The Squaddie Brass Monkey Regatta

The Squaddie Brass Monkey regatta was held on Sydney harbour on 12th and 13th August 2006.
14 cats went along this year including me on my Mozzie, and these raced against
five 18ft skiffs in their division.

A pleasant 9 hour drive (pleasant because I didn’t have to do any of the driving – thanks Gary) was followed by pizza at Michael Boyd’s place. Michael very generously accommodated us for the weekend.

While rigging on Saturday morning I met Ben Cutmore. He has Mick Molloy’s old Mozzie, and just needs a few more Mosquitos on Pittwater to sail against.

Saturday – Race 1

We drifted to the start. Actually it was quite pleasant to begin with – spinnaker up, hull out of the water occasionally. Then we reached the course area and NOTHING. Massive gin palaces roaring all around making the sail slap – that monofilm window giving me industrial deafness. We finally drifted up to the start boat. After a brief postponement we were off. I started on port at the port end of the line with the A-classes and crept up the course with them to start with. Most of the skiffs and Gary were over on the right (closer to shore) and pulling away in slightly more nothing than we had on the left. Gary was looking very good. Finally we start to get the breeze, the A-classes pull away from me, and what do you know – we get lifted on port tack, leaving Gary and the skiffs doing a great circle of the windward mark.

Got the spinnaker up and set about catching the A-classes. I was back with them by the next upwind leg. The next downwind leg gets tighter and tighter on the starboard gybe until eventually the spinnaker has to come down (while Gary puts his up on what was the windward leg). Now I’m going to windward with the A-classes (180 degree change) but still very little wind. Drift for two more legs and finally the breeze arrives for the last leg to the finish (to windward this time around). The best breeze is inshore to the left hand side so a large number of skiffs decide the gate is just too inconvenient and give it a miss. Event organiser Ed Blackman, with a new 12ft skiff, lost out massively by being the honest guy that he is and sailing through the gate.

The time limit ran out some time ago but who cares, we got a result!. Now for a race in some wind! No, everyone’s going home. Bummer. Back at the single boat ramp we have 50 boats trying to fit in. Lucky there’s hardly any wind and we all manage to scramble, swim, paddle and shove our way in to the slipway. Back ashore and it’s only 2:30, and the wind on the harbour is looking just perfect.

Michael Boyd sailed over in his Brand(er) new Blade F16, using his daughter’s 29er spinnaker. It looks great. Make a note – Mosquitos looking for a cheap spinnaker look out for a second-hand 29er spinnaker.

Sunday – Race 2

Very similar to Saturday. Very light South Westerly due to die and turn into a North Easterly. We wait until it dies and then the race starts. 50 boats and 3 divisions sitting on the line going nowhere. Eventually we begin a slow drift into the dying breeze. Gary out far left (with an A-class & the Super Taipan) gets the shift first & puts his spinnaker up. They start to open up a big gap, even with their sails flapping in the wake of the gin palaces and ferries. I get my spinnaker up and head out of the pack at 45 degrees to everyone else. They watch me. They keep pointing at the mark. In a few minutes I make up a lot of ground on Gary and the A-class who have now lost the breeze again. They end up rounding well in front of me though. We head back down the course – now an upwind leg again, the A & Super Taipan pull away, and the race crew shorten the course after one lap (code flag X !).

Somewhere during this race the slamming of the monofilm window finally proves too much and a small section tears out. Finally, I can get that window replaced with something quieter!

Sunday – Race 3

Very exciting as we wait for all the stragglers to finish while the wind builds. Then the committee boat heads off to what is now the downwind end of the course. We head down to the new starting area with a hull out and spray flying – this is more like it. 8 knots of breeze for the start and the A-classes are off like a ferret up a trouser leg, fully traping and going very fast.

This race (and the next) had an unusual feature. There was a gate about 50m downwind from the windward mark. So all the cats and skiffs would round the windward mark on starboard. Those with spinnakers would put them up and then they would all try to tack on to port to get through the gate before they go past it. The resulting chaos was just what you would expect, and once again many skippers decided the gate was just too much trouble to bother with. In hindsight it may have paid to leave the spinnaker down and run straight down through the gate first, then put it up.

