Yachting Australia

Walker, 23, won each of his first three round-robin matches with a talented young crew from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia comprising Olivia Price, Jack Hubbard and Amanda Scrivenor.

Walker, a graduate of the CYCA Youth Sailing Academy, is a former ISAF world youth champion, Australian Youth Sailor of the Year in 2005, a two times Australian match racing champion and two times winner of the prestigious Hardy Cup.

After completing his degree in aeronautical engineering in 2009 and winning his second Hardy Cup earlier this year, he has taken a step backwards from match racing.

However, his inherent skills in this discipline of sailing were obvious on the water today, aided by a superb crew.

Conditions were damp, murky and cool on the Derwent, with Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania sailing manager Richard Scarr describing the wind as 'light to ordinary.' In fact, the breeze did not get above 6 knots all afternoon, but it was still good conditions for tactical match racing.

With Walker unbeaten, another CYCA team skippered by Will MacKenzie with Henry Kernot and Hamish Hardy as crew, finished the day with two wins, as did New Zealand’s all-women team of Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt and Nicola Trudgen from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Also with two wins was Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron team of David Chapman (skipper), Sam Sexton, Jaiden Stevens, who were joined by 13-year-old Hobart Sabot sailor Angus Calvert to bring the crew up to the maximum weight.

The two Royal Yacht Club of Tasmanian teams skippered by Nick Rogers and Elliott Noye, at 18 the youngest helmsman in the fleet, failed to win a match against the highly experienced match racing teams from Sydney.

Rogers lost to MacKenzie, Hazard and Chapman while Noye went down to MacKenzie, Walker and Chapman.

The championship will continue tomorrow (Monday) through to Wednesday with each skipper meeting each other twice, before semi-finals and finals.