1978

July 1978

NT Mosquito Association

The Northern Territory Mosquito Association has a regular fleet of 16-20 sailing every Sunday with Darwin SC. The club’s most interesting race recently was the Back to Darwin Trophy over an inner and outer triangle on a timed handicap system with all the keel yachts and cruisers starting first followed by trailer-sailers and off-the-beach boats at regular intervals. A big crowd watched from the cliffs. An Arrow won followed by Dave Parmenter’s Mosquito Double Barreled – only a minute behind after starting 15min behind the winner.

Cat Week and the national titles will be held at Darwin in August. Arrow and Arafura Cadet nationals will also be held during Cat Week. For further info on getting to Darwin, write to Dave Parmenter c/o GEC Aust Pty Ltd, Box 38821, Winnellie 5789.

Mosquito Assn of NT office bearers, recently elected
President, Rick Setter
Secretary/Treasurer, Dave Parmenter
Vice President, Brian Woodrow
Publicity, Paul Herrlck
Handicapper, Ted Fowler

– Paul Herrick

August 1978

SA Mosquito Association

Having hosted the 1977 Nationals (Christies Beach SA) which was won by Mike Lane (Super Snoopy), with sister Wendy crewing, the Association is expecting increased competition during the coming season. Many cats have changed hands, and many more are being built. A large group building scheme is under way at Christies Beach.

The 1979 State Titles will be held at Port Lincoln, SA over the Xmas/New Year period and many new Mosquitos are expected to appear, thus swelling the ranks of this popular racing cat even more. The 1978 Mosquito Nationals are to be held in conjunction with “Cat Week” in Darwin during October. – Terry Bailey

September 1978

Hazelwood ‘Sauna Sail’ Regatta

The 1978 Hazelwood ‘Sauna Sail’ regatta, conducted by LaTrobe Valley Yacht Club and held on an SEC cooling pondage near Morwell in Victoria, suffered badly from poor weather. The regatta, annually one of the biggest in Australia for dinghies, last year attracted more than 400 entries. But this year bad weather (there was severe flooding throughout Gippsland) sent many home before the first race. Despite this a large and varied fleet of 353 entries still completed the four races. Race One was canceled on Saturday afternoon when pouring rain and winds in excess of 30 knots made conditions unsailable.

Those who stayed found the next day, despite early drizzle, to be good for sailing. Race two was contested in winds below 5 knots, and Race three in 5 to 10 knots. The large contingent of multihulls in the fleet sailed a bigger triangle than the monohulls, avoiding the chaos of previous years events. On Monday, officials decided to resail Race one in the afternoon in conjunction with the normal event, the Champion of Champions race. The morning race was held in light breezes, less than 5 knots, and the famous early morning mist over the pondage. In the afternoon, conditions were similar, with winds less than 10 knots again. Despite poor weather, the LVYC did an excellent job running the series. Strongest representation among monohulls came from Fireballs, 125s, and Sabres. Multihulls had large fleets in Paper Tigers, and Tornados.

Results:
Champion of Champions Race:
Junior Division: R.Eaton, Sabot, Royal Brighton YC.
Monohull Division: B. Morrison, Swinger, Safety Beach YC.
Multihull Division:G. Hyde, Mosquito, Rye YC.

– Robert Keeley

October 1978

Northern Territory Mosquitos

Dave Parmenter /Mark Setter, sailing Barrelled, won the Northern Territory Mosquito championship scoring four firsts, a second a third. Second place went to Rick and Christine Setter on Wave Dancer – they were handicapped in the blows as Christine is 12 and weighs next to nothing. Third was Oro (Paul White/Lindy Marchant). The series was robbed of a close battle for third when Joe Cool (Lionel and Robin Crompton) collided with Haras (Harry and Raelene Stephens) in the second-last heat. Both boats were badly damaged and were forced to withdraw from the last two heats. The conditions for the series, sailed over two weekends, were testing with winds ranging from drifters to blows.

1, Double Barrelled (D. Parmenter /M. Setter), 1-2-1-1-3-1-2, 6 pts;
2, Wave Dancer (R. and C. Setter), 2-1-6-3-2-3-3, 23.1;
3, Ororo (P. White/L. Marchant) dns-5-4-2-dnf2-1, 43;
4, Joe Cool (L. and R. Crompton), 53-3-8-1-dnf-dns, 54.4;
5, Mistral (S. and J. Vital, 4-4-7-7-4-6-5, 58.7.