Sunday – Race 4

Another port biased line. Every start was port biased. So much so that many boats tried and some succeeded to start on port at the pin. Well they were not going to get away with it in the last race. Two F18s and the Mozzie sailed down the line in the final seconds before the start, completely closing the gate on the port tackers and then totally stuffing themselves up as they tried to get around the pin on starboard (the line was very biased). As a result the port tackers went around the back with speed and got away first again! In this race even the Mosquito was trapezing up every windward leg. No-one could complain about a lack of wind (not even the skiffs). This was heaven. Once again the windward mark was total chaos as 20 boats tried to gybe across the front of the other 20 on port. The remainder just didn’t bother and once again used the “Optional application of the gate rule” philosophy. Those that fought their way through the carnage to get through the gate were certainly left with a feeling of pride in having achieved something quite impressive – even if bloody stupid. Those that ignored the gate gained nothing more than an unmarked boat and a better result. In this breeze it was the big Taipan, an 18 an A and the F16 that broke away, revelling in the mid-range breeze.

A strange regatta (that gate must go!). A spectacular location. A lot of fun and a very friendly club running the event. Tricky launching area. With temperatures in the 20s there were definitely no brass monkeys around! Ed Blackman did an excellent job, not only organising the event and a great collection of sponsored prizes, but taking part as well – not an easy thing to do.

Final note – I helped carry Ed’s 12ft skiff (rigged) after the final race and it is light! I mean light! I mean really light! It makes our 55kg minimum platform weight seem excessive!

Tim

Click on the photo for the event photo album.

Boat Class Helm Tot Pos R1 R2 R3 R4
Karma Cat Mosquito (+ kite) Tim Shepperd 6 1 2 1 2 1
Blue A CAT Glenn Brown 19 2 3 2 8 6
Altered F16 Gary Maskiell 20 3 6 3 7 4
SpecialisedMarine.com.au Super Taipan Andrew MacPherson 23 4 9 5 4 5
Shine A CAT Mark Griffith 29 5 4 20 3 2
Get Snuffed F18 Brad Owen 32 6 7 10 6 9
Barracouta Sails 18 Greg Paterson 35 7 5 7 20 3
Casio 18 Nick Press 38 8 20 6 5 7
Hello Tiger F18 Dylan Drummond 40 9 8 8 12 12
Synergy 18 Michael Carter 41 10 20 9 1 11
Alive F18 Stephen Medwell 42 11 20 4 10 8
Go Hard A CAT Bruce McArthur 61 12 1 20 20 20
Snap, Crackle and Pop F18 Natalie Rogers 61 13 20 20 11 10
Bob Taipan 4.9 Richard Aplin 69 14 20 20 9 20
Hobie Sports Hobie 16 Neil Moxham 80 15 20 20 20 20
Bling A CAT Gavin Vize 80 15 20 20 20 20
Jumping Castle Hobie 18 Andrew Mattinson 80 15 20 20 20 20
Toshiba 18 James Moor 80 15 20 20 20 20
CST Compisites 18 Chris Dixon 80 15 20 20 20 20

 



Sauna Sail – Latrobe Valley YC





With relatively warm weather and 5-10 knot winds and sometimes 15 knots plus, this
was one of the best Sauna Sails for some time. The second Saturday afternoon race
provided the expected sail in the mist, with only the tops of the other boats masts to give us
a clue where the marks were.


Once again the delicious Sunday roast was thoroughly enjoyed by all, in the midst of the Mosquito “wagon circle”.

Peter Nikitin was minus a boat this year so he went out on a rescue boat and
took a lot of photos on Saturday. These (along with a few other great shots from
LVYC) can all be seen on the
Photobucket site here.

There were 21 boats in the “above 79” cats division (2) and 21 boats in the cats with spinnaker division (7). Neil Joiner was the first of the spinnakered mosquitoes in division 7 and so is returned as the Victorian State Spinnaker Title holder for 2005/2006.

