Sympathy for the Devil

Taking a bit of time out of the boat and using it to do all those jobs I promised during the season but never got to. I've tidied up the front end putting on new towers courtesy of Chris Rast. Made of bearing grade PEEK they really do the trick in stabilizing the wand axle. Whilst there I bent the wand link so it runs at 90 deg and redid the lines.

Foils are painted (courtesy of Karl W), and now I can see some of the weave etc I think its a massive difference and something that really needs doing on each boat. If this isn't enough I've been co opted onto the Exec to help sort out a suitable ruling for the Wings that promise to be at Belmont. Not an easy task as we try to ram a round peg (a wing) into a square hole (Our rules allow them but don't contemplate how to measure them) but Squadron Leader Mark Robinson, aided by wing man Adam May are doing a great job in guiding us through it.

We recently ran a basic survey of the US Class membership and it was overwhelming majority want to see us race wings and have a practical set of rules that will allow us to measure them with little drama.

Belmont looks like it will be epic with 120 entries, really cant believe I won't be there.

Finally as you can see from the title, I'm still going through my Rolling Stones phase spurred on by reading Keith Richards autobiography.

Till next year.....

Wild Horses

So big Saturday was followed up with even bigger Sunday! Sailing out managed to poke my mast through the top of sail but made it back quickly and some awesome help from Zack got it re rigged in a few minutes. Once out of channel it was apparent just how windy it was, probably 20s at that stage. Head back in the game after a good nights sleep, nailed the start and tacked over for the Long Beach port tack. Our course was between the 2 oil islands and once in the squeeze it was howlin! At one point everyone was capsized and this was only 1st windward work. Came around the mark with Zack and Chris and couldn't bear off without pitch poling. Several capsizes latter and finally had worked out how to do it. So here's my guide for survival down wind big winds and big swell with difficult chop on top:

• At windward mark wind off bow down, pin mid point
• Slide back as you bear off
• Steer carefully but firmly and quickly till your way down range, not too far as boat will roll in one you
• Stay thee and steer around the worst, just don't come up too much as you'll power up massively
• Kind of feels like sitting on rudder foil and bounce down wind!

Doesn't look great, but seems to be fast and safe.

Last race managed a 2nd with this technique. Zack took bullets today to draw with Chris and won the turkey on count back! Awesome display of power sailing..

So that's it for the season, roll on 2011.

I Can't Get No..... Satisfaction

It was full on today at Day 1 of ABYC Turkey Day regatta. We had 5 Moths so our own start, but even getting there was massive. 20 knots and a big swell coming straight down the harbor channel made for big waves at the entrance. We all made it out but were praying it calmed a bit for the return journey.

Marto the PRO packed in 4 races of 2 laps, and with the breeze and short period swell made it epic. By the last windward work it looked more like Napoleons retreat from Moscow as everyone was hiked out.

Made 4 times 3rd place. mixed it a bit with Chris and Zack, but a 80 hours work week and Man flu meant I didn't really have my head in the game.

Roll on tomorrow!

I fought the law and the law won

Sunday dawned with the promise of wind, but alas the sea breeze fought the Santa Ana all day, resulting a puffy 5 -8 knots and temps that were hot hot hot. We got a few scant moments of foiling in the gusts, but despite trying twice the PRO was unable to lay a course that didn't involve long sessions of low riding. Long slow sail back and a fight up the channel ( I cheated and caught a tow line from passing fishing boat!) made for a bit of a frustrating day.

All frustrations we gone once we were back and we still had the keg to finish so after a couple of cold ones we had the prize giving. It was really innovative as there were no prizes except the kudos of winning, but what do you expect from a low key fun regatta that cost $40 and included a keg of beer! Thanks to Martin PRO and to ABYC for a warm welcome and great support with this.

The circus rolls on to Turkey Day at ABYC where we already have 5 entered and our own start!

Its a 3 way....

Well sports fans going in to the top of the 9th and its a 3 way tie.... Three races and Chris Rast, Zack Maxim and me all with a 1,2,3. Chris won last race and I came third so on count back I guess that gives Chris the shot with me in the caboose. Nat was consistent with 4ths and Jimmer and Karl (once again riding the FrankenMoth) trading places in 5th and 6th.

