Nationals 1999-2000
Since time began, the Vicy warriors have been making the great trek over to the dry, windy place we call the "Perth Dinghy Sailing Club" for the National title battle.
And seemingly since time began, (well actually not since 1984 did the last Vic Jav win there, but let's not let 16 years mess up the 'since time began thing'!), those same warriors have crawled home from epic battles with nothing more valuable than the best tan any Victorian will ever get, broken bits of boats and the will to 'take it from them next time!'
With the new millennium dawning, the WA chiefs FINALLY decided a change in the battleground was warranted, so to Bunbury went the lone Vicy battleship.
This is the story as told by those great warriors, which may be somewhat 'enhanced' by the effects of heat, alcohol, spa bubbles, beautiful women (being their wives of course), legend complexes, and the fact there are no witnesses to verify any of it, but why let that stand in the way of the legend of the day when Brett and Mitch unplugged the WA Jav Asssoc's millennium, and stole the holy grail...

Wednesday 29th of December
We came in force with Mitch, Melissa and Josh with his mountains of clothes, toys, nappies etc, and Brett and Narrelle crammed into the rental car. It was only 42 for the measuring day, and staying out of the sun a high priority. Measuring went well, with a late sail in a lovely 18knot sea breeze, with very flat water protected by the sea swell by a huge shipping wharf. This is the last time we would see 'the doctor' for the titles as the scorching land mass prevented it's arrival from that point. We had dinner at one of the many cool cafes in town, and after Mitch 'stole' their stubby holder, escaped home for an early night as the three hour time difference took it's toll.

Thursday 30th of December
Being wide-awake at 5.30am due to this same time difference was an interesting experience (well for non-baby people anyway!), and so was the 30 degree heat at this time. Three short course races made up the invitation series, sailed in 15-18 knot SE.
The south easterly is their land breeze, which dominated the weather pattern for the next week. Very unusual for a bay were you can set your watch to a 25 knot SW each day. It was lovely and consistent on this day, but when it dropped below 10-12 knots it became very shifty and full of holes. Patience and concentration were going to be the key words to sail by.
Our own Unplugged won all three to the relative surprise of all concerned. Having only sailed together briefly in the leadup, they hoped they would be competitive but had no real expectations.
After lots of swimming during jibing practice at home, their one aim each day was 'no swims'. The club put on a great welcome night buffet, and we spent the night catching up with the WA boys and participating in Josh's walking practice!

Friday 31st of December
Surprise, suprise another hot day with a morning race scheduled for the 1st heat. The boys showed their soon to be famous height and speed upwind to lead to the first mark in the 10-12 knot breeze, and kept that lead until an overly aggressive move on the last triangle saw them find one of 'those holes', slip back to 4th, and finish in that position, only 29seconds behind 1st. Day 2, and still no swims!
A BBQ under the stars in the still mild night air for New Years Eve was a quiet but enjoyable night, with many phone calls home.

Saturday 1st of January
With the temperature still above 40, we decided that the air-conditioned car was the best bet for a lay day adventures. We headed south to Busselton for lunch on the beach, a swim in the very cold and blue Indian Ocean, a ride in the train to the end of the pier and ice-cream to finish off.
To complete our day of eating and lazing about, we had fish'n'chips on the beach watching another terriblesunset and the numerous dolphins splashing around. Doing it really tough!

