Hayling Mothie!

Another Weekend Under My Belt

2011-11-21T22:10:00.000Z

I write this with my legs and arms still feeling the effect of two days solid Mothing over the weekend. Whilst I adore the fact that the Moth is a development class and the enhanced performance that every major change brings, there is nothing that can replace the fact that if you can hike out harder for longer, and play that main sheet enough, you will have the God-given speed that everyone craves, no matter what design you own or how much you spend.

For me, in order to reach any standard of fitness I have explored two avenues: one is buying a hiking bench from these guys http://www.hikingbench.com/. I chose the classic hiking bench with a narrow seat and, with the aid of a tape measure, replicated my sitting out stance exactly. I do 150 hiking sit outs a night whilst watching the TV. Its not boring like a gym and I feel good afterwards. The other avenue is trying to sail harder than I did before. This means in practice doing a quarter mile beat on one tack without giving in and then flipping over and doing the same distance on the other tack and then working hard down wind instead of treating it as a rest.

Whilst this all sounds great, my tacking throws a lot of my straight line speed away. Anyone who can tell me one thing that helped them tack better, please add a comment to this blog.

We are now getting good turn outs for Saturday and Sunday racing at Hayling Island SC. Gradually we are getting Race Officers to set Moth friendly courses in our own fleet. However, we still have a large number of Mach2s that hardly ever move. How anyone can spend £12k on a boat then not use it is beyond me! We also have what I call the night shift turn up in the shape of Geoff Carveth (current SB3 World Champ) who goes out just as the harbour lights come on. Bizarre.

It is still pretty mild in England and it gets pretty sweaty inside the old steamer. However, today is a lot colder, and I imagine it will not be long before I am shaking snow off the boat cover. I will sail as long as the temperature remains above freezing. Using that rule, it is amazing how few days you actually lose at Hayling, mainly because we sail on the relatively warm sea. And, let me tell you, absolutely nothing beats the under floor heating in the changing rooms after a cold sail!

More Doubt over 2012 World Dates

2011-10-13T08:11:00.001+01:00

Just in case people have not seen Simon Payne's comment on my last Blog post, he says that there is a request to move the dates of the Worlds by those involved in the Olympics/Paralympics.

Whilst I understand their predicament, I do think it is a little late now to move the event, bearing in mind that some will have taken holiday and booked accommodation (I have not yet thankfully). These dates have been in the public domain since January of this year so why did they not request a date change sooner?

I do hope that Luca Rizotti gets the Worlds website up sooner rather than later so that we can end this speculation as I am really looking forward to this event.

Edit: Since I wrote this Luca Rizotti has replied to me that they are indeed considering changing the dates because some Olympic sailors have suddenly realised that the two events are quite close. I hope you have not booked anything yet!

2012 Italian Worlds Confirmed

2011-10-07T10:54:00.000+01:00

I have just heard back from Luca Rizzotti, President of the Italian IMCA on Facebook. He says:

"dear Graham all is confirmed, we will have website up and running by end of month. all questions regarding logistics , accomodation etc are welcome"

Therefore I think this means that we are all set for Campione. I am really looking forward to returning to Garda once again!

Are the 2012 Worlds Confirmed?

2011-10-04T07:39:00.000+01:00

Having just joined Facebook, I see from Simon's innocent question about the Italiain Worlds dates that there is some doubt over the dates and even the venue. This link is stating the 18 - 26th August:

http://www.vccampione.org/Portals/2/docs/2011/Flier%20Moth_13.jpg

I was just about to look at accomodation and am now holidng off until someone from the Italian Moth Class can tell me that the venue and dates are confirmed?

Aaaaaargh!

2011-09-26T19:59:00.001+01:00

I have not blogged for a bit but feel the need to share with you all after all this time.

Moth One Design

We have had 4 new Mach 2.1 Moths arrive over the last 2 months, bring the total Mach2 fleet to nearing 20. There are virtually no other Moth designs at Hayling Island now which makes you wish for something new and radical to appear. We did get our hopes up when Simon Payne turned up with the new reduced main foil last week but it was rather an anti climax, with initial tests appearing inconclusive in comparison to a normal foil. Simon's tie on points at Paignton last weekend with Chris Rashley in a Ninja did not really help matters.

I do understand that reliability/warranty plays a big factor in any change to the Mach2, making anything done "evolutionary" rather than "revolutionary" and rightly so - after all you have to finish a race to win it. But it is rather dull.

Gossip!

Being English, I love a bit of gossip. From the Mach2 camp, I hear that there is a high aspect main foil being tested which I understand to be longer but thinner, both in depth and width, than the standard one.

That sounds very much like the path that UK designer, Kevin Ellway, has been going down over the last year, certainly judging by the evidence of what I saw Phil Oligario was sailing with at the UK Nationals this year. Painfully thin and light, I had to hold on to the rudder foil as it would have blown away in the breeze.

I now hear rumours that Simon Maguire (maguireboats.com) is now working on a complete Ellway designed boat with these new anorexic foils.

England Moth Worlds 2014

It has now been confirmed by the IMCA Exec that Hayling Island Sailing Club will host the Moth Worlds in June 2014. There can be no doubt that HISC is more than qualified to host our event, having successfully pulled off the Laser Worlds in 2010 (400+ boats) and the Flying Fifteen Worlds this year plus having possibly the largest Moth club fleet in the World. The UK Moth committee will be meeting with the club in November to put together a plan and lay down some timescales. Our emphasis will be on providing an event that puts competitors at its heart - both on and off the water.

Foiling at 50

2011-07-25T17:16:00.000+01:00

I went sailing with Simon last Friday on my 50th birthday and after a bit of a wait we both got foiling which was just what was needed. It put to bed all my fears about suddenly not being able to sail a Moth at 50. In fact I was just as crap this week as I was last week!

Age does make you think about a few things, however. The one thing that still seems to work well is my brain so I am using it to solve my big issues:

1. What can I do to make the boat easier to sail?
2. What techniques can I employ to get over the fact that I am not as quick or flexible as a 25 year old?
3. How can I become braver?

The first question concerns boat set up. I spend much more time these days considering and adjusting the sail and making sure that everything works well. Fighting the boat is a waste of energy. One top tip I got from watching Simon launch was that in any sort of breeze he wangs on loads of cunningham and kicker, flattening off his sail before he hits the water. This helps particularly when you have an off shore breeze as it means you don't leave the shore with a fully powered up sail sending the boat into orbit. I am also find letting off the kicker before going downwind stops the bow being driven downwards into waves as you bear off - much like a normal boat. Getting the cunningham back on before you try and bear up is another vital thing to do to make things easier.

The second question is interesting. Since discovering the "Meerkat" position for gybing, my other revelation was that slowing gybes down has also helped my success rate tremendously. Graceful slow curves prove that the boat will foil for ages on the point of a gybe, giving you the chance to position yourself correctly for the new gybe, steering as you go. This has also helped my light weather gybes a lot. Height is key to this - higher gives you more time. Foil tacking does seem beyond me at this point in time but two years ago I thought foil gybing was impossible so who knows what I will work out?

The third is connected with fitness. The fitter you are the more you will get out of the boat and the more you will be able to send it. I have some plans for my personal fitness but sharing them with others is always the death knell. When you get to 50 the only person you are trying to impress is yourself so I may let you into my plans once they have been in operation for a reasonable period.

On the Europeans front, it has all gone quiet on the blog front. Hopefully this means that they have got some sailing in at last and we will hear some positive stuff soon.

Nationals Pics

2011-07-12T20:42:00.000+01:00

A guy called Dave Pilkington, a Stokes Bay member, took some pics off the beach with a powerful zoom lens. I love this first picture because you would never know this was the UK Nationals with a French and Swedish boat with the two GB boats! In the background you can see the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight and the hovercraft on the beach.

Same guy on the beach taking the pictures but now you can see Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight. And what is that Brazilian boat doing there?

Some of you may not have realised that Ricky Tagg and I now work together at Blueteq. So we splashed out on some Blueteq stickers for the boats for the Nationals. The pics are courtesy of Wave.

What a Nationals!

2011-07-11T08:35:00.000+01:00

Day 3 was spent on the beach watching people crash and burn on a bumpy sea averaging 21kts. The leeward gate was close to the beach which gave great spectator action, particularly as there seemed to be a challenging wave set in the middle of the line which caught many people out. The stories that came ashore were all of the windward mark, where the seas were big. Getting onto the more benign port tack was the order of the day to get downhill. Arnaud came ashore saying he only capsized once in the two races held - not bad for someone who sails on a lake! He won both with Jason Belben, Simon Payne and Richie Lovering all revelling in the conditions.

Thankfully (for me) the last day was much calmer. Four races were held in a gradually building breeze from 8 - 12 kts. The sun even came out eventually. Mike Lennon scored two firsts which restored his mojo after a disappointing regatta resultswise. Chris Rashley also had a good day. But some consistent results meant that Jason Belben from Stokes Bay was crowned the very popular 2011 UK National Champion.

For me, once the breeze had filled in to allow continuous foiling, I was in my element and finally scored a 15th in the last race. I tried a new tactic downwind (for me) of sitting in on the tramp downwind and going deep.Paying judicious attention to sail set I could average speeds of 16-17 kts even in this mode and took places. I absolutely adore my new Hydes 2c sail which sets beautifully on my Mach2 medium mast and I think is Mike Lennon's crowning glory in design terms. Whilst being able to emulate the flatness of a 10c when its pips are squeezed, it relaxes into a gorgeous shape all the way up the sail which gives the power of a 13 for downwind work. Two sails in one! For those of you in the upper weight range (80+kg) I cannot recommend it highly enough.

We ended up with 57 entries which makes this the largest UK International Moth Nationals ever. Our AGM bolstered our committee with new blood in the shape of Gareth Davies and James Phare. The 2012 circuit is shaping up already with new opens at Stokes Bay and Castle Cove already on the cards plus all the old favourites. We have the Nationals at Retronguet between 21st and 24th June and then of course the Worlds in late August. There has never been a better time to be a UK Moth sailor with so much to look forward to.

As for this year, those not going to the Europeans are more than welcome to join us at the Hayling Island Fed Week between the 15th - 19th August. A lot of the Hayling Moths are planning to do it. One of its features is that you get 2 discards for the week so you can dip in and out depending on work commitments and weather. Let us know in advance that you are coming and we will find you a spot to store the boat. See you there!

Zhik UK Nationals Latest

2011-07-08T17:39:00.000+01:00

At 56 entries this year's UK Nationals at Stokes Bay has the largest entry since 1998 and possibly before and puts us in the esteemed Y&Y 50+ club. It is great to see what a focused committee can do to get things going in a climate where a lot of UK classes are struggling for numbers. I am particularly pleased that we have 8 overseas competitors joining us. It is a pleasure to share our event with them and it is the richer for it

Day 1 of the UK Nationals started off with a lot of rain and a 25kt onshore wind. Fortunately this relented and the sun even came out so that we were able to start on time at 13:00. Stokes Bay laid on 3 excellent races and at the end of the day, Jason Belben from Stokes Bay SC in his Ninja and new skinny foils was keeping the Mach2s at bay with a 2,1,1 score line. Arnaud is second and Simon is third. The other Ninja upsetting the Mach2 perfect set is a new face, Chris Rashley again from Stokes Bay in 4th.

Today, a 25-30kt southerly, predicted for all day, was providing an impressive shore break so racing was cancelled. At the AGM, we announced that Restronguet Sailing Club would be the 2012 UK Nationals venue from the 21st -24th June 2012. A beautiful place to sail from and an excellent warm up event for the Worlds in Italy in August.

Zhik UK Nationals Latest News

2011-06-28T23:52:00.000+01:00

We are just about to break the magic 50 entry list and I know that there quite a few likely UK culprits who still have yet to enter. Those who like to leave everything to the last minute should realise that we have been limited by the club to 60 entries. So please make sure you enter on-line NOW by going to the UK Moth website and clicking on the big red button (UK Members only). If you are not a member go to the membership section of the website.

If you have entered but are still to pay - do so asap. If you leave it to the day you will be charged £125 for the privilege of being disorganised.

We have 8 European entries already including Arnaud so the top of the UK fleet is going to have to work very hard to maintain national pride. If there is anyone else who would like to come from overseas then you need to let me know immediately so I can send you a form graham.simmonds at blueteq.com.

Measurement - I and Rick Tagg have recently undertaken training to become measurers so there is now a veritable army to take care of your unmeasured sail and/or boat. I will email details of when measurement will be taking place to all registered competitors. We want to try and make sure everyone is legal before taking part.

Free beer - hog roast - lots of close racing in view of the Isle of Wight - it should be a great event.

Calling Overseas Competitors - Zhik UK National Championships 2011

2011-06-01T13:11:00.000+01:00

The Notice of Race has just been issued for the Zhik UK National and Open Championships 2011 June 7th to 10th to be hosted by Stokes Bay Sailing Club. Click here to download it.

UK Moth members are signing up in droves to take advantage of the reduced fee for the first 30 boats entered (an idea nicked from the Larks). Please note! Despite it only being opened two days ago, there are now only a few reduced fees entries left so you need to hurry if you want to avoid paying more.

If you are a fully paid up UK Moth CA member you can use this link to enter. If you are not, you need to join first. Click here for more details on joining/renewing.

Overseas Competitors - We would love to see you and you will be racing for the Open Championship prize. Stokes Bay SC is ideally placed only 20 minutes away from the Portmouth ferries if you want to come and join the fun. Please email me at graham.simmonds at blueteq.com for an entry form and fee details in your preferred currency. Please note that you need to be a member of your country's IMCA to be eligible to enter.

See you there!

Moth Fest 2011 Wash Up

2011-05-23T17:36:00.000+01:00

Well I have done a lot of sailing over the last week. The weather was not kind to us and we lost two days but Saturday's regatta day made up for that. Burning blue skies and a F3 - 4 made for some great racing between the 5 nations represented at Moth Fest. Memorable moments for me were completing two gybes in succession in sub 10 knots and chop to take 3 boats.