Small rear foil was very interesting. Fast, very fast down wind, funnily enough very easy to tack, but seemed to struggling stopping the boat pitching in the usual short period Long Beach chop. Overall so far, I'd say a winner. Only other change I made was more rake so I can pitch the boat more bow down up wind without too much lee helm. Seems fast.

Breeze was 10 -12 and PRO set a wickedly short line so starts were intense inc a mass OCS on race 2. Predictably for winter the breeze shut off like a tap at about 3:30 so we were limited to 3 races but it was INTENSE!

De brief occurred around a keg of Firestone at top of ramp, the it was all in for a Belmont shores curry and as you'd imagine the talk was all wings!

Last day coming up and it's all to play for

Over and out.....

Hard Days Night

Sweet day in Long Beach. 10 -12 with full on foiling and warm.....again. 3 of us got out at around 2pm, Christ R staying shore side working on tuning or getting my old Bladerider ride height adjuster to fit on his loaner Mach 2. We got a good 2 1/2 hrs training in , loads of upwind downwinds and hike till you drop conditions. Using the sail very flat up wind is really helping. Moving the wand pivot point back to mid point is also giving me good ride height, just need to be careful not to hike it over too far and ventilate. Scary how fast teh wind shut off at 5pm and first time de rig in the dark. Tomorrow will have the new little rudder foil on so really looking to see what that does for the boat speed and height. Should have about 6 of us out tomorrow but we'll need to see who turns up.... Predict Wind has breeze on with about 15 knots, Howie should be out on the 18, so it's all to play for!

Over and out from Long Beach Mothistas

Warriors of the Wasteland Directors Cut

Summer is definitely on the wain and we'll soon be in the waste land that is winter in Long Beach. But the club was relatively quite even though there was the Halloween regatta, and not too many power boats out. 12pm no wind, 1pm a bit, by 1:30 full foiling and what an epic days sail. Went down not expecting too much and had just an awesome 3 hours. Zack joined in the fun for last 90 mins. It was a tack gybe fest. Water was flat as and about 12 knots breeze. Really worked on the tacks and speed through the gybes. Happy I seem not to be waggling the tiller like a virgin at a viking landing anymore. Managed to gybe all the way down the channel without falling off foils, first time ever. Also found nice new setting on the wand angle, nice and high till bolt slipped back, and Zack helped me set my sail up way flatter than I ever thought I should. So thats what the 8:1 down hauls for!

So to the comments section, please add in style scores, tips or just plain abuse.....

Till ABYC Moth Fest on 13th 14th over and out.............

Born in the USA

Been an awesome year so far. These 2 images are about 12 months apart, and in between has been some awesome regattas plus my first Worlds. The only thing that remains the same is the rash vest! Learnt a ton, had a great time, made a ton of new friends. Changed my sail number form a GBR to USA. Last regatta for 2010 is a Pre Worlds training event at ABYC in a few weeks. The next leap forward will be made right there as Bora and George will be racing with their new wing rigs.... Cant wait and cant wait to see what 2011 brings for the Class....

Awesome to be part of the revolution.......

Wings Across America

This is the dawning of a new age. Bora launched Wing No 2 built by the Skiffworks in 8 days and possibly being offered as a kit a little further down the track. Its modelled here by Anthony. Both this one and the one Adam built look simply gorgeous and they seem to suit a moth so well. The blogshpere is full of "are they legal", "should they be allowed", but I still think the real issue is "are they faster"? And here I don't mean in a straight line but in a real world sailing event. Transporting them around will also have to be solved, but at least the "trailermahal" I built in the earlier part of the year may well come in handy!

So what else is going on? Not much Moth sailing since the Anarchy love fest. New job, to much work plus family commitments over last month means been to busy. Plan to go next weekend if any of you SoCal Mothistas are up for it.

Last event of the season coming up. It will be 12th thru 14th in Coronado, a combined regatta / packing the container for the Worlds event! Hey and guess what it is most likely the first competitive outing for a wing! Be there!

