Rockal Evans will venture into the unknown when he makes his debut at the Batemans Bay Regatta competing in the VX One class for the first time in New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday.

“The class of boat is exciting and fast and this will be my first VX One regatta,” Evans told The Royal Gazette.

The Bermudian sailor is competing alongside helmsman Brett Bowden during the two-day regatta to be contested on Batemans Bay.

“We are sailing double handed but some crews sail with a crew of three,” Evans added.

Evans has spent most of his time lately competing in larger keelboats but is confident he can make a smooth transition to the high-performance VX One.

“I don’t think it will be a big transition as the boat is real similar to the Viper640 that are in Bermuda,” he said.

“I was once national champion in the Viper640 in Bermuda, the first national champion, so I think it will all come back to me really quickly.

“The forecast looks very light for Saturday but Sunday looks good with 10 to 15 knots of wind.”

The VX One is a modern light one-design sports boat that accelerates very rapidly and is capable of reaching speeds up to 24 knots sailing downwind.

The class also has great form stability instead of a deep heavy keel and is easy to control by a crew of 2 or 3.

Meanwhile, Evans has already enjoyed considerable success competing in various classes Down Under this year.

He has racked up three wins so far onboard David Doherty’s TP52, Matador, competing in the Port Hacking Race and Pallas Capital TP52 Gold Cup series.

Evans was also among James MacPhaile’s boat that secured third place honours in the 5.5m Class Australian Championship and narrowly missed out on the podium after finishing fourth at the Ronstan 2023 International Finn Australian Championships competing in the single-handed Finn dinghy.