Went for a solo sail, with my crew on his fat moth, and it was great!!!

Arrived later than planned but luckily there was no breeze so we didn't miss out on much. Rigged and hit the water just as the 5-10 knot sea-breeze had settled.

As we were leaving the harbour I spotted a couple of dolphins following a powerboat in. That was cool until about 15 minutes later when we ended up in the middle of a couple of pods of them outside the harbour. I don't know if we were following them or they were following us but we played around with them on and off for about 2 hours. They were jumping out between and around us, swimming under us, wrestling each other. It was cool.

I decided to leave them alone when the breeze built a little and shot off on one hull upwind (not on trapeze) and about 10 mins into the run spotted a splash about 3metres off my windward bow. I then felt a bump as I pitched through a wave and could've sworn I heard a squeak, looked forward and there was a dolphin gliding along right under my leeward bow! It was matching me for speed for about 10 seconds right under the hull then shot off under my windward hull. It was awesome! I hope it didn't get too much of a headache.

Any ideas from anyone in the know whether I could've heard it squeak from above the water or was it just the boat.

Nick,

I don't think it would have been the hull making the squeak. The hull would have made a "thumk" noise.

We often race with a family of dolphins on Westernport bay and they are pretty good at avoiding the dolphin striker at above 15 knots. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />. Your friendly dolphin may have been young and inexperienced. Never heard them squeak though.

Regards,

Peter

Yeah it seemed small, could easily see his tail (ie well forward of front beam) and nose wasn't past the bow, maybe <1.5m.

Nick,

For those of us down south who barely remember what Summer sailing was like please humour me with details of water temperature and air temperature. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Maybe attach an image of you and`your Mozzie at your next outing (blue skies and no wetsuits)?

Regards,

Peter

Are you sure you really want to know Peter? I sailed a 49er Nationals at Airlie beach in August once. It's a different world!

I'm looking forward to the day we have the numbers to go to North QLD or Darwin in winter for our Nationals. Meanwhile the Wildcat regatta in Sept/Oct is a good compromise, to escape at least a bit of the winter.

The air temp was maybe 20-23 degrees, but the sun was out in force. Rigging was in shorts and shirt. Could sail in rashy and board shorts but only because there was no spray to worry about, usually wear a canterbury jersey if it's gonna be wet. Water is cold enough to not want to get feet wet.

Lake Cootharaba has the Cat Challenge 4-5th November. It would be cool to have more than one mosquito there, I'm sure there's a few mossies in Queensland backyards and sheds.