Sunday 2nd of January
Another morning race for the 2nd heat saw a start in a very light SE of 5-8 knots.
The boys were 3 minutes ahead by the end of the first lap with the nearest boat being a local sailing with an old symmetrical kite!
At the end of the 3rd lap they were 8.5 minutes ahead but the wind was dying very quickly.
After rounding the jibe mark for the last time and getting to within 50 metre from the bottom mark, the sea breeze decided it would make an appearance!
That was great for the rest of the fleet in that corner of the bay still to get around the top mark, but put Unplugged in the gap between the two breezes.
The downwind legs of the triangle took them 52minutes, whilst the rest of the fleet carried their kite in a nice 10 knot SW.
Back to eleventh at the last mark, but somehow they got through them all up the windward stage to the finish to cross the line first.
Big celebrations until there was no gun… and the uneasy wait for the second boat, Mavrick, to cross the line and officially win the race.
After the highs and lows of a near three-hour race a PMS is not a rewarding experience.
Neither on the boat even considered they were close to the start line, and boats smothering them on the line were not called! Needless to say the WA witnesses to this fact went very, very quiet.
So after dominating 90% of both heats, Unplugged sat in 10th place, and the support crew was very busy dishing out some calming vibes. The one positive point was race 2… No swims!
The third heat started that arvo in the 10-15 SW that had decided to stay in for a short period.
Unplugged lead to the windward mark, and the 'bunch of five' who would end up taking the top 5 spots in the outright title, really warmed up their battle.
The fickle sea breeze dropped out again to let the SE dominate for the second half of the race, and give 'Pig of a Boss' the edge she needed over Unplugged to take the win.\
A second was a great result after the morning debacle, and still no swims!
Unplugged and 'the Pig' seemed to have the edge over the others, with Rhiannon (yes a girlie skipper) having heaps of racing experience having raced in the British Fireball team for many years and placing at world championships!
Thankfully four more heats to catch her big lead of 2,2,1 versus our 4,pms,2! Mavrick and Stubbie were equal in 2nd overall, with ex-National Champ and old fox Tom Burt in 3rd.
Out for dinner at the pub overlooking the estuary and more of that local seafood and a sunset that just got better every day.

Monday 3rd of January
The SE was up to a good 15 knots for the 4th heat, which on the very flat water of the bay generated the speed of a much heavier breeze.
Unplugged and Pig had a great battle around the first lap until the breeze lifted slightly and the Vicy boat took off leading Rhiannon and Stewie to fight it out with Tom for 2nd and 3rd.
The WA boats assumed our speed was the result of the light "Vicy" weather, and they were slightly disheartened when Unplugged went faster as the wind picked up!
The 'light weather flyer' tag was not mentioned again, and the strange situation of WA Javs praying for light winds to assist Pigs speed at that strength was a first!
The boys won by more than 5 minutes and celebrated their first 'official' National heat win together, and still to have swimming practice.
Restaurant night for dinner at the Hogs Breath, with several of the very intoxicated bicycle riding WA boys being pulled over on the way home by the police.
The alcohol intake of the team Vicy boys seemed to have slowed somewhat as the importance of a clear head became apparent! They would make up for it!

Tuesday 4th of January
Heat five was delayed with no SE by lunchtime, but the promise of 'maybe' a seabreeze.
The temperature went through the roof, and with no movement in the air, which had kept us from dying of heat exhaustion, the only spot to be was floating around in the water.
With some seabreeze the club sent them out and set a small course, which was not needed by the starting gun as it got up to a nice steady 15 knots.
The extra breeze brought some new players into the game, but Unplugged lead from start to finish, with title competition Pig, Mavrick and M'lashot only managing 4th, 5th and 6th.
That left Unplugged and Pig equal on points(with a drop) with two heats to go, and a big break on the rest of the fleet to ensure some good match racing.
That night saw a chicken and beer dinner at the lighthouse watching yet another magnificent sunset!

Wednesday 5th of January
The second lay day saw a bus tour down south to the Margaret River region for a winery, chocolate factory, and cheese factory tour. A swim at Yallingup beach and an ice cream finished off a day of yet more eating.
We raced back to the club for their twilight race, and got a ride on a 48footer in a lovely 20-knot breeze. We were doing it very tough!

Thursday 6th of January
Heat six and you could feel the pressure in the air! The one advantage of having no Vicy buddies on the beach, was the boys were able to focus on what they were doing without the well wishes and advice givers that were surrounding Pig of a Boss.
The seabreeze was in at 10-15, but dropped off to 8-10 fairly quickly. Unplugged confused and excited the whole fleet when they went around the bottom mark for the first time the wrong way, and proceeded to call starboard on the second placed boat as he was dropping his kite.
Stubbie 'politely' advised Unplugged they had rounded the wrong way(much to the rest of the WA fleets annoyance!), and then much carnage occurred as the eight or so Javs within close radius to the mark all tried to avoid each other.
The boys recovered to win the race, with Mavrick 2nd, Stubbie 3rd, and Pig of a Boss unable to recover from a bad start with a 9th. That gave the boys a 3point break for the last race, but with the PMS hanging over their heads, they could not afford another bad one.
Six heats down and still no swims!
We had dinner on the deck of the cabin with Rhiannon, as all the drunks went out for a big night. They all then arrived back at our place, sent Rhiannon home to bed, and attempted to keep us up and get the boys drunk!