Sweet Child O' Mine

Been ignoring the blog recently. New job is taking up the time as well as Presidential duties in getting shipping organized for the Worlds. Pieced this together over weekend, amazing how tramps change colour!

Wish Id gone to HPOD now

Also Thierry Martinez is hot footing it to Detroit. Wonder wing to be launched??

Over and out from Long beach

I am an Anarchist

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Fun weekend of racing in Coronado at the annual Sailing Anarchy love fest. All were there inc Ed and Clean, although I've never seen any one look so hung over as Clean this morning. Nat and Eric were doing pretty well but paled in comparison to Clean.

Great breeze on Friday then died away as the days rolled on. Some weird Santa Ana vs the sea breeze battle. But that said we got 9 races in, although Adam remind us this morning, yesterday we had 6 hours on the water for 90 mins racing. No wonder we all looked a little fried yesterday afternoon, and rehydrating with the Rumbos ..... well all a bit epic really. I seem to recall somewhere in there we adjudicated a protest as a committee for the Flying Tigers.

Anyway, Adam made it look easy with a string of 1sts, I managed to prevent a total whitewash with a win yesterday and a string of seconds. Nat and Eric rounding it out. I'm now with much more rake and feeling happier, boast going great, just need to keep pointing it in the right direction. Seasons going to roll to a close soon, but its been an epic year....

Over and out from SoCal

Letter to the US Class

Dearest Mothistas!

As I'm sure you've read, I have taken on the role of Class President for the US, continuing the great tradition (well 2) of having a Brit (Welsh really) in the firing line. Firstly I really want to thank Nigel for all the hard work he has put into the Class, helping us build membership with active boats, and leading us through a very successful World championship. Clearly, a large pair of shoes to fill, and thanks Nige for staying on in the Treasurer Secretary role. Kudos brother!

First a little about me for those I've not met. I started sailing Mirror dinghies as a kid, growing up through 470s and University team racing. Career family and our son Christian put sailing on hold for far too many years before a posting to Sydney rekindled the flame. After a quick flirtation with sailing big boats off shore, I saw my first foiling Moth and the die were cast. I had to have one. June 2008 the Black Pearl arrived (X8) and I took those first faltering steps toward foiling we all know so well. Hands up all of you who remember to the detail where and when you first foiled. Yup, thoughts so! 2 years on, I've got Deus ex Machina, my Mach 2, and I'm loving every minute of it!

I've got a huge amount of respect for this class and particularly the people in it. With people like Bora Gulari and Charlie Mckee we have world class sailors right here in our back yard and that allows us to progress quickly to the highest level of Moth Sailing. We have something very special. So I thought why not take this on? Its time to give something back.

Looking forward I think we have 3 critical tasks facing us, which we must work on together:
1. We must find ways of achieving critical mass to encourage and support new Mothists of all levels and ability to join us
2. Given the size of the country and the current demographics of our fleet (hardworking, family supporting individuals, significant number of pros with other commitments), we must develop a racing schedule that is fun, competitive and encourages as many members as possible to participate
3. The final, and probably the most controversial task for my fellow Brits / Aussies and Europeans, is building a frame work (regattas, training, sponsorship, shipping etc) that allows us to have the best shot of regaining the World Champion title for America in 2011 and again in the near future

The boats continue to develop fast and expect to see more than just Adam with a wing rig. Will these remain legal? Who knows, but remember the controversy when Rohan arrived in France in 2003 with a set of hydro-foils. We haven't looked back since, and such is life in the most exciting development class out there.

Finally, we're on the card to hold the 2013 Worlds in the US building on the awesome success that was The Gorge 2009. Where, when, who… all jump to my mind.

One of the items we are making a fast start on is an upgrade to our web site along with links to social media. This should help us communicate and discuss ideas in a much better way, so watch out for that development in the coming weeks.

In the end, its our class, we own it and drive it. To help us succeed, I really want to get and need your input. Are the questions right, what are your views, how do we work together toward them? Let me know what you think and well go from there.....

Looking forward to see you all out on the track in the not too distant future.

