33rd Mosquito Catamaran Nationals
Jan 2005 at Meningie YC, SA

The 2004-05 National Titles were held at Meningie YC, Lake Albert, SA from Sunday 1 Jan to Friday 6 Jan, 2006.

Photo album

Report from the ’05 Nationals, Meningie

We arrived at the caravan park on Saturday afternoon after surviving an encounter with a ‘big’ lobster at Kingston on the way. There were a few ‘cabin dwellers’ in but no other campers as yet. We set up and watched a spectacular sunset across the lake while we ate lobster bought from Kingston (a smaller one than the ‘big’ version) and scoffed a bottle of bubbly. It’s a tough life!

Sunday everyone else arrived at various times and all the boats were taken round to the school oval opposite the yacht club (which was 5 mins drive from the caravan park) for measuring and weighing. There was all the usual interest in new boats, old boats, light boats and heavy boats not to mention sails. It was a fairly hectic day particularly for those doing the work.

Monday the only race planned was the invitation race at about 2pm. We had a briefing and there was some discussion about the looming storm clouds complete with lightning that were rolling about. Most of it seemed to be missing us OK though and everyone fronted up out at the start line. There was a long delay while the race organiser organised and we were off about 3pm in good solid breeze.

About halfway through the race with a serious looking front coming across the lake the race was abandoned. We were on the way in when it hit. I’m only guessing but for a couple of minutes I reckon we had 30+ knots. Luckily the initial blast moderated slightly and most made it in unscathed. Those that did go over discovered first hand how shallow the lake was (2-3m on average) and how muddy the bottom was. If you were lucky you came up with the top metre of your rig covered in black mud. If you were unlucky you didn’t come up – until a rescue boat came over and dragged you to windward to get the mast out of the goo.

Monday night was the traditional camp flattening storm. Several tents bit the dust and most of us were up at about 2am securing tents and boats. Rob Lott decided that the boat needed his attention more than his flat tent and spent the rest of the night on his tramp deck under the stars.

Next day dawned cloudy, dull and slightly windier than it had been the night before so we spent the day looking at the lake covered in white caps as did the local pelicans. There was lots of fiddling going on particularly with the new boats.

Neil Joiner showed us how to sail a windsurfer and made it look so easy that Philip Warren-Smith and I became deluded and thought we might be able to. Give me a boat with stays to hold the mast up any day! Henry and Tim Shepperd proved that mere mortals could do it though and Henry spent most of the day on the water. I’m sure his arms were longer than they had been that morning racing.

On Wednesday we finally got to do some sailing…..

Awards

MkI (Cat rigged)

Outright
1st Bob Wilson 1781 Voodoo
2nd Neil Joiner 1789

Immunity
3rd Tim Shepperd 1775 Karma Cat
Heavyweight (boat > 65Kg)
1st Brett Rowe 766 The Langolier
Handicap
1st Darren Kopp 1704 Top Gun
2nd Allan Pettman 1762 Anopheles 2
3rd Peter Nikitin 1790 Bee Alert

MkII (Sloop rigged)

Outright
1st Warwick Kemp & Will Rowe 1761 Atreus
2nd Mick Floyd & Sarah Floyd 1745 Two Obsessed
3rd Simon Hallsworth & Sarah Martin 185 The Ancient Mariner
Heavyweight (boat > 65Kg)
1st David Bird & Christine Bird 888 Ichthus
Handicap
1st Steven Cobden & Dale McVicar 769 First Try
2nd Peter Cobden & Kelly Cobden 1769 Try Again
3rd Di Bichard & Bank Barwick 1747 Moggy Power

Other Awards
Best placed female (Skipper or crew) Sarah Floyd 1745 Two Obsessed
Junior Skipper na    
Encouragement Award na    
Spirit of the Nationals Roger Rowe    
Best Presented Boat Brett Rowe 766 The Langolier
Invitation Race
1st MkI na    
1st MkII na    

 

Series Results

[ Race results can be viewed on the separate Race Results page. ]

MkI Series

Place Sail Number Boat Name Skipper Points R7 R6 R5 R4 R3 R2 R 1
1 1761 Voodoo Bob Wilson 6 1 1 1 [2] 1 1 1
2 1789 Immunity Neil Joiner 17 5 [6] 4 1 2 2 3
3 1775 Karma Cat Tim Shepperd 18 [6] 3 2 3 3 5 2
4 1763 Nebuchadnezzar Mark Pfennig 23 4 2 5 4 [18F] 3 5
5 1704 Top Gun Darren Kopp 31 3 5 6 5 5 7 [8]
6 1733 Touch’n’Go Garry Johnstone 32 [11] 4 7 6 4 4 7
7 1790 B-Alert Peter Nikitin 35 2 7 8 [8] 6 6 6
8 1755 Prestissimo Jon Guymer 58 8 18C 3 7 18C [18C] 4
9 1762 Anopheles 2 Allan Pettman 59 9 [18C] 11 12 8 8 11
10 1786 Grey Area Robert Lott 63 7 8 9 11 18F [18C] 10
11 1740 Jurassic Karp Matt Kirby 64 12 9 18C 9 7 [18C] 9
12 766 The Langolier Brett Rowe 76 16 12 [18F] 13 12 9 14
13 306 Al-Gee Tim Wright 77 14 11 12 16 11 [18C] 13
14 1770 Aquarius Roy Douglas 77 10 10 18F 14 10 [18C] 15
15 1658 Heart’n’Soul Peter Dunk 81 13 18C 10 10 18C [18C] 12
16 1743 Bronzed Mozzie Graeme Davies 93 15 18C 18F 15 9 18C [18F]
17 832 Half Reddy Phil Bovis 108 18F 18C 18F 18F 18F 18C [18C]

MkII Series

Place Sail # Boat Name Skipper Crew Points R7 R6 R5 R4 R3 R2 R1
1 1788 Atreus Warwick Kemp Will Rowe 10 1 3 2 2 [13F] 1 1
2 1745 Two Obsessed Mick Floyd Sarah Floyd 18 3 4 1 3 [13F] 3 4
3 185 The Ancient Mariner Simon Hallsworth Sarah Martin 21 7 6 3 1 [13F] 2 2
4 1760 Pitchfork Rex Bichard Lisa Bichard 21 4 1 6 5 2 [13F] 3
5 1752 Nautical Nuts Stuart Ridge Ann Ridge 24 5 5 5 4 1 4 [5]
6 1747 Moggie Power Di Bichard Bank Barwick 27 [9] 2 4 7 3 5 6
7 769 First Try Steven Cobden Dale McVicar 40 2 7 7 8 [13F] 8 8
8 1769 Try Again Peter Cobden Kelly Cobden 44 [13C] 8 8 6 4 7 11
9 1728 To Be Sure Phil Flaherty Mark Stillman 46 [10] 9 9 9 6 6 7
10 1744 Splashes of Brilliance Phillip Warren-Smith Anthony W-S 53 8 10 [13F] 10 5 10 10
11 1765 Aldebaran 5 Phillip Pearce Bradley Pearce 60 6 11 10 11 13C [13C] 9
12 888 Ichthus David Bird Christine Bird 70 13C 13F 11 12 [13F] 9 12