Friday 7th of January
You know things are bad when Brett can't eat breakfast! The race was brought forward to avoid shipping movements, but was delayed anyway until the wind came in.
Finally a steady 10 knots started the race, and things were going well until Rhiannon took a flyer down the first windward return and went from 9th to 1st, with the boys slipping from 1st to 5th! Just enough of a difference to loose the title by one point!
But the breeze picked back up to a steady 15, (the last thing we wanted were those holes again) and Unplugged, Mavrick and Pig got a 3-minute lead on the rest of the fleet, and a good buffer for the title.
A lovely covering job around the last two laps, and a comfortable 2 minute win for the race and the National Championships.
Seven races…no swims! And what do you think they did once safely over the line… both somersaulted off the boat, let it sail off, and have a lovely splash around! The comment on the beach was " they HAVE crossed the line haven't they?"
Back on the beach with much shouting, hugging, and that bloody phone would not stop!
The only downer was they had to put their drinks down to pack the boat up for the trip back, but leave room for that precious trophy.
Home for a quick nap in preparation for a big night then back to the club for dinner all the trophies, and a wonderful fax "to our new national champions; Chelsea boys! from all at your wonderful, super club at Chelsea! YAHOO!!"
Let's just say that the president of the WA Association and ex-commodore of the Perth Dinghy Sailing Club had to really grit his teeth to read that out! Damn Victorians are not meant to come to WA and win!
We also got a fax from little Miss Erin, and had to finally turn the phone off to stop it interrupting the presentation.
All in all we didn't feel so alone with all the wonderful support from at home, and we were very excited to hear that the party was going on in Victoria as well!
After a rather long night, we did a dolphin cruise in the bay the next morning slightly worse for wear, and then set off towards Perth to stay in Fremantle for the night.
A few more drinks, and we decided the trophy was ready for a wash, so into the two person spa went the four grownups and one trophy for a long soak.
The phone seemed to have a mind of it's own and rang a few of the Jav fleet very early in the morning, but we admit to nothing!
There are many individuals to thank on winning a National title, including Warren for letting Mitch kidnap Brett and Unplugged and taking them to WA, all the parents and coaches over the years and of course two lovely wives and one cheeky son.
But most importantly, much congratulation must go to the Victorian Jav fleet of today and yesteryear who have strived for many seasons to bring the holy grail back to the Victorian shores once again.
One of the best aspects of the whole 'carnival' as they call it over there was the huge influx of new sailors to the WA fleet, who have brought with them fresh ideas, lots of enthusiasm and most suprisingly for them, huge interest in travelling!
The boats NOT planning to come to Adelaide were few and far between, and there are lots more young and not so young, party loving drunks who should fit perfectly in with our lot!
Lets hope the days of singular boats going either way across the Nullabor are over!

Overall Results

1	384	Unplugged	4	DNS	2	1	1	1	1	10
2	655	Pig of a Boss	2	2	1	3	4	9	2	14
3	659	Maverick	6	1	3	5	6	2	3	20
4	657	Stubbie	1	4	5	12	3	4	6	23
5	654	Mlashot	3	5	4	2	5	7	4	23
6	649	Jedda	DNF	6	8	6	12	3	5	40
7	656	Blast with a past	5	9	10	4	2	12	11	41
8	664	Impact	7	12	6	11	8	11	7	50
9	637	Illusion	10	3	9	14	DNF	5	10	51
10	648	White Bread Kids	9	8	7	10	10	8	9	51
11	662	Ground Zero	8	11	13	7	7	10	13	56
12	606	Mac	DNS	10	12	9	11	6	8	56
13	646	King Tide	12	7	14	13	13	DNS	12	71
14	663	The Boss	DNS	DNS	11	8	9	DNS	DNS	76
15	643	Two Dogs	11	13	15	15	14	13	14	80