Catsailor.com

Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri

Posted By: No Turbulence

Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 03/28/12 02:24 AM

Hi All

The Western Region Easter Regatta is to be held at Lake Bullen Merri, near Camperdown Vic.

Racing starts Friday Afternoon with one race, a couple each day Sat and Sun and a Stern Chaser on Monday morning.

Camping is available on the lawn on the shoreline,or there is a caravan park close by.

Camperdown is approx 2.5 hours south west of Melbourne, between Geelong and Warrnambool.

Normally there is a fleet of Mossie's
Posted By: MD moz 1277

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 03/28/12 03:58 AM

a group of keelboat guys from Geelong have been going down each year, they have a "fleet" of cats, their internal rules are you may not spend more than $500 on a boat, they're mostly Marie cats...
Posted By: No Turbulence

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 03/29/12 05:39 AM

rumours that there will be at least 6 Mosquito's at this regatta, that should keep everyone interested

Ross
Posted By: No Turbulence

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/03/12 01:13 PM

Looks like 4 Mosquito's from Geelong going, the numbers are growing.
Posted By: Aclass854

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/04/12 02:20 AM

I know of 3 from geelong, not sure about the 4th
Posted By: No Turbulence

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/04/12 11:41 PM

hey Tom,

There is the 2 Stephens boys, yourself and me.

i have also been speaking to a few others Mossies sailors 2 confirmed and 1 other intending to sail at least part of the Regatta, anybody else coming who reads this forum?

Ross
Posted By: No Turbulence

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/10/12 02:48 AM

This Regatta, has been run and won, with a total of 10 Mosquito's turning up, a great turn out, and 4 boats had younger sailors showing their skills, 2 cat rigged and 2 sloop. these young sailors were keen to ask questions and learn about sailing their boats faster, this all goes well for the future of the class.

Friday there was 1 race scheduled this had to be abandoned until Saturday due to to much wind! many tents were flattered and some totally destroyed this should give you an indication of how much fun we had chasing flying objects around the camping area!

3 races on Saturday in winds varying from 12 to 20 knots, the Cats were split into 2 divisions with the A's and Taipan s in Div 1, Div 2 consisted of Mossies, 7 Maricats , a Hobie 16 and a Hobie 14, in all 3 of these races No Turbulence was first across the finish line with Courageous and young Lachlan Stephens fighting it out for 2 and 3 places, with Courageous sneaking into second in all 3.

Saturday night consisted of a band and a beer tasting competition, so entertainment for all.

Sunday morning race was racing in 15 to 20 knots No Turbulence won and both Courageous and Lachlan ended upside down leaving some other mossies to take 2 & 3rd (I need someone to fill in who made these positions I think I was off getting warm and missed which order everyone came in).

Sunday afternoon the breeze increased at the start it was over 20 knots and it kept building, a slight wind shift made the 1st windward a one tack speed race to the 1st mark, ideal for the Sloops, fist around the mark was Tom Stuchbery in a very nice looking blue sloop Mossie. 2nd was No Turbulence closely followed by the Hobie 16. Tom was still in front at the wing mark sailing well, on the next reach No Turbulence passed Tom and the Hobie made his move to the front. unfortunately on the next windward Tom's mast broke taking him out of the race, Sam Stephens (who is still a junior) also broke a mast in this race. in the finish across the line was No Turbulence, Hobie 16, another sloop Mossie Icthus, then Courageous showing consistency in all conditions.

Monday dawned for the traditional John Lane memorial stern chaser, we all woke up to rain and cold. in this race is combined for all Divisions Cats and Monos. For some reason the Mossie doesn't fair to well in the time sheets for this stern chaser and I knew again we had the short straw when one of the Taipan sailors said I had to give him 5 minutes head start!, a quick look at the start times and No Turbulence, was second last off, with a Taipan 5.7 with a spinnaker 1 minute further back! to put that in prospective the Mosquito is faster than the State and National tile winners in both A class and Taipan (why doesn't everyone sail a mosquito!).
As No Turbulence only gets the occasional outing I decided to race for the fun of it anyway, I also likes the challenge of seeing how many boats I could pass.

The course was a short windward(maybe 15m) round the mark downwind to mark B a windward to mark A a reach to Mark C a reach to mark B a windward to the ID mark and finish.

A long 36 minutes after the 1st boat started No Turbulence hit the start line in an increasing wind at the 1st mark passing the first boat (he was upside down) the wind was now above 25 knots and still building, while working on keeping the bows above water, I watched 1st an A class go over followed by a Taipan go in another 2 places made up!, around the mark and back on the wind I could see Icthus and the Hobie 16 in front, as I sailed closed they headed straight for shore, it crossed my mind that maybe we shouldn't be out here, but I was enjoying the ride so around the mark I went heading up the 1st reach, and noticed a Taipan heading toward land (a long walk from the club) and another Taipan on shore sheltering behind the point (even further from the club). I approached the wing mark with some trepidation as it was close to the shore and if I couldn't time the gybe I might just be sailing on the land! thankfully I managed to get around the mark at this point most of the boats I could see were upside down, so when I sailed near them I did a quick head count to make sure no one had been separated from their boats (the rescue boats were keeping busy). the last windward I could see a fireball (still sailing) 1/2 a leg in front and looked at passing him, as I got close the trap wire decided it had had enough and broke giving me a swim after getting the boat up and sailing to the finish with no trap, I could not catch the fireball but was the first (and only i think) cat to finish.
So an interesting race and to those who decided to watch.
A special thanks to the organises of this regatta, they hand out trophies on handicap and scratch so the mossie sailors took lots of them away.
So some young sailor in the class to keep an eye on are the Spephens brothers, Tom Stuchbery and Al Noone.