November 1978

Darwin’s Cat Week and National Cat Titles

The national titles for four classes of catamaran were held on Darwin’s Fannie Bay in conjunction with Cat Week 78. Competitors from all States and Papua New Guinea took part and although the Isolation helped to keep numbers down, there were still approximately 100 boats competing. Wind strengths really tested the sailing ability of the competitors as they ranged from a fickle 2-4 knot zephyr to a consistent 20-25 sea breeze. The obvious difficulties in running national titles, a separate series for those not competing in nationals and a Cat Week series all in 10 days, were overcome by very well organised arrangements both on and off the water. Racing was divided Into two series of events; the first, of six races (best five to count) constituted national titles for OB2s, Mosquitos, Arrows and Arafura Cadets, while the other classes competed for nominal North Australian trophies. The second series of five races, with all to count, was the Cat Week series.

Harold Stevenson’s effort in winning 11 out of 12 races on his A Class catamaran, Rhapsody proved that he is still the undisputed master of this class. In the Mosquito Class Mike Lane’s only minor placing in a string of wins occurred when he lost his crew overboard, subsequently had to deliberately capsize to refasten the lashing at the head of the jib, then sailed on only to be beaten by a mere 20 seconds.

In the national titles, Pink Catylist (Rohan Brownlee/Philip JOhnson, Vic) won the OB2s in a hard-fought series from Breakfast Plus Ten (Ian Johnson/Steve Smith, Vic) with Achilpa (Terry Hord/lan McManus, NSW) third. South Australian Mike Lane recruited Barry Fowler of Darwin, son of the designer of the class, to win the Mosquitos with a perfect score. Keith and Sue Russell from Victoria sailed into second place after a collision in an early race left their boat lacking several feet of bow. The boat was back in the water for the afternoon race that followed, after rapid repairs by a lot of willing hands led by local skipper Paul White. Wave Dancer (Rick and Chnstine Setter, Darwin) was third. Graeme Bunney (Old) with consistency, won the Arrows from John Goven (Vie) with Jim Cox (Old) third. This fleet was notable for its wide age range – from under 15 to over 50 years. No southern boats contested the Arafura Cadets, won by Jonathon Bateman with five firsts and a second from Michael Gabel with David Bridgland only another two points behind Gabel, third. All three are graduates from Darwin SC junior sailing classes.

In the North Australian championships, Stingrays finished first and second in the Open 18ft class (raced to VYC yardsticks) with Gemini (Rodney Moyes, NSW) winning convincingly from Cloud Nine (Bob Bakewell). Harold Stevenson with six wins took the A class, Current national champion Phil Smythe (WA) won the Hobie 14s. Maricats dominated the Open 15ft class with Darwin’s Craig Garrett the winner

In the Cat Week series, the Open 18 fleet was boosted by the OBs for the closest racing of the regatta. Achilpa won from another OB2 Pink Catylist by only .3 of a pOint with the Stingray Gemini third. In A class. Harold Stevenson was beaten by Allan Boyle (Old) in the first race then won four straight to take the class prize from Boyd with D. Breeze (NSW) third. Mike Lane, with boat speed that astounded his rivals, easily won the Mosquito class from Dave Parmenter and Mark Setter (Darwin) with the husband and wife team Lionel and Robyn Crompton (Darwin), third. Darwin’s Richard Denton won the Arrow series from Ted Fowler in a new boat with G. Powell (NSW) third. Phil Smythe won the Hobie 14s from Darwin Hobie agent John Kempins with N. Crough (Darwin), third. Jonathan Bateman again won the Arafura Cadets in a keenly fought contest from Bridgeland and Gabel.

 

 

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1979

April 1979

NSW Mosquito Titles

The NSW Mosquito Catamaran titles at St Georges Basin became a contest between three boats for the title following the retirement of Greg Curtis (Water Cooled) in heat one. Curtis set the pace in the invitation race with an impressive win in a strong breeze and was holding a commanding lead in the heavy-weather first heat when a fitting failure cost him his mast and any chance of retaining his State title.

