Rivoli Bay Sailing Club
MOSQUITO CATAMARAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONS WIN AGAIN

The 40th National Mosquito Catamaran titles were won by last years National Champions, Gary Maskiell (MkI) and Warwick Kemp with Tomas Norman (MkII), which were held recently in Southend hosted by Rivoli Bay Sailing Club.

The Mosquito fleet started arriving in Southend on Thursday and continued to arrive until Sunday with many of them enjoying the hospitality of the Rivoli Bay Sailing Club by joining them for the previous night’s New Years Eve celebrations. Thirty-one Mosquito catamarans entered the national competition with sailors, crew and families travelling from across Victoria and South Australia.
Since the Mosquito’s first national titles held in Darwin in 1960, the sixteen foot catamaran has gone on to become a true Australian sailing icon. The overall design has remained virtually unchanged since its inception, but its relatively low cost, lightweight platform and efficient rig continue to be a successful and competitive combination. The Mosquito sailing boat is known as “The Racing Catamaran”.
The national titles were held over five days with 11 races in total sailed. Monday afternoon’s invitation race was cancelled due to strong northerly winds of 40 knots. The weather forecast for the rest of the week promised to be sailing heaven. The Rivoli Bay Sailing Club welcomed the Mosquito’s to the turquoise waters of Rivoli Bay by hosting a BBQ on Monday night.

Tuesday the Mosquito fleet hit the water eagerly looking forward to the consistent breeze that they had been promised however race one started with a variable 5 to 10 knot northerly breeze. In the cat rigged division (MkI) David Dunk & Jamie Broekers (Salpicon De Resplendor) showed the fleet a clean pair of heals on the first upwind leg. Mitch Meade (Catalyst), Nick Baglioni (Bite Me) and Daniel Stone (Kryptonite) were eagerly closing the gap. Gary Maskeill (Thrice Bitten) rounded the top mark first after the next upwind leg. Bob Wilson (Voodoo) had him within his sights with Meade and Baglioni taking their rivalry to the course in style. Results for the MkI after the scorers had their way with the black marker, gave Matt Stone (Unko) the big one with a 50 second gap to Ben Clark (Chicken Skin). In the sloop-rigged division (MkII) the slow conditions didn’t help the heavier weighted boats but the competition was none of the less fierce. First through the fleet was Warwick Kemp & Tomas Norman (Atreus). Simon Hallsworth & Sarah Martin (The Young Mariner) gave them a fair bit of daylight but Neil and David Joiner (Immunity) were just starting to warm up for the series.

Race two saw MkI’s Stone standing out as the sailor to beat for the series with just under a minute to spare from Clark. In the MkII’s the final result came down to one second between first and second place. With the gods definitely in their favour, Kemp and Norman just snuck over the line in front of Joiners.

Race three brought increasing wind shifts which left the whole fleet sailing in circles waiting patiently for the Race Officer to finish his prayer’s to the wind gods. Unfortunately these were dutifully unanswered and finally after much teeth gnashing and perspiration by the Race Officer on the Committee boat it was decided to cancel the race. With two races down and two wins Matt Stone (MkI) and Warwick Kemp & Tomas Norman (MkII) were going to be hard to beat.

In the fourth and fifth race on Wednesday morning there was a fresh breeze that created a huge challenge for boats to cross the start/finish line position half way between the top and bottom marks. This presented a tactical situation where gains or losses were to be had and wind shifts would bring the no go line into play. Finding the conditions to their liking Maskiell, Wilson and Stone forged ahead giving Maskiell four bullets with Wilson and Stone achieving two seconds and two thirds. Kemp & Norman continued to dominate while the Joiner’s and Hallsworth & Martin shared two seconds and thirds. Sixth race in the afternoon brought a stronger breeze that was considered on the upper limit, which proved a gruelling race for all boats.

With a reserve day on Thursday the Rivoli Bay Sailing Club organised a wine tour hosted by Ken Bierwirth of Wynn’s Wines, Coonawarra. With smiles all round after the wine tour the sailing fleet were provided with a curry dinner followed by a Quiz night to challenge the Einstein’s of the Mosquito fleet. There was as much competiveness during the quiz as there was on the water with winners rewarded with money and prizes.