Gear wise the only failures were related to my wonderful Phil adjustable wand. The paddle on the wand is a work of art but is not quite strong enough as a number of us broke them off in normal sailing use. Fortunately my homemade paddle came to the rescue as a replacement. Simon Maguire's comment was that there was more epoxy than carbon in my paddle but it is very strong. Simon also wrapped tape around my bulhorn fitting to permanently attach the wand to the wand axle to strengthen it. More about Simon in a mo.

What have I learnt from Moth Fest? One of the joys of the place is that you can safely launch and almost immediately be presented with a challenging chop where you can learn how to go fast in waves. Number one thing was using combinations of adjustable wand, ride height and rudder adjustment to get the boat to track without porpoising. And, of course, "send it!!". Gybing improved after I learnt to ignore the waves, focus on keeping the boat flat and performing smooth Payne like turns.

Mike Lennon gave an interesting talk on sail tuning. The highlight was him demonstrating his maximum raked back setting using the multitude of controls that he has on his boat. On the water it looked like a windsurfer. But he is fast and was consistently the fastest all week.

Mention must be made of Simon Maguire of Maguire Boats. He is a boat builder based in Lymington and saved the sailing bacon of several of the British Moth Fleet during the week with some high quality repairs to get them on the water next day. His thoughtful and pedantic approach to his new Moth will produce a quality boat soon to take on any out there. Take a look at his website http://www.maguireboats.com/.

The boats will be back in this country tonight. I packed the tramps away with all of the control lines still spliced so it will take some careful unraveling to see if I can put it all back together without having to get the fid out. It will hopefully save mucho time.

Grounded

2011-05-06T00:01:00.000+01:00

I am sad that I will not be able to attend the Parkstone Open this weekend as it looks like a great forecast. Unfortunately there was a strong message from within my family that going this weekend and then spending a week at Mar Menor that this was not on. So be it.

It will be an interesting meeting as I am hoping that there will be a strong contingent going from Hayling to do battle with the "Ninja Death Squad" from Stokes Bay and elsewhere. I know that there has a lot of training been going on at HISC. In particular, a lot of thought has gone into the aftermath of Australia and the lessons to be learnt in the areas of sail tuning, foil preparation and gearing that made the Australian Moth Squad so fast.

For me,the new boat has allowed me to review everything about my set up and I feel I now have a much better understanding of what makes my boat work, particularly what is right and wrong. It is definitely much faster than the old boat for what I believe are the following reasons:

- The hull is stiffer
- The medium mast suits my Hyde sail far better than the stiff mast I had before.
- The 32 x 1 kicker and increased purchase on the cunningham has given me much better control over my sail.
- The foils are better prepared and the skinny rudder (now I have got used to it) is fast
- The SailingBits ride height adjuster has forced me to use less gearing.
- I have made real efforts to reduce play in the wand control system as the less gearing you use the more critical play becomes.

There is a large contingent of Hayling sailors going to Mar Menor and I am looking forward to trying out some new gadgets including an adjustable wand I have made myself (I dont think Phil should worry!). Mar Menor kicks up a chop and will be excellent training for Stokes Bay. I cannot get over that Moth Fest has 40 entrants this year from all over Europe - it should be a cracking week.

Still Bashing Away

2011-04-08T00:32:00.000+01:00

Not much wind this week has given time for boat work. After the new boat's first outing last weekend, I learnt the lessons of gearing very forcefully, thanks to the new SailingBits ride height adjuster.

In the morning we had a 12-14 kt breeze. Before the tide turned, a run up the Emsworth channel in flat water was producing an average of 21kts which I was pleased with. Si Payne, who also has a SailingBits RHA fitted, noted that a lower gearing was being achieved than with the standard Mach2 set up. In the afternoon, I got in to a world of pain once the tide had turned and the chop started, where the boat was, inevitably, struggling to cope, due to the same lack of gearing.

An email to John Harris (who sells them) and he got onto Nathan about how he used this thing. It turned out that he used it with 2-3 turns on the front gearing as well as the RHA gearing mechanism. Due to the thickness of the barrel, it does not seem to be possible to get enough gearing on to deal with significant chop without winding on a substantial amount of front gearing. This rather negates the point of of the gearing barrel but never mind. I now understand a factor that must have contributed towards the success of the Australian Moth Squad. Great on the flat Lake MacQuarie but not so great when you introduce waves into the equation.

My next addition will be the adjustable wand. A short wand solves the problem of a lack of gearing in rather an unsubtle way. The problem is that it is slow. The dilemma now is do you have a short wand and get downwind slowly or do you do the Australian thing of going as fast as possible using low gearing and risk crashing occasionally?

I think I am in love

2011-03-29T22:02:00.000+01:00

After a difficult delivery, where I, as an expectant father, spent hours wating in various airline and haulier waiting rooms, it is great to get my new baby home. She looks very mean with her new black tramps but she is a very long way from being ready.Things to be done:
- Fit 1:32 kicking strap - replace all Vectran(?) strops with Dyneema that won't break after two sails
- Fit SailingBits ride height adjuster - looks like I am going to have to file off quite a lot of the front of the dagger board lip to get it to fit.
- Put the gantry on
- Fit new aluminium mounts
- Replace mainsheet with longer version
- Fit 2 x continuous control lines for kicker and cunningham using Marlow Excel Control.
- Fit adjustable wand when I get it off Phil!
- Put foils together - I intend to "belt the crap out of them" as the manual suggests. Any manual that tells me to do that is worth its weight in gold!

and a hundred other little things including the inevitable Blueteq stickers!

I cannot wait to sail her!

Last time in the old boat

2011-03-20T22:20:00.000Z

We have had an excellent weekend at Hayling. 5 Mach2s (Rick, Richard, Mike, me and a newbie called Jon Bennett), Matt Ponsford sailing Tom Offer's old Ninja, Cam Stewart sailing a Prowler, Neil Baker in Adam May's old Velociraptor and an Axiom 4.

I am quite sad about seeing the old ship go but the new one should be wending its way from China as we speak and be with me hopefully by Friday of this week. It has black tramps, a small rudder foil, a medium mast and a ride height adjuster from Sailing Bits. I have sold the KA MSL 10c that comes with it on and will be getting another Hyde 2B which I believe gives the power of a 13 and flattens off like a 10. One unique feature that the top batten assumes shape and maintains the leach when the cunningham and kicker is let off.

I am selling the old boat to Cam Stewart, whose father is Ossie Stewart, a 1992 Soling Olympic bronze medallist. He had his first go in the boat today and looked great apart from the fact it was flying extremely high. This is due to the fact it is used to have 12kgs more in it. It will need the control rod shortening to give him some range for the ride height adjuster.

The new boat will feature my aluminium mounts and mast socket which have proved so successful. I have some more for sale if you need some. Email me at graham.simmonds at blueteq.com

Moth for the Olympics? Over my dead body!

2011-03-09T11:25:00.001Z

Joe Bousquet's blog made my blood run cold.

The worst thing that could happen to the Moth Class would be its inclusion in the Olympics. The proof is there for all to see at the Belmont Worlds where the Moth Squad, largely made up of Olympic contenders, dominated the event and made many of our best amateur sailors look pedestrian. Imagine what would happen if they were to concentrate on the Moth full time instead of it being a distraction from whatever "water-pusher" they were competing in - you would not see them for dust and leave the rest of us wondering what is the point of continuing?

The proof in the UK is that every Olympic class in this country has virtually no presence at club level because most sailors perceive them as being sailed by elite squads where they have no chance of competing on a level playing field.

I think a lot of Moth sailors feel like me. However, it is commercially very tempting for a Moth builder to go for Olympic status as they could sell a lot of boats in the short term. Look at the failed attempt by BladeRider as proof that a builder can try to proceed down this road without any form of consultation with the class as to what is best for it. Thankfully, BladeRider's lack of business acumen that lead to their demise ultimately saved us from this fate.

I hope this is just me being paranoid and that ISAF will stick to form and maintain the dull set of classes they currently have. Just in case, though, we do need to be ready.

London RYA Dinghy Show

2011-03-09T08:18:00.000Z

Last weekend was spent at the London RYA Dinghy Show. Mike Lennon, Phil Oligario and Alan Hillman (with the help of Kiko) built and manned the stand for the weekend with the help of Sam Tozer, Helen Rollinson, Simon Payne and Ben Paton.

My thanks goes in particular to Simon and Amac of Mach2 who sponsored the stand enabling us to be there.

One of the highlights of the show was Alan Hillman's talk on "Foiling Fundamentals" on the main stage each day. Alan is a professional coach and runs Pro-Vela, a Moth sailing school in Mar Menor, Southern Spain. This is not only the venue for the infamous Moth Fest in May but also the Europeans in 2013. Alan's talk was extremely slick with video footage plus he had Mike's Moth on stage with him. As you can see, it all looked pretty impressive.

All in all, it was a succesful weekend and there are now a lot more people out there who know what that stick at the front does! Hopefully we persuaded a few more that Moth sailing is not as hard as it looks.

Simon tells me my new boat arrives next week which I am looking forward to. My old boat is going to a young chap at our club who I am certain will improve overnight with it!.

New Year, New Boat, No Money!

2011-02-15T19:24:00.001Z

Firmly ensconsed into my routine back here in the UK after my 6 week Australian jaunt. Working hard really makes you appreciate every sail you have and I was out for 4 hours last Saturday, and really enjoyed a beautiful day foiling around in about 10-15 knots. After my Worlds experience, I am extremely aware of my major shortcomings which are:

1. Downwind speed - after several days with people around me holding up their Speedpucks with 26 knots on them when I can only achieve 23 means that I am on a mission to grow some larger cahoonas. Letting everything go, hike, keep the boat high and lean it slightly to windward seem to be the order of the day.

2. Tacking - the Queen Mary could turn faster than me.

3. Starting - the delicate art of hitting the line foiling needs some work.

That's not to say that everything else is good but at least I can now pull off more than one gybe on a downwind leg without mishap.

Top tip - by the way if you own a Velocitek Speedpuck and cannot get it to log onto the satellites if it has been abroad - reset it by uploading the firmware.

I have ordered a new Mach2 which hopefully will be here in early March. I reached this decision as there is still no competitor for the Mach2 and no likelyhood of one in the foreseeable future. Its not all about performance - there is still nothing out there that offers the control and security of the Mach2 at speed or the overall reliability with the support to go with it when it is not.

2011 looks like a good year for the Hayling fleet. We have new members joining plus the club is going to provide a Moth rack for storage as our numbers increase. We are very excited to be hosting the Worlds in 2014.

The next major event for me is the Moth stand at the London Dinghy Show which I am helping to organise. On the stand we will have Phil's homebuilt Ninja and a brand new Mach2. It is always very busy and our stand will be overun with keen sailors. Alan Hillman of Pro-Vela is doing a talk on Foiling Fundamentals as well which should be good. Anyone who would like to volunteer to help us man the stand for a session gets a free ticket to the show and our endless gratitude.

Post Worlds Thoughts

2011-01-17T19:14:00.001Z

I am writing this in Hong Kong Airport waiting for my connection back to the UK and I thought I might put down some thoughts before I lose sight of them back in Engtland.

On the positive side, I have spent the last 6 weeks in Australia and have had a unique experience in an simply amazing country. The people are positive, warm and tough - especially those who live in the North. I could not forget whilst we sailed around in sunshine at Belmont that a few hundred kilometres up the coast in Queensland there was flooding of biblical proportions going on.

I met some great people in Belmont. People like Phil Stevenson, James Cole and many of the ordinary Australian sailors who were really friendly. The daily barbecue/free beers (sponsored by SailingBits.com amongst others) were an excellent way of bringing everyone together after racing. Most of us rabble had no contact with the devastatingly fast Australian Moth Squad who kept themselves to themselves on the other side of the clubhouse.

In many ways it was an epic championship. The venue came with a reputation for strong winds and it delivered. Only the first day did the wind consistently stay below 20 knots and most other days the "Nor-easter" blew ferociously. With the wind came gusts with large swings giving some of the most challenging conditions I have ever sailed my Moth in and unfortunately on several days they defeated me. These gusty conditions were exacerbated by the PRO placing the windward marks right up against the windward shore which did not seem necessary given there was such a large area available to use.

I was grateful that my boat stayed in one piece for the championship. With the strong winds, it became increasingly apparent that there were insufficient rescue boats to cover the 110 boat fleet. It was difficult to tell but there seemed to be only 6 or 7 support boats, at least two of which were being used for lap counting and moving marks only. On one occasion, Pete Barton, having lost his rig, was in the water for almost half an hour before receiving help which came eventually from the media rib. In addition to this, the race committee chose not to run a tally or sign off system so had no means of making sure everyone was ashore safely. If we continue to have championships of this size and with Moths being so fragile, then safety must be taken more seriously in future.

Cracking Day

2011-01-10T11:35:00.000Z

Today was the last of qualification before the bar dropped and we were divided into Gold and Silver fleets. I am not sure why it was necessary to do this after 3 days when it would have been possible to have done it on the last day. I did feel sorry for the Japanese team one of which made it into the Gold fleet and the other, one place lower, did not.

The wind today was 15-22 knots and now I understand the necessity of rake to get the boat going upwind. I dropped two holes and transformed the boat from a real struggle to doable. I completed two races but on the last run into the finish I put my knee through the tramp which ended my day. Two things went really well today:

1. Double gybes - on two occasions coming into finishes I landed two gybes within 30 yds of each other. I took places on both.

2. Adjustable wand - it kicks up here when it blows and I must have gained 3-4 places in each race due to people pitch poling in front of me. No troubles for me with the amazing Phil Olligario adjustable wand. Thanks Phil!

James, Peter and I all are going forward in the Silver fleet whilst Simon, Mike, Jason and Ben have made the Gold. This is no mean feat given the level of competition. Ben must be complimented on taking part today considering how broken his boat was after yesterday. His repair does not look pretty but it held together and got him into Gold. Well done Ben!

