Rockal Evans helps team Matador to second straight Gold Cup win
Rockal Evans and his fellow crew aboard Matador continued their dominance in the TP52 class in New South Wales, Australia, at the weekend.
The reigning champions won Act 2 of the Pallas Capital TP52 Gold Cup series, which was held in conjunction with the SailFest Newcastle Regatta hosted by the Newcastle Yacht Club.
David Doherty’s team got their campaign off to a solid start after finishing second in the 25 nautical mile passage race on Saturday to thrust themselves in early contention for top honours
The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia entry then stepped it up a notch to win the remaining three windward-leeward races and clinch both class and IRC honours in stunning fashion.
Reflecting on another highly successful regatta, Bermudian sailor Evans attributed the team’s harmony as the key to success.
“We are very happy to get another win under our belt and it was just really good teamwork,” he told The Royal Gazette.
“Everyone listens and does their jobs and we had zero mistakes the whole weekend. The team really gels and the boat is improving each regatta.”
It was the second straight victory for the Sydney-based team after they claimed top honours at last month’s season opener, which they hosted.
Remarkably, Evans and his fellow colleagues have managed to set the early pace despite competing with one of the oldest boats in the fleet.
“It’s an older boat and the whole fleet is very surprised how fast we have actually got the boat going,” he said. “It’s a 2009 model and there are four newer boats we race in the fleet and normally they will beat us.
“The newer boats are supposed to beat us on a windward-leeward course like that and we are actually beating them to the finish line. It just shows how good we are working together and pushing the boat, which is really, really good.
“Realistically, in a straight line they are way faster than us, but we have just improved the boat over the past year and a half doing little tweaks here and there.”
Matt Donald’s Gweilo finished second, eight points behind the winners, with Sebastian Bohm’s Smuggler rounding off the podium a further three points adrift.
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