I'll start doing a report here - race-by-race. Otherwise it'll never happen - and the memories are fading fast!

I'll start with the Invitation race as it was fairly memorable. About half the fleet launched in a Southerly that looked like the upper end of the Mosquito's range.
There was a fair bit of hanging-back so as a result in the MK1 start only Bob and Darryn were there. Neil Joiner, Peter Nikitin, Gary Johnstone and myself were not far away - but not realising the start had already happened. Gary Johnstone was the first to realise that Bob and Darryn had nicked off and left us behind. The rest of us followed.

As we got to the windward mark the wind had already increased, and I think Garry came to grief on the first reach. The waves were big (1.5 to 2m) and nosediving was a problem. I burried the boat back to the centreboards while on trap, but the footstrap stayed put and the boat popped out again eventually. Quite a buzz! Darryn I believe also has a swim but didn't waste much time getting it back up.

I got to the leeward mark, still well behind Bob and Darryn and figured I'd seen enough (it was only an invitation race) so headed in. Peter Nikitin was close behind with Neil just behind him and they followed suit. By now the wind and waves were way bigger than a Mosquito should be sailed in.

Bob and Darryn were the only ones to finish that race. Bob won and Darryn had two swims for a 2nd.

In the Mk2s the only one left standing on the final leg was Philip Warren-Smith, whose luck finally ran out as they went for a swim. On righting the boat it rolled over and Philip and his crew (Anthony) lost the boat. After a while they were picked up by the rescue boat and returned to their boat. They were probably fortunate that they were the only ones still going at the time so had the full attention of the rescue boat.

Anyone else have any comments on the Invitation race?
Stay tuned for race 1!