Hi all,

whilst huddling around the campfire trying to keep warm at the
Sauna Sail , talking with fellow Mosquito Catamaran sailors, thoughts turned to warmer locations in the Southern Winter .

A long term plan was hatched as we talked about taking Mosquito's back to their birthplace Darwin! Instead of 14 to 20 sailors standing round a campfire, we could be sunning ourselves in Darwin .

Purely on a individual basis I have made some preliminary enquiries .

Following from the M.A.N.T.A. (Multihull Association of Northern Territory) website.
Dates for the Darwin Multihull Regatta in 2012 are Saturday 30 June to Sat 7 July. The event will again be run by MANTA and hosted by the Darwin Sailing Club in and around Fannie Bay and the Darwin Harbour. Make a note in your diaries now!

I have also sent MANTA a initial enquiry email, just to get a feel for their reaction, again only as a individual.

So what do you all think?

Who's willing to make a commitment to say they want to go? I know it is too far away to be 100% sure yet, but if we don't start planning it won't happen .

Gary,

Been down this road before but always interested to take a boat back ...
How would you suggest getting boats there ??? ... had looked previously at 40ft container, worked out about 8 boats without breaking them down and all gear.
We used to ship our boats back and forth from Darwin, so this time in reverse ... we would certainly look at it.

David,
Salpicon de Resplandor, 1744

ill go, im keen
well us younger people can get double decked trailers and take them across for you. in my head now i can can think of 6 double decked trailers, and 4 drivers so far that i recon will do this road trip which would be fun. and we can pick you guys up from airport

hey guys,

i got a call from the president of MANTA today.
All cats invited. If you want to go you have to book accom about jan feb as its busy at that time of year with their horse racing like melbourne cup.
they will post very soon the NOR on the tornado website and MANTA Website. This event only runs every 3 years.
2006 had good numbers, 2009 doubled numbers and next year they are expecting big numbers
For melbourne people it will take 3 daytime days to drive to get there, and hoping to go all in one big group.
hope to hear from u guys

Matt

A road trip...?
Love a road trip and even better if there is sailing at the end.
Will look into going.

Just thinking about it, I reckon we can combine 2 pieces of history here

We can take Mossies back to Darwin and re visit the Canon Ball Run

Vehicles I know of that are likely to perticipate, Holden Ute versus Ford Ute versus Subaru Wagon.

I reckon by the time we get there, we could have a new speed record for the fastest Mosquito's in Australia . Mind you we may have to share the trophy as the boats will be double decked

So who has the lightest trailer etc? Maybe we will need to have a weigh in before we leave and apply handicaps.

sounds like mast supports are all about to be lowered, and spreaders to be removed.............
drive safe, buffalo v car...... car never wins!!!!

The Bee Alert trailer will definitely lose that one - I nearly crippled myself just trying to get it in the garage.
However I think it might comfortably carry 3 or 4 Mosquitoes.

I've seen 3 Cobras on a single trailer. It wasn't hard. Just take the beams off one and put the hulls between the hulls of the one on top.

Some boats are easier than others to de-beam. Mine is dead easy - I'd be happy to do it that way to get another car off the road to Darwin.

im designing a rack to go onto the back of my ute so i can carry 3 boats in total

Sounds like you could carry 4 boats with 3 on the trailer