With Curtis out, SS Rubber Ducky (F. and D. Glass), Goldrush (B. and M. Wyers) and Catapult (R and G. Rhodes) maintained an almost complete stranglehold on the first three places in the four heats. Only Gollum (R. Crawford and B. Chapman) and Endless Summer II (W. Jauncey), were able to get a show in the results, both scoring thirds in heats one and two respectively.

An almost complete gambit of conditions was experienced.

It was pleasing to see the high proportion of family units among the sloop-rigged Mosquitos, including husbands and wives, brothers, brother and sister, and fathers and sons. The cat-rigged boats failed to match the consistency of the well-sailed sloops, although on some legs they showed superiority The top cat-rigged boats finished fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth. Sails showed a variety of shapes and control systems. Water Cooled had flat Burke sails which went so well in the strong conditions. Rubber Ducky carried a well-cut fairly full set of Herrick sails, as did most of the top ten. Only Dorrington (third and fourth), and Endless Summer’s home-made sail broke Herrick’s grip on the top boats. Developments in shape controls, and powerful leeches made trapeze work necessary in relatively light conditions while in heavy conditions combinations of reducing diamond tension, rotation adjustments, and wider traveler settings enabled boats to reduce power and continue to accelerate through the squalls. – Bill Jauncey

1, S.S. Rubber Ducky (F. Glass), 3 � pts;
2, Goldrush (R. Wyers), 4 � ;
3, Catapult (R Rhodes), 53/4;
4, Zzzzz (P. Battley), 13;
5, Endless Summer 11, (W Jauncey), 14;
6, Fever (P Hill), 17;
7, Cheeta (M. Lotze), 19;
8, X-Facta (D. Hindmarsh), 21;
9, Zanzara Too (I Bennet), 22;
10, Gollum (R. Crawford), 25.

 

June 1979

Victorian Mosquitos

The Victorian Mosquito catamaran championship was held at Mt Martha YC with 55 entries – 20 cat rigs, 35 sloops. The racing was extremely close, in generally light, variable winds, with both classes decided on the results of the final heat.

Sloop rigs: 1, Aquarius (Gordon Hyde/ Jenny Petrie) 8.7 pts (on a countback);
2, Hustler (Ken Lott/Greg McKenzie) 8.7;
3, B-ZZ (Joh Luxmore/lan Walton) 48;
4, Sunny (Ken and Steven Pitt) 49.

Cat rigs: 1, Jeff Bapty 8.7 pts;
2, Hamish Sinclair 20;
3, Jim Boyer, 22.

 

November 1979

Mosquitos Can Travel

The Travellers’ Trophy for NSW Mosquito cats will be held over four regattas, best two races to count from each regatta. Events are Pittwater (Nov 24/5): Kurnell: Botany (Feb 23/4) excluding Cock of the Bay; and Port Kembla (Mar 1/2), on the north shore of Lake Illawarra in a new clubhouse 1 km to the west of the old one.

There will also be a south coast series if there’s enough interest, covering the following regattas: Port Kembla, Oak Flats, SI. Georges Basin, Sthn Highlands if possible (maybe Bateman’s Bay).

Details from secretary D. Hindmarsh (042) 341468

December 1979

Revised VYC Yardstick

The new Victorian Yachting Council Yardstick list, showing the relative performance of each class for handicapping purposes, has all figures increased by 20 per cent to bring them into line with the Royal Yachting Association’s Portsmouth system. It is interesting to note classes that are exactly equal in both systems are: Fireball, Mirror, Solo, 505, Finn, Optimist and Javelin. And there is only a point’s difference for GP14, Laser, Hornet, Pacer Heron, OK Dinghy and 470.