News from the Hayling Members Club

2011-01-06T23:43:00.000Z

Today is a lay day before the Worlds start. We are all drinking coffee and generally very chilled this morning after a much better day on the water yesterday. Mike Lennon's 4th, 23rd and a 6th gave him 11th overall. Interestingly he used the Aardvark skinny rudder for the first time racing yesterday which obviously worked well. Truth be told though the wind was much stronger over the course which meant continuous foiling which obviously helped. The wind was still patchy and shifting around enormously. Good starts are extremely importantly and there are a lot of port tackers as a result. Unfortunately, the race team seem hellbent on putting the windward mark right under a headland which meant the wind around it was all over the place. Just placing it 150 yds to leeward would be so much better and the leg would still be long enough.

We are going to have a gentle day today. Jif is going to sikaflex his hinge and Mike will almost definitely spend the whole day doing something to his boat. He does have to measure Pete Barton's new Mach2 so it cannot be all bimbling.

The Nationals show that starting is everything and so I am expecting masses of recalls but this time with two fleets not one. Anyway we will see.

Grey Day in Belmont

2011-01-05T22:01:00.001Z

This morning you will be pleased to know I have woken up to rain and grey skies in Belmont. The only difference with England is about 15 deg C in temperature.

I went sailing for the first time yesterday and I was pleased that the boat was behaving as it did the last time I sailed it in England which was reassuring. I did not race yesterday which was always the intention as I knew that the 6 days of the Worlds would be more than enough racing for me. However, I enjoyed sailing up and down the course (keeping out of the way) in the breeze that varied from 6 - 12 knots. They ran 3 races in these patchy conditions and as you will have seen from the results, we are no where near the pace of the Australians. Highlights were Mike Lennon getting a peachy start in Race 3 on the foils and was leading the 80 boat fleet by 50 yards having tacked across the fleet. However, local knowledge meant the Aussie Moth team sailed further into a corner and by the top mark he was 5th. Simon is managing to hang in there with his 9th and 10ths but when you see people like Arnaud in the 20s you know the standard went up a gear.

Last night we sat down to a roast in the club ($9.90 bargain) and mulled over where the Australians are getting their pace from. The conclusion we came to was youth, quality (two Aussie Olympians in the squad) and sheer time on the water. Unlike any of us, the Aussie team has been sailing virtually every day which would be impossible for us given the winter conditions in England and the fact that most of us are weekend warriors. In technical terms there are no particular differences in their boats that we can see apart their foils are beautifully prepared. They have sikaflexed the the hinges so that they are perfectly smooth and they are polished to perfection. The other thing Mike noticed is that they are sailing with virtually no gearing. However, he did notice a lot of pitch poling going on when it is windy as a consequence. Lake Macquarie is pretty shallow and it does not take much wind to kick it up. It reminded me of Mar Menor. I am very glad that I have Phil's adjustable wand which I think is going to pay dividends here as most Mach2s (including the Aussie Team) here have fixed wands.

I capsized a couple of times yesterday and was reminded of Phil's blog on each occasion. You don't spend long in the water here despite the fact that the sharks have reputedly gone south. I have not seen any jelly fish either but there is a lot of stringy weed. One thing the Aussie's are very adept at is capsizing to clear the foils. I watched Scott Babbage yesterday capsize deliberately whilst in a leadng position but was up again in seconds. It reminded me of pit stops in Fomula 1 and realised that there is a real tactical aspect to when you decide to do this.

There are a lot of spectator boats surrounding the course but I could not see many rescue boats present. Of those there are only one or two ribs, the rest being high sided motorboats, not particularly suited for Moth rescue over long distances (we are over a mile from the club). It is due to blow 25 knots on Saturday and I hope that there will be adequate cover for the 115 boat fleet.

More tomorrow.

Good Morning From Belmont

2011-01-04T21:30:00.000Z

I woke up this morning and took some pictures from our balcony. First up is the race course area which is in the distance near the headland in this photo:

Race Course Area

The second is the club from our flat. As I said in my previous post, it is more of a Casino than a club but the people are very friendly. We joined as members for $8 which gives you 10% off the food. Quite like Hayling but I hope HISC don't see gambling as a new way of increasing income!

The Club

Worlds Questionnaire

2011-01-04T11:37:00.002Z

I have left the reporting of events to others who have been sailing today. I, on the other hand, helped Mike measure 10 sails which meant we had been paid some dosh for lunch in the right currency. Mike reckoned due to the current exchange rate this was the most money we had ever earnt.

We have been asked to fill in a Worlds Questionnaire. Some of the questions are worth repeating and I thought you might like to have a chance to answer them yourselves:

How much money have you spent on average each year on Moth Sailing in the past 3 years?
How many foiling tacks do you as a percentage in any one race?
How do you rate your physical fitness?
What do you think is your IQ? (Pick a number between 70 and 200) (hint: an average in the population has 100, genius 150, and 70 retard)
All things considered how happy are you? (0 totally unhappy 10 ecstatic)
Do you think Scott Babbage will finish 7th (yes/no/maybe)
I would like to remove my sail/identification from any results

Other questions involved how much we had spent attending the Worlds. The average between the three of us came out at £6k. This may explain why there are only 7 Brits here. We are hoping to recoup our costs in the Sailing Club which sports both a betting shop and a set of fruit machines. Weird.

Our flat is 150 yards from the club. Mike has yet to walk there and has driven/or been driven there every time. Ben Paton however, lives 4 kilometres away and has been running to and from the club every day. We have promised that we will run to the club at least once this championship just to show willing.

Tomorrow the Australian Nationals begins. We are pretty certain that an Australian will win it as they are going very fast and you cannot win it if you are a pom.

More tomorrow.

The Worlds Begins For Me

2011-01-02T11:22:00.000Z

Tonight I put my family on a plane for Hong Kong and then on to the UK after we have had the most amazing 3 weeks travelling down the East coast of Australia. I am now sitting in a hotel near Sydney Airport about to go to sleep.

Tomorrow I pick up Jason Russell (Jif) from the airport and we will then be driving up to Belmont together hoping to get there about lunchtime. I know that Mike, Ben, Simon and James are already there so cannot wait to see them all and get rigged up.

Tonight it is raining in Sydney but a comfortable 15deg C so I should get some sleep. I promise to post regularly and bring you other news apart from wings (yawn). Note to self: must not mention the present location of Ashes once in Belmont.

The Wing Should go to the Ball

2010-12-24T11:45:00.000Z

From my view here in a tent in the middle of a mosquito infested forest near Jervis Bay NSW, I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone should not want to see how the wing will perform at the Worlds. Those using them are taking a risk using largely unproven kit so you have got to admire their courage and just let them get on with it.

I tell you what; if Bora wins using a Wing it does not prove anything; given a bit of breeze he was fast anyway. However, if he lent it to me and I won with it then that would show the wing's true performance advantage.

I am certain sense will prevail and we will see the wings fly at the Worlds. Pushing the boundaries is what the Moth class is all about. Bring it on.

Yes I Know it's Snowing in the UK...

2010-12-21T08:55:00.001Z

I have now been in Australia for 10 days. The first 5 were spent up in the Daintree Rainforest. Which was very hot 30+deg and 93% humidity. But we saw crocodiles (big ones) and Cassowary birds (almost ran one over).

We then drove down to Townsville and chartered a yacht to sail around the Palm Islands for a few days. The picture above is of Yanks Jetty on Orpheus Island. It used to be a degaussing station for the American ships so they did not get blown up by mines when.travelling along the Queensland Coast. Nowadays it is a great place for snorkelling with tame fish coming up to you expecting to be fed.

Tomorrow we deliver the yacht back to Townsville and catch a plane to Sydney. The family are staying out until the 2nd January when I will be joining everyone at Belmont. See you there!

UK Boats Arrive in Australia

2010-12-07T19:14:00.001Z

I learnt from Rick tonight that the UK boats arrived in Sydney today and are making their way through customs as I write. Whilst Mike Lennon will be united with his beloved boat early next week, I am going to have to wait until 3rd January to see mine.

My family and I leave for Cairns on Friday and will be working our way down the East coast of Australia over the following 3 weeks. If technology allows, I will try and post a bit as we travel but I will keep it short and sweet. After all most people will want to read about the lead up to the Worlds not about some odd animal that we bumped into!

I am fairly certain that I won't be troubling the front of the fleet at the Worlds. I just hope I don't get eaten by sharks or stung to death by jellyfish. Never fear; I have my UK flag emblazoned stinger suit ready and waiting. What can possibly go wrong with this level of preparation?

Bits for Belmont

2010-11-26T18:11:00.002Z

You will remember that I had some aluminium wand axle mounts and mast sockets made for the Mach2 for sale earlier in the year. Well the engineering company is making me a limited amount to take to the Worlds at Belmont so if there are any of you going who are interested in buying either/both items then please let me know by leaving a comment below so that I can make sure I bring enough supplies.

We are leaving the UK on the 10th December for a family holiday and I will be in Belmont from the 3rd of January onwards. Moth Mach2 3605.

Doing the Meerkat!

2010-11-01T12:38:00.000Z

Most of us Moth weekend warriors struggle with (and are obsessed) by the foiling gybe. Well I think I may have stumbled upon the answer to anyone trying to master this essential skill. I was looking through the photos taken by Chris Bashall at Hayling last weekend (yes we have our own resident photographer who is out most weekends) and he took a pic of Si Payne "doing the meerkat" as I like to describe it.

Si here is in mid-gybe and is flacking his battens before heating the boat up and hiking. Now I have found that having crawled under the boom (always moving across earlier than I would gybing a normal boat), I assume this position and, using a combination of steering behind the back and mainsheet, get the boat to settle on the new gybe. Yesterday, I noticed that adopting this position I can also transfer my weight back in to the centre when the wind drops light and get the boat "hooked" into the new gybe before sitting down and heating the boat up.

For the larger less agile amongst us, this is a vital skill because you are not committing your weight to the new side too early before you have got the boat sorted out. I find it amazing how long you can keep foiling whilst maintaining this position. You can almost hear the boat rapping its fingers going "when on earth are you getting your act together?"

The other thing I have been working on is loads of speed into the gybe and as smooth an arc as I can manage during it. Anyway hope this helps others like me master this challenge.

Back on the Straight & Narrow

2010-10-17T23:38:00.001+01:00

A lot has happened since I last blogged. One minute and 30 seconds into my bid to take part in the Hayling TideRide last week. I fell victim to the basic design flaw of the Mach2 where the forestay and mounts plate ripped out of the foredeck during a capsize. And it was not an "over the handlebars" moment so I am still struggling to understand why it went after over a year. I should feel grateful for the rescue but the guy in the rib was in a foul mood and kept going too fast. To cap it all a pillock in a Feva capsized and put his mast through my sail on the beach.

Fortunately in this neck of the woods we are very lucky to have Ian Lovering at Ashdown Marine who has devised the solution (possibly with the help of Mike Lennon) to this foredeck issue. Basically what he has done is drill out and glue a horizontal carbon tube in the front of the bow just under where the forestay tangs (were). A hole is then drilled through the foredeck into the carbon tube where I have spliced a dyneema sheave. He also stuck and carbonned the wand mount plate back in beautifully. This now has far less stress placed upon it so should now be OK.

Virtually all of the Hayling Mach2s have had this mod done and I should have done it as a preventative measure ages ago. Anyway, two months to go before Belmont and I need a lot of practice. Today was good although the boat was flying high due to me not screwing the control rod home completely into the ends. However the adjustable wand worked well. I don't know about Belmont but our Nationals at Stokes Bay next year can kick up a good Solent chop so it should come in useful there.

Adjustable Wand

2010-09-26T18:18:00.000+01:00

A cold day at Hayling with the wind gusting over 20kts saw me bimbling my new adjustable wand on the boat. As you can see, the design is very simple with the wand sliding inside the square section and elastic pulling the wand up. This is securely attached to the standard Mach2 wand attachment.

At full extent it is about an inch longer than the standard wand and will shorten about 6 inches although I can shorten it further if necessary. Note the "Shoe Horn" paddle. The theory here is that it should disturb the water less than the standard paddle.

Although this latest design is untested, the previous unsuccesful one I tried demonstrated very powerfully how effective shortening the wand in chop stops the boat over reacting to waves, giving a much more stable ride downwind. I cannot wait to try one that actually will move under load.

If you are interested contact Phillippe Oligario (http://www.mothflyers.co.uk/) who seems to be moving into mass production with these things

Laser Worlds

2010-09-12T19:35:00.000+01:00

Hayling Island is currently hosting the 2nd part of the Laser Worlds, namely the Masters. 356 boats are entered from over 20 countries and the club is handling the event with its usual professionallism. You have never seen so many ribs in one place!

Fortunately for us they all disappear out to sea and we are left to ourselves for most of the time. One thing that is strange is that when we had the Standard & Junior Laser Worlds last week there were loads of sailors crowding round looking at our Moths with lots of enthusiasm & questions (can I have a go mate? etc). The masters sailors, on the other hand, show virtually no interest at all. All I can think when I see them sail is all of that effort for so little gain. If I hiked as hard as that I would be World Champion!

I missed Alan Hillman (of Moth Fest fame) who turned up at the club yesterday which is a shame. Now I suspect it was him who left a message on my mobile stating he was from BBC Productions and could he speak to Ian Hislop? (Ian Hislop is a round bald headed chap on the TV who everyone at Mar Menor thought looked like me). Bloody cheek!

Oh and we had a great sail today over the top of the tide in about 9-14 kts. Si, Mike, Rick and Jason were out as well as me. I have my beloved Hyde sail back (that 250mm of boom room is such a joy when gybing).

Not long now to Belmont. Cant wait.

Silvaplana done - Belmont to come!

2010-08-22T18:00:00.001+01:00

Now that the Euros have finished it has been remarkably quiet on the blog front. Apparently the last day was good but I would be interested to hear if people enjoyed the event overall.

Next up is Belmont. I am really looking forward to it. Flights and accom is booked - just got to get the shipping sorted and we are romeo done. I have never been to Australia before so we are going for a family holiday for 3 weeks beforehand. I then pack everyone on a plane back to Blighty and can concentrate on the Worlds. I am not sure how many Brits are going but I hear there is talk of a 100 boat entry. At least there will be a nice big course to accomodate them all (and hopefully a nice big line). Perhaps, splitting the fleet might be necessary for a fleet of that size but we will have to see.