Results:

Division 2

1st

Rob Lott

Division 2

4th

Clint Burgess

Division 2

6th

Gordon Hyde

Division 2

7th

Andrew Neeson

Division 2

11th

Andrew & Craig Copland

Division 2

18th

Chris Burgess

Division 7

2nd

Neil Joiner

Division 7

3rd

Tim Shepperd

Division 7

10th

Philip Warren-Smith

























































































































































































































































































































































































Division 2 – Cats YS 80 and above

Place Ties Sail No Boat Name Class Skipper Crew From Sers Score Race 6 Race 5 Race 4 Race 3 Race 2 Race 1
1 &nbsp 1786 Grey Area Mosquito Rob Lott &nbsp MYC 6.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 [8.0] 2.0
2 2.0S 3050 Boy At Heart PaperTiger Mike Wold &nbsp YC 18.0 [22.0S] 2.0 2.0 6.0 4.0 4.0
3 &nbsp 2840 Happy Jack PaperTiger Andrew Smith &nbsp LVYC 18.0 [22.0S] 4.0 3.0 3.0 2.0 6.0
4 &nbsp 1686 Serial Thriller Mosquito Clint Burgess &nbsp LGYC 20.0 3.0 6.0 8.0 2.0 1.0 [8.0]
5 &nbsp 2117 CostABit PaperTiger Jason Dunsmore &nbsp McCYC 22.0 [22.0S] 3.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 7.0
6 &nbsp 17XX Air Apparent Mosquito Gordon Hyde &nbsp LMYC 28.0 4.0 10.0 6.0 5.0 [22.0C] 3.0
7 2.0S 1792 Veloce Mosquito Andrew Neeson &nbsp BEA YC 43.0 2.0 22.0C [22.0C] 7.0 7.0 5.0
8 &nbsp 6394 CEE 4 Hobie17 Nick Bacon &nbsp SBYC 43.0 6.0 5.0 11.0 11.0 [12.0] 10.0
9 &nbsp 1931 Polaris PaperTiger Mal Willis &nbsp BYC 45.0 [22.0S] 7.0 7.0 17.0 5.0 9.0
10 &nbsp 2848 Clam PaperTiger Micheal Thorn &nbsp Mt Martha YC 47.0 [22.0S] 8.0 9.0 9.0 6.0 15.0
11 &nbsp 1746 Hexham Mosquito Andrew Copland Craig Copland LVYC 52.0 5.0 9.0 4.0 12.0 22.0C [22.0C]
12 &nbsp 105018 Screamin’ Seamen Hobie16 Daniel Stone Tom Johnson YC 58.0 9.0 11.0 14.0 [14.0] 11.0 13.0
13 &nbsp 01 Unexplained Absence Hobie16 Philippa Pietromonca Chase Lurati Westernport YC 59.0 8.0 12.0 [22.0C] 13.0 15.0 11.0
14 &nbsp 201 Ultimate Solo16 Bruce Armstrong &nbsp FYC 64.0 22.0S 22.0F [22.0F] 10.0 9.0 1.0
15 &nbsp 3057 The Dancing Sailor PaperTiger Ken Fay &nbsp BnYC 65.0 7.0 [22.0F] 12.0 18.0 14.0 14.0
16 &nbsp 3022 Virtual Reality PaperTiger Alan White &nbsp YC 66.0 22.0S [22.0C] 10.0 8.0 10.0 16.0
17 &nbsp 398 Turbo Cobra Stan Blazejewski &nbsp YC 78.0 10.0 13.0 [22.0F] 19.0 17.0 19.0
18 &nbsp 1557 Amos Keeto Mosquito Chris Burgess &nbsp LGYC 80.0 22.0C [22.0C] 13.0 15.0 13.0 17.0
19 &nbsp 81946 Jumpin’ Jack Flash Hobie16 Micah Mills Fleur Varkevisser MtM YC 88.0 22.0S 22.0C [22.0C] 16.0 16.0 12.0
20 &nbsp 903 No Name Hydra Jura Pranikouski John Cameron LVYC 89.0 11.0 22.0C [22.0C] 20.0 18.0 18.0
21 &nbsp 2333 No Name Hobie17 Darren Gould &nbsp YC 110.0 22.0S 22.0S 22.0F 22.0C 22.0C [22.0C]












































































































































































































































































































































































































