No Line on the Horizon

Had fun at our local Labor Day regatta, ABYC putting on a top notch event. Leaving the dock on Saturday was just flat out weird. We had breeze, probably 10-12, but still had the marine layer (fog to my Blighty chums). Normally its cleared out by the building heat and breeze. But today was really different. Once out of the channel it was full on foiling, upwind at 15s. Yes, I disappeared straight into the fog bank at speed. Couldn't see anything except water about 20 m in front and that was it. Sailed out for 5 mins, then tacked over toward sailing area, and had another 5 mins before I started to pick out oil island and other boats. Strangest wildest and scariest 10 mins in the Moth.... ever! Thought I was going to start to navigate with the Velocitek!

Fun day out. used Simon's settings from his blog, front hole on foil (I'm usually in the middle hole, no comments please) and the wand wound to top of settings (my usual ). I've got the gantry wound out 1 and may go to 2. Really nice set up, for some reason seemed really stable platform through the gybes. Had good speed vs the I14s, so collected some more nice set up numbers. Ah numbers, numbers its all a numbers game!

Role on the ISAF regatta end of the month

Learning to Fly

Good training at Long Beach yesterday. Light pressure and yes you guessed it chop / swell / powerboat wash. So with 8 - 10 knots and just foiling it was great to be able to work on foiling tacks and gybes. Tried to get some speed work done with the A cats but with the inconsistent breeze it wasn't possible to hang on to them up wind, watching them rapidly disappear over the horizon just didn't help!

So what did I learn (no laughing here!).

Tacks:

• need to steer slowly into turn but rapidly increase rate of turn to get bow through wind and powered up on new tack.
• Body has to move pretty fast at last stages to keep up.
• Dump the extension on new tack, let "Shocky the auto pilot" deal with it whilst you concentrate on trim

Gybe:

• Seemed tougher to find a good medium in the chop but think the name of the game is rate of turn just fast enough to allow you to flack the battens over and get the power back on fast as you're burning off speed quickly just post gybe onto new board

Only other new news in the Moth Sphere is that I've been asked to take on the US Class President for my sins, continuing the great tradition ( well 2) of having a Brit in the firing line for the US class. Nige has done an incredible job for the class, helping us to growth, and guiding us through a World Championship, so I've got some pretty big shoes to fill. I would like to publicly thank him for all he has done, awesome dude, awesome sailor.

I think the key questions we need to face as a Class in the US are:

1. Given the size of the country how do we get to critical mass to encourage new people of all levels and ability to join us?
2. Given the size of the country and the current demographics of our fleet (significant number of pros with other commitments" how do we come up with a racing schedule that is fun competitive and encourages the above?
3. Final, and probably the most controversial for my fellow Brits / Aussies / and Europeans, what infrastructure (regattas, training, sponsorship, shipping etc) do we need to set up to ensure we have the best possible chance of a US World Champion in Belmont 2011, Garda 2012 and US 2013?

(Next we will be tackling world peace)

Answers on a post card please..........

All in a Day

Yesterday was just epic. Long Beach at 18s, and I really enjoyed my sail. Boats was just back, so I really wanted to try out some new set ups. So first the rig:

• Rigged the Raptor on my new CST 357c. Big difference with a stiffer mast, much easier to control the low leech tension and hence pointing. Also seems that the skin was much more stable, not having the creases you can see in this pic on the soft McC. I also found some nice new modes with the Raptor. Clearly wailing on the vang then down haul when over powered brought the sail back under control and allowed me to 2 block most of the way up wind. Found I could go up wind in high mode at 13s and low mode at 15s. All I need to do now is to hike harder to be able to carry it all!.
• I had also put a new setting on the rudder foil, This has let me fly more bow down and given more scope on the rudder adjustment. Also needed to really trim the rudder angle between tacks.
• I did try flying low and then very low upwind to allow me to increase windward heel, seemed to work but the boat is very sensitive to just 1/2 a turn on the ride height adjuster.

I didn't have any other Moths out with Zack away, Nat and Karl in re build mode, Eric and Bobby MIA, but did get to play with the A cats who were training. Was able to hold them up wind if I hiked like hell ( yes all 15 secs of it!). Couldn't point as high but was keeping in the hunt. Down wind I had a ton more speed, except the Long Beach chop was heinous. Not sure if I'm just not used to it after 6 weeks away, but it was just like liquid mogul skiing. Went over the handlebars twice!