On Friday continual wind shifts provided good wind for trapezing and in race seven Wilson had his boat channeling the wind shifts to be successful in the MkI’s. Stone was keeping Wilson honest by staying right with him and crossed the line only 17 seconds behind followed by Maskiell. In the Mkii’s Kemp & Norman flew past the rest of the fleet in their own personal biosphere of breeze. Second place went to Trevor Armstrong & Jake Sheffield (Just A Toy) followed closely by Peter Dunk & Kirsten Thomas (Natural Progression).

Race eight was sewn up in the MkI’s with Maskiell giving the rest of the fleet a view of what his transom looked like. The Stone brothers were in hot pursuit but not enough to beat Maskiell. Perhaps the Stone brothers should have worn their new purple and green lycra suits on the water to streamline their performance. At the first bottom mark half of the fleet elected to sail leeward while the other half sailed windward to avoid the dreaded start/finish line. Unfortunately sailing leeward only worked for some of the fleet due to the wind shifts. Down the fleet there were some great tussles for minor placing’s. Meade and Baglioni had something to brag about at the end of the race. In the MkII’s Kemp and Norman did not put a foot wrong gaining third placing which moved them closer to another Championship. The Joiner boys finally got to see the view from the top podium followed by Hallsworth and Martin who pushed the top two, showing the fleet a clean pair of heals to the top mark, cementing them the top three spot in the overall placing’s.

In race nine, Stone finally thought he’d found Maskiell’s weakness when he lead him to the top mark and with only 12 seconds between them at the end it seemed that might not be far from the truth. It was almost a carbon copy of the previous race with Baglioni taking third. In the MkII’s, the Joiners took the win from Kemp & Norman followed by Hallsworth & Martin.

During the day there were a couple of occurrences that sailors would rather forget. Nosedive of the day went to Armstrong & Sheffield when they caught some air in front of Simon Bone (Phat Cat) near the top mark. Not to be outdone, David & Holly Heynemann (EpiMagic) spent some time coat hangered from the bridle. Some intervening supernatural force stepped up to keep their stick pointing the right way up.
Saturday morning delivered a blustery breeze for the commencement of the final race of the series. After the first lap of trapezing some light air and gusts trapped the unwary including Rob Gilchrist (Hagar) who capsized within sight of the finish. Maskiell did not need to race having won the series but won the last race anyway with Wilson placed second and Meade taking third. Maskiell had the series in the bag but the last race decided placings for second to fourth. In the MkII’s Joiners won the race to make it three wins in a row. Kemp & Norman did not need to compete and so were spectators. Dunk & Thomas and Hallsworth & Martin took out second and third respectively.

After the final race on Saturday morning some tired but very happy catamaran sailors retired to the sailing club to relive their week of trials and tribulations on and off the water. On Saturday evening the Rivoli Bay Sailing Club and volunteers organized a presentation dinner at Lynnies to present the outright winners and other award winners of the 40th Mosquito Catamaran Nationals for 2012.

Outright winners
MkI
1st Gary Maskiell (Thrice Bitten)
2nd Bob Wilson (Voodoo)
3rd Daniel Stone (Kryptonite)

MkII
1st Warwick Kemp & Tomas Norman (Atreus)
2nd Neil & David Joiner (Immunity)
3rd Simon Hallsworth & Sarah Martin (The Young Mariner)

MkII Handicap
1st David Heynemann (Epimagic)

Other Awards
Best placed female - Sarah Martin (The Young Mariner)
Junior skipper – Mitch Meade (Catalyst)
Veteran skipper – Philip Warren-Smith (More than a Splash)
Spirit of the Nationals – Sue Westgarth & Brad Mann (Rivoli Bay Sailing Club)
Best-presented boat – Peter Nikitin (Bee Alert)
Best-placed wooden boat – Phillip Pearce (Aldebaran V)
State teams award – Victoria