Division 7 – Cats with Spinnakers

Place Ties Sail No Boat Name Class Skipper Crew From Sers Score Race 6 Race 5 Race 4 Race 3 Race 2 Race 1
1 &nbsp 46 Capricious F18 Simon McKeon Oliver McKeon McCYC 11.0 [5.0] 2.0 2.0 4.0 1.0 2.0
2 &nbsp 1789 Immunity MosquitoWSpin Neil Joiner &nbsp GLYC 15.0 1.0 [25.0C] 4.0 1.0 4.0 5.0
3 &nbsp 1775 Karma Cat MosquitoWSpin Tim Shepperd &nbsp GLYC 18.0 2.0 [7.0] 6.0 3.0 6.0 1.0
4 &nbsp 1892 Good Question HobieTiger Robbie Lovig Glen Douglas WPYC 21.0 [25.0S] 3.0 8.0 5.0 2.0 3.0
5 3.0S 291 Bigger Than 10 Bears Tornado Andy Griffin David Hart SYC 33.0 7.0 4.0 3.0 12.0 [13.0] 7.0
6 &nbsp 1730 Buff The Beva HobieTiger Lachlan Gibson Tobi Gibson WPYC 33.0 6.0 5.0 5.0 7.0 [12.0] 10.0
7 &nbsp 00 Macatak F16 (Taipan) James McDonald Campbell Wolf FYC 36.0 9.0 9.0 [9.0] 6.0 8.0 4.0
8 &nbsp 80 Carricorn1 F18 Greg Goodall Chris Boag PMYC 37.0 8.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 25.0L [25.0L]
9 &nbsp 5000 Altered F16 Gary Maskiell &nbsp GLYC 45.0 10.0 10.0 [25.0C] 8.0 9.0 8.0
10 &nbsp 1794 Splashes Too MosquitoWSpin Philip Warren-Smith &nbsp RYC 48.0 4.0 8.0 [25.0C] 10.0 17.0 9.0
11 &nbsp 322 Tasi Oci F16 (Taipan) Gordon Barrett Jenni Duthie FYC 53.0 12.0 12.0 10.0 9.0 10.0 [13.0]
12 &nbsp 1888 SIC HobieTiger Jake Lurati Russell Lurati SGYC 66.0 11.0 15.0 13.0 15.0 [22.0F] 12.0
13 &nbsp 1556 Peace Off HobieTiger Kane Butcher Lindsay Shaw FYC 69.0 [25.0S] 11.0 11.0 14.0 11.0 22.0C
14 3.0S 558 She Goes AClass Larry Fay &nbsp McCYC 70.0 3.0 [25.0C] 14.0 20.0 22.0R 11.0
15 &nbsp 1731 Lethal Weapon HobieTiger Michael Burdack Lindsay Shaw FYC 70.0 25.0S 14.0 [25.0C] 11.0 5.0 15.0
16 &nbsp 02 Lone Wolf AlphaOmega4.3Spin Antony Barrett &nbsp ASC 72.0 25.0S 25.0C [25.0C] 13.0 3.0 6.0
17 &nbsp 738 No Name AClass Andrew Wize &nbsp McCYC 82.0 25.0S 6.0 7.0 19.0 25.0L [25.0L]
18 &nbsp 319 4Play F16 (Taipan) Col Johnson Bryce Densley FYC 88.0 13.0 25.0C 17.0 [25.0C] 15.0 18.0
19 &nbsp 1502 Sheila HobieTiger Josh Thring Phillip Vaudrey RANELAGH YC 89.0 25.0S [25.0C] 15.0 17.0 16.0 16.0
20 &nbsp 864 The Other Woman AClass Matt Firth &nbsp SBYC 93.0 25.0S 13.0 12.0 18.0 25.0L [25.0L]
21 &nbsp 1856 Wicked HobieTiger Mark Dyble Stephen Dyble RYC 94.0 25.0S 25.0C [25.0C] 16.0 14.0 14.0
22 &nbsp 16801 Black Pig Hobie18withSpinn Darren Smith Wayne Cox YC 96.0 25.0S 16.0 16.0 [25.0C] 22.0C 17.0
23 &nbsp 1503 Sir Lancelot HobieTiger Tim Vance Haley Green FYC 104.0 25.0S 25.0S 25.0S [25.0C] 7.0 22.0F
24 &nbsp 561 Scream CobraSpin Wesley Miles &nbsp PYC 119.0 25.0S 25.0S 25.0S [25.0C] 22.0C 22.0F

 


Wet weekend at Frankston – 29/30 April




Well we had a wet and windless weekend at Frankston but the club were very
welcoming and it was great to get in 3 short races with a fleet of Taipans and
F18s. We will have to meet up with the Frankston fleet again next season.