Anyway, I hope the 2011 Worlds website jumps into life soon so we can get a buzz going about the event. For me it is not going to be hard to get excited about it - after all I get to leave a bleak British winter and arrive 18 hours later in an Australian summer!

Adam's Wing

2010-08-03T13:51:00.001+01:00

Apologies Adam, might help if I got your name right!

Just a quick thought.

Like everyone I think the wing is amazing and, Simon is right, it is exactly what the class is all about. However, I hope that he will go to the Europeans and everyone will appreciate his achievement for what it is and not then instantly write it off if it does not go fast initially. This change is almost as radical as when the Moth class introduced foils - 6 years and counting we are still nowhere near perfection. Let's manage the expectation levels accordingly!

Boomed up and ready to go

2010-07-31T10:03:00.000+01:00

Hurrah the boom arrived this week and has already been used in anger. I had one of those fantastic sails in 12-15 kts on Thursday evening where everything goes well. Upwind I was getting a tide assisted 15kts and over 20 kts downwind. I am learning that hiking hurts and that education through pain is the way forward. No pain no gain!

I am on my own this weekend as all the regular top HISC Moth sailors are sailing at Cowes in a slalom event in conjuntion with the Extreme 40s organised by Si Payne. This is the trouble with everyone that sails regularly at HISC being Nationals (and in some cases Worlds) top 10 material - hopefully one day it will rub off on me!

Anyway we have the Pennant weekend at HISC which is where we get the exclusive use of our club and no open meeting is organised. Not only is there the Pennant series with a prize giving at the end of the wekeend but kids get their own series as well. David, my son, will be sailing his Tera and probably will do a lot better than his Dad!

Envious and Boomless...

2010-07-23T17:57:00.001+01:00

I am envious of those lining up to go to the Europeans in a few weeks time. In particular, I wish Si good luck there and hopefully he can make it a hattrick. Having had such a good UK Nationals, I am up for more. However, I cannot afford to go to both the Europeans and the Worlds in Belmont so I had to make a choice. Olivier Vidal is not helping my envious state as he is just about to take part in the Italian Nationals on Lake Garda, go onto the Europeans and is coming to Belmont as well!

What's on the cards for me? I am looking forward to Chichester Harbour Federation Week which should see a good turnout from Hayling Moths plus some visitors which is on at the same time as the Europeans.

I am slightly boomless at the moment following a breakage but as always, Si Payne, Amac and Betty Yin of McConaghy, have been fantastic and a replacement is winging its way to me as I write. In spite of this, I still think the Mach2 has proven to be the most reliable professionally built Moth out there. I have lost count of the number of times where I have put my cover on and gone for a beer whilst the smell of epoxy and the sound of feverish repair work fills the dinghy park during an event.

Anyway I am off to make up some new rigging from some bargain SK78 I have received from Pete Barton of Skifftastic. I am also looking forward to seeing the fruits of Phillippe Oligario's labours soon as he has kindly offered to make me an adjustable wand. It has to be said that the build quality of Phillippe's new home built boat is mightily impressive and has proven to be bullet proof as well as fast. We had some good battles at the Nationals and I look forward to many more.

UK Nationals Learning Curve

2010-07-12T18:27:00.000+01:00

It has to be said. This is possibly the best Nationals I have attended of any of the classes I have been involved with over the years. The weather was great over the 4 days. Day 2 will live in my memory as one of the best day's sailing I have had in the Moth since I got it. In particular, rocketing downwind at 20+kts feeling completely at ease on such a big course was a unique experience.

Things I learnt:

Sitting between races - heel the boat on the leeward rack, let the kicker off and the sail out. Allow the boat to gently move backwards and you can drink, eat, fiddle with things and relax without having to constantly keep a hand on the tiller/mainsheet. Also it is very easy to get the boat going from that position when you are lining up to start.
Sail adjustment is vital - letting off kicker and cunningham (in that order) generates significant extra power when trying to take off. Once airborne - the 2010 Hydes sail responds beautifully to different amounts of cunningham when sailing in gusty conditions.
The Mach2 does not need as much heel as a BladeRider upwind - it just needs to be as high as possible so it does not get affected unduly by waves. I aimed for a speed of between 12-13 kts. Any excess speed I would use to stuff the boat up and then I would bear off slightly once the speed dropped. Oh and the fitter you are the longer you can keep this up! If I did this right you can take 100yds to windward on someone over a 1/2 mile leg.
Downwind - sitting in, playing the main a lot and soaking and then heating it up if the breeze strengthened seemed to work quite well.

Things I am struggling with:

I cannot foil gybe in winds of less than 10 knts. I go through the gybe, apply my knee to the new side and no matter how much I steer it through it either comes down (not so bad) or falls in to windward (oh no not again). Flacking the battens is also an issue here. If you fail a gybe in light winds the losses are severe over someone who manages it because of the length of time it takes to get back on the foils (if indeed you manage it). And I don't have an answer at the moment.
My tacking is simply not good enough. But unlike the above at least I know what I need to do to improve. Like gybing, crossing the boat earlier seems to be the key. Also slackening kicker and cunningham before tacking aids take off on the new tack.
Downwind speed is still lacking - I think this could be down to sail settings and knowing when to apply cunnigham/kicker. Flattening the sail at some windier points seemed to produce more speed
Downwind in waves - Twice I went over the handlebars in one race. I got told to raise my ride height to stop the porpoising which does seem to work but takes all my courage!

On the positive side, I felt sufficiently confident to start thinking about strategy (what Rick calls racecraft) more during the event. When I had enough wind, I really enjoyed gybing to follow the pressure downwind and gosh how it works. Lining up for starts and judging distances to start lines improved throughout.

On a different note, I have two Mach2 mast sockets left and then there will probably be no more. If you want one let me know.

Scorching Torquay!

2010-07-09T08:18:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to say how much I enjoyed day 1 of the UK nats. A great first race with 12 kts of breeze followed by one of those races that can only happen in a foiling boat. We all start off foiling and then the wind switches off at the end of lap one. I start low riding up the beat and then a puff gets me on the foils. I hang on for grim death and pull out 2/3rds of a leg on my nearest rival. 50 yds away from the windward mark I tack and am lowriding gently thinking OK this is good. Then my 500 yd lead is reduced to nothing as they pick up a gust and foil past in front of me.

I am known for not being the most patient person on the water but I can handle this as in foiling moths you know the race is never over until it is over. I did not manage to catch them again but there is always tomorrow!

Patience when launching is also required but the beach party at RTYC could not be more helpful. If the sun keeps shining I am going to enjoy this Nationals tremendously.

Mach 2 Mast Socket

2010-07-03T00:21:00.001+01:00

Those of you following this blog will know I have been working on a new version of the Mach 2 Mast Socket with a local engineering company. The purpose of this exercise is to replace the existing plastic unit with one with a phospor bronze insert to try and extend the life of the unit. This should help maintain rig settings, rake and tension which are all affected by the socket wearing prematurely.

I got the final version of the mast socket delivered this week and have fitted it to the boat. I am very pleased with the changes which included making the top of the hole slightly larger and the hole itself 2mm shallower. The pin fits perfectly and there is plenty of room for all mast rake settings.

I have had a limited number made which, I think, are already taken. I am prepared to get some more made up if there is a demand. Please let me know if you are (still) interested via graham dot simmonds @ blueteq dot com. UK price is £95 (Europe and outside please contact me and I will let you know a price in your currency).

Good Weekend

2010-06-28T20:19:00.003+01:00

It was a busy weekend at Hayling. 11 moths turned up for our impromptu "Desperate for Cash" slalom event in front of the 150 Oppie sailors that had their Open meeting the same day. Reaching near 30 deg C at times, we had a lovely sea breeze both days.

Of particular note was the appearance of Matthew Ponsford's "White Knuckle Express" which, older Mothies will recall, was the one of the first foiling Moths, originally owned (I think) by Rohan Veal back in 2004. It still has its original foils and does work. Other visitors included Mark Semper in his Prowler, James Phare, and Jason Belben. Jason demonstrated the art of foil gybing whilst making no forward progress in the strong tide. Some thought he was actually going backwards at times. Simon Payne cartwheelend most dramatically after hitting an "island" of weed. He definitely scores highly for some of the most stylish dismounts in the sport.

The slalom being held at 5pm in the dying sea breeze so, together with large clumps of weed, was quite a testing affair. I am not sure we know who won but that was not really the point. This weekend is what we as a fleet dream of all winter and we would rather not be anywhere else, especially when we get to share it with friends.

Talking of which, 5 HISC Mothies are going to Weymouth this weekend to go and test the 2012 Olympic sailing area as part of the Weymouth Regatta. Alex Adams is putting on a barbeque which sounds great. Hopefully Helen will bring some cakes....

I sailed with the prototype mast socket last weekend and it was a complete success. I measured the gap between mast and socket with a micrometer after two days long sailing and it was exactly the same as when I put it on. By comparison, the new plastic socket that cost $52 from Mach2 for Mar Menor only has 5mm clearance left after less than a month's use. I am pretty confident that these new sockets will last for years.

More Mach2 Bimbles

2010-06-21T08:29:00.001+01:00

First off, I have had an amazing response to people wanting the mounts. I have already contacted everyone in Europe and am just getting a price for airmail for those outside. I have asked people to pay in advance as I have said this is non-profit making and I don't want to be out of pocket. As soon as I have received payment I will send the parts; you know where I live if I don't!

I thought people would be interested in seeing how some Hayling Mach2 sailors have solved the forestay problem, where either the tang breaks off due to rust or the plate rips out. As you can see above, a hole has been drilled through the bow and a tube inserted. Then you insert a metal bar with a strop tied around it to which you attach the forestay. This is the neatest solution I have seen sofar and one that I am going to get done on my boat.

Mach2 Parts

2010-06-19T00:56:00.005+01:00

Some of you may be aware of the aluminium mounts that I had made for the Mach2. These are to replace the existing plastic parts. They have the advantage of not only holding the wand axle securely but also do not twist laterally. They are hard anodised. I originally had 10 sets made up and people like Si Payne, Mike Lennon, Ricky Tagg amongst others have now fitted them to their Mach2s.

In response to several requests, I have commissioned another 10 sets which I have now received. 6 are already reserved. If you are interested in a set they cost £55 or 72 euros inc P&P. This is a non-profit exercise for me. If you are interested please let me know via graham dot simmonds at blueteq.com.

I have also commissioned a replacement part for the mast socket. Anyone who has sailed their Mach2 frequently will know how quickly this wears. I recently replaced mine with the standard part and the mast has sunk 5mm already. The new part will be made out of black plastic with a phosphor bronze insert for the mast pin to sit in. I am having 5 made up of which 3 are already reserved. If you are interested again let me know via graham dot simmonds at blueteq.com.

On a different note, I was very sad to read Felix's blog about his experiences with Fastcraft (Assassin). The overriding lesson of that very long entry is that in all things you always get what you pay for. I hope for the sake of the person still waiting for their boat after 8 months that they settle their differences quickly.

Moth Breakages

2010-06-17T10:41:00.000+01:00

I sailed in the Parkstone Open Meeting last weekend which turned out to be a wonderful weekend's sailing for the 25 Moths that attended despite the forecast. Whilst congratulating Mike Lennon for winning, special mention must be made of Jason Russell (2nd) whose self belief seems to have rocketed after Mar Menor and now is a major force to be reckoned with.

One thing that has struck me is the high level of breakage and failure in the Moth class. The number one failure seems to be kickers. Why is this? The main reasons for failure seems to be as follows:

Inappropriate rope choice - in my experience standard dyneema wears far better than Vectran or some of the more exotic ropes out there.
Poor splicing - with all splices they either need to be locked off or stitched.
Blocks failing - either they explode, bend or stop turning causing excessive rope wear quickly. I am looking for some replacements for the Harken blocks as many people have had problems with them. If you have any suggestions let me know.

On my Mach2 I have four separate pieces of rope making up my 32:1 kicker - two strops one 5mm Dyneema + one 4mm Dyneema that are spliced round the mast support, two bits of 4mm Dyneema with spliced loops that make up the middle section, and another 5mm Dyneema loop with adjustable splices that goes round the boom.

I am now paranoid about checking all of these bits of rope + blocks for wear and have now decided to go through a cycle of replacing all of the strops every 2-3 months. I am getting better at it now and can do the lot in a couple of hours. I have learnt to make the strops slightly shorter to allow for the splices to "settle" under load.

In England I feel we are getting a poor reputation amongst clubs who are now realising that recovering a broken Moth from a race course is extremely difficult and can tie up a rescue boat for a considerable period. Most rescue crews do not have the first idea about how to help you so you need to have a clear plan in your head. I now carry a knife on board so I can cut the forestay tie down and drop the rig ready for derigging. Once this is done, it is possible to "slot" the boat down the side of the RIB with the foils resting outwards on the side tube. This worked extremely well for me recently and the boat suffered no damage whilst being recovered.

Next stop is Weymouth Regatta in two weekends time. The Regatta entry list is closed but twelve Moths are already signed up. We are sailing out of Castle Cove SC and are racing in the bay apparently. I hope the Weather Gods play ball!

Back in Blighty

2010-06-04T19:50:00.000+01:00

Wow what a day! Today I possilbly had the best day's sail in ages. A constant 12-14 knts and the water was as flat as a pancake in blazing sunshine . Whats not to like?

I also discovered this morning that both the mini Harken Carbo blocks on the mainsheet had exploded. And all this time in Mar Menor I thought Christ I had no strength in my arms anymore. So it was a great relief to discover that Harriet the Chandler had some in stock so I replaced them. Suddenly I can play the mainsheet again and can actually point upwind and do all of the things you are supposed to do. Always the golden rule in these boats is to check everything constantly to make sure it all works .

I also got the ride height working properly at last. I glued some small eyes on to the deck so the string that wraps round the adjuster is fed onto it properly and does not get itself in knots. Again another thing that is a joy to use when it works properly.

