Mate wins the Wallagoot Lake Regatta 2022
Mate raced in the Wallagoot Lake annual regatta for the second consecutive year. In 2021 Mate won in her division, but it was practically a solo affair as there was only one other trailer sailer (a Castle 650) but for only 2 of the 5 races.
2022 was looking different. We had a challenge from Wave Breaker, a Castle 650 based in Eden, with my friend Bob Cechet as crew. There was also another trailer sailer, Farr Less Stress, a Farr 6000 purchased only a week before by my friends Jasmine and Sven. But as they were sailing the boat for the first time they took the whole affair very calmly and only sailed in the 2 races on Sunday. Therefore, we ended up having a match race!
After an initial scare, when my kids refused to come to Wallagoot, Adam and his family agreed to crew on Mate. I drove the boat on Friday afternoon and we were rigging and ready to sail on Saturday.
Wallagoot delivered once again and the Northeasterly showed up on time for the first race. Adam and family were getting used to the boat, trying a few tacks here and there… and the skipper missed the start!!! We tried to catch up to Wave Breaker, but no chance… 0–1.
Back on shore for lunch (a really cool feature of this regatta) and to the water at 2 pm for two more races. Not a great start in race #2 but we managed to take the lead, until we had a jammed block in the jib sheet, lost the lead again and another unsucsessful catch up game to Wave Breaker. 0–2.
The breeze picked up and the third race was with a reefed main. Better start this time and a crew better used to the boat saw us taking the lead early on, and then playing the match race game -cover them and tack when they do-. Wave Breaker was fast in the reaches when they got close, but we managed to stay in front and finished the day still with chances. 1–2.
Another cool feature of Wallagoot is sharing the afternoon with drinks and food over such a lovely location. And many stay around camping, or if the boat is big enough, as in my case, on board.
Sunday morning, the challenge was on. If we wanted to defend the trophy from 2021 we needed two wins. Not easy against Wave Breaker. Despite having a total of ~220 years experience on board (Morrie, the skipper, is 87!! hats off) they were sailing strong.
Another Wallagoot classic, the first race is planned for 10 am but the wind has different plans. We had to wait for a little longer, finally around 11:30 the Northeasterly showed up. Better start, sailing well, in front again… but not for long! Ready to tack on the top mark and we touched bottom, got stuck and saw Wave Breaker escaping in front. The skipper (me) had some angry words, and there we go chasing our competitor again. We managed to gain the lead at the bottom mark and marking again. And then in the last upwind they make the same mistake and get stuck!! That made our last round easier and with less pressure. 2–2.
The last race was heated! The start was contested, again Mate in front for the minimum distance. But Wave Breaker very strong in the reach and catching up. One of those reaches saw the two Castles side by side, the leeward boat (us) pushing up and asking for room, the windward boat (them) claiming proper course and a soft touch between the two (later on we had an interesting discussion about rule 17). But no protests from either side so keep sailing! Mate did slighlty better on the tacks and we managed to finish in front but very very close! 3–2 and championship win!!
Overall, a very joyful weekend yet again in Wallagoot. It was my 4th time there (two in a Laser, two in the Castle). I highly reccomend the regatta to anyone. Lovely place, great people. And special thanks to Tony and the rest of the organisers.
