7th Spinnaker States
A very enjoyable and challenging weekend was had at Sugarloaf. Both days began with next to no wind but filled in by the time we were ready to race. Saturday afternoon delivered solid trapezing conditions for 3 races. Two more races were run on Sunday with the wind varying by the minute, from almost nothing to spinnaker-flogging conditions. Gary Maskiell was the only really consistent player in all these varying conditions and won overall comfortably, even though line honours were shared by four different boats.
A big thanks to Peter Lyons, who ran the races, took the photos and produced the results.
| Number | Skipper | Crew | Boat name | Race | Total | Place | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||||
| 1760 | Gary Maskiell | Thrice Bitten | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 1 | |
| 1816 | Matt Stone | Unko | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 2 | |
| 1775 | Tim Shepperd | Karma Cat | 7 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 3 | |
| 1789 | Neil Joiner | David Joiner | Immunity | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 18 | 4 |
| 1747 | Mitch Meade | Catalyst | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 5 | |
| 1790 | Peter Nikitin | Bee Alert | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 24 | 6 | |
| 768 | Bill Pepping | Fat Bomber | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 35 | 7 | |
| 1794 | Philip Warren-Smith | More than a Splash | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 38 | 8 | |
| 1805 | Trevor Armstrong | Jake Armstrong | Just a Toy | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 40 | 9 |
Yachting Vic Cat Champs 2010 – 30/31 October
The catamaran sailors started arriving in Paynesville on the Friday night of the Australia Day weekend with many of them enjoying the hospitality of the Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club by joining the locals for the regular Friday night meal and drinks. Competing in the championship was a diversity of catamarans: 10 Mosquitos as well as Hobie Tigers and Getaways, Taipans, A class and Paper Tigers (2 of them from Southern N.S.W.).
Despite the terrible weather forecast for the weekend which had discouraged a number of sailors from travelling to Paynesville for the Championships, the 21 catamarans that attended enjoyed the conditions that the Gippsland Lakes provided on Saturday. At first a grey overcast day with intermittent showers doesn’t sound so good, but when you add a top temp of 27 degrees and 15 knot winds, that built through the afternoon to 20 knots, along with the odd shower to wash off the salt spray, it was cat sailing heaven.
Racing started late Saturday morning and the local crew of Neil and David Joiner on their sloop rigged Mosquito, ‘Immunity’, won on Yardstick from another local, Gary Maskiell, on his cat rigged Mosquito with spinnaker. Only 53 seconds separated them; the pattern for the day was set, with many close results to follow. The second race was started as soon as the first was finished in very similar 15-knot conditions; again the result was very close with only 9 seconds separating the first 3 on yardstick. Then it was back to shore for a late lunch with the shopping area of Paynesville being treated to the curious site of wet bedraggled sailors walking the streets in wetsuits and sailing gear in search of sustenance
After cleaning out most of the bakeries and take away shops, the sailors hit the water again. The wind had increased while the sailors were on shore and race 3 started in 18-knot winds, making the reaches very exciting. Race 4 followed shortly after race 3, with the wind getting up to 20 knots at times. ‘Immunity’ showed the fleet a clean set of heels, revelling in the strong winds.
It was a very tired but happy group of catamaran sailors that came off the water late on the Saturday afternoon and retired to the yacht club to relive the day’s races. A few drinks and then all you can eat Pizza organised by the club from one of the local shops, capped off a great day’s sailing.
Sunday morning dawned fine and warm with a gusty wind; another great sailing day, except the forecast was for winds to increase to 30 knots. The race officer was keen to get racing under way as close to the start time of 10 am as possible, but light winds meant the cats were slow to get to the start area, until the wind shifted west and increased in strength. Now the cats where flying across the flat water with plumes of spray everywhere; however the wind shift necessitated moving the start line across the lake. All the while the wind kept increasing. Soon it was approaching 30 knots in the gusts, causing a number of the waiting cats to capsize, so the race officer then made the decision to abandon racing for the day. All the sailors headed back to shore feeling deflated that the championships had finished this way, but happy knowing the race officer had made the right call, as the winds blasted through the car park while they packed up their cats to head back home.
The Victorian Catamaran Championship was decided over the four heats sailed the previous day, with Neil and David Joiner on the sloop rigged Mosquito ‘Immunity’ the clear winner with 4 race wins. It was a close event from there, though, with Gary Maskiell on cat rigged Mosquito with spinnaker ‘Thrice Bitten’ and Kingsley and Lisa Pursch on sloop rigged Taipan ‘Tangles’ tied on points. A count back of heat results was necessary to separate them resulting in Gary’s winning second with the Purschs placing third overall.
First Junior was awarded to Mitchell Meade on cat rigged Mosquito ‘Catalyst’ just 2 points clear of Chase Lurati from South Gippsland on the Hobie Tiger F18 ‘Rusty Nuts’. Chase is part of the current world youth championship Hobie 16 crew, but on this occasion was joined by his father crewing on ‘Rusty Nuts’. First Female was awarded to Lisa Pursch crewing on ‘Tangles’.
Gary Maskiell
Overall results
Division results
Photos
Sauna Sail 2011
Another great weekend of camping and socialising was had, with 17 Mosquitoes attending – we also managed to fit in five races. Frequent crew and skipper swapping was necessary so some could get in enough time around the camp fire – causing some confusion for other competitors. Apart from the early morning fog it was mostly sunny all weekend, and we were not troubled by too much wind at any stage. Thanks to Di and Mick for all their work on the delicious camp roast.
Welcome to new Mosquito sailors Andrew Hill from Westernport YC and Daniel Stone from Somers YC who we hope to see a lot more of in future.