 


ANZAC Day Yarrawonga




Attended by Jon Guymer, Brett Rowe, Mick Floyd, Robert Lott cat rigged and Phillip Warren-Smith, and Peter Nikitin with spinnakers.

The Mozzies Sailed in division 3 which included A class, Paper Tigers, Arrow, Kitty cats and Cobras.

Race 1

Jon Guymer continued his bad luck, tapping the start bouy and being disqualified, while Robert broke his trapeze rope and capsized. On yardstick we were beaten by the kitty cats, which came in first and third. Peter Nikitin was the first Mosquito in second place overall. Robert had a good lift on the last leg to get past Mick Floyd on the last beat to the finish. Followed by Brett Rowe, who was able to hold out both of the Cobras.

Race 2

Jon Guymer lead from the start but it didn’t take long for his bad luck to kick back in, heading to shore to try and get a lift he fell in hole, letting Robert, Peter and Mick past him. At least we beat the kitty cats this time round.

First

Robert

Second

Mick

Third

Peter

Fourth

Jon

Fifth

Brett

Race 3

Phillip Warren-Smith turned up at 11 pm, making a fleet of six mosquitoes.
Jon Guymer lost the end of his downhaul in the mast while rigging his boat for the first race of the day. It is an internal set up so he had to pull the mast apart, and decided it wasn’t his day to sail. With the wind 10 – 15 knots and a crowded start line Mick and Peter got a good clean start in the middle of the line. Phillip got a good start low on the line. Robert was boxed in by paper tigers and A-class but sailed through the middle of the course to be first to the top mark even though Peter tried calling starboard when on port to get in front at the top mark. The results from this race show the yardstick to be pretty accurate as Peter and Robert finished on the same corrected time.

Results

elapsed time

Corrected time

Peter

51.07

63.83

Robert

53.62

63.83

Philip

53.93

67.43

Mick

58.85

70.07

Race 4

15 knots, with a lazy start. No-one on the line but Mick, but Peter was first to the top mark. Peter and Philip had a good fight all around the course, as did Mick and Robert, but on the last leg Robert had a good lift to bring him right up behind Peter and Philip.

Results

elapsed time

Corrected time

Robert

52.65

62.68

Peter

52.4

65.5

Philip

52.48

65.60

Mick

55.5

66.07

Overall Prizes
First

Robert

jumper

Second

Peter

travel bag

Third

Mick

toolbox

The ANZAC day race was an all-in start with the remaining boats. Peter Nikitn lead from start to finish beating three Taipans over the line, two of them with kites.
All up it was a very good weekend but, being so close to Easter, numbers were down on last year. Local Mosquito sailor John Bursaill (1555 Out Of the Blue), was running the event.

Robert

“I should have spent the weekend mowing the lawn” – by Jon Guymer

After lots of preparation I set off to Yarrawonga for a 4 day event full of expectations of a full and joyful weekend. Hah , was I ever wrong! The Friday trip up there via Goodalls and Cobdens to drop a mast section and get a tiller extension was fine and then on to visit friends in Benalla on the way was good too. Arrived at Lake Mulwala and tented up with Peter from Loch Sport and got our boats sorted a bit in view of a good 4 days sailing and socialising. Wrong again! First night we went to the RSL for tea and pokies [which where so boring] and ended up
on the Playstation thing for 2 hours, That was OK till we
had to go out in the COLD boy was it ever. Every night was
cold but not to worry all else was going fine,so far.

