VIC Spinnaker State Titles 2017/18
Gippsland Lakes YC – 18/19 Nov 2017
The 14th Mosquito Spinnaker State Titles were held at their birthplace, GLYC, and the Lakes really turned it on “Champagne sailing” (lots of bubbles) was the best description for the whole weekend. A small but quality fleet greeted the starter in a northerly that gusted to 20 knots on Saturday 18th. Three back to back races were run by the ever efficient race crew in somewhat choppy conditions which tested out the spinnaker Mossies. GLYC was represented by “Gone Viral” (without spinnaker), “Immunity”, “Karma Cat” (Tim’s first sail of the season), “Still Bitten” and the return of an ex-junior Mitch Meade on “Bonnie”.
From the first race it was obviously sloop conditions as they dominated the windwards and held their own downwind. “Immunity” took out the first race, then capsized under spinnaker in the second race battling for the lead with “Still Bitten”, letting the first of the Cat Rigs “Karma Cat” into 2nd place.
In the 3rd heat it was “Still Bitten” that made the mistake with a massive nose dive causing the spinnaker chute to detach from the chute mouth. With no way of keeping the spinnaker captive in the strong winds, it was race-over for “Still Bitten”. “Immunity” had an easy win followed by the first Cat Rig, “The Joker”.
More than half the fleet capsized in one race or more. Was it because it was early in the season for many? Or was the wind that strong?
All was set for another day of exciting racing on Sunday with “Immunity” in the box seat with 2 wins, and as usual at Mossie events, the socialising stretched late into the night for many.
Sunday the 19th brought a milder sea breeze from the east (around 10-15 knots) and capsizing problems were replaced by having the regular GLYC club fleet get in the way creating problems for some of the Mossies, with a few of the bigger GLYC boats acting as mobile road blocks to where the Mossies wanted to go. “Still Bitten” found the conditions more to its liking and wasn’t headed for the day, taking 3 wins. The lighter winds allowed the cat-rigged “The Joker” to become more comfortable on its first weekend for the new boat, taking a couple of second places.
Overall, Gary and Oskar on “Still Bitten” were very pleased to be presented with the Tim Shepperd Perpetual Trophy as winners of the 2017-18 Mosquito Spinnaker Victorian Titles, with Neil & Charlie on “Immunity” placing second and Matt Stone on “The Joker” from Somers YC placing 3rd.
Photos on the Mosquito Facebook page
Latrobe Valley YC – 20/21 May 2017
Spinnaker State Titles 2017 – Latrobe Valley YC – 20/21 May
Matt Stone did some fine work in tricky conditions to retain his title for another year – just one point ahead of Gary and Oscar. There were 8 boats racing, 4 junior sailors, and two young sailors, making the average age of the fleet probably about half it’s usual level!
We had perfect weather for camping (if not a bit light for racing), a fine dinner at the Churchill Pub, and a great camp fire once Gary got it organised. There was even some local entertainment during the night which some of us slept through!
Now we can return there in a couple of weeks for the Sauna Sail. The water is a bit cool but that’s ok if you stay on the boat….
Loch Sport BC – 12/13/14 March 2016
The Victorian Spinnaker State Titles have been run and won. Congratulations to Matt Stone, who defended his title against tough challenges from Robbie Lovig and his brother Daniel (who was leading after the first day’s racing). Matt finished only a point ahead of Robbie. This report gleaned from posts by Gary and Matt.
Day 1
Gary – “Waves were not big today, but seastate was described as a washing machine, very confused. Robbie’s worst place was when the tiller extension Matt loaned him broke. Typical of Matt, sabotaging boats that he knows are faster. Only boats that didn’t have a swim were Daniel & Robbie, well done. Pete got 3rd in the last race with out using the kite, thanks to a swim by Neil and Matt Sabotaging Robbie.
Sounds like a big night tonight at the club, with more Mossie sailors arriving and in the morning, forecast is for lighter winds and I think apart from Daniel they are all looking forward to an easier day tomorrow.
Day 2
Ended up with 8 Mossies as Phillip WS, Trevor & Eliza and Mitch Meade (on boat borrowed from local, Jeremy) joined in today. The wind varied from light 5-8 knots, to fresh gusting to 17 knots.”
