Sydney takes first round at Australian Match title
Sydney skipper Evan Walker holds the top spot on the leader board at the end of the first round robin, at the Barbagallo Marine Australian Match Racing Championships, being hosted by the Royal Perth Yacht Club. 
'Walker leads the series'
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Sailing on the Swan River's Matilda Bay, Walker and his KA Match team were undefeated in all seven of their matches on this first day of the event, though they had some close fought contests.
Walker, who represents the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia leads local veteran Gordon Lucas by one point at the halfway stage of the double round robin qualifying series.
The young skipper praised his crew for getting him through the day, 'it was quite easy for me, because I had a team who worked together well, although we'd never all sailed together as a crew before.'
Gordon Lucas, whose children are older than most of his opponents commented at the end of the day, 'there's no age allowance out there, you'd think these young guys would show a little respect, but they don't cut me any slack!'
Lucas had the closest match of the day, beating Tristan Brown by just one second in his second match of the day, snatching victory after having to do a penalty turn, and his only loss of the day was to Evan Walker, though he was also pushed hard by Nicky Souter's all girl crew.
Walker's day was not without its dramas, having a very hard fought battle with the host club's Robert Gibbs, in which both crews had to do penalty turns, but the Sydneysider grabbed the point by five seconds.
Conditions of Matilda Bay were ideal, with a south to south westerly breeze of 15 knots for most of the day, with the occasional stronger gust coming through.
At the end of the double round robin series, the top four skippers will go through to the semi-finals on Saturday, with the finals expected to be sailed on Sunday.
The championships are being sailed in the Western Australian Yachting Foundation's fleet of Foundation 36 yachts.
RESULTS:
1. Evan Walker 7 wins 0 loss CYCA/NSW
2. Gordon Lucas 6 1 RPYC/WA
3. Doug Cooksey 4 3 SoPYC/WA
4 Peter Nicholas 4 3 RFBYC/WA
5. Robert Gibbs 3 4 RPYC/WA
6. Nicky Souter 2 5 RPAYC/NSW
7. David Chapman 1 6 RSYS/NSW
8. Tristan Brown 1 6 RFBYC/WA
by John Roberson 
Curl Curl, NSW