Saturday arrived a bit overcast and cool but with good wind for both races. Race 1 got under way and I promptly hit the start boat and discovered later after a good result that I had been DSQd, Bugger! Oh well on to race 2,all was well to the last work to the finish, i am in 1st place in front of Mick and Lottie in hot pursuit, round the bottom mark I go into a wall of trailer sailors,mostly Timpenny,s on a mission to kill each other or someone else during there States, where can I go but sort of through the middle of them as Mick and Robb tack right and
find clear air all the way to the finish, Oh well there is
always tomorrow!

Saturday night the YYC put on a great meal for us all at the club house and great brekkie fare if we wanted it.

Sunday morn turns out really good again,we all get ready for another days battle on the lake,or so I thought. Just as I was setting up the downhaul on my Mossie the downhaul sheet disappears up the mast much to my angst. So I spend the rest of the day seeing the others having a marvelous time racing while I cobble up a new downhaul system which sort of worked and gave me a giant headache.Of to bed with Panadol in readiness for the Monday Trophy races. I should mention in passing that Robbie Lott won the Division 3 races closely followed by the other Mosquitoes. Great racing.

Monday dawned bright and cold with not a rustle among the halyards all day. We did get to take the little ones out for some fin and practice. Did I mention that a mast fell on my back as I was repairing my boat, does not matter ,it did not hurt ,MUCH! More Panadols.

Monday night was good with chinese smorgasborg at the RSL and more Nintendo to keep us out of the cold night air until bed time. By the bye this is my 3rd restless night in the tent as I TRY to sleep among various noises in the dark including a Irish rendition at 1o,clock in the morning. Not a good thing.

Tuesday the sun comes up and warms our cold bones in readiness for another morning of sailing. Not much breeze so I decide to go home for some rest and repairs as the sailors head out. About 20 of the original 60 plus battle it out for the final placings in a dying breeze of about 6 to 10 knots. Bon Voyage to all for now,see you at the Pond in June

Yours Jon Guymer, Prestissimo 1755.

 



Easter at Boga




The Mosquito was the largest cat class present this year when 12 mosquitos turned
up for the event in a fleet of 126 boats. Special thanks to Mosquito sailors Phillip
Watson (Carbon Copy), Garry Johnstone (Touch ‘n go), and Ian Vernon (Endaka),
who weren’t able to sail as they were helping run the event [so that makes 15
Mosquitos in spirit!].

Race 1 – Ross Bennett borrowed Endaka from Ian Vernon, as he managed to forget
to bring his boat. In a strong breeze Mick and Diane Floyd showed the way, winning
with a gap of three minutes from Robert Lott second, and Gordon and Kate Hyde
third. Glenn Hansford had his New Ashby sail out for its first run, but went
the wrong way too often to keep up with Mick and Di.



Race 2 – Mick and Di out in front again but were challenged by Jon Guymer second
and Robert Lott third. Andrew Neeson challenging Jon tripped and fell 100m from
the finish line letting Colin McEwan through. Jon got past Robert Lott on the
last leg to beat him by 0.5 of a second. Peter and Tom Cobden broke their diamond
wire during the race causing their nice new mast to collapse and break.

Friday evening was fairly cold and windy. We had a fire in the Mosquito camp
but soon retired to the warmth of the club house where a large group were having
a very social time.

Race 3 – Mick and Di Floyd led from start to finish never really being challenged.
Jon Guymer second and Gordon and Kate Hyde third. Phillip Warren-Smith finished
fourth in his first race on the new boat, sailed cat rigged without a kite as
the boat was being built on site. Robert Lott didn’t finish after breaking a
diamond wire, and not wanting to suffer the same result as Peter Cobden. Andrew
Neeson spent a lot of time swimming back through the fleet. Colin McEwan missed
this race due to a wedding he had to attend.

Saturday evening was kicked off with the usual wine tasting session with a
few local wineries followed by a BBQ organised by the club. Then it was back
to the camp fire to listen to everyone’s stories from the days racing.



Race 4 – With a dying breeze and a shortened course only 6 mosquitoes finished
with a gap of over 50 minute from first to last. Robert Lott first, Colin McEwan
second, Jon Guymer third.

Race 5 was abandoned due to lack of wind.