Ross
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/12/12 07:17 AM

Hi Ross,

sounds like we had better organise to do some sailing with them, do you think they might come to the Sauna Sail or some other event on the East side of the bay?
Posted By: No Turbulence

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/12/12 09:24 AM

Hi Gary,

They are fairly keen, so anything is possible. There is the issue of having to build a couple of masts and get at least one new sail.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/14/12 06:45 AM

If they are after masts even cheaper than the new assoc sections and sail cat rigged, I think there are a few of the light weight web masts around that have been used and then replaced. I have one that has been used for a season or so, that is now stripped bare. If it helps them get back on the water, I would certainly let it go cheap. For that matter I have a old radial Goodall (you know what they are like) which is serviceable for sale.
Posted By: Matt_Stone

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/14/12 10:08 AM

any mast parts eg spreaders, spanners, top hook, top ring, rigging call me (matt) i can easy make them up

Matt
Posted By: Aclass854

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/15/12 10:11 AM

We're going to need new spreaders because our leeward one bent right around on itself when the rig went, not sure if thats why it went in the first place though. Has anyone got any ideas on how to stiffen up a new section which I hear are more bendy?
Posted By: No Turbulence

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/15/12 10:52 AM

Thanks Gary & Matt,

Both Masts were sloop, I will be having a discussion with one of the guys next weekend, I will make sure I pass the information on.
Gary I am surprised you are not using the Goodall sail, must have years of life left in it. smile
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/16/12 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by Aclass804
We're going to need new spreaders because our leeward one bent right around on itself when the rig went, not sure if thats why it went in the first place though. Has anyone got any ideas on how to stiffen up a new section which I hear are more bendy?


It probably was spreader collapse, unless badly corroded or holes in the wrong place, Mossie masts are hard to break. The most common cause of Mossie mast breakage is diamond failure, wire breaking, poor swaging, fitting pulling out of masts that sort of thing, spreader collapse would certainly do it.

Current association mast sections, are normal stiffness, should be ok for sloop. There was only one batch of masts that where more bendy (side ways) because the web was too thin for sloop, these are no longer available.
Posted By: Matt_Stone

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 04/16/12 09:11 AM

If need alloy Spreaders give me a ring 0438222262
i also have 2 pre 1980's style stainless inline spreaders for sale for $20 each or new style alloy that clamps the wire on the end $260, or you can buy (not sure where yet) ajustable spreaders used on 420's, 470's, fireballs, contenders, and about same price of $260

Matt
Posted By: Aclass854

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 09/01/12 04:48 AM

Does someone have the number of the guy with the mast sections? We're drying the boat out in the shed. We're looking to get back on the water for the occasional club race and maybe next Easter. Hopefully I can find some spreaders, I think I know a guy with some.

Do the sections have the spreader locations etc marked or will I have to put them on based on where they were on the broken one?

Also, I'm an apprentice sailmaker so I might stuff around with a new jib seeing as the old one probably slowed us down at Camperdown, so are there any limits as to what materials are aloud?

Thanks In advance,

Tom
Posted By: No Turbulence

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 09/01/12 08:41 AM

Hi Tom,

speak to Philip Warren-Smith 03 9898 6107 (after 9pm) about the mast section, I have a set of S/S spreaders if you get stuck, the masts are blank so no markings for anything.
the building rules are located on the website under documents http://www.theracingcat.com/index.php?page=documents this should help.
Ross
Posted By: Matt_Stone

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 09/02/12 01:54 PM

i have 2 s/s ones aswell if get stuck for $20 each, or i can make new alloy racked backed ones for $200
by all means fiddle with the jib, but remember it has measurement restrictions located on the mossie website.

Matt
Posted By: Sixth Element

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 09/02/12 09:49 PM

as the others said the rules are on the site, but there are no restrictions on cloth can use what ever you want. only half dozen measurements for the jib pretty basic.

luff- 4120mm
leech- 3810mm
foot- 1680mm
head- 50mm
max foot round- 100mm
1/2leech (IRC 90deg swing arc) - 790mm
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 09/03/12 05:10 AM

I've got a very old mozzie mast under my house you can have for free if you feel like driving to kalorama to collect it.
Posted By: Matt_Stone

Re: Easter Regatta at Lake Bullen Merri - 09/03/12 07:12 AM

so do i a whole complete one in including boom
© 2024 Catsailor.com Forums