Administrators should note two changes that have already been made since the yardstick’s release: The correct A class catamaran primary figure is 80 and the Griffyn cat, 110. The original A-class figure of 83 was an anomaly alongside the Graduate cat at 80 as the Graduate qualifies and races as an A class in Victoria. So the two had to be brought together. The 12ft Griffyn cat made only a late appearance in Victoria and impressive performances led to the change from 120 to 110. The Wind rush 14 catamaran has a rating of 100 as a cat rig and 102 as a sloop sailed two-up. The man responsible for the yardstick, Jack Leevers, says last year’s provisional figure of 80 was simply a mistake. More results had become available to give a better measure of performance. Although only one 145 raced regularly in Victoria last season, it showed potential – the class figure was based on the Bradmill Two-of-aKind regatta in Sydney. The Laser II and Micron III figures were also based on NSW performances. – Rik Dovey

 

Class	Primary	Secondary	Provisional
Aquanaut		155*
Avenger			134
Bosun			128
Cadet – International			154*
Cherub	110
Contender	107
Corsair	115
Delta	156
Fairy Penguin	156
Finn	110
Fireball	103
505	97
Flying Ant	138
Flying Dutchman	90
Flying I1			133
Flying Junior	121
420		120*
470		102
14′ Dinghy	91
G.P.14	118
Gwen 12		115
Heron		145
Hornet			104
Impulse	119
Javelin	100
Jollyboat			104
Laser	113*
Laser II			108
Laser M		126
Lazy E	113
Micron 3			128
Minnow	167*
Miracle			130*
Mirror Dinghy	146
Mirror 16		116
Monarch		106
Moth	115
N.S.14	111
Northbridge Jnr.		164
Nova			108
O.D.11			139
OK	119
125	120
145			112
Optimist			176
Pacer	127*
Rainbow	121
Sabot	168
Sabre	128
Sailboard			116
Sailfish	133
Sailfish Cadet		152
Sandpiper Cadet			143
Seafly		117
LW. Sharpie	93
Signet		146
Sparrow	144
Skate			104
Solo		122
Swinger		142
Tasar	109
Vagabond			145
“A” Class – including Australis	83*
Arafura	111 *
Arrow	93
Attunga			98
Caper Cat			112
Cobra	87
Dolphin	83
Elwood Jnr.	109
Graduate	80
Griffin			120
Hawke			115
Hobie 14	94
Hobie 16	84
Hobie 18			77
Hydra		86
Kitty Cat	93
Maricat 4.3 – Cat		100*
Maricat 4.3 – Sloop – Two up			102*
Maricat 4.0			112
Mini Quest	93
Mosquito – Cat	82
Mosquito – Sloop	85*
Nacra 5.2			75
Paper Tiger	90
Quest B2	75
Quickcat	93
Sol Cat 15			95
Sol Cat 18			85
Solo 16		88
Stingray			77
achos	88
Tornado	70
Tyro		124*
Wind rush 14 – Cat		100*
Windrush 14 – Sloop – Two up			102*
Windrush 12			122*
Yvonne		84

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1980

April 1980

R2D2 is best Mosquito

Defending champs Ray and Dianne Glass sailing R2D2 won the NSW Mosquito States at Kurnell over the January long weekend. Second were R. Wyers and M. Curran (Goldrush), and third the Ropers on Mystery. The three winners were sloops, and the catrigged title went to D. Hindmarsh (X Facta).

June 1980

Victorian Mozzie titles

The Victorian Mosquito tities were sailed from Altona YC over two weekends. Alice Dee (J. Boyer) won the cat-rig crown with 5-1-6-1 results. Second was Mighty Mozzie (G. Lane) Dnf-3-1-3, and third Bid (J. Bapty) 3-2-8-2. Sloop-rigged title went to Rye Bred (C. Senior) Dns-1-1-2, from Mostang (D. Van der Voorden) and Double Trouble (G. Oliver).

August 1980

Sauna Sail

Almost 500 boats attended Victoria’s biggest dinghy regatta, Latrobe Valley YC’s Sauna Sail on the Queen’s Birthday weekend. The Regatta, sailed on the State Electricity Commission’s Hazelwood Pondage near Morwell, has become a winter tradition among Victorian smallboat sailors. The “Sauna” refers to the heated water stored in the pond, which is used to cool a nearby power station.

LVYC vice commodore Rod Bennett said this year’s event was the biggest and most successful yet. Bennett can’t see a limit to the size of the regatta: “Our organisation can cope with 500 boats as easily as 400.” He believes that as long as the LVYC retains a core of experienced organisers and enthusiastic juniors, the regatta can continue to grow.

