Rockal Evans endured a baptism of fire on his debut at the Batemans Bay Regatta as he competed in the VX One class for the first time.

The Bermudian sailor, and helmsman Brett Bowden, finished at the bottom of the eight-boat standings in New South Wales, Australia, after experiencing a string of setbacks that ended their campaign prematurely during the final day of the regatta on Sunday.

“In the first race while in second, the skipper [Bowden] fell out of the boat after we completed a tack and when he fell out the tiller extension snapped in half, so we couldn’t continue that race,” Evans told The Royal Gazette.

The pair recovered to make it to the start line for the final race before disaster struck again.

“We ended up taping the tiller extension together to race the last race,” Evans added.

“We started, and were in third place on the first lap of three, and then had something else break on the boat.

“The drop line that takes the asymmetric spinnaker down malfunctioned, so we were again unable to finish the race.”

Evans and Bowden also suffered plenty of frustration during the opening day of racing on Batemans Bay on Saturday but still managed to post an 8-4 score, which left them in sixth place at the midway stage of the regatta.

“It was light and tricky and we had some boat breakages,” Evans said.

“In the first race on Saturday, we had something with the rig come loose so we stopped to fix it but continued racing.”

Despite his team’s struggles, the multiple national champion still enjoyed his first taste of action at the regatta and high-performance VX One class.

“It didn’t really damper my debut and I am still excited to get in the class and do some more regattas in the future,” he added.

Evans and Bowden were among two teams that competed double-handed in the class during the regatta hosted by Batemans Bay Sailing Club.

Reigning VX One New South Wales State champion Rob Douglass secured class honours competing with a crew of three, which included his daughter, three-times open world champion and sailing journalist Nicole.

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 two or three.