The last thing I have become convinced about is the need for an adjustable wand a la Mike Lennon/Philllipe Oligario for stable downwind progress in waves. I spent one afternoon at Mar Menor in a rib when there was a sizeable chop present. Whilst everyone else was going up and down like a yo yo (porpoising in other words and sometimes crashing) Mike kept his wand short and probably was not varying more than +/- 6 inches up and down and was therefore a damn sight faster as a consequence. You could see the wand staying vertical most of the time working at the front of the bow instead of being pushed back. Anyway both Jason and I have ordered the same design as Mike's from his friend Pete. Its going to be a cracking gadget for the Torbay Nationals where, if memory serves, it can kick up waves from time to time.

Also its time to enter some events. I am down to do Parkstone, Weymouth and Torbay and am looking forward to them tremendously. I am not expecting great things but a week at Mar Menor has built up my confidence sufficiently to think I can now do these things.

Post Photo Fest

2010-06-01T23:58:00.001+01:00

Its been a few days since I got back from Mar Menor. I am intensely grateful to Alan and his father David and everyone else that went for making it a fantastic week. I won't repeat what was said in Simon Propper's review as it says it all. However, here are few photos, taken by Alan or me, of the people and the place to make sure I don't forget what it is like to be warm!

This is where we launched from each day. One of the French is already on the beach waiting for the breeze to fill in.

This is David, Alan's Father, on guard, making sure no-one walked off with his screwdrivers. More importantly, this special man manned the rescue boat each day and did a cracking job running the racing.

This is the paella being prepared for the opening meal of the event. It was a great way of getting to know everyone.

This is Pablo Arandia with his Mach2. I think it was a bit of a shock for him to be suddenly sailing with so many fellow Mothies all in one place. Still he rose to the challenge and was one of those who improved greatly during the week.

Alan Hillman, Moth Fest Man and total all round good guy. He's been down the supermarket to buy the Cava that is soon going to get chucked around at the Prize Giving.

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One of the things Alan did not tell us about was the Air Display he treated us to as part of the Moth Fest. The man's power of the blag knows no limit

Simon Payne not only gave vital help to Moth sailors but showed off a few dance moves on the sand. We sat in awe.

Here is Ben Paton sailing his Ninja before he ran it up a beach. However to us he will be known as "Muscles" for obvious reasons. However, he is a great bloke and will be force to be reckoned with if his boat can stand up to his very physical sailing style.

Peter Barton came on leaps and bounds during his time at Mar Menor. Here he is midway through what was a successful gybe when I was taking pictures on the end of the pontoon.

This is German Fred . He is an extremely competent sailor who spent the week sticking his Assassin back together or emptying the water out of it. The final straw for Fred was when he borrowed Jason Russell's Mach2 for a race and almost won leaving Jason at the back of the fleet in the Assassin. Yes - the Assassin's Assassin has struck again.

Sam Tozer was another heavy user of the CTM sponsored carbon repair kits on his Mistress. When his boat was working he was impressively fast.

This is me enjoying the perfect Mar Menor conditions. One thing I learnt is that every time you dismantle the boat and then put it together it is never quite the same. Alan awarded me the "Nose Bleed" award for foiling higher than anyone. I must admit it felt OK to me.

This is the French boat with the lyrics to Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing written down the side of the hull in felt tip. The French definitely added a touch of style to the event.

We raced many times over the week at Mar Menor. Here is one of the many well-contested starts of the week.

Patrick Cunningham taking a rest on his Axiom. No-one spent more time sticking their boat together than Patrick. To cap it all having glued his wings on, he then had to saw them off to get them in the transport box.

Simon Reynolds, a new convertee from the Musto Skiff, was instrumental in attracting sponsorship for the event from Harken and Marlow. Where's my rig pack, Simon? Only joking!

Its Hot and Windy!!

2010-05-16T23:15:00.000+01:00

Today's weather: 25deg C and 15-18 kts - Scorchio! After the longest winter known to Man in the UK we have migrated south to Mar Menor and it is hot - unbelievably, georgeously, doing my head in hot!

Many who got their boats together yesterday got out today. For me it was a day of careful boat building (much to Alan's disgust) but I am all set for tomorrow. Ian Southworth is here with a 2 year old Bladerider that has never been put together let alone sailed and he kept me company whilst we gave helpful advice from the beach such as - "oh he didnt want to do that" and "that has got to hurt" when we watched one boat run into a reef. Fortunately nothing that the Carbon repair pack that came as a freebie with the event could not fix.

The French have turned up. One boat has a verse and chorus of "Little Wing" by Jimi Hendrix written on the side in felt tip. According to Simon it was the first Moth ever built in France. Surreal.

More of me going on about how hot it is here tomorrow. Hope it is not too cold where you are.

We're Off!!

2010-05-15T09:19:00.000+01:00

This week has been long and hard so I am so looking forward to joining Alan and everyone in Mar Menor. Loads of us are catching the 4:20 plane from Bournemouth to Murcia today so I hope Ryanair does not let us down.

The reason this event appeals to me so much is that I get to sail with other Moth sailors, try out new ideas, and benefit from Si Payne's coaching without the stress of a major championship as well. I am hoping to nail a lot of my personal demons which I think possibly are shared by most people:

1. Improve boat handling and get rid of that feeling of impending doom everytime I go for a gybe. Where we race at Hayling it is essential that you can gybe confidently and reliably in the narrow channels.
2. Speed - when the Mach2 gets in the groove the speed difference is palpable. First impressions were that the Hydes sail helps achieve that groove more easily than the MSL13. Having said that it is possible I am not squeezing the nuts off that sail enough but we shall see.
3. More Height - The Mach2 can carry height no problem but my brain is still convinced I am going to lose control (possibly harping back to my 600FF days). Ricky Tagg has suggested I mark the main foil with lines so I can tell how high I am which is a good idea. It would help to take a more scientific approach to the issue and overcome my fear.
4. Racecraft in general - nailing all of the above would get me back into thinking about the race itself and what the best strategy and tactics are to follow. For example improving tacking so that you could justify tacking on a shift would be a revelation!

Oh and I want to have fun. I have done some research and apparently there are gyms both in the CAR centre and the hotel I am staying in so there are lots of places for Ben Paton to work out in (see Alan Hillman's blog). I will toast his youthfullness with a bottle of beer whilst I wonder which bits of me don't ache after a long day's sailing.

Message from Assassin MkII

2010-05-11T09:48:00.000+01:00

Following several emails asking what happened to the deleted blog entitled "Message from Assassin" (I am flattered by the way) in the interests of balance I feel I ought to draw your attention to the comment from Assassin attached to my previous blog, which I only saw last night.

In response to that comment.

1. I very much look forward to the day when I see Ian do 22kts in less than 10 kts of wind in his Assassin. And so would he as currently he cannot foil at all in less than 10 kts and he is a good sailor. Ian demonstrated his considerable wit when last weekend, in frustration, when he wondered whether he had bought the World's cheapest foiler or the World's most expensive low rider.
2. In order to sort that out he needs the promised Holroyd foil to replace the temporary one he has had for 7 months. Still no sign of it as of last weekend although he did say he got an email asking where did he want it sent.
3. BTW Ian broke a Holroyd rudder foil not a temporary one in less than 12 kts under normal use. He agreed to have it mended locally when by rights he should have had it replaced by Assassin.

My last word on the subject. End of.

In the Box and Gone

2010-05-10T19:35:00.000+01:00

Finally the boat is packed up, collected and on its way to Mar Menor. I (obviously) cannot wait to go. Alan Hillman is beside himself with excitement at the prospect of having his own week long Moth party where all his friends will be gatecrashing and generally abusing his sailing school.

I am also now the proud owner of a new Hydes 2010 sail. I have had a couple of sails with it and I am overjoyed. The first thing to notice is that it has a leach approx 250mm shorter than a KA. What a joy to gybe without having to limbo underneath the boom. And the cams actually work - gybing is so much easier when the battens flack across easily and when you let the cunningham/kicker off the cams don't fall off on the next maneouvre. Each cam has a zip beside it making putting them on / taking them off a doddle.

The power delivery is silky smooth and the sail responds readily to degrees of cunnigham/kicker without that stalling feeling in the gusty stuff. I don't have to max the controls out to calm it down. Oh and it feels fast - very fast. I will look forward to find out at Mar Menor how fast it is.

By the way - if my blogs from Mar Menor are all about how hot it is and what a great time I am having - tough!

I shall go to the Ball!

2010-05-08T07:52:00.000+01:00

The blog has suffered a bit of radio silence recently. I have been picking up the pieces after a traumatic sail last Sunday. Traumatic from the point of view of my beloved Mach2 being swept onto a moored yacht during a squall and hooked up onto its bow rail. The mainfoil got caught under the anchor chain and the anchor that protruded forward of the yacht's bow started to saw through my boom. I think most of you can possilbly imagine the distress I felt as I tried to stop this fucking floating caravan slowly destroy my pride and joy.

Anyway with the help of our professional Hayling rescue crew, we managed to extricate the boat away from the yacht by cutting the forestay string to drop the rig and removing the mainfoil. Once back on shore, close examination showed that the hull had thankfully got away with a few scratches, the main foil had split down the trailing edge, and the boom featured a sizeable notch where the anchor had done its worst.

What compounded my stress was that the boat is being shipped to Spain this weekend for the Mar Menor Moth Fest which now has over 20 Moths attending and promises to be the best crack of the year. Lots of beer and Moth sailing, coaching by Si Payne and general chilling out without the stress of a major championship in a warm place with flat water. A begging call to Ian at Ashdown Marine, our local carbon repair genius, has got the foil and boom patched in record time so it is ready to go into the box on Sunday night.

I shall go to the ball after all!

Hayling Training Weekend

2010-04-25T21:05:00.000+01:00

Well I am truly knackered after 2 days of intense sailing. I think I may have overdone it with 6.5 hours on the water on Saturday but it was a absolutely beautiful day with 8 -12 knots from the SE. One of those days where you do wonder how lucky you are to sail in such a fantastic place.

Yesterday we had Simon Payne giving out extremely useful tips and today Ricky Tagg and Mike Lennon were racing around in a RIB. I thought I would make a list of what I learnt and am going to think about applying next:

1. Being the wrong side of 80kg foiling in marginal conditions has always been a challenge. This weekend demonstrated to me how effective rudder angle is to promote early foiling. If I wind my rudder as far as it will go "forward" to lift the transom this makes an enormous difference and narrows the gap considerably between me and the light boys. Coupled with this, lowering ride height reduces stalling of the main foil at low speeds and also contributes. Ricky thought I should wind my gantry forward a couple of turns as well.

2. The amount of cunnigham and kicker I use once foiling. In light winds, I have always thought being heavy that I should not put on cunningham as I needed all the power I could get. However Simon advised that once foiling that applying cunnigham reduces drag and the speed will increase. What a difference it made! the immediate effect was to give more control over windward heel with quite small movements of mainsheet. But oh how the boat moved so much more effortlessly and got into the groove so much more readily.

3. Preparing for tacks/gybes. Simon advised that I should release cunnigham/kicker before each manoeuvre and then flatten the sail back off once foiling. Another great tip.

All in all a great weekend and thanks to Jason Russell for organising it.

I worked out today I have probably sailed my Mach2 more than 80 times since I bought it last August. I have been fortunate that I have had possibly no more than 3 sails curtailed due to gear failure in all of that time which is a testament to the Mach2 + a lot of care and attention to the details + good support from China/Australia.

Yet I read today that the Assassin is an equal to the Mach2. Our sole Assassin at the club has possibly sailed no more than 10 times in roughly the same period yet has suffered breakage on virtually every occasion. This includes failure of both foils and the last time I spoke to Ian, he still had not received the Holroyd main foil 7 months after receiving the boat. Someone interested in buying a cheap Moth asked me about the Assassin today and I related these facts to him. I said that for the same money he would be better off buying a well maintained 2nd hand Prowler or Bladerider.

The simple truth remains that it is simply not possible to build a cheap Moth that will hold together and then be able to support it from the other side of the World when it inevitably breaks. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Oh? and is it as fast as a Mach2? Who knows, it has never stayed together long enough for anyone here to find out.

A Glimmer of Hope

2010-04-11T17:51:00.002+01:00

The Sun Gods shone on us this weekend. Oh and the wind blew. Saturday wheezed until 4pm but Jason and I were on the water in time for the evening sea breeze with 10-12 knots from the SSE.

I used my MSL13 and enjoyed the extra power it gives in these light conditions. I have also worked out finally that I have to get my knee down on the new side when gybing and not my hand - my learning process is like watching a glacier move. I know people like Ricky Lovering got it within a couple of sails but so far it has taken me 8 months to make any significant progress. If you too fall into this snail like category then please do not give up hope, it will come!

Sunday was significantly windier with 12-21 kts from the NE. People who know Hayling will know that this direction means a swim off the beach against the wind. I probably swam a lot further than I needed to but I cannot stand the crunch of foils against the beach. Anyway took part in two races and feel that I finally am getting a glimmer of hope in competition. I am landing the majority of gybes and tacks are much more sorted. I have learnt to sheet in and hang on to the mainsheet through the tack - when I get the timing right it touches down on the new tack (instead of thumping down) but I am ready to get moving again. OK its not a foiling tack but it will do for now.

I used the MSL10b today and I know in my heart of hearts that it is too flat for my weight. But I love the fact that it shrugs off the gusts and keeps the boat moving upwind. Downwind it is pretty slow (I only got 20.4 kts today) and I need the 13's power to get going. I want to get the Hydes sail as I love the shape of it - could this be the compromise between the two I am looking for? Having said that, I have a feeling that the 10 is going to be a great sail for Belmont for the windy days.

When you race at Hayling you are honoured with Si Payne and Mike Lennon eventually lapping you. I now judge my performance on how long I can delay this inevitability from happening. It does not bother me in the slightest - how many other people get to race against some of the World's best Moth sailors on a Sunday? It keeps you humble and ensures that the reality of the mountain I still need to climb remains very much in focus.

Oh my God!

2010-04-06T14:22:00.000+01:00

Finally got up the courage to take the boat out in 20kts+ yesterday. I rigged my new MSL10b and squeezed the pips out of it so that it was as flat as a flat thing. I launched and bore off down one of the harbour channels.

