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Maricat Nationals


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The National Titles for the Maricat association will be held in conjunction with the Batemans Bay Regatta on the weekend of the 9th and 10th April 2011.

This the first weekend of the NSW school holidays.

The Batemans Bay website can be found at www.bbsc.org

NORs will appear shortly.

Normal entry to BBSC will be required plus a special entry to the maricat assoc for those wishing to participate in the National Titles.

There is lots of accommodation in and around Batemans Bay with two large caravan parks right on Corrigans Beach with camping and cabins. Boats can be rigged and left on the beach.

The Batemans Bay Regatta in an open regatta with mixed fleets of trailer sailors, mono and cats. The 14ft cats will have a separate start. The course is usually a large triangle, windward return course set in Batemans Bay inside the Tollgate Islands. This is an opportunity for Maricaters to do a bit of off shore sailing with big rolling waves.

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National Titles

Good evening,

I have been sailing my old Maricat (#2435) for a while now and race it at my club (Yarrawonga YC) and at Victorian inland regattas. I bought it for a grand with a registered trailer. Its been through the wars a bit and has been repaired at home.

I helped run the Taipan National Regatta at YYC and thought I was at least as good as the back third of that fleet so I though I'd give the maricat nationals a go in April. I've got serious enough to buy a new racing sail although it won't be ready for the nationals. I have already booked a motel (too old for camping) in Bateman's Bay for the weekend.

I am not a member of a state association - Victoria does not have one as far as I can tell and I will need to join on arrival at the titles. I assume this can be done on registration?

I really enjoy my boat, I love its robust simplicity. It is possible to ghost along and they have a pretty wide fudge factor when on the edge. I'm not sure about waves!!!!

I am looking forward to the competition and getting an idea of how I am going as a maricat sailer. I have no direct competitiors at YYC so it is difficult to estimate how I am going.

If Maricat sailers carry flocks of sheep around at the nationals then I'm not too interested. There was, in my view, a small group of over zealous Taipan sailors at their nationals at YYC who seemed to have forgotten that sailing should be FUN.

I look forward to meeting new people at the nationals.

Peter

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It will be great to see you, when I was first encouraged to start racing my maricat I was told that the guys figured if I was sailing a mari I must have either no money or just be a nice guy.

So no I dont think that maricat sailors take themselves too seriously, and at the end of the day, it is all about having a good time.

As far as we know the NSW/ACT assoc is the only assoc still running. Having said that we are expecting sailors from WA, NSW, ACT and now VIC, excellent!

Oh yeh the guys now know that I am both, got no money, and just a nice guy.

Phil

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ha! she'd be happy to tell me up which orifice I should shove them!!

as to waves, here's what we watched at the Fireball nationals in about 1972 (and also what I've read) - don't know if it is the same on faster boats but as you go up the wave (upwind of course) you slow down and the apparent wind lifts so you bear up a little, down the back of the wave you speed up (just by going downhill) so the apparent goes forward and you bear off. the crack Fireball crews would never stop moving their rudders and effectively crab upwind ending many boatlengths to windward.

didn't you do this at Port Stephens though?

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It will be good to catch up (and maybe pass some of you).

After many occasions of nearly capsizing I finally decided I needed to practice my capsize retrieval drill before the weekend. Dam if the thing didn't just turn turtle.

I now have a pair of very attractive polystyrene crab pots that fit easily to the mast head with a short length of rope. So if it cuts up a bit rough I'm bringing along my own set of balls. All I can say is it looks slightly better than a 2 litre milk container!!!!

See you soon

Peter

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Good afternoon,

I arrived home in the early hours of Monday morning weary and a bit stiff from the drive and being on the water for nine hours. I did no damage to the boat when racing but one of my trailer mudguards fell off somewhere on the way home and carved its initials on one of my hulls (ouch!).

I learned such a lot from you all about what these boats are capable of. I'm not quite ready for a foamy but I will be looking to get a very sound Mark II and fitting it with a new-style racing sail. Perhaps then, I'll have to admit the reason Dad 'n' Dave is down the back of the fleet is because of the fool on the tiller. Until then, I have the excuse of an old style boat.

It was a fantastic weekend, great racing, great people and not a sheep in sight. I want to thank everyone for their help and advice - you truly are a friendly association and, on that basis, I am going to stick with Maricats.

Peter

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Glad you enjoyed it Dr Pete, we were glad to have you along. Really hope to see you at some more Maricat gatherings. It's not every regatta that we get the Victorian State Cat rigged Maricat champion in attendance.

Phil

No problems, Phil. And it is GOOD that you ordinary sailors from the other states and territories can be there too.

Peter

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