Hi all,

First installment of my very bias (only from my perspective) Nats report below.

My Nats this year where not normal to say the least, having launched my new Mossie 1830 "Still Bitten" only 2 weeks before, I had not sailed for 8 months and only had 5 days on the water with sailing time varying from 1 to 4 hours each day. Thankfully with the help of the local Mossie Fleet on 2 days, I knew the boat was "up to speed" straight away.
The trip to Speers Point at the Northern end of Lake Macquarie NSW, started with a big packing up job as “Still Bitten” was joined on my trailer by “Bee Alert”, double decked on top. A short 3 hour drive from Paynesville to Bomballa just over the border in NSW late on New Years day was decided to be a good idea, before stopping in a Motel to make the long haul slightly less long on Friday. A good nights sleep was had and a relaxed 7.30 departure with a stop for Brekkie at Cooma after only an hour on the road, helped the big day of driving get rolling gently. Traffic and roads where good except the roadworks near Canberra and the hours flew by, even Sydney didn't slow us down for long and we arrived at the Speers Point Amateur Sailing Club (SPASC) earlier than expected, about 3.30 in the afternoon. The boats and trailer where dropped off, then it was time to find the Caravan Park and go “hunting & gathering” a large shopping complex was found and a weeks supplies of food and fluids, suitable for elite Mossie sailing athletes procured.
Saturday morning was a lazy one followed by a trip to the local chandlery at Warners Bay to procure some missing bits (fit for elite Mossies, lol.) Well what a breath of fresh air “Bob Fussell Marine and Sail Centre” is, I thought shops full of stuff for “Off The Beach” sailors had gone the way of the Dinosaurs, but one still remains in Warners Bay and was visited many times during the championship week, by most of the Mossie sailors, followed by many positive comments. Back to Speers Point and the unpacking weighing and measuring started, for the small number of early Mossies in attendance. “Still Bitten” came in just 100gms over, after having guesstimated the amount of lead required to be added, before she was launched in Paynesville just weeks before, making for a hassle free start to proceedings. Then followed a relaxing late afternoon and evening as more Mossies arrived and beverages where enjoyed.
Sunday another relaxed start, before arriving at SPASC to welcome more new arrivals and old friends, before more measuring, this time sails. Including spinnakers and “Still Bitten's” brand new “Irwin” spinnaker made of a new fabric (for Mossie Spinnakers) which measured no problems. Then it was time to rig and go for a burn in the building seabreeze and flatwater, a few hours of sailing up and down the southern shore line (buzzing NS14's on the way in from their final day of titles) in ideal conditions left me grinning and competitors worried (as “Still Bitten” looked and felt awesomely fast), but would the conditions be seen again during the week? Then it was time for more relaxing beverages and food, before retiring to the cabin to prepare for the start of the serious stuff on Monday.