I quickly realised that in thirty years of sailing I don't think I had ever been as fast in a dinghy. Having got over the initial shock I dared several peeks at the Speedpuck and I never saw it drop below 20kts.Afterwards I checked the max speed and it had registered 22.7 kts which is my personal best. Having said that, Mike Lennon, who went on to win that day's pursuit race comfortably, recorded over 25 kts consistently on one leg.

No other Moth managed to finish the race, retiring through either gear failure or, in Olivier's case, simply getting lost (it was a large and complex course). The other minus point was that it was pretty low water which meant lots of gybing/tacking down narrow channels. Excellent for the boat handling if nothing else.

Hayling Island now race the Moth off 574 and it still wins so I imagine they will put its handicap down even further. For comparison purposes the 49er (new rig) is 654. However, as Mike said, the Moth scores on a long course with narrow channels as it's speed is not dependant on kites which can only be used on parts of the course.

The MSL10 has done wonders to my confidence in strong winds so I am now looking forward to the next time it blows.

Spring is here!

2010-03-21T23:34:00.000Z

What a fantastic day! Finally we get a day that is not cold or miserable. We had to wait until 2:30 before the wind came in in any strength but, coupled with a high tide, Rick, Olivier, Ian and myself had a great foil. My speed is getting better and everything seems to be working well since the refit.

I have had some aluminium mounts made up to replace the plastic ones supplied to hold the wand axle. I fitted them on Saturday and they work beautifully. There is no play in any plane, which is good thing given that the wand now sits less than an inch from the hull.

Simon was down the club sailing a 200 with Andrea today, a humbling experience after winning the Worlds. It looked very close racing if a bit light.

Jason Russell was building his new Mach2 this weekend bringing the total to 10. The four that went to Dubai return next week.

I am planning to go to the Queen Mary Training weekend next week, weather depending.

Belmont - Apology Required!

2010-03-16T18:30:00.001Z

Apology to Brue and Scott is required following my last post. I have just found the new (to me) Moth Worlds 2011 web site. The old site I was referring to was a BlogSpot one which possibly needs to be taken down.

The proper site is http://www.mothworlds.org/belmont/

I found this after having read the Puma report of the final day of the Worlds which said incorrectly that the Belmont Worlds were going to take place in February 2011! Thankfully the Moth Worlds site confirms that the dates are still the 8th to 14th January 2011. Phew!

Belmont accommodation

2010-03-16T11:26:00.000Z

Following on from a comment from Tom, I thought it might be helpful to share the results of my long Internet search of accommodation in Belmont:

1. I booked my flat through http://www.lakeshores.com/belmont/.
2. Another good place for accommodation lists is http://www.visitlakemac.com.au/accomgrid_search.asp.

You have to remember it is high season in January and Belmont looks like a fairly touristy place. A lot is already booked up but there are some places in Belmont still available if you move quickly. I know this is pretty tough for those just returning from Dubai with empty wallets but if you are planning to go to Belmont you probably need to do something about it now.

I am pretty sure there is more available like private B&Bs etc that do not show up on the Internet but it needs the guys down in Oz to start collating a list of those and updating the Moths Worlds 2011 Blog (nothing added since Feb 2009 and the links for accom lists don't work). I know it is 9 months away but I for one in the UK am having to sort out everything now and would appreciate more details sooner rather than later. The Dubai guys did a great job with info and is exactly what we need for Belmont. For me the first thing would be confirmation of the Pre World Oz Nationals dates, measuring schedules etc.

The other thing my wife tells me is that if you are planning to fly out around New Year flights are booking up as well. We booked with Quantas but we are planning a family holiday beforehand.

Mr Just CannotWait signing off...

I'm Inspired - Belmont here we come!

2010-03-14T17:04:00.000Z

I am, of course, dead chuffed (english expression for being very pleased) that my fellow club member, Si Payne has won the Dubai Worlds. I am also pleased for Mike Lennon (8th) and Ricky Tagg (13th) who are my other club friends. I should not forget Adam May (10th) who has been very kind to me (although I don't think he likes Hayling much!).

What I am most excited about is that their performance has inspired me to make a real effort this year to prepare for Belmont. The flights are booked, the gym is lined up and as much sailing as I can fit in during the year. I have booked an apartment 100 yds away from the Belmont 16ft sailing club with a lake view (be warned there is precious little available locally in Belmont unless you are prepared to pay - it is high season after all).

I know once my friends have had a rest (and their boats arrive back from Dubai) that they will be all dead keen to get sailing again. And I am sure we will be joined by lots of fellow Mothies from the surrounding area over the course of the year.

No posh training camps for us I suspect. But Hayling provides every condition you could ever need. Flat and safe in the harbour, to a short Solent chop in the bay.Its going to be great fun this year.

Sailmaker's Handbags at Dawn!

2010-03-13T21:55:00.000Z

As a potential buyer who knows bugger all about the dark art of sailmaking neither North or Raptor have done their cause any good with their recent bickering. I would not buy either. Why?

The answer is simple. Neither have done their time in the Moth class.

North - still early days for them and they have serious reliability issues. Who can forget Nathan Outeridge at the Gorge losing a race because his top pulled out? Plus several UK Norths have suffered the same fate since. Plus they are expensive.

Raptor - far too much hype and bullshit considering how little time they have been around in the Moth.

This year I am going to buy two sails. I had made my decision way before the Worlds had even begun.

One will inevitably be a KA, possibly a MSL10 to go with the MSL13 that came with my Mach 2. Why? Not because Si Payne is winning with one at the moment. The reason I will buy one is because I know that it works and that it will still be in one piece to take to Belmont. Plus Amac needs no blog for me to know the unique contribution he has made to the class over many years.

The other will be a Hydes. Again not because Mike Lennon is doing well with one. The reason I will buy one is because I have watched Mike (with the help of Ricky Lovering) at Hayling putting in the time getting it as good as he can. The sail Mike is using at the Worlds has been through countless iterations over the last two years and to my untrained eyes it looked great. There is no substitute for hard work and endless time spent in the boat.

End of.

Stop Blubbing!

2010-03-11T18:20:00.000Z

I have just read the Raptor blog entries with interest. I see Bora is back to using his old KA sail for, as Dan says, psychological reasons as I am sure the Raptor sail is a good sail.

But sail development is not going to solve the problem of mass and gravity. Bora gives Si Payne possibly upto a 15kg advantage which I am pleased to say Si is taking full advantage of. Plus of course Si is one the most experienced Moth sailors in the World. Believe me, I have watched him over the last 5 years sweat at perfecting his foiling skills with all of the associated pain that entails. He deserves to be where he is in the current standings and he has the experience to deal with the pressure. Good luck to him.

I know Bora is also a world class sailor and richly deserved his win last year. This is borne out by the fact he is sitting in 5th and is perhaps the heaviest sailor in the top 10 (?), plus he is using an old KA rag to boot. Bless him but he now has to deal with the fact he cannot change Newton's Laws of Gravity (another clever brit!) and to chill out and get on with it.

The fat lady has not sung yet and the wind may well still blow. Or it may not. May the best man win!

England in the Sun

2010-03-03T08:30:00.000Z

Whilst all the Dubai boys and girls had to endure the rain yesterday, I would like to report that we had a warm, sunny day in England for the first time in months. We sat outside and ate our lunch and decided that spring had finally arrived! Dubai - who needs it??!!

The boat refit is going well. I have replaced all of the splices for the kicking strap. Next the wings go back on and will be sporting new tramps. I have heard back from McConaghy and they are sending me the replacement wand parts. Sometimes I wish I had the skills of the homebuilders who I am sure would have whittled the parts out of a piece of carbon with their bare teeth.

Looking forward to the Worlds starting and not getting any work done whilst I watch all of Mr Clean's footage. Good to hear the US boats have turned up finally - that could have been embarrasing!

Naked Moth

2010-02-28T18:10:00.005Z

I went out yesterday with James Fawcett in his Mach2 in a 12 -15 kt SW. It should have been a glam sail but the boat was not behaving itself. It seemed to be having a great deal of trouble foiling and then would not foil very high. Several trips in adjusting gearing and other bits and the problem just got worse. I finally gave up and took the wand mechanism to pieces. I found a weld had failed on the wand attachment (see above), quite hard to see until I had got the thing in bits. I got on the email to Amac today and was dead chuffed to get a reply within an hour asking McConaghy to send me the parts.

I noticed that George Peet on his video has put a bolt through this part to take the strain off this particular weld which seems like a good idea. I also noticed he had put what look likes brass on the top of his plastic mounts. On the same video I saw that Bora had put a restraining line on his wand to stop it flying forward having sailed over the crest of a wave. I presume this is to stop the boat over reacting and crashing down. Another good idea worth trying.

With lots of things to sort out, I have bought the boat home today to give it a thorough overhaul. I have a list of things to do as long as your arm but I have had eight good months of sailing with virtually no failures so it is not so bad. I managed to strip the boat completely down so she is back to the way she was when I first took her out of the box. I have been over her with a fine tooth comb and I am pleased to report that the hull and all the structural elements - wings etc are in excellent condition. She was also virtually bone dry which is surprising since I had not drained her for ages (in fact since the time I had forgot to tape the breather holes up).

I am looking forward to seeing all of the rumoured new gizmos that turn up at Dubai. I have tasked our guys to take loads of pics so all of us at home can see what's new. Anyway back to getting the boat ready for next weekend.

All on my own...

2010-02-15T08:49:00.002Z

This weekend was the last one before everyone had to pack their boats up for shipping to Dubai. All my regular sailing colleagues, Si, Mike, Ricky and Tim from Hayling are all now loaded up and leaving me to sail on my own at Hayling.

Interesting Worlds facts:

11 nations are represented. UK has the largest entry followed by Australia:-

UK 11
Australia 7
Switzerland 6
USA 6
Germany 4
Sweden 4
Estonia 1
Hong Kong 1
New Zealand 1
Singapore 1
Slovenia 1

Manufacturers - Mach2 domination is evident with 27 entries. Its a real pity that there are not more Assassins and that not a single Ninja has entered. The Ninja is an extremely quick boat, particularly in the light, so it is a shame we are not going to see one lining up.

One of the upsides of the Mach2 domination generally is that there are now a proliferation of Bladeriders on the secondhand market going cheap - which is great for the class. After all they are a good boat which can be made to go well with a bit of time and effort.

Mach2 27
Bladerider 12
Prowler 2
Assassin 1
Mistress 1

I am going to miss my fellow sailors but I wish them all the best of luck in Dubai.

Light Weather Foiling Techniques

2010-02-06T22:05:00.001Z

This set of videos, taken by Pete Barton and Ben Patton on the 24th Jan, demonstrate some great light wind foiling techniques by a variety of sailors including Jason Belben, Ricky Tagg, Mike Lennon, Si Payne, Olivier Vidal and Alex Adams. We also get to see the light wind performance of the new Ninjas Cookie has been building recently. Pretty impressive they are too!

Full Time Moth Sailing Anyone?

2010-02-05T11:24:00.000Z

I have just watched the fascinating video from the US PCC championships. I now realise that the amount that I sail is nothing compared to those guys. Yet my wife claims that all I think about and do is Moth sailing. The word she uses is "obsessed". She should count her lucky stars she is not married to Bora Gulari or George Peet!

They are obviously going to be a force to be reckoned with in Dubai and the amount of effort they have put in deserves success. However, in true English spirit, my response to their effort will be that I am going dress up in a woolly jumper, don a Captain's hat and go off and smoke a pipe in the garden shed. That should help.

On a different note, I find it interesting that there has been a lot of emphasis on sail development recently. There are new offerings from KA, Hydes and now Raptor. I have only seen the Raptor offering in action on a video from the Miami Sail Camp but it looks like it has what I call a "loose flappy leach" that moves away from the tight leaches we currently use. From my limited experience these type of sails are very powerful and great for getting up in the light airs but soon become difficult to use in the windier stuff, requiring a lot of mainsheet work to dump all of that power. Time will tell. Currently I love the shape of the new sail that Mike and Rick of Hydes are developing and am looking forward to trying that out.

What I find equally interesting is that there is no word of any foil development going on, unless people are keeping their work under wraps. Amac's foils on the Mach2 defined a new level of stability and control at speed perhaps at the expense of early light wind take off. What is particularly impressive with them is that we have been sailing around in freezing 4 deg C water temperatures at Hayling with virtually no venting. (Not something the American team have had to contend with in Miami I'll wager!) Surely foil development is still where the real performance gains are to be made?

An Eventful Weekend

2010-02-01T21:38:00.000Z

Sailed both days this weekend for about 2 hours. High tide with about 8 to 10 knots but, with a screaming 4 knot spring tide, heading for the shallows was the order of the day.

Very cold on the Sunday. My steamer really has given up the ghost and I have ordered a new O'Nell Psycho 1. They do not seem to do the Mutant anymore which I would have preferred but never mind. The Gill winter gloves now have massive holes in them so I have replaced those as well. All those from HISC who are going to Dubai are counting the days until they can sail somewhere warm!

Poor Ricky Tagg had an eventful Sunday. Passing close by one of the large red navigation bouys in the Harbour, his foils vented and he lost control. At full speed, he smashed his wing against the bouy. Then, in the process of trying to derig his boat in the shallows he broke the rudder vertical when it dug in the sand and the tide caught the boat. With the tide now running at full bore, he and the rib trying to help him were swept onto the Winner bank and got stuck on it about a half a mile away from the club on a falling tide. The club did a sterling job of getting everything sorted out but it was nearly eight hours after having set out from the beach before Rick got back to the club. He is very worried that he will not get the boat sorted out before the Worlds but I am sure Si, Amac and McConaghy will do everything they can to help him. The show must go on.

Mach 2 Mystery Bidder??

2010-01-26T11:56:00.001Z

I was very pleased to see that the McConaghy donated Mach2 finally went for 22100AUD or £12,287 sterling which is a very generous donation to the Variety charity by the winning bidder. I wondered who had been lucky enough to secure what is a stunning looking boat.