Among the individual classes the Paper Tigers were biggest with 59 starters. In monohulls Lasers, 125s, and Sabres had good fleets. There were also 50 juniors sailing in various beginners’ classes including Sabots, Minnows, and Northbridge Juniors. In the last two heats a total of 493 boats competed.

A mosquito cat and a Flying Dutchman were the two division winners in the final Champion of Champions race. – Robert Keeley

September 1980

VYC YARDSTICK 1980/81

The Victorian Yachting Council’s yardstick list for next season shows the relative performance based on the results of regattas and club races in Victoria and, to a lesser degree, other states. The figures marked with an asterisk are those which changed by more than two points.

Class	Primary	Secondary	Provisional
Aquanaut			155
Avenger			134
Bosun			125*
Cadet 1nl.			152
Cherub	112
Contender	107
Corsair	116
Delta	155
Fairy Penguin	155
Finn	110
Fireball	104
Flying Ant	137
Flying Dutchman	91
Flying Fifteen			112
Flying Junior	121
Flying 11			132
G.P.14		119
Gwen 12		116
Heron		146
Hornet			104
Impulse	118
Javelin		100
Jollyboat			104
Laser	114
Laser M			126
Laser 1I			109
Lazy E	114
Micron 3			130
Minnow	168
Miracle			130
Mirror	145
Mirror 16		115
Monarch			106
Moth	115
N.S.14	110
Northbridge Jnr.		165
Nova			108
O.D.11			139
OK	118
Optimist			176
Pacer		128
Phantom			111
Rainbow		121
Sabot	170
Sabre	128
Sail board (Open)			114
Sailboard (Windsurfer)			116
Sailfish	133
Sailfish Cadet			152
Sandpiper Cadet			143
Seafly			117
Sharpie LW.	93
Signet			144
Skate			104
Solo			122
Sparrow	144
Sunfish			132
Swinger			142
Tasar	108
Vagabond			132*
14ft Dinghy	90
125	121
145			113
420			118
470		103
505	96
A-Class	80
Arafura	114
Arrow	93
Attunga			98
Caper Cat			105*
Cobra	86
Dolphin	83
Elwood Jnr.	111
Graduate	81
Griffin			111
Hawke			105*
Hobie 14	95
Hobie 16	85
Hobie 18			78
Hydra		87
Kitty Cat	95
Maricat 4.0			112
Maricat 4.3 (cat)		98
Maricat 4.3 sloop (2-up)			102
Maricat 4.8			88
Mini Quest	91
Mosquito (cat)	82
Mosquito (sloop)	87
Nacra 5.2			77
Nacra 18			79
Pandamaran			104
Paper Tiger	90
Prindle 15			90
Prindle 16			87
Prindle 18			80
Quest 82	76
Quickcat	95
Scorpion			96
Sol Cat 15			95
Sol Cat 18			86
Solo 16		89
Stingray			79
Sundance			102
Tachos	88
Tornado	72
Tyro			124
Windrush			112*
Windrush 14 (cat)		97*
Windrush sloop (one-up)			95
Yvonne			85

November 1980

New Mosquito series

As a warmup for the national titles at Glenelg the Victorian Mosquito Catamaran Association is holding a pre-christmas travellers’ series over four regattas. Venues are Waranga (November 1-2), Mount Martha (Nov. 16), Cairn Curran (Nov. 29-30), and the VYC Cat Classic at Elwood (Dec. 7). More information from Jim Boyer (03) 460 5962.

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1989

August 1989

Vic and SA Mosquitoes

The Victorian Mosquito class State titles were sailed on Lake Cairn Curran in light airs at first, followed by solid 15 to 20kt breezes in the final two heats.

Greg Clark On Bulldozer took out the Mk 1 title convincingly, winning three heats, while David Brewer still recovering from a recent car accident, came second in Mean Machine. Phillip Mann and Stuart Ridge on Screwballs came first in the Mk 2 division, from Bob Wilson and his son Shannon on Shannon.

In SA Zeus (R. Thomas) won the Mk 1 series from Screaming (J.McEntee), and in Mk 11 True Blue (P&R Mansell) won from Foxy lady (P.Hallsworth / C.Heywood). The racing was held at Glenelg/Grange and the country venue of Meningie, in breezes ranging from 10 to 30kts.