So now building toward the SA ISAF regatta late Sept and possibly the HDPO a few weeks later. Looking to really get some consistency in boat handling as well as execute better tacks.

Bora took a great 2nd place at the Euros, not sure what happened in the last race, sure looked like he had momentum going into the last day having caught back the 7 points he was adrift earlier in the week. Chris also had a very strong regatta, look for more to come from him in the future

Over and out from Long Beach

The Boys are Back in Town

The boats back, Bora and the US Air force are giving it heaps over in Europe, .......

All's well with the World!........

Except.................

"and all the while I sit here, Charlies out there in the jungle getting stronger"......

Cue the sound of helicopters and the intro the the Doors singing "This is the end"........

Its killing me not being over in Silverplana with the team. I'm really enjoying my racing and getting better, and whilst I'm sure Bora, Nathan and probably the top 50 can sleep easy, living vicariously through them is just not easy for me, especially as it looks like I can't make the Worlds this year. I think it shows how the foiling Moth can really get under your skin, its just such a fun boat and a really fun group of sailors. So as the Euros comes toward its close with 3 days left and Bora within 3 points of Nathan, thoughts, wishes and positive vibes go out to Bora. If he wins this it would be a brave man who would bet against him at Belmont, another venue with a reputation for a breeze. It will also go some way to negate some of the criticism levelled at him after Dubai. as they say "cometh the time, cometh the man".

For me got a few practices I need to nail:

• Not enough windward heel going to windward. I'm going to try lowering ride height a bit so I can lean over more without sucking air down the main foil. Hopefully we'll get a few out Saturday so I can do some testing
• Get the new CST up and running on the Raptor. A stiffer section will really help with closing the leech and going high, going fast
• I'm almost there with the foiling tacks, consolidate and the recent vids of Nathan tacking has helped me understand the last moves exiting the tack....

Over and out from Long Beach

Everybody Getting High

North Americans Day 3.

Storms greeted us on the last day, but they quickly cleared to allow us to get 2 races in before the wind shut off completly. Adam was crowned a worthy Champion.

I had just an awesome regatta, getting stringer as it went on, record three 2nd places in last three races, almost winning the last 2.

I feel I've achieved what I wanted, got the Raptor going, got my consistency back post the Gorge, all systems working really well now, tuned up boat pitch (thanks Chris) and really found some upwind speed.... My mojos back!

When I got home this morning my new CST mast has arrived, so I can now build that into the program. I've a much better set of settings for it. Having sailed the Raptor with the McC mast as wel as the CST I think its definately more suited to the stiffer mast. Liz took tons of photos as usual so I've got some nice comparison shots between the Bear / Bora stiff mast sets ups and mine. You can see the difference in the leech profiles up wind. Given that we all seem to pull vang on till you cant pull it on any more, the difference should be the mast.

Warriors of the Waste Land

We've been pushing the port tack starts all year. It's just so enticing in a Moth. Need the right hand side, tacking is so slow, the boat so nimble, power down on port, find a gap and go for it. Well yesterday it all came to the inevitable conclusion at the start of race 2. With closing speeds of close to 35 knots Chris and Bear collided wing bar to wing bar. It was a blessing no one was hurt. I really felt for Bear, one of the hardest working, least sung Moth sailors out there, he was teed up for a titanic battle for the championship with Adam Lowery. He managed to get the boat back before it sunk, with the rear wing bar mount ripped out of the hull. Chris boat was undamaged which is again a testament to the strength of Mach 2. Awesome photos from Liz who kept the finger down on the shutter button, sequence above is about 2 - 3 seconds.

Drama over and back to the racing.....

We had a hot 5 races in around 15 to 18 knots, really tight. Tons of spectator craft churned up the water so sailing was very hard especially down wind where everyone went over the handlebars as least once. Going in to the last day, Adam is leading from Matt and Chris, with me 4th, all in a very rapidly depleting fleet....

Stay tuned more to come as Adam stands poised to take his first well deserved crown...

