Hi everyone. It's the Monday after the MG Touring Trophy at Toronto, held in conjunction with Toronto's "4 of a Kind" Regatta over the weekend. I could only sail with Phil on the Saturday, with family commitments for the rest of the weekend, but really enjoyed it. Ten MG's fronted Saturday, including a three from St George and two from Balmoral. Given that it clashed with a big regatta up at Manning Point, not a bad turnout.
Saturday was a "funny" nor-easter. The "funny" part soon ended when we realised that Lindsay Mason from St George had teamed up with Rohan Nosworthy on Water Rat! For those who don't know, the last time these two sailed together they blitzed the field at the Nationals in 06/07. Lindsay is an accomplished skipper in his own right, but he crews for Rohan, who has had success in a number of classes. We knew we would have our work cut out for us, but it would be a very good test.
We delayed the start, waiting for the wind to assert itself. It surged and faded, but worked roughly in the 10-15 knot range. The Cherubs and misc. boats took off, followed 5 mins later by the MG's, then the Skates, then the smaller boats. So, how would we do against each other, and against the Cherubs? The latter question was answered very quickly, when we caught most of the Cherub fleet by the top mark, except for a couple of leaders. For the first time in a long time we were confronted at the start with Water Rat charging off the line in front of us in port tack! As things settled down, we in Foxee and Bob Taig in Filthy Fase, with most others following, headed to the left side of the course. As the wind built towards the top mark, Water Rat's folly in heading to the right side became clear, as we crossed comfortably in front, rounding the top mark ahead of Bob, and then Water Rat. At the wing mark we gybed and had a gear failure with a kite block attachment, which ruined our chances for the rest of the afternoon. Water Rat and Filthy Fase sailed ahead as we grappled with Phil inboard trying to hold on to the kite sheet with no ratchet block - certainly made the downwind legs for the rest of the race quite challenging!
Anyway, Rohan and Lindsay displayed excellent upwind speed and just powered away the rest of the race. They sailed it dead flat and, if the wind wasn't strong enough to sustain Lindsay properly on wire, they just hiked like true Northie sailors and reeled in all the Cherubs, beating the whole fleet home. Bob was a couple of minutes back, and we were a further minute or so behind, happy that we had stayed even remotely in touch after our gear problems.
It was great to see some good battles playing through the fleet. Mirko Cairoli and Brian Reeves pushed each other just behind us the whole race, with Mirko just getting the honours in that duel, not far off the top 3. Then most of the remaining boats engaged in a great battle - Flame Boy and Wilful Intent (Toronto) and Catchup and Southern Ape (Balmoral) were locked together all race (until Will thought the others were sailing another leg too many and ended his race earlier than he should have!). Hornet looked good early, but also suffered gear failure and retired.
Can't report much on Sunday, seeing I wasn't there. I was having a picnic at Clontarf, watching the southerly push up Middle Harbour and wishing I was on the water at Toronto. Apparently there were similar conditions on the lake. Phil press-ganged a Flying Ant dad who has just bought an MG down at Illawarra. They capsized 3 times and broke some more gear! :( Rohan and Lindsay broke away and won comfortably again, followed by Bob and Hayden.
Results have not been tallied yet, but my spies tell me that Catchup was likely to take handicap honours on the Saturday. Unfortunately they had a mast malfunction on Sunday. Not sure who took the handicap bickies that day. Be sure to look at the results page for info in the next few days, when Bob can find the time to put it all up there.
So, for Foxee, a little frustrating. At Phil's insistence we tweaked the spreaders before the race on Saturday, and even with a minor change we seemed to have a much better performance upwind. Bobbie had been showing us a clean pair of heels the previous weeks, so it was good to push him again. However, even without gear breakage, I'm sure there is nothing we could do to get close to Rohan and Lindsay! We had a new kite, but hard to gauge performance when you can't use it properly.
Finally, on behalf of Phil, I want to apologise to the boys on Hornet - Troy and Jordan. I hear Phil's competitive nature got the better of him on Sunday and he drove his skipper to do everything in his power to get past you before the finish. I thought he could have shown a little kindness to a 12-year-old and his dad (whose Movember attempt is a serious worry)!
Anybody got news from the MG's at Manning Point on the weekend? Any photos?