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MPASC 14ft Regatta.

Over the weekend 8th /9th October, 32 x 14ft catamarans assembled for the 7th 14ft Cat Regatta. Boats arrived from Brisbane, Wagga, Wollongong, Tumut, Sydney, Newcastle, Speers Point and Tanilba Bay. Local club sailors were strongly represented. The fleet quality was high with hardened veteran sailors such as Ian Marcovitch, Frank O Rourke, the master Bob Simpson, hard hitting Warren Pfeffer, Sergeant Major Wilson, the Pirate Peter Breaden, shy retiring and humble Mick Colecliff, the bulldozer Phil Johnston, and the sultan of sail, the electrifying Michael Pfeffer. Youth were present in short numbers but made up for it with courage to sail amongst a big quality fleet, young Ryan Dudman held his own amongst the fickle winds and talented fleet for the first four races before retiring from the strong winds. While young Billy Breaden mixed it in the early races with good positioning within the fleets. This Regatta saw a significant entry of the new F14 type 4.3mtr Nacra 430s. Four boats competed. Stunning in the reaches with asymmetric spinnakers, searing speeds heading for the wing marks. Flurries of arms and legs at the leeward marks resetting for the work to winward. These boats were driven hard on Sunday by Brisbane sailor and Nacra catamaran boat builder Warren Guinea in up to 25 knt westerly bullets. It takes a lot of ticker to pull the spinnaker halyard out in these gusty heavy winds. Jim Bennet, a seasoned cat sailor from Brisbane sailed his Nacra 430 to a win in Race 4. Chris Stevens, Club Captain, Concord Sailing Club sailed his Nacra 430 with distinction. Local adopted son of MPASC, Ian Lamb, (but has a holiday house in Sydney), dug deep and went the distance on all the races, including the last heart breaking race on Sunday when only 14 of the 32 boats managed against the gusting westerlys to complete the race.

The hard men of sailing were in amongst the ranks as well. Those that enjoy the tough conditions and sail to the end. Adrian Heap, sailing super sloop, from a family of deep Maricat sailing traditions, reveled in the heavy Sunday conditions, sitting well into the trapeze, driving his 30+ year old cat relentlessly in the gusts. Rob Fowler, on Riled Up was in amongst the action, giving it all that he could in heat 5 as the westerly ripped into the fleet. Jerry Arnold put in an amazing performance, completing the 7 races, staying with the big guns. Rimmo, riding Kracker, with determination and several "oh jesus !" moments completed the seven races when mightier mortals quit. Graham Stevens, amateur sailmaker extraordinaire, missed the first "easy" race on Saturday, sailing Windrush sloop he carved his way into the fleet on race 7, possibly the hardest race of the series, finishing 8th . Stan Dixon, windy super sloop sailor, revels in punchy wind, flipped his boat twice on the Sunday, squeezing the most out of his leeward hull before burying it. "Pointed Reply", has probably clocked up the most travelled miles for any 14ft cat, travelling regularly from Tumut to most regattas, was ridden hard with the whip by Rodney Anderson and had some solid lower score finishes.

3 Arrows competed in the event. These boats have so much history that the plans are written in hieroglyphics. I always look at the front of Frank O Rourke s boat "Return" on the beach, because when racing, I only ever see the aft end in the distance. In a pair of rooster tails from the rear of his incredibly quick boat, Frank blitzed the fleet to finish first on yardstick in the treacherous westerly winds of race 5 and a mainsheet wrenching 3rd in race 6. Nick Powells Arrow "Bronco" was admirably ridden in the fleet and stayed in for the first two wild rides of race 5 and 6. Gary Powell was travelling comfortably in race 1 through to 5. Finishing well placed with a 2nd,5th, and 7th before being withdrawn from the last two races. A major threat to the menacing Paper Tigers.

Maybe we should call this the Paper Tiger event. These 3 ml plywood boats, covered in bits of chandlery, lines, pulleys, stays, dagger boards, bendy masts, spreaders, flat bottoms and more adjustments than a tailors dummy, blitzed the fleet in all conditions. Kimberly Russell had almost the fastest Paper Tiger, I saw her dad pulling it behind his power boat doing 20knts. Bruce Proctor sailing "Bean" had some solid finishes on Sunday s race 5,6,7. Stephen Halliday, a sailor who likes his wind heavy and with lumps, a Morton Bay veteran, drove "Dipsi Dan" to third place in race 7. Ralph Skea on the black hulled "Solitare", a workman of the wind, settled in with his best finish at 6th in race 4, only to be blown out in the last two races. "Purple People Eaters" owner and trainer, Neil Waterman, a Koonawarra catamaran "whisperer", earned a 9th place in race 2, and a 10th in the tough, westerly driven race 5.

Ian Marcovitch, a man that is so light he packs his shadow in a matchbox, has sinews of 3/16 stainless steel and can melt your ear off when he laughs at 3 paces, was kind enough to give most of the fleet a good flogging and finish third overall. Thanks Ian for the flogging.

Greg Williams. Second overall. Part of a legendary sailing family from Wagga. In the harshest conditions of race 6 and 7, Greg was first in both races. Nothing more to be said.

Rohan Nicol, a solid top class Paper Tiger sailor, beat the best of the competition. Thanks Rohan for sailing at Mannering Park and congratulations from your competitors and our sailing club on your well earned win.

Salty Lips