Sauna Sail
Once again the Mosquitoes turned out in force for the sauna Sail this year, with a record fourteen Mosquitos competing. There were at least another five that wanted to be there but missed out for various reasons, so next time …..
The Sauna Sail is well known for usually providing at least one wild race in survival conditions, and this year was the exception. The weather ensured that there would be no broken trapeze wires or harness hooks this time.
The wetsuit knee pads were the equipment that took the biggest beating as we spent the weekend chasing elusive zephyrs all over Hazelwood Pondage. Only the final race on Monday saw some boats actually leaning over because of the wind rather than through exagerated roll-tacks, but even then the knee pads still had their moments.
Despite the flukey and unpredictable conditions the light weather experts still came through strong with Jon Guymer winning the Mosquito division on a tie-break and Neil Joiner comfortably seeing off Philip Warren-Smith and Tim shepperd in the open “Asymetric” division.
On registration we all received a beanie and a water bottle, the beanie being very appropriate, and just what those of us with
minimal insulation up top needed while sitting around the Mosquito camp fire. We didn’t feel the cold on Sunday evening though, as the fire was well stoked up for Di Floyd’s delicious lamb roast (with pudding!).
The promise of the roast was enough to bring Matt Kirby from Warrnambool and Garry Johnstone from Swan Hill to the event.
There would have been more boats if Stuart and Anne Ridge didn’t have car trouble, and Jeremy Pearce didnât have an injured hand. Jeremy Pearce turned up with Peter Foulson on the Sunday just for a look, and were impressed with what they saw.
Presentation is after each race plus an over all class winner at the end of the series, so with prizes for first second and third, this meant we had seven different people with trophies.
| 1 | 1755 | Prestissimo | John Guymer | 7pts |
| 2 | 1735 | Touch and go | Garry Johnstone | 7pts |
| 3 | 1786 | Grey Area | Robert Lott | 10pts |
| 4 | 1792 | Veloce | Andrew Neeson | 15pts |
| 5 | 1745 | Two Obsessed | Mick, Diane Floyd | 24pts |
| 6 | 17xx | Splashes of Brilliance | Gordon Hyde | 24pts |
| 7 | 1686 | Serial Thriller | Clint Burgess | 26pts |
| 8 | 1557 | Amos Keeto | Chris Burgess | 33pts |
| 9 | 1785 | Bear Talk | Glenn Hansford | 39pts |
| 10 | 1740 | Jurassic Karp | Matt Kirby | 41pts |
| 11 | 766 | The Langolier | Brett Rowe | 42 pts |
Spinnaker Mosquito VIC State Challenge – Loch Sport BC
Eleven Mosquitoes made the journey to Loch Sport, and got a taste of next years National Titles venue. The club members made us very welcome and ran an excellent series of races for us. The racing is all conducted in front of the LSBC club house so the spectators had a good view of the races from the large deck area.
Neil Joiner sailing “Immunity” was the convincing winner of the inaugural Victorian Mosquito Spinnaker Challenge, winning all but one race. Peter Nikitin and Tim Shepperd finished on equal points with Peter winning the tie break for 2nd place.
Half the fleet were non-spinnaker-rigged Mozzies and Steve Cobden ended up beating Rob Lott in the last race to win overall by just one point.
The winds stayed light all weekend, but we were still able to complete 7 races. Everyone present went away looking forward to next years National titles.
In the open F16 results ex-Mozzie Gary Maskiell was sometimes put under pressure by the spinnakered Mosquitoes but proved unbeatable in the end with a perfect score of 7 firsts out of 7 races.
Many thanks to sponsor Boat Books Australia who provided a fine collection of sailing books for prizes.
Yarrawonga YC ANZAC Day Regatta
There were 8 Mosquitos at the Yarrawonga Anzac Day regatta. We all enjoyed a pleasant weekend socialising on the grass beside Lake Mulwala and being looked after by Yarrawonga YC members. Unfortunately there was very little wind so we had plenty of time for the social side of things and the sailing was a bit frustrating. It was good practice for light weather sailing though.
Rob Lott and Jon Guymer dominated, winning all the races between them. They were so close that they ended in an unbreakable tie so the event was decided on the placing in the last race; Rob first and Jon second. Andrew Neeson was third.
Colin McEwan (from Bendigo) went extremely well considering it was his first outing with his new boat built from two boats he bought from SA. Definitely one to watch. Garry Johnson was over from Boga and Dave Richardson came up from Bendigo with the association boat. Mick and Diane Floyd sailed together but found the light winds a bit frustrating with two adults on board. Philip Warren-Smith and Anthony used their new spinnaker turning a few heads as they cruised through the large fleet but were unable to overcome the spinnaker yardstick.
The regatta was a great success for the club with well over sixty entries (they ran out of forms!). There were a large fleet of Paper Tigers (18), Mosquitos were the next best represented cat class with 8. The misc cat division had “A” class (5), a couple of Kitty Cats, a Nacra 18 and a Marie Cat which cleaned up on yardstick.
We had 3 people speak to us about Mosquitos. One looking for a second hand boat, one a new boat and another thinking about building a boat.
Mosquito sailing Tip of the Weekend; Don’t wee on the hatch cover – they fill up!
Mick Floyd
Summary – 2004/2005 season
| Date | Club | Comments | Contact | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30-31 | Mokoan YC | Rose Festival | ||
| December | 3-5 | Colac YC | Annual Regatta | |
| 5 | Beaumaris YC | Training Regatta | Andrew Neeson (9817 4712) | |
| January | 2-8 | Meningie SC | National Titles | |
| 15 | Merricks YC | Westernport Challenge – 1pm | MYC | |
| 22-24 | Torquay SC | Australia Day Regatta | ||
| 22-23 | Yarrawonga YC | Australia Day Regatta | ||
| 19-20 | Twofold Bay YC (Eden NSW) | Annual regatta | Richard Hayes 02 6495 9676 | |
| March | 12-14 | Portarlington SC | Victorian State Titles | Results |
| 26-28 | Lake Boga YC | Easter Regatta | Garry Johnstone 03 5032 3170 | |
| 26-28 | Bolac YC | Easter Regatta | …. | |
| April | 23-25 | Yarrawonga YC | Anzac Regatta | Trevor Turnbull or Jack Sterkenberg Ph (03) 5744 1279 |
| May | 14/15 | Loch Sport BC | Spinnaker Mozzie VIC State Challenge | |
| June | 11-13 | Latrobe Valley YC | Sauna Sail | Geoff Conway |