On Sunday evening all the ladies put in to make a pot roast, that was prepared
by Di, to feed about 40 people. This was the usual outstanding success.

Race 6 – Tricky conditions with the lead changing several times between Robert
Lott first, Andrew Neeson second and Jon Guymer third with Colin McEwan fourth.
Jon lost his tiller extension on the last gybe before the work to the finish
with a lead of about two boat lengths from Andrew Neeson. John Flower spent
time swimming putting him a long way back in the pack.

Robert

More
photos in the VMCA photo album here

 



Eden Regatta




PHOTOS HAVE NOW BEEN POSTED IN THE MOSQUITO PHOTO ALBUM
here .

The Eden regatta once again delivered an excellent weekend of sailing.
Six mosquitos took part. Robert Lott (cat) and Philip Warren-Smith (cat-spin) travelled up from
Melbourne with both boats on Philips trailer, Martin van Weel (cat) came from Jindabyne and
Neil Joiner (cat-spin) , Peter Nikitin (cat-spin) and Tim Shepperd (cat-spin) travelled from Gippsland (the locals). The other competition came in the form of Gary Maskiell’s F16, a Hobie 16 and four Hobie 17s.




The regatta started with a curious race with winds ranging from zero to 10 knots
on each leg of the course and swinging all over the place as well. The wind swung 45 degrees to
the left 20 seconds before the start so everyone tacked on to port on the start gun and there
followed a drag to the windward mark. Every leg of the course from there on was sailed in different conditions and places changed frequently. By the final windward (tight reach) to the finish Tim was leading Neil but Neil being a bit higher, a slight swing in the wind allowed him to use his spinnaker to reach down to the finish line catching Tim all the way. It was too tight for Tim to use his spinnaker so he had to do the dirty and luff up towards Neil and force him to take his spinnaker down just a few boat lengths from the finish line. The result could easily have gone either way but Tim snuck through first. The non spinnakered Mozzies performed very strongly with Robert Lott and Martin van Weel taking 3rd and 4th overall.




After lunch the second race was held in quite different conditions. A solid 15 knot breeze saw the mozzies leap from the start line, particularly Peter who tore away from the rest of the fleet at an impressive speed. The reason for Peter’s free-and-fast approach soon became clear as he drew level with the wing mark and to everyone’s surprise rounded it and put his spinnaker up. He soon realised his mistake and set about clawing his way back through the fleet. Meanwhile Tim had made no mistakes in the first lap and was soon holding a comfortable lead. The course was skewed so that the reaching legs were a superb spinnaker blast downwind followed by a very tight traping reach to the bottom mark. Heaps of fun! At times Neil made back a bit of ground but Tim finished the race with a comfortable lead. Peter meanwhile had worked miracles to finish up 3rd overall.




Sunday morning again looked pretty light, but this time a gentle consistent breeze did fill in – enough to need to hike to windward. Once again the reaches were broad followed by tight but in the light winds the spinnakers were able to be carried most of the way. It was bad luck if you got caught in a gust on the second reach as it would take you down away from the leeward mark and would be very hard to escape from. The trick was to avoid the wind on this particular leg of the course. Neil broke away early in this race but Tim spent the next 4 laps gradually pegging back Neil eventually passing him for the final lap. However the glory was short lived and Neil was back in front by the wing mark and hung on to the lead to the finish.




The final race required a big lunch! As we sailed out to the start in the same light conditions of the first race a change came through and suddenly we were enjoying 20 knots plus. There followed an extremely fast and sometimes hair-raising five laps around a starboard hand course. These conditions were very much to Neil’s liking and he took an early lead. Even a capsize didn’t slow him down long enough to lose a place. Unfortunately the Hobie 16 also liked these conditions and showed us all the way home. Robert Lott once again sailed well and finished 4th overall just behind Tim. Philip Warren-Smith also revelled in the strong winds, flying his spinnaker and finishing just behind Robert. Using the spinnaker in these conditions was interesting, but pretty well took us straight downwind rather than creating apparent wind. Still there’s no doubt it was faster to use the spinnaker.