Having looked at the winning bidder's ID, I think I know who it is who will be sporting a silver Mach2 at the Dubai Worlds...I will await with interest to see if I am right.

Hayling Island Training Camp

2010-01-25T20:15:00.000Z

What on earth is going on? Here I have been going on about how I have had the harbour to myself and low and behold suddenly I have to share it with loads of other Moth sailors! This weekend's promise of fair weather meant that, with only weeks to go before the Dubai Worlds, everyone thought they should get some practice in.

Here you can see from left to right, Mike Lennon, Si Payne and Alex Adams.

All told we had 13 moths turn up to train last weekend - 6 Mach 2s, 2 Ninjas, 1 Assassin, 1 Mistress, 2 Prowlers and an unknown low rider conversion jobbie. Of these Jason Belben and Alex Adams were welcome visitors. Pete Barton and Ben Paton, both with Ninjas on order, kindly gave up their time to provide RIB support and video facilities.

Above - Jason Belben in his Ninja.

Pete and Ben set a number of short races in the 8-10 kt Northerly which sorted out the light weather gnomes from the heavy metal specialists. Top gnomes were Jason Belben (Ninja), Ricky Tagg (Mach2) and Simon Payne (brand new Mach2 this weekend). Whilst the Ninja undoubtedly inherits Cookie's well known light weather abilities, it has to be said that Jason puts a huge amount of effort into getting airborne in the light stuff and therefore is awarded the dubious accolade of "Top Gnome".

Above - Olivier Vidal with his brand new Ninja. He assures me that his posture is not due to any problem with his bowels!

Left - Si Payne's brand new Mach 2 sporting his special sail number after coming 5th in the 2009 Worlds.

Now that the secret of top Moth sailing at Hayling Island is well and truly out, no longer am I destined to sail alone. Contact me if you wish to come and join us and I will add your name to the email round robin.

All to Myself!

2010-01-11T00:45:00.000Z

Congratulations to Amac for winning the Australian Nats so decisively. Interesting that according to Luka Davic he was using a modified rudder and mainfoil but I suppose that is progress. Mach 3 anyone?

It is also great to see Crash Test Geoff Carveth being the last Moth standing at the Bloody Mary. He has to be the hard man of Moth sailing for going out in those sub zero temperatures.

Anyway, I went sailing today and had the harbour and sailing club all to myself. The snow is finally starting to melt due to the temperature being a sultry 2 deg C. It took a bit of time getting the 6 inches of snow off the boat cover. Still it was great to get out having spent the last 4 days snowed in at home.

One thing I really appreciate is the underfloor heating in our changing rooms. After a capsize that left my extremities beginning to freeze up, I headed for shore. Left the boat on the beach and rushed in for a warm up shower.

Cold! Cold! Cold!

2010-01-03T21:12:00.000Z

It is necessary to remind the Aussies that we are in the depth of winter here whilst Perth swelters in 35+ deg C. We can barely muster 1.5deg C and 20kts. Today the Mach 2s stayed firmly on shore whilst Crash Test Geoff and Olivier in his brand new Ninja braved the elements.

A North Easterly at Hayling blows directly on shore and requires a bit of a swim out before trying to right the boat. One thing the wise men have learnt is that you swim it out pushiing from the back and not pulling the bow. The simple reason is that as you soon as you try and climb on to the centreboard the boat is drifting back on to the beach. Pushing gives you more time to achieve this.

Lacking this essential piece of knowledge, still you had to admire Olivier's tenacity as it took him half an hour to get off the beach, and this without gloves or hat of any sort. I did not wait around to see what he looked like when he got back but the general feeling was he was riding extremely low so some set up work to do on the new Ninja then. Mike L. has been sailing at Stokes Bay against Jason Belben in his new Ninja. Mike managed to win both his races there, one sailing off 580. Stokes Bay have been trying to contact the UK Assoc to organise an open for 2010 which sounds like a good plan.

I have managed to sail 4 times over the Xmas/New Year period in cold but simply glorious conditions. By the fourth time things were certainly getting smoother and I am winding the ride height up to Tagg like proportions. Foil gybes - good proportion from starboard to port nailed but the brain cannot co-ordinate the movements required for effective port gybes. If anyone has a tip for how they sorted out this conundrum it would be greatly appreciated.

3 wise men stood on the beach....

2009-12-30T19:23:00.000Z

UK productivity fell markedly as 3 wise old men stood on the beach at Hayling and contemplated the lack of breeze when they should have been working. It looked like Windguru was going to let us down but a fitful 10 kts filled in from the North East which got the old folks rigging up. Well, apart from Mike Lennon who declared his mojo was not working and went home.

This left Ricky Tagg and I to enjoy a rather excellent blast around the harbour at dead low tide, sticking to the channels as sand banks are not particularly foil friendly. Rick decided to play an interesting game of seeing how close he could get to my gantry which was somewhat unsettling. At one point I could have leant back and pinged his wand elastic but decided that might not be the wisest of moves considering how close he was. We continued to sail until the lights on the harbour bouys came on.

I see that Philip Oligaro has sold his boat and is bemoaning the lack of activity on the Moth front. Well I can assure him that the Hayling fleet is very much alive and well and are expecting 5+ boats for the Mengham Rythe Winkle Race on Sunday the 3rd January 2010 (please click here for details). MRSC is next door to HISC (we launch from our beach) if you wish to join us as guests for the day.

As long as it stays above freezing I will continue to sail throughout the winter. I love this time of year where we have the water to ourselves and the harbour is at its most beautiful. If you are feeling lonely and wish to join us for a weekend then send me an email and I will add you to our Round Robin list which tells everyone when we will be sailing.

Moths Dominate Xmas Cracker Pursuit Race

2009-12-21T08:44:00.000Z

I must admit to turning up yesterday at the club not being entirely convinced that this was going to be fun. The car said 0 deg C and when I took the cover off the boat it was as stiff as a board. Fortunately I am a sucker for the herd mentality and with so much keeness from the rest of the fleet I soldiered on with the rigging. It was really nice to meet Paul Hayden who brought his new Mach 2 over from Gurnard on the Isle of Wight to join us.

This being a pursuit race meant that the slowest boats set off first and the fastest last. At Hayling Moths sail off 583 (49ers sail off 678) so it was a leisurely wait for our start 93 minutes after the first (Optimists). We then have 58 minutes to catch up with the rest of the fleet. We started in a chilly 9-11 kts which gradually built to 15kts through the course of the race. This, of course, is excellent news for late starters.

Ricky Tagg tore through the fleet and finished comfortably first with Mike Lennon second. An RS800 was third, a Merlin Rocket fourth, and then Paul Hayden and Ricky Lovering were 5th and 6th respectively. Geoff Carveth in his Bladerider was 12th. Me? suffice to say I finished which was a result in itself but nothing to speak of here. I learnt about the importance of off wind sail setting and I am landing more and more foil gybes.

Racing over the top of the tide with a wonderful breeze made for a peach of a day's sailing. I will let you when my hands return to a normal temperature but that was a small price to pay.

It looks like it will warm up over the Xmas period so hopefully get some sneaky sails in whilst the office is closed.

2.5 days Continuous Sailing

2009-12-13T23:23:00.000Z

Well I am sitting here on Sunday evening and virtually every bit of me is aching in some way after 2 and a half days of sailing.

Friday PM - 4 moths out in about 10kts of breeze. Simon Payne borrowed Ricky's boat and had his first sail since the Worlds. Its good to see him so enthusiastic. He is getting his new boat in early Jan and it sounds like he can't wait.

Saturday - 4-5 boats out and 3 boats took part in the race in about 15kts N. I was second behind Mike Lennon until I ran aground. This always make me go into super cautious mode so lots of tacks and gybes in the relatively small channels at low tide.

Sunday - 5 boats out in 6 degrees with a 13-15 kt NE. Dead chuffed as I managed to finish both races with a third in the second one after the rest of the fast handicap fleet finished a lap early. This is a problem when the leading Moth finishes in 35 minutes and the rest of the fleet of the RS700s and 800s finish half an hour later. We need to finish the Moths separately to stop the confusion.

All in all a great weekend's sailing. The split in the lefthand tramp is getting slowly bigger. I have just ordered a new set from Mach2 so hopefully it will last until then. I could do without having to fit the new ones as it is a complete pain. Apart from that the boat seems to be holding up well. I will need a new sail next season but this one should last until then.

Anyway it looks like the temperature is going to take a dive during the week. Not a great one for sailing in freezing conditions so I hope it will warm up again soon.

Correct Call this weekend

2009-12-06T09:18:00.000Z

Hayling saw its largest turnout for some time yesterday. Due to the Weymouth training weekend unfortunately being cancelled 7 Hayling Mothies turned out yesterday for what turned out to be a great day over a high tide. I took part in my first race which was going reasonably well until I jumped off the top of a wave and crashed down. The Mach 2's stability on the foils is partly to blame as I tend to think it will look after me no matter what I do. I will pay more attention in future and make an effort to steer in waves like I would in a normal boat. Anyway, having already sailed for 4 hours my body said that's enough.

Another upside to yesterday was that I landed virtually all my starboard hand gybes although port ones are still proving a problem. Adam May's helpful comments about not hanging about before gybing are key to this. I seem to be developing my own technique to getting under the boom which does not involve doing the splits.

Incidentally the wind at Weymouth barely fell below 20 kts all day so it was probably a good call for cancelling the training weekend.

Today is supposed to be another blow but it looks like it might be OK. I am off to the club to do some badly needed boat work and perhaps a sail if it does not go ballistic.

All Hail Windguru!

2009-12-01T18:59:00.001Z

Having continued to be plagued by strong winds over the last few weeks, it was great to get a sail in today. Windguru predicted that the wind would go round to the south and build gently for a couple of hours before dark and it was spot on!

Lost my hat which was a bummer. Also the left hand tramp is beginning to split at the front. I am hoping it will stay together for the weekend at Weymouth. We are sailing out of Castle Cove which will be different. I will blog again next week.

Blowing hard again!

2009-11-17T14:50:00.000Z

I am sitting the office today thwarted again by the continuing strong winds. Last Saturday's 60-70 knots had the club in disarray with boats flying everywhere. I spent some time tieing boats down - amazing how some owners are so careless!

My Mach2 was safely esconsed at home having been down to Weymouth last Tuesday for a lovely sail in 10-12kts. Having dropped off my 600FF foils for a bit of TLC from Linton, I went back to the Academy thinking I was going to be sailing on my own. Rigging on the beach, suddenly Adam May turns up with his Mach2 and Alex Adams comes sauntering into the marina looking for playmates. So, quite unplanned, I have friends to sail with which was an unexpected pleasure. The wind died after a couple of hours which was fine as I had a long journey back home. They are very lucky there with that enormous expanse of water and no obstructions, sandbanks and other boats. You can foil for ever on one tack which is great fun.

The wind now is set in for the next few days. The next window looks like Friday so I will see if I can tempt a few out for a play then at Hayling. Fingers crossed!

Shearing Bolt Stopped Play!

2009-11-01T11:31:00.000Z

After a dreamy Friday night sail with three foiling gybes nailed, Saturday was curtailed with breakage. The boat launches out of the water for the first time ever and I immediately think "odd". Then I notice the wand is hitting the side of the hull - hmm, somethings' not right here. Then it falls off - definitely something wrong here. Fortunately the elastic means I don't lose it. I head for shore.

An exam under the bonnet show that the bolt holding the wand to the mechanism had sheared. Not surprisingly as it had rusted right through - ah the joys of Chinese "stainless steel". Harriet at the club chandlery drilled what remained of the bolt out and replaced it with a proper bolt and all's well. Unfortunately, the wind had died by the time I got back on the water.

Today it is blowing F7-8. When the rain stops I am going to collect the 600FF from the club as I have found a French buyer for it. What a relief!

Training day

2009-10-31T00:25:00.000Z

Well, I cannot believe our luck! One of the most beautiful Autumnal days meant that we sailed from 9am until it got dark. Hundreds of gybes, tacks meant that everything is becoming smoother. Ian had an unfortunate day with his Assassin breaking both foils although not seriously. Interestingly after the rudder foil broke we replaced it with Ricky's Mach2 rudder which worked seamlessly.

I had a work colleague taking photos and he did a grand job as you can see.

3 Times in one Week

2009-10-24T11:27:00.000+01:00

Lots of theraputic moth sailing this week, particularly last night over the top of the tide when there is less weed. Mike and Sam were out with me. Mike went out into the bay and piled it into a wave, damaging his control rod and the tunnel it slides inside. He had removed the pads he had his wand mechanism sitting on and he believed that this had meant the rod had jammed causing the damage. Nothing too serious though.

I went and found Sam who was down inside the harbour practicing windward/leewards. His wand was sticking against his forestay so he kept jumping out of the water. I did a few laps with him and then sailed back to take advantage of all of the water. I am getting into the rudder adjustment in waves especially downwind to keep the bow out. Got to remember to wind it back down for upwind though!

Touch on the breezy side today but I am hopeful that tomorrow will be better.

The Greatest of Plans....

2009-10-19T19:44:00.000+01:00

Slightly frustrating weekend as sailing was restricted to Saturday morning only. I had to leave for a family function at 1pm so missed the race and the best wind of the day. Still I got two hours of prime top of the tide sailing in so cant complain too much.

Managed a sail tonight in loads of tide and weed with ominous clouds bringing a 22-25 kt breeze after about an hour. Thankfully I listened to my sixth sense and got ashore before it really kicked in. I don't like sailing in that much breeze when there is no-one else around.

Today's lesson is when to capsize because of weed. When the Mach2 catches some weed it feels very bow down and refuses to foil. I have also noticed when clearing it that it gets stuck in the gap between the main vertical stem and horizontal foil at the back. Not sure what to do about that but it is annoying.

It was very gusty tonight so I was not really paying attention to my new Speedpuck and its new mount. I got the local chandler to make one as I could not face spending £200 on the Sailingbits.com one. £10 was much better! It registered a max speed of 19.9 kts tonight although I did notice that it was only managing 12kts against the 4 kt tide.

Piece of advice for anyone considering buying the Speedplay software for the Speedpuck is don't bother. The GPSar program is free and much better.

