Hi all,

well as allways it was a BIG weekend.

Aproximatly 100 cats entered. Split into 4 starts. First start was 10 Taipan Sloops along with a 9 boat Misc 1 Fleet made up of Nacra 5.0,14&16 squares, Hobie 14, Maricat 4.3 cat rig, Paper Tiger. Second Start was 20+ Hobie 16's all sailing Triangle, Windward and Return courses.

Third Start was 20 A class. Fourth start was 7 F18's,3-4 Nacra 5.8's, along with a 6 boat Misc 2 Fleet made up of 3 F16's, Hobie 18, Taipan 5.7 with spinnaker and Tornado. All sailing widward and returns 3 laps. No times where taken for any of the class fleets despite them sailing the same course as Misc fleet, hell of a long way to drive when you only get results for a six boat fleet despite battling with the F18's all round the course <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />. So I will mention them in my report as the F18's where what the F16's spent most of the time racing with.

First race, wind was building from 8-12 knots, but shifted right through out. Flat water. At the start I was pushed into the start boat, after being hit from behind by the Hobie 18, who then had a Nacra 5.8 run into the back of him, pushing me in to the start boat again, luckily the start was recalled. Restart I managed to get into irons whilst trying to hold position on the line and started about a minute late. Could see Stephen ahead on Blade 404, with Greg and Brett on the Viper further ahead, I was fully powered up and pointing above most of the fleet, with the aid of the shifting wind I was able to claw back most of my loss by the time they tacked and crossed me. I was well ahead of Stephen and only a few lengths behind the Viper. But I hung on to the tack to long and the Viper got away again by the top mark, it was just behind the Brewins Capricorn F18 in second place. I rounded the top mark with the front A's who had done some laps by then, it was kite up and on trapeze down the return blowing away the A's and battling with F18's. I dropped kite early and was doing allright, next lap more of the same but wind shifted more making a earlier drop for one up F16's while the rest of the fleet all two up laid the mark, causing me to lose some ground, was still hanging around the back F18's though. Last lap at the top mark the wind had shifted alot, thought it was worth a short spinnaker sail though, hoisted jumped on trapeze but not in the foot straps as the wind was not strong enough to drive the bows down, was heading for the wing mark, not good <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />, thought I would drop it soon but before I did, sailing across a sandy bottom, I hit a weed bank (1m long ribbon weed)may as well have been a sand bank, with boards fully down <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />. The Blade cartwheeled violently, amazingly nothing broke as water was less than 2m deep (most of race area is aprox 2m.) Took me a long time to get it back up during which I watched Stephen capsize at the top mark, I managed to get up and going before Stehen but didn't cross the finish line, fuming about racing in a area where you couldn't keep boards fully down if you where heading for the wing mark <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />. The Viper finished second over the line behind the Brewins F18.

Second race the wind was 15-25 knots, the Viper took of in pursuit of the Brewins F18 again, I went the wrong way and was well back on Stephen at the top mark, I then proceeded to capsize gybing at the clearance mark, left the kite down after that in disgust, the gusts where getting nasty and I was surprised as the race went on to see Stephen still well ahead hoisting the spinnaker, finaly it lead to a crash which finished his weekend with a bad back. The Viper again was second over the line behind the Brewins F18.

Third race started in gusty 25knots which dropped breifly to 12 knots by the end. Seastate was choppy. The Brewins put the hammer down and had a clear win from the Viper this time. I managed to get in the groove on the Blade upwind and was amazed to find myself passing a F18 to windward about 25m after the start <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />. Kept the Viper in sight until a few tacks at the top mark saw them get away. I didn't set the spinnaker until the wind dropped on the last down wind, but managed to beat one F18 home, best result for a hard days work. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

To be continued,tomorrow.