 pm
iQFOiL Worlds a Aarhus day 1
Full foiling conditions launch the World Championship with four high-intensity races for both fleets The iQFOiL World Championship kicked off today in Aarhus with dynamic and demanding conditions that truly tested the world's top foiling windsurfers. The wind was anything but steady, shifting in both direction and intensity throughout the day.
Posted today at 7:01 pm
Rolex TP52 Worlds in Cascais overall
American Magic Quantum Racing win Rolex TP52 Worlds after breezy week in Cascais. Doug DeVos' American Magic Quantum Racing crew were crowned 2025 Rolex TP52 World Champions today in Cascais, Portugal.
Posted today at 6:54 pm
Red Bull Sailing Academy Opens
A new hub for current and future superstars to reach the top of their sport Marina Monfalcone, North Italy, made waves yesterday, as sports superstars gathered to open the Red Bull Sailing Academy, marking the beginning of a new era in the sport.
Posted today at 12:53 pm
Gran Canaria Gloria Windsurf World Cup Day 1
Philip Köster edges out Marcilio Browne in one of the closest finals ever Philip Köster edges out Marcilio Browne in one of the closest finals ever as Pozo delivers 50 knot winds and waves.
Posted today at 11:42 am
America's Cup: French give the Brits the "Hurry-up
Frustration builds between Cup factions over lack of progress with Protocol. Last weekend's missive from the French America's Cup challenge team is further evidence over the building frustration with progress towards the 2027 America's Cup in Naples.
Posted today at 11:12 am
The oldest video footage of Moth sailing
A look back into our video archive, to when the name of this class first settled down We delve into our video archive to find the oldest possible videos that show Moth racing. Are these International Moths, British Moths... or was the name still Olive, Inverloch 11ft, National Moth or Brent One-Design?!
Posted today at 11:00 am
GKSS Match Cup & Nordea Women's Trophy overall
It is the first time the Match Cup Sweden title has been won by a Danish Skipper Denmark's Jeppe Borch/ Team Borch Match Race, and France's Pauline Courtois/ Match in Pink by Normandy crowned the new champions of Marstrand in a day of fierce weather for the final of 2025 GKSS Match Cup Sweden and Nordea Women's Trophy in Marstrand.
Posted today at 7:14 am