Four Horsemen

With the breeze coming off the land, there were times today when it looked like the four horsemen of the apocalypse were smoking down wind and coming to get us. Adam lost his rig on the way out, and spent 90 mins in the water fixing the broken pin and re rigging whilst capsized, all with the help of Bora's mate who jumped in, no wetsuit, to help out. Kudos to all involved. Gusts from 5 to 25 knots and back as well as 20 deg shifts were the name of the game and Bora excelled, until Adam beat him in the last race. Bear sailed really consistently and we had plenty of place changes in each race, with tight racing through each race. We got 4 races in, I got a 5, 3, 4,5 I think, it was all getting pretty confusing at one point, who'd finished and who'd pulled out but just an awesome day.

10 - 20 forecast again today, with a sightly easier direction, so more hot racing on the menu

You know when a town (Harbor Springs) and yacht club (Litter Travis Bay Yacht Club) welcome you when:

Our launch ramp had 2 steel posts sticking up at the end and we were worried about lifting the boats up and over. No problem, talk to the council and 30 mins later 2 work men turn up and chop the posts off. Add to that Dave Irish allowing us to keep our boats in his boat yard hanger fully rigged and you have the makings of an awesome venue.

Worlds in 2013 anyone......

Speed Speed Speed

Harbor Springs and its turning it on. Yesterdays practice was pretty light at around 10 -12 knots, but today.... awesome! Wind built from the get go to around 22 - 25 knots, gusty in the harbor entrance but ripping down range. As you sailed down the waves built and I did well to heed Boras advice, "sail down wind gybing down the shore till you get scared then turn back up wind! Waves built quickly down range but had some awesome runs. All in all a great days sailing. Set my own personal best of 26.8 but Bora won the ride of the day with a smoking 30 knot 5 sec average. Once we see the download tonight will be really curious to see where the spikes are, 31 anyone?

The event site is awesome, gets my vote as best rigging launching area of any Moth event we've done. Grassy area, full use of Irish Daves Boat yard, loads of people interested in the boat.

Racing starts tomorrow,

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

Off to the North Americans tomorrow in Harbor Springs Michigan. Yes where....?? supposed to be quite beautiful and a fun place to sail. The m32s just had they're Nats last weekend.

The goals are set:

• Get the Raptor up and running on the McC mast (Despite trying his best Luka couldn't get the CST mast here on time, not unless he sent it still curing)
• Nice steady regatta, no wild risk taking
• Get first days results on the board then chip away
• Regain my consistency by focusing on what I've learnt and my game plan
• Have fun

The other big news of the day is Adams wing sail mast. Just looked awesome. I can here the Moth world twittering away already......

Stay tuned for updates from NAs

The Kids Are Alright

Began thinking a bit more about the results at the Gorge. Clearly a full on event. With Matt, Zack, and Hans all in the hunt (3rd 4th and 5th respectively) it's starting at last to look like a young persons class, not just the young at heart. Yes I can say this from my lofty old age! But it has struck me that we need the teenagers in the class to help drive it along. Many don't seem to join because of perceived expense, but when I see what Hans and Eric are able to do with "old Bladeriders" makes me think a junior could enter this class with a $8000 BR and be somewhat on the pace. And these are exactly who we need to encourage to join us. The question now is how? Answers on a post card please.....

Good news Sunday. I finally figured out how to post a video, this one shot at the Gorge with my GoPro.

Other great news, CST have come through with a new mast, which is just awesome customer service, thanks Luka. Race is on to get it to to Harbor Springs for the North Americans!

And if you haven't seen it, go see Inception at the movies, great film!

As you can see I'm missing the boat! Only one more weekend.

Thursday Grind: The Schooner Rigged Moth

Developed in a wood shed in Washington by Dan of Raptor sails and piloted by our own Charlie McKee, the schooner rigged Moth made its first appearance at the Gorge last weekend. Testing went well but it was reported to be a bit of a handful in the gybes. Asked for a comment Charlie said "it's intuitive"

Remember you heard it here first

Ch Ch Changes

Sorry no report last night, I was shattered! With Sunday forecast for the Gorge to go nuclear, the RC crammed in 7 races, 3 in the morning session and 4 in the evening. Crawled out of the boat at about 7pm, pizza beer and bed. And yes Sunday was nuclear with no racing. Dalton sailed supremely to win, followed by Charlie, Matt, Zack, and Hans. Hans sailed very well in an old Bladerider, just shows what you can do with talent and skill!

