Previous Australian Championships

Event has now been completed

The NSW Paper Tiger Catamaran Association successfully hosted the 2020 Paper Tiger Catamaran 50th Australian Championships on the water of Botany Bay, Sydney with Kurnell Catamaran Club.  The event started on 28th December 2019 and concluded on 3rd January 2020.

Botany Bay is a great body of water to sail on with plenty of room for a full-size course for any wind direction and gets fantastic sea breazes. The foreshore has a fabulous grassed rigging area right next to the beach and then roll straight into the water. 

Results have been posted on the Champions and Results page. 

After a little more than a month sailing his self-built Paper Tiger "Cut//Copy", Rohan Nicol from YMCA Sailing Club Canberra staged a raid on the 2020 Australian Championships and walked away with his first ever Paper Tiger Catamaran Australian Championship.

35 Paper Tiger Catamarans from South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland made the trip to Kurnell on the eastern shore line of Botany Bay for the series.  KCC did a magnificent job in managing the series.  They had to cope with a forecast that threatened to lose a day of racing due to a southerly front forecast for New Year's Eve with the added issue of smoke pollution from the bush fires.  In the end the sailing of three races on day one saw the event get one race ahead and finish a day early enabling some of the travelers who were concerned about the effect of fires on their return journeys to get away earlier.

The Invitation Race was sailed in winds at the limit of the Class rules of 21 knots.  Only 15 boats took to the water and 10 finished.  Victorian David Anderson reveling in the heavy going.

The Heats sailed up to New Year's Day were sailed in conditions that developed from 15 knots to 18-20 knots on New Year's Eve. The final two heats sailed on 2 January were sailed in a more moderate breeze.

At the end of the first day of racing Rohan scored 1st, 2nd and another 1st to lead narrowly from Victorian Luke Stout and defending Champion Greg Williams.  And that is how the top three ended up after the last heat on 2 January.  The first three boats were using North sails.  1st and 3rd places were home built ply boats.  2nd place was a Larry Fay foam sandwich craft.

The racing throughout the fleet was close.  Whether you were in the leading group or at the back of the chasing pack there were boats close to chase.  There were 6 junior skippers in the fleet with Baily Hord (NSW) being the best of them in 11th place.  At the other end of the age spectrum, Sean Keady (Tas) winning the Veteran category, Garry Williams (NSW) won Masters with Peter Anderson (Vic) taking out Grand Masters.

Full results can be found at https://www.papertigercatamaran.org/aptca/media/results/2020_Aus_Nats_Results.pdf

The 2021 Paper Tiger Catamaran Australian Championships will be sailed on the Southern Ocean swells of Warnambool, Victoria from 28 December 2020 – 3 January 2021.

The NSW Paper Tiger Association would like to thank the following sponsors for their support of the event: BoatCrewGear.com; Cronulla RSL Club, Nolan Group and Diane Arthur, Redhead Sails, and the Paper Tiger Shop.

Notice of Race

Competitors Handbook including Sailing Instructions

Sponsors

Entry List

 Entries By State

Flyer

A PDF version for distribution can be found here.