Australian F16 Nationals, is being held at Gosford sailing club. Situated half way between NSW two major cities. Sydney, an hours drive to the south and Newcastle an hours drive to the north. The F18 are holding their nationals as well.
I live in Umina Beach, a 15 min drive to Gosford. My crew and I arrived Thursday afternoon to be greeted by the relatively small, but well grassed rigging area. (mainly a laser and a sabot club)
There were around 15 boats already rigged or being rigged.
F16's there were 5 Vipers and Russell. We found a spot and proceed to rig. We planned to sail Thursday arvo but time got away from us. Russell has only been on the water 6 times and never with a spinnaker and we needed to get some time on the water.
It was a good afternoon, meeting and greeting, having a chat, a beer,checking out the boats and just hanging around. Even though we didn't get on the water,I felt strangely satisfied.
Friday morning and the rigging area was swelling, Three blades from South Australia had arrived. But to my surprise Marcus had brought Simon's boat and not the Razor. It was a shame, because there was a bit of buzz around, looking forward to seeing the newest Aussie design.
Desperate to see if the spinnaker and new jib settings was going to work, we waited a little while for a breeze to fill in and we hit the water.
A gentle 8 to 10 knots of breeze from the east, perfect for checking things out.
I should point out that my crew is a good mate of mine, and over drinks one night explained that he would love to give sailing a go. With him being a champion surfer and his understanding of weather conditions and being used to the water and the good balance that surfers have, I explained that the national titles are in our back yard in a couple of months times and if he was serious he could crew in the regatta. He has never been on a sailing boat before, but was very enthusiastic. We spent many afternoons putting the finishing touches on Russell.
Together we weigh a casual 170 kgs and it soon became apparent that the 4 times we had been on the boat together our crew work sucked. I decided that he would skipper and I would take care of all other duties. This we practice a couple of times without a spinnaker. Which brings me to Friday morning.
We left the sailing club and made our way to lake proper to be greeted by the consistent but light easterly. We were the only boat on the lake. We made our way up wind with me on the wire and, just checking every thing out. With the jib settings the boat felt good.
Time to turn around and head down wind, we were both a bit apprehensive, but I pulled on the halyard and away we went. We ran pretty deep to start with, but everything looked fine. The only problem was some control lines got caught in sheet pulley. We powered it up, not enough to trap, but enough to lift a hull and for me to watch what was going on and for Glen to get a feel for it. We got to the bottom of the lake, doused the spinnaker and just sat there talking about what we would adjust when we went in for lunch.
We headed back up wind with the breeze filling in a little more and turning north.
Half way the lake I thought it was time the two of us trapped, so I asked him to come out. Disaster, one slip and one knee through the port hull just above the water line.
Russell was built with four water tight compartments, so I knew we would get back.
I only sponged out a bucket of water, but that’s it for us. Regatta over. Plenty of people offered their help, services and materials to get us back on the water. But I am pretty bummed and I just couldn’t be bothered.
I was offered a ride on a brand new C2 for the afternoon, which I jumped at. Very well set up boat and Russell will get a few modifications.
I will continue to turn up, get some photos and some reports.

Regards tony