Hey there,

We went, we raced, we broke stuff, we had a great time.

The regatta had quite a fleet, A class states (on a seperate start time), monohulls, sabre state titles and us in a general cat division.
We had Taipan(cat), Stingray, Hobie 16's, Arrow, Arafura?, Nacra 5.8(+kite).
Good course of triangle, sausage, triangle, windward mark, finish.

Plenty of craft on the water which creates a great feel during the race and a bit of traffic to watch for.

Sailed with one or the other of the kids each race so we were sloop plus kite and 2 up.

Race 1 - 15 knots plus, was in front at one stage ahead of Hobie 16's, Taipan 4.9(cat), Stingray and others. Had a great upwind leg, got the lifts and just got the Taipan at the top mark. Unfortunately made some mistakes and ended up 4th, it was all skipper errors as still getting used to the boat.

Ran the kite and certainly made a difference but have a lot more to learn yet. The positive is I know if I sail well the boat is fast enough.

Race 2 - Bad start, had completed one lap and starting to work up second upwind and pulled half the screws of the port bow bridle fitting out. Luckily it hung on by the edge of the fitting and I could sail downwind to beach without losing mast.

Race 3 - missed as was down the hardware store getting some bits to do a repair to above bridle fitting. Will post a photo later as the repair is ugly but it held.

Race 4 - Wind up to 20 knots, better start and sailed well but could not repeat first race performance. Was hesitant to use kite all the time as gusts were heavy and wanted to sail and not go in. The kids are still learning and I am basically sailing one up, sloop rig with kite. Finished 8th.

Race 5 - Went out to start, wind was above 20 knots perhaps 25. I was concerned about bridle repair as had been watching deck flex under temp repair. Decided best was to come in and not race as I would have struggled to hold it down as the kids do not trapeze yet so I was one up with sloop as such in 25 knots. Should have stayed out as wind died to nothing after 30 minutes, the wind shifted a lot and then the race was abandoned as the Nacra 5.8 just missed crossing the line within time limit.

All in all a great 3 days and enjoyed the racing albeit only two full races.

The mossie impressed with speed and now up to me to tune and polish my driving.

Apologies as I have no photo's, kids tried to get some while ashore but did not work out.

Cheers,

Didn't get flooded out during the weekend then? News stories of road closures all around there right now.

What was the water level in the lake?

Got our fair share of rain over the 3 days but not enough to ruin anything.

Lake level was up quite a bit according to some locals, each day it actually dropped a bit.

The extra height made launching off the beach in front of the camp ground easier for all those rigging there.

It was a lovely brown colour as well.

Have attached bridle anchor repair photo as well, amazing what you can do with a few bits from bunnings.




Hey ncik - came across the photo's of your hull build and setup, looks great. Are you likely to sail in CYC Peel Island marathon on May 3rd? Would be good to have an F16 / mossie on the course as well.

Cheers,

Tried again this time with phoyo of repair -

I probably won't be doing the peel island marathon. Someone is in the process of buying the boat so I haven't been sailing it. If that falls through I'll reconsider.