Tasmanian Dragon State Championships - Nick Rogers dominates

by Peter Campbell on 18 Mar 2012 Tasmanian Dragon State Championships 2012 were held over the weekend, 17th and 18th March, on the River Derwent. Nick Rogers, the ten times Australasian champion in the International Dragon class, has dominated the Tasmanian championship for the classic keelboat class, winning five of the eight races sailed.

Sailing with his winning Prince Philip Cup (Australasian championship) crew of Leigh Behrens and Simon Burrows in Karabos IX, Rogers had four straight wins on Saturday, yesterday scoring a fifth win and three second places in the light breeze.

Runner-up was Ridgeway, skippered by Steven Shield with two wins, four seconds and two thirds while third place went to Freycinet (Wayne Wragg) which notched up a win, a third and six fourth places.

The Tasmanian championship in the Dragon class winds up an outstanding summer season of racing for Rogers, who won the Prince Philip Cup on the Derwent in January and the following month finished third overall in the hotly contested Australian championship for the Laser SB3 sportsboat class.

Rogers will now concentrate on campaigning his SB3, Toll Shipping, for Hamilton Island Race Week in August and then the SB3 world championship at Hamilton Island in December.

The Tasmanian championship for the J24 class was also sailed yesterday over four heats, with Another Toy, helmed by Peter Pangas, winning every race.

Street Car (Peter Bingham) finished second overall, with three seconds and a third, while third place overall went to Devine Madness (Paul Turner) which had three thirds and a fifth place.