Latest sailing results from 18th and 19th of January , Saturday was a Marathon around Lake Macquarie , approx 40 km only two single-handers , my boat plus an I.Canoe . Breeze a very gusty W to NW with the Westerly being very hot - about 40C . After 5 or 6 tip-ups ( mostly with kite up ) just managed to hold out a fast-finishing canoe on the work to the finish . Breeze varied from 20 knot N on the coastal side of the lake to 20 knot W on the inland side with patches of 5knots combined with a large chop in between . Took 3 hrs 20 mins to finish and despite drinking at every opportunity very dehydrated at the finish .

    Sunday brought a change in the weather with a much cooler SE breeze around 15 - 18 knots . The fast end of the fleet was Bucko , I.Canoe and an Alpha Omega cat . Quite tight at the first mark with cat just leading Bucko and Canoe . Downwind the Bucko spinnaker powered it to a boat length lead over the cat with another 300m to the Canoe . Up the work the cat once again took the lead by about 100m at the top . The bucko charged to the front on the square run but tipped in on the gybe . Rounded the bottom about 100m behind the cat then had a mainsheet problem and spent 2-3 mins in the water which allowed the canoe to catch up ( it also capsized whilst gybing ) . Work was a close contest , Canoe had a bit more speed , Bucko more height , cat was about 400m in front . Top reach too tight for a kite straight away , put it up halfway down , got a shy puff and had to flog it all the way to the buoy , rounded just in front of the canoe then tipped up in the gybe . Got back up , rehoisted kite and set off after the canoe , had a terrifically fast leg but could not catch back up . Cat won by about 3 mins from canoe with about another 1 1/2 mins back to the Bucko . A really good race in a lovely breeze , must get out there and practice spinnaker gybes in strong winds .....

Best thing was the behaviour   of the boat with the kite up and a big chop on Lake Macquarie on Saturday , boat handled it with ease , just bouncing over the top of the waves , now if we could only train the skipper to gybe properly .....

Australia Day w/e was a bit of a disappointment with only myself plus a Cherub in the monohull division plus nearly 40 Hobie 16s and 18s having their state titles . Breeze on Saturday about 20 knot NE , once again too many tip-ups in the gybes  , despite this finished just behind the lone Hobie 17 in the first heat then in Ht 2 got a bit keen bearing away around the top mark and did a very hard end over end capsize which caused the strop at the bottom of the forestay to break and the mast to fall down - actually it was more the boat falling down over the mast ! Towed home ..... Sunday dawned hot and overcast with a very light W. to NW breeze at the scheduled 11.00 AM start time , about 2.30 the seabreeze suddenly arrived and went straight to 20 knots again . Bit more conservative in the bearaway at the top mark had a top kite ride but overdid the gybe angle a bit and somehow managed another endo with kite up on the leg to the bottom mark . All happened so quickly not even sure what went wrong , probably not standing far enough back . Anyway at least the boat didn't break , just a bit of injured pride in the skipper ....

Last heat was an anticlimax with only one capsize on the last gybe to the finish , very difficult with the end boom sheeting as you have to get hold of the boom itself to throw it across which means getting forward , which means the boat wants to nosedive ..... More practice needed .

February 1 & 2 , Stan Vitnell Memorial Regatta , held at this time each year to commemorate the life of one of the Budgewoi S. C. founders . Usually his ghost gives us wild storms and once hail and lightning but this year we were treated to 15 - 20 knots both days . Saturday was a cakewalk for the Bucko with the starter setting a course with downwind angles just perfect for spinnakers , Sunday morning was the same though the I. Canoe put in an appearance , and kept the Bucko honest , about 2 minutes separating them at the finish after the Bucko had a tip up on the last work . Sunday afternoon and the starter must have been put on the payroll of one of the non-spinnaker boats with the run the only leg where it was possible for the Bucko to carry a kite the whole way though that didn't stop it from trying ...... The result was quite predictable , put up the kite , get blown off the map , pull down the kite , get around the mark and put it up again , get blown off the map , pull it down again .... excellent fun but very hard work with the spinnakerless Canoe getting the gun by about 3 minutes . Never mind all will be evened up soon as the Canoe is fitting a spinnaker - a masthead one at that , much bigger than the Bucko's 160 sq ft . Some interesting races lie ahead .

Sailed in the inaugural Trans-Tasman Masters games in late March , the breeze did a no-show , didn't get to double figures all week . Still a terrific , laid-back regatta for us old farts . Disappointing roll-up with only 23 boats altogether , most of them Lasers . I only had a 16' skiff , a 505 , an MG sports rig and an A-class cat to sail against . Had some great tussles to windward with the 505 and the MG sports but they were no match downwind as soon as the breeze got to about 5 knots . I could plane and they couldn't , under that and the 505 could run square and be fast because of the huge distances us assymetric boats had to travel . I find the Bucko very demanding to sail in those light conditions , the lack of a jib and the double-surface main make it very tricky to windward . Still a great time was had by all , next TT Masters is in Auckland March 2004 , hope to get a good roll-up to that . Have just found out that some new single-handed skiffs to a Howlett design are being built over there , I have E-mailed the builder and tried to get him interested in these games , the prospect of 10 or so boats like mine racing in a good breeze is very exciting .