For me, not the best regatta I have done, but a huge learning curve and experience. My usual consistency deserted me, probably through trying too much in such extreme conditions, and once gone it was hard to get it back. It's clear that when the breeze is 25 knots plus, it will punish the slightest mistake either in boat handling or in boat prep. Just getting to the start with 2 - 3 knots up hill current, readjusting to where to place, and just understand the signals, was tough, boy hard day at the office.

I had an awesome setup on the Raptor / Nano / EC6 combo, but trying to rig in the gusts of Saturday I snapped the forestay, then had to rush into trying to set up the wire shrouds whihc I had never done before. Too much rake made the boat really fast but almost unhandleable through the transitions. For the evening I put the MSL 13 back on as I knew the settings, but there's quite a bit of adjustment needed between the 2 rigs and I didn't quite get it right. So lessons learnt all around:

1. Gybing and tacking going great even in high winds
2. Make sure you know ALL settings if you use two rigs
3. Why splice when you can knot!

I'm going to re think a little and make sure I am keeping the boat very very simple and change only one thing at a time! Time to look at that list of 14 mods and start to reduce them. Eric made the job somewhat simpler, snapping my Nano 4. To be fair to him it was a really weird break, just snapped in half about 5 inches below the join. Looks like carbon hadn't been wetted out with enough epoxy. Calling CST...

WIndmlls of the Mind

Well the breeze was on by 9am, and continued to build. The photo above is where our leeward mark would be. The windsurfers had already been in and changed down to their 4.0s. The RC wisely called it at 20:13, no racing till at least 4pm. We all duly arrived back at 4om, still blowing dogs off chains, local wind speed had 28s gusting 33s. Delay again till 5pm, still blowing, RC called it for the day. By 6:30 we could have got 2 or 3 good races in but wise call this early.

Must admit got a bit phased out by today. I've never enjoyed long delays on windy days, would rather get on it. By 5 one side of me said "rig up and get out there", the other said, "you'll break something". It was soften slightly, but I prevaricated, and by the time it had softened enough to be reasonable, I'd lost the mood /drive to go out and practice. Still tomorrow needs to be Go Big or Go Home.

Positives for today:

• Really great tour round with Liz during day, there's some awesome scenery
• Seeing my old boat out on the water and going well

Survivor medal goes to Dalton, his score for the day was

• Gantry off Chris R boat
• Sailing Dan with no bungs
• Gantry off Dans boat

Don t know how many times he had to swim in towing a Moth, but I got tired just watching :)

Take me to the River

Well that was awesome! My first time sailing at the Gorge and it really turned it on. Still a training day but we had Jonathen, Dalton and Lyndsey, Matt, Zack, Eric and me out. Started off at aroudn 11am with a relatively sane 15 knots, but quickly built to over 20, then built some more.....25 to 30 ish. At which point we all came in. Liz and I went off for a bit of sight seeing but there are a couple boats back out at aroudn 6pm. I suspect Zack Dalton and Lindsay.

Used the Raptor / Nano for first time and still have a few tweeks to do but loved how repsonsive it was in the big breeze. Had max vang and max d haul on to hold it and it sailed great. Uphill saw some 16 knots boat speed at times so pretty pleased with pace. All I need now is consistency, but the relatively flat water cf Long Beach does flatter tacks and gybes.

Lookng at some video I shot couple learning points:

1. Nice and steady into the gybe, even carve
2. Focus on not waggling rudder all over place,
3. Move body and tiller in unison to keep boat flat through gybe and tack

First race tomorow, little less wind would be good!

Wild Wild Life

Great day practice in Long Beach Sunday, managed to come in just as wind bulit but it was ok, got my practice in but didnt get to do much speed testing with Nat Zack or Eric. Boat was packed and now as I write this at 40 000ft I'm trusting the boat is on the roof of Zack's van and on its way to the Gorge. We're planning for a late sail Wednesday before full on testing Thursday and racing through weekend. Time to see if all the training / set up and the new boat since the Words is going to pay off.

