Hi all,
this write up courtesy of Sail Melbourne site thanks to Mick Floyd.
Australian Mosquito Championships
The Sail Melbourne Australian Mosquito Championships came to a successful conclusion last Friday. The event was held over 5 days at Loch Sport on Lake Victoria, part of the Gippsland Lakes 200km East of Melbourne. Hosted by the Loch Sport Boat Club the 42 competitors on 29 boats enjoyed a range of wind conditions. The invitation race and first heat were sailed on Monday. Scheduled races were postponed Tuesday as strong winds swept the area. Racing recommenced on Wednesday morning in light and variable winds which disappeared altogether resulting in race 2 being abandoned. From then on another 7 races were held in excellent conditions ranging from 10 to 20+ knots.
In the MkI division (cat rigged - single handed) there were 16 entries. In a historic win the title was taken by Gary Maskiell (Gippsland Lakes YC) with a margin of 1 point from Bob Wilson (Port Melbourne YC), who has been the reigning champion for the past 10 years. Gary had not even entered the event until Peter Nikitin had to retire from the series after race 1 due to a pre existing knee injury. Peter then loaned his boat to Gary who entered with a DNC for race 1 so he could not drop another result. The racing was intense for the whole series with both competitors scoring four wins each. The result was only decided in the last race when Gary was able to shake Bob off on the last leg to take the race and the series. Third place was fought out between Neil Joiner and Tim Shepperd (both from Gippsland Lakes YC) with Neil prevailing by 1 point.
The MkII division (sloop rigged - double handed) also saw the reigning champion relegated to second place. Father and son team, Mick and Tom Floyd (Bendigo YC) took out the series with one race to spare from Warwick Kent and Kieran Latter (Adelaide SC). Again the racing was extremely tight throughout the series with many position changes and some very tight action on the finish line. Another father and son team from Bendigo, Peter and Tom Cobden (Cairn Curran SC) took out third place.
Other awards made were: Junior Skipper - Henry Shepperd, Best placed female (Skipper or crew) - Sarah Martin, Spirit of the Nationals - Peter Nikitin, Australian Sailing Magazine Encouragement Award - Matt Kirby and the State Teams Award was taken by Victoria.
Sponsors of the event were Ocean Wetsuits, Goodall Yacht Sails, Australian Sailing Magazine and Sail Melbourne. Sail Melbourne is made possible by the support of event sponsors: Sport & Recreation Victoria, Collex, Parks Victoria; associate sponsors Bayside City Council and Menere's BMW Brighton and support sponsors Ronstan International, Schenker Australia, City of Kingston and the City of Port Philip.