Matt – “Started off in 3 to 5 knots, pin end biased startline with the tide running out making it hard as it was pushing us over the line. I won the first race of the day with dolphins swimming and jumping out just in front of the bows and under boat, great sight to see.
Wind was about 10 knots in the next 2 races. Robbie found the fine line of the very complicated Maskeil boat! Came down to the last mark on the downwind port stb rule ( called stb on me so I gybed and he gybed, grr made me angry). Well done Robbie Lovig, I will get you next time.
Wind picked up to about 13 knots, and most boats had been over laying the mark as they forgot the tide – home knowledge and sailing angles were an advantage. Robbie, Daniel and I reached the gate together with pressure on Daniel getting down kite – tangles in ropes caused a swim which made him slip back a few places.
One race people forgot how to count laps as I finished race in 1st and people were doing another lap. I had doubts, but nope I was right.
Really good racing and thanks to Somers YC for putting on the regatta for us. We did have 10 races planned but time ran out and 8 races were run. Thanks to all the rescue crew, race officer and the club providing the dinner, it was a successful weekend.”
Gippsland Lakes YC – Easter 2004
Inaugural Victorian Spinnaker State Titles
The Easter regatta was blessed with perfect sailing conditions this year. The sun shone for all 3 days of the regatta and the wind varied between 12 and 18 knots. The first two days racing was split into two groups with passage racing for the big boats and windward-leeward courses for the off-the-beach boats. On the final day all classes joined together for a Round-Raymond-Island race.
The four Spinnaker Mozzies of Rod Saw, Tim Shepperd, Peter Nikitin and Gary Maskiell had a great time.
The series began with the lightest wind of the weekend (about 12 knots) and two back-to-back races during which Tim didn’t put a foot wrong and Gary and Peter gave chase not too far behind. Although Peter managed to get in front of Gary towards the end of the second race he had to be content with two 3rds in the end.
Sunday began with some stronger breeze which was more to Gary’s liking. A shift just before the start made the port end favoured and Tim completely misjudged it to end up rolling over the buoy and having to re-start. Gary made an excellent start and took off with Peter and Rod in pursuit. Tim had almost recovered his lost ground on Peter when Peter’s chute detatched itself from the tramp making it impossible for him to raise his spinnaker. At this point the wind was around 18 knots and strong enough that some of us thought Peter might do ok without the spinnaker but he found he was unable to stay with Gary and Tim without it. Gary held his lead to the finish.
The second race of the day saw the wind abate slightly and the windward mark saw Tim round just in front of Gary with Peter and Rod not far behind. Gary and Tim crossed gybes all the way to the bottom mark where they rounded the mark side-by-side. Gary out-pointed Tim from below and forced Tim to tack off early. By the windward mark Tim once again had a slender lead, but Gary clawed this back downwind and the two rounded the bottom mark together again. This time Tim managed to stay to windward of Gary and had pulled out a short lead by the windward mark. However just as Tim reached the windward mark disaster struck for Gary as the mainsheet slipped out of his hand and he tipped over to windward. Gary made a fast recovery but was unable to make up the distance and had to settle for second. Peter and Rod had their own battle going on as they exchanged places throughout the race, however it was Peter who once again made it through to third by the finish.
The final day was the round-the-island race which started with a spinnaker run down the McMillan Straits between Paynesville and Raymond Island. The Mozzies soon broke away from the monohulls, trailables and yachts, and Gary showed his expertise at downwind starts by leading the other Mozzies into the Straits (already out of the picture here).
As we emerged from the other end of the Straits the run turned into a tight reach to the far end of the island and the spinnakers came down. After a short tack across the bottom of the island there then followed another long tight reach all the way back up Southern side, with Gary extending his lead and Tim making distance on Peter. As we turned the final corner and headed into Paynesville the spinnakers could go back up for a quick finish. Gary’s time of 55:36 was the fastest recorded since 1992 when offical records began. It is rumoured that an A-class set a time of 49 minutes back in the eighties so this is the current target, and Gary’s time shows that a Spinnaker Mozzie should be able to do it.
Despite Gary’s effort in the Island race, Tim had the points to win the series overall. Tim also received a $100 voucher from Lindsay Irwin Sails.
Tim