Hi David, here's my recollections.
40th Mosquito National Titles from the pointy end of the Mk1 fleet.
It was a trouble free 8hr drive from Eastern Victoria with “Thrice Bitten” and “Catalyst” double decked in tow, to the pristine waters of the Limestone Coast, South Australia. On arrival we where greeted by the friendly members of Rivoli Bay Sailing Club our hosts for the week and what hosts they where, nothing was too much trouble, the entire Mossie fleet was treated to real country hospitality all week.
After measurement day, came the anticlimax of a blown out invitation race, so much for getting a look at the course before the serious stuff starts. Tuesday dawned with light winds, finally it was time to race. Heat 1 and it wasn't long before the usual suspects “Voodoo” (Bob Wilson), “Unko” (Matt Stone) and “Thrice Bitten” (yours truly) where battling for the lead, as luck would have it the wind shifted and turned the next beat into a one tack affair, with the start/finish line a no go zone in the straight line between bottom and top mark. Matt planned early and sailed high immediately after the leeward mark, while Bob went for speed apparently not realising the line was in the way, I realised too late to point around the line so kept sailing fast with Bob, intending to tack away, however as the camera proved I left the tack too late and recorded a DNF for the race along with Bob and more. Matt went on to win this and Heat 2, sailed in similar light winds a very good start to the series, with myself and Bob finishing second and third respectively over the line, but this time the race counted. After finishing the first day with two second places over the line, in light winds (a good result I thought) I learned of the DNF result, it was a great disappointment, I went to bed that night determined to make the next day count.
Wednesday dawned with more wind and a bit of chop, I was pumped up to get this series going my way. In the 2 morning races, I battled with Daniel Stone (Kryptonite), Bob, Matt, Mitch Meade (Catalyst) and more but managed to hit the front at the right time in the moderate winds, winning heat 3 by 10 seconds from Daniel with Bob another 12 seconds behind. Heat 4 finished in the same order, with Daniel only 7 seconds behind with Bob another 14 seconds back. In the afternoon the wind built and so did the chop and Bob started to find his old form, leading for a large parts of the races. Heat 5, I was just behind Bob at the last mark and in desperation threw in a couple of tacks to the line, Bob tacked with me and I managed to make them good tacks and crossed the line 1 second ahead of Bob, with Daniel another 4 seconds behind. Heat 6 went much the same except I was ahead at the last mark and Bob put in the tacks, however Bobs tacks where no better than mine and I stayed ahead, to win by 9 seconds from Bob with Daniel another 46 seconds behind. If you had told me the night before that in a days time we would have enough races for a series and with a drop I would have 4 firsts and a second, I would never have believed you, what a turn around, what a day, closest racing ever?
Thursday was a lay day, doing nothing was the order of the day for me, while some enjoyed a Wine tour and for the more active (the young and young at heart) the full on action of Paintball, boasting rights from this activity revolved around who had the most bruises and drew blood, from close hits.
Friday dawned with light offshore winds, with stronger gusts appearing and disappearing just as quickly, the sort of conditions you would expect lake sailing. Heat 7 trapezing was possible on and off and the lead changed regularly, I managed to stay in the first few boats all race, but Bob came from back in the pack to win by 20 seconds, from Daniel with me another 16 seconds back. After lunch the wind had shifted south and built in strength to full trapezing conditions, with smooth water and small swell, perfect Mossie conditions! Heat 8 was full of screaming reaches and spray, I managed my biggest winning margin in the stronger winds, 58 seconds (still less than a minute) to Daniel, with Matt another 44 seconds behind for third. Heat 9 the wind built to near 20 kts and it was back to real close racing, with Daniel and I going hard at it from the gun, he was a little quicker upwind, pointing higher and achieving a better vmg, while I was faster on the tight reaches. At the top mark for the last time I turned just ahead and gave my all on the tight reach, breaking away by a few boat lengths, only to have Daniel come up close behind again on the second broader reach, but I held Daniel off on the short beat to the finish to win by 15 seconds, with Nick Baglioni (Bite Me) having a blinder and placing third. What fantastic racing, I had now sewn up the series with no need to sail the next day, I slept well that night.
Saturday dawned with light winds, that stayed that way. I didn't need to sail but still felt I had a point to prove in light winds, so headed out for the finally, no trapezing. I started well fighting with Bob for the lead and gradually broke away, after a while Bob became more interested in those behind him and consolidating his position overall, which allowed me to clear out for a easy win, 1minute 13 seconds ahead of Bob in second, with Mitch 21 seconds behind in third. A great finish to a even better regatta, now I could drop a 3rd place and finish with 7 wins and a second, a almost perfect score, hard to believe that was the outcome of the closest racing I can remember. Amazing!