No more sailing for a few days as it is due to blow dogs off chains. I am looking forward to the training day with Ricky and Ian (he has decided to come and do it) probably next week (weather dependant).

On a Mission

2009-10-16T08:06:00.000+01:00

Left work at 3pm with Cambermet (the local wind website) showing 8-10kts and needed to be home by 6:30 so I was on a mission. I felt slightly sceptical that I was going to get foiling as the wind tends to die off but it held and I had a really beautiful sail over low tide. The harbour is dead flat at this state of tide and there is no weed to speak of.

In this light stuff steering through the gybe without hesitating and then keep on going seems to be the name of the game. I can write it but can I do it?! Not yet. Ricky Tagg is going to give me a day's coaching, possibly next week, where I am hoping that we will nail some of these gremlins once and for all. I will see whether Ian might want to do it as well as it would make it more fun + take some of the pressure off me. I am not the easiest person to coach as I find the need to perform in these situations quite stressful. I believe Rick to be a patient man and will be able to manage me well. I am looking forward to it.

I pick up my Speedpuck mount today. When I turned up at our local Harbour Chandlers the sheet I thought they had turned out to be carbon weave. Not being one for getting messy with epoxy, they kindly offered to make a circular carbon back plate for the Speedpuck. I am looking forward to getting it on the boat as it should really help with understanding upwind speed/vmg.

Hopefully sailing this afternoon and tomorrow. Sunday looks light. I will post again at some point this weekend.

Speedpuck Mount

2009-10-13T08:00:00.000+01:00

I have treated myself to a Velocitek Speedpuck. I have yet to try it on the boat as I have decided to make myself a mount for it instead of buying the SailingBits.com one.

Whilst it looks a great piece of kit even I cannot bring myself to part with the best part of £200 for a bit of carbon. When I have finished it I will publish some pics and a description.

The Speedpuck is a wonderfully simple gadget with one button that controls the three options available - speed, heading and max speed. There are two software options that go with it - the Control Centre which is a set up and basic download utility and Speedplay which allows tracks to be downloaded and displayed using Microsoft Virtual Earth (annoyingly it costs $49 extra on top of what is an expensive piece of kit). This seems to work extremely well and showed my journey from our local chandlery to home very accurately. However, I only managed a max of 30kts in the car so in an ideal world Bora Gulari could have kept up with me!

Assassin in the harbour!

2009-10-12T19:44:00.000+01:00

After all the waiting, Ian Gotts finally got his Assassin on the water. Here he is with Olivier Vidal sailing Adam May's old Mistress. It was a pretty gusty old day with some over 20kts from the West. He commented after sailing "It doesn’t capture the true fear and anxiety of going that fast, so far in the air!!! After a day on Saturday hitting the piss in a million different ways, the boat set up was far more controllable [today]"

I spent the morning watching over my son windsurfing and repairing the kicker strop. All done thankfully. I am going to get out sometime this week but there is high pressure sitting over us for the next few days which does not promote the wind. Hopefully be able to report another (or set of) foiling gybe(s)!

Foil-Gybe-Tastic!

2009-10-10T21:47:00.000+01:00

Oh thank the lord it happened at last! I got it all the way through. Critical piece of advice was from Rick - once on the new side, slide your hand up the tiller so that you can steer up more. And it worked. The whole of Chichester Harbour resounded to my whoops of joy - scared a 14 who was nearby.

Ian took his Assassin out for the first time today. Some basic set up issues to start with but he was looking a lot more tidy towards the end. The North V10 sail that came with his boat is a weird thing - it was a real struggle to get enough batten tension on the top so it was falling off quite a lot which did not help matters.

Rick Lovering was out in his new Mach2 and was staight on the money. Mike said he even did a foiling gybe first time out - gimme a break! Anyway I think he has still some work to do upwind so I should be OK for a bit.

Soon after my foil gybe (yes!!) I broke the kicker strop that goes round the mast - I think it must have been woven from the hair of Chinese children so was never going to last long. Anyway a job to sort out for tomorrow. It looks windy but could be OK - set to drop off in the afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Glorious Day!

2009-10-08T20:24:00.000+01:00

Skived off work this afternoon and had the most glorious afternoon in 10 - 14knts from the North East with a harbour full of water. I did a windward/leeward course with about 2-3 tacks and gybes on each round. I have got more into adjusting ride height and cunningham as I go along. Gybe progress is static but tacks are smoother now. I think I am going to need some coaching to help my gybes as I am getting nowhere. Quite choppy for the harbour but the boat copes with this beautifully. I am intrigued to see what the boat is like in waves.

Ian Gotts' Assassin has just turned up at work and he is going to be building it over the next few days. I am looking forward to him sailing more as I will have a partner who is at my level. I just hope he gets into his sailing more than he has done recently. I will see how he is getting on tomorrow and perhaps pop round.

I ordered a SpeedPuck from Harriet last weekend and I am going to see if it has turned up tomorrow. I am going to have to make a mount for it although I would love the one SailingBits.com sells. Maybe I will get it and damn the expense.

Tide Ride run its course?

2009-10-04T18:43:00.000+01:00

Well I entered my first Moth event, the Hayling Island Tide Ride event. It was never going to be a serious event for me as the Mach2 is not measured yet and I have yet to join the Moth Class Association.

Saturday was windy enough to see crash test dummy, Geoff Carveth, cartwheel twice on a bear away and the fleet pack up. I must admit the cover did not even come off the boat as I could see that it was blowing an average 25 gusting 30kts. The shelter the club provides in a Westerly fooled a few people into rigging. However you could see strong white horses looking downwind which was all the persuasion I needed.

Sunday was a more benign 10 - 15 knots again from the West. With a tide ripping in, a patchy breeze, and loads of weed the race course area over the top of the Winner Bank was crap. It took 10 minutes of miserable sailing to remind me why we never sail there and I took off to play in the harbour which was so much better. I just don't understand why the Race Organisers think that running an event over the Winner is a good idea. There are no longer any spectators to watch so what's the point? The other course over the Pilsey sands was great and the fleet could have had a much better sail there. I think the Moth CA should refuse to do this event again unless they are guaranteed the other course area. Unfortunately many Moth sailors have been put off coming to Hayling because of this which is a great shame.

For me it was a waste of £35. To make up for it I made the best use of the 10-15 kt breeze over the top of the tide where you could go literally anywhere in the harbour. Lots of long runs, upwind and downwind, The height adjuster with three turns is working really well and I am getting higher and higher. Lots of gybes, many of which were "almosts", brightened my mood. Today's lessons:

1. Let the cunningham off but keep the kicker on - I was foiling much earlier than the others.
2. Gybes - looking forward throughout the gybe helps, particularly with balance.

May go sailing tomorrow as I have be relieved of child care duties.

So where were you?

2009-10-03T00:37:00.000+01:00

After a trying day at work, it was nice to get down the club. Nick Peters, Alex and Mike were out testing the RS 100 prototype against the Phantom again. They are determined to get it to perform better upwind than the Phantom in light airs. In the 15 kt breeze in the harbour it seemed to be outpacing the Phantom comfortably.

Not that I am that interested as all of these boats are as dull as ditchwater compared to the Moth. When I finally got out this evening it was a very gusty wind with big holes in it. It would go from non-foiling to 15 kts in no time. Still I was enjoying playing with the ride height adjuster which works beautifully. I have to think hard to work out which way is up on the thing but that will come. Now I have got it you really notice the difference between port (low) and starboard (high) upwind and the adjuster helps even this out.

The foiling gybes are getting nearer. An important step forward was to realise that you have to get the boat balancing with your weight on the hull before putting your weight onto the new side with your head under the boom. Getting your knee down on the new tramp is enough to keep you foiling on the new tack. I think I may be in too much of a hurry to swap hands before getting the boat settled. I am going to go and watch some YouTube videos to see when others change.

Not sure what happened to Phillipe and Johnnie from Worthing who said they were turning up this afternoon. I see from Phillipe's blog that they sailed at Worthing instead.Tomorrow looks windy for the Tide Ride and I think I will be sitting it out, helping my son to windsurf. Hopefully Sunday will be kinder.

Assassin Balls!

2009-09-30T14:02:00.000+01:00

I read this latest post from the Assassin team with mounting scepticism. They are obviously having delivery difficulties possibly not helped by the Holroyd foils not being ready. At our club, Ian Gotts has been waiting for his Assassin and he is getting mixed messages from them as to when it will arrive.

I also find it amazing that you would keep the 49er Olympic Medallist, Jonas Warrer, waiting (patiently) for his. Surely if they wish to succeed in what has proven to be an extremely fickle market they have to get the big names in the boats and get them up the top of the leader board?

If you believe what they say, the cheap and cheerful Assassin seems to have found a market. If they are having problems now delivering boats GOK what their aftersales service will be like (and I assure you you will need it).

A Light Weekend

2009-09-30T08:23:00.000+01:00

Last weekend was predominantly light winds and I spent Saturday bimbling on the boat, fitting the height adjuster and sticking on the company name. It looks pretty good if a touch on the large side. I had a few questions such as "What is Blueteq?" and "Is that your company?". Well Blueteq is and we write web-based applications for healthcare and other businesses. The wind never arrived sufficiently for sailing on Saturday so fingers crossed for Sunday.

I woke up on Sunday at 6am, did some work, and got down to the club in time to get half an hour's good foiling in before the wind died. Unfortunately Mike (Lennon) got all excited and rigged just in time to see the wind disappear. The tide turned early afternoon and the wind built to 9-12 knts and we had a great afternoon. One small adjustment to the height adjuster - I added an extra turn to the barrel (making it three) and that helped it grip better.

I continue to work on my foiling gybes with Ricky (Tagg) sailing past shouting "keep steering it through - don't stop!" I don't know if others feel this way but I am having to unlearn everything I know about gybing:

1. Moving across to the new side before the sail has moved.
2. Steering a long way past the gybe point to heat the boat up.
3. Flaking the battens across when there is no pressure on them

When it goes well, I can now get through the gybe on the foils and stay up for a time on the new side. My final sticking point is changing hands and flaking the battens quickly enough before the boat drops off. You can almost feel it willing me to get my act together before it finally has to give up in frustration.

I went sailing last night (Tuesday) in 8-10 knots and still was not steering through enough on the gybes. However, sailing to windward was revolutionised when I realised that the easiest way to get the heel on is to look forward and think "get my bum near the water". Up til now, I have been concentrating on playing the main and have had eyes in the boat. Also the extra height that the adjuster gives helps tremendously as well.

I have entered the "Tide Ride" this weekend at Hayling but the weather looks like it is going to take a dive. I am going to take a view on the day.

Pics of the Suisse JPZ Height Adjuster

2009-09-25T08:04:00.000+01:00

I have now received my Suisse sourced height adjuster for the eye wateringly expensive price of 150 Euros. However, as you would expect from the Suisse, it is beautifully engineered piece of kit and should serve its purpose well.

Screwed all the way in, it is exactly 60mm which roughly equates to the existing bell crank fitting with 1 - 2 turns on. Therefore it should slot in without having cut down any of control rods.The only thing I have had to do is to drill out the end of the control rod (being held in my hand in pic 2) to 3mm to accept the pin. The other end was simply a case of unscrewing the existing ball fitting and screwing in the new end. Screwed all the way in it is the same height so should not change the gearing.

Really sad as it may be, I spent my evening garnering other facts about the adjuster. One full turn equates to 2mm of horizontal extension (which is twice what one turn of the existing fitting would have managed).

I am going to try to go sailing this afternoon with it and will let you know how I get on.

New Gadgets and Sailing after work

2009-09-22T21:31:00.000+01:00

Ricky Tagg rang me this morning to tell me that my Suisse sourced height adjuster had finally arrived. This is great news as I am looking forward to being able to raise the height upwind whilst controlling it downwind. The trick is going to be with the set up to see if it can be adjusted whilst under tension. Above is an idea for a set up nicked from Mike Lennon.

Went sailing this evening with two other Moths - one a BR and the other Adam May's old Velociraptor which a really keen guy called Sam has bought. I am trying to encourage him to come down at the weekend as he will learn much more from the others. However he has a permanent grin on his face so he is definitely enjoying himself.

There was a very strong tide tonight with very disturbed water. When you got into the strongest tide you could feel the boat being forced upwards or skidding sideways. Very bizarre feeling. The Mach2 continues to be so well behaved - I need to fly higher to take advantage of this amazing control. I also need to replace the UJ on the tiller extension as it is perishing. Came ashore and spent half an hour draining the hull after I discovered that the tape covering the back breather had fallen off. Doh!

Fat people should buy a Moth!

2009-09-22T00:19:00.000+01:00

I have taken the plunge and created a blog. The main reason for doing this is to keep a log of my progress (or frustrating lack of it) whilst learning to sail the Mach2 Intenrational Moth that I just bought, If others find people in a similar position find this blog useful then that is great.

As it says in my intro, I am 82 kgs. This was the reason that I stuck with the RS600FF for two years as I was under the impression from most Moth sailors (and others) that I was just too heavy. Three weeks in to owning a Moth and I am pretty convinced that this is complete bollocks. I offer up three comments in support of my conclusion -

1. Once you are up on the foils you are creating at the least 12 knts of apparent breeze and are overpowered, and are beginning to use max cunningham and kicker to lose power from the sail (even an 8Sqm one)
2. Bora Gulari, the new World Champ, is 82kg. Yes it might have been windy at the Gorge but the weight advantage is then surpassed by fitness and boat handling.
3. From my limited experience, I can foil in 8 kts and above - below that and the boat struggles - possibly due to my weight and lack of technique but foiling below 8 kts will never be particularly satisfying and you will always struggle to compete against normal boats.

Maybe its a hangover from low riding Moths. However, I believe that many of the lighter Moth sailors realise that in any decent breeze they are at a disadvantage, particularly after the run of windy events this year; Europeans, UK Nationals and Worlds - all windy.

Fortunately there is no substitute for good boathandling and fitness which mean that many lightweights can hang on at the top. However, if you combine weight with these other attributes you will dominate - as Bora so ably demonstrated last month.