Career
He is well known for his crossing of Bass Strait in a Laser dinghy. He did so on 9 March 2005 in a record time (for sailing) of 13 hours 1 minute. In March 2005, he was ranked 3rd in the world in the Laser, behind Robert Scheidt of Brazil and Paul Goodison of Great Britain, and ahead of Mark Mendelblatt of the United States.
He placed 9th at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
He also received a in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and was the coach of Australian Olympic Gold medalist Tom Slingsby in the Laser class at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Outside of sailing, Blackburn has a Doctor of Philosophy in Human Movement Studies.
He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.