It’s hard to believe that some regattas for 2025 have already wrapped up – and such is the case for the 2025 9er Nationals! RQYS had a strong represented of 5 boats, including Team LSquared – consisting of Luke Rogers and Lucas Patrick. Luke has recapped the team’s experience at the 2025 9er Nationals below:

The 2025 9er Nationals at Lake Cootharaba Sailing Club didn’t disappoint. Fifteen races over five days had the fleet racing in a mix of light, shifty, medium and a strong south easterly for the last day of racing. There were five different boats winning heats and a mix of WA, Victoria, Tasmanian and NSW competitors along with a strong contingent of five boats competing from the Squadron.

Lucas and I had a long break after coming 10^th at the Worlds in Aarhus and only got back in the boat for the last two days of Sail Brisbane. We were a bit rusty and did some late cramming for the Nationals pre-xmas and just before the Nationals began. We arrived a few days early and settled in with a couple of training days on the lake. Being freshwater the boat sits a little lower and the flat water makes for great down wind sends in the breeze.

Day 1 started well with a couple of wins and then a couple of top 5’s. Day 2 and 3 treated us well with our experience in mixed conditions coming through with a picket fence couple of days. Day four was light and shifty and we had to work hard against the much lighter crews. We survived the day and led into the final day of racing with the National Championship in hand. We had two races on the last day in 15-20 knots and we ended up with a first and second and really enjoyed our last day together in the 29er.

Congratulations to Max and Eddie Yoshida clinching a podium third on the last day.

The Nationals were a wonderful way for Lucas and I to finish our 29er time together. We have spent 2 years training 3-4 days a week and travelling to every regatta we could. We would like to thank our training partners at RQ –  Max/Eddie, Ayesha/Eli and Elspith/Iris, Adrian Finglas our coach who knows what it takes to win on a world scale, we couldn’t of achieved what we have without Adrian’s guidance. I have now come 21,18,8,5,2 and now first at the 29er Nationals and have met awesome people along the way – simply the best class to be sailing.

RQYS has also been very supportive, along with our parent sponsors who we thank.

2025 Australian 9er Nationals results here

by Luke Rogers

Checkout Team LSquared’s success at the 2024 29er World Championships in Aahus, Denmark here.