Robert Lott won the traveller’s trophy for traveling the furthest to the regatta (beating off tough competition from Sydney). His prize was an interesting piece of ceramic work which Robert will be looking forward to showing everyone at the States.
















































































































































































Series Place Sail No Boat Type of Boat Fleet Owner Crew Club Handicap Series Points Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4
1 1775 Karma Cat Mosquito S 1 Shepperd, Tim   Gippsland Lakes YC 80 4 1 1 2 3
2 1789 Immunity Mosquito S 1 Joiner, Neil   Gippsland Lakes YC 80 5 2 2 1 2
3 1786 Grey Area Mosquito 1 Lott, Robert     84 13 3 8 6 4
4 AUS5000 Altered F16 1 Maskiell, Gary   Gippsland Lakes YC 71 15 11 4 3 8
5 6354 The Cat’s My Horse Hobie 17 1 Disher, Jonathan   Lake Jindabyne SC 82.5 16 7 5 5 6
6 1790 Bee Alert Mosquito S 1 Nikitin, Peter   Loch Sport Boat Club 80 17 10 3 4 10
7 6359 Chinchilla Hobie 17 1 Watkin, Bob   Canberra Yacht Club 82.5 18 5 6 7 7
8 1794 Air Apparent Mosquito S 1 Warren-Smith, Phillip   Rye 80 20 9 7 8 5
9 1044 Momentum Mosquito 1 van Weel, Martin   Lake Jindabyne SC 84 22 4 9 9 9
10 105417 Fly Bye Hobie 16 1 Evans, Julian Adam Zissler Canberra Yacht Club 81.5 25 DNC13 11 DNC13 1
11 6411 Silk Hobie 17 1 Riding, Daryl   Canberra Yacht Club 82.5 27 6 10 11 11
12 6242 HAH Hobie 17 1 Symons, Tim   Lake Jindabyne SC 82.5 30 8 12 10 12

 


Westernport Challenge – Peter Foulsom




97 entrants from 5 Westernport Yacht clubs converged on Westernport Yacht Club at Balnarring Beach for the annual Westernport Bay challenge. 5 Mozzies from Somers (Brian Gristwood and crew Adam Gristwood 1679, Jeremy Pearse 1791, Justin Watson 1737, Peter Foulsum 1048 and Ben Gristwood with crew Ben Coombs 1500 sailing their 1st race), 2 Mozzies from Cowes (Rod Saw 1750 and Andrew Janson with unknown crew 1517) and 1 Mozzie from Merricks (Ian Jeffrey 156) were part of the 30 strong Division 1 fleet.

The race started with an 8 to 10 knot Southerly breeze with an incoming tide running at 5 knots which was always going to make for an interesting windward mark situation particularly when Division 1 was catching other divisions. Varying wind shifts throughout the race and an increase in wind strength on the final lap were always going to make the race an interesting affair.

The Mozzie contingent saw a number of places swapped throughout the race depending on whether you got the right wind shift or not. Final placings were as follows:

Brian Gristwood

9th overall

4th in Div 1

Ian Jeffrey

12th overall

5th in Div 1

Jeremy Pearse

14th overall

6th in Div 1

Rod Saw

15 th overall

7th in Div 1

Justin Watson

17th overall

8th in Div 1

Peter Foulsum

22nd overall

11th in Div 1

Ben Gristwood

49th overall

21st in Div 1

Andrew Janson

68th overall

26th in Div 1

Division 1 was won by an A class, 2nd another A class from Somers with Gary Maskiel sailing F16 Altered 3rd

Regards,

Peter Foulsum

 


NATIONAL TITLES




Congratulations to Gary Maskiell, Mick Floyd and Tom Floyd, our new National Champions.

All the results are on the
NMCC site here.

For reports on the nationals take a look at the Mosquito forum
here.

Photos can be found in the Mosquito Photo album
here.

 


Colac Regatta – by Jon Guymer





Colac caper did not look promising according to weather report but I wanted to go anyway as sailing is in short supply in Ballarat. Arrived Friday afternoon and set up NEW tent on grass at rear of clubhouse, set up boat after saying hello to the few bods about at this early time.About 5pm people started to come in dribs and drabs, still in time for 1st race though. 12 of us went to the start line in very light breezes and commenced the event. 1/