Liz is always amazed by the amount of time I can spend "fettling" the boat so though I'd write a list of the mods I've done to the Mach 2 in the three months of ownership. Nothing compared to owning a Bladerider but fun all the same. So here goes:

1. Precourt micro tension block on forestay
2. Gulari custom wand mount starboard side (tap snapped in the port side one!)
3. Wand elastic tension system brought back to wing bars
4. JPZ ride height adjuster
5. Million $ shim tape on front foil
6. AMac custom front foil horizontal (thinner section)
7. 4:1 mainsheet
8. 8:1 down haul
9. 24:1 vang
10. EC6+ "cheese slicer" on rear wing bar
11. North Spectra hiking straps
12. Sailing Bits Velocitek mount
13. Breather tubes on hull drains
14. Nano 4 / Raptor / EC6+ rigging / Boat Bits carbon prodder rig as number 2 rig

Whats on your ride?

Check in for daily reports from Gorge Madness, along with pics by Liz.

Video Killed the Radio Star

OK, been trying to upload my first video, shot and edited last weekend. So I am kind of hoping it is going to appear here!! Anyone with some advice on how to publish vids, I am all ears. It's only 2.8Mb how hard can it be.

Well the last weekend before the summer road trip is upon us. Haven't been able to get too much sailing in but what I have I've really tried to focus on quality, following religiously my training plan of practicing:

1. Boats speed testing with Nat
2. Sail with one hand helps with moving in and getting to sail controls
3. Usual Gybes and tacks
4. Start line lay lines, foiling and non foiling
5. Gybing into mark rounding

One more weekend and we'll see how it plays out. Felt pretty good up against the A cats last weekend till the vang lost the plot

We're planning to get out Sunday at ABYC, with Zack, Eric and Nat. Should be good if I can tear them away from the World Cup. I reckon, rig, change watch the match (Go Spain :)) and dive in the boats. We'll also need to pack Sunday evening, which means getting the travel box to ABYC on the top of the car, will be a slow drive down with that up there.

Tomorrow I'm planning to finalize the new rig, Raptor on the Nano all held up with EC6+. Vang is now all sorted and guess what I learnt to splice properly.

Now back to seeing if I can get the vid to up load, says its still loading....

Pump it

Been a few weeks since out in the boat, an insane work schedule accounting for most of it. After last sessions tales of broken vangs, I began to feel a bit sorry for Eric. Last time out he just got out to us and I broke the vang, this Saturday, he'd just arrived on the race course, and the very neat piece of splicing I'd done came apart and there I was with another broken vang. Sorry Mate, it isn't personal!

It was the ABYC 4th July regatta, low key affair and although It was supposed to be be me, Eric and Zack, only I was out for first race. So started with the cats, and whilst being canned up wind, I was all over the A cats and F18s down wind, eventually winning the first race on the water. Felt very pleased with boat setup and handling. Tactics and positioning still need some polishing before the Gorge, but happy where I am. Pretty weird conditions at Long Beach with a long South swell making its presence felt inside the breakwater, and the usual vicious wind chop coming the other way. Very interesting on port tack where you could choose to go bow down by a few degrees and make 15s with the swell, but poor angle, or point high and do 11s. Not sure I ever worked out best option.

One more weekend before we pack for the Gorge. Shipping is booked for the North Americans, and Zack is driving the boats up to the Gorge next week, role on summer!

Take the Long Way Home

An awesome days sailing was over early when my vang snapped in a bear away. Bugger! Tried to re rig it using the 2mm ride height adjuster line, the yellow line in the pic, but by then the cams had all popped off (Yes Dan I can hear you laughing now, its was the 13b!:)) and without a working vang, I couldn't get them back on and stayed on. Usually even if they have come off I can get them on in the water, but not without a vang! After a 20 min fight I gave up and sailed slowly back to ABYC. Still managed to foil part of the way with a very rickety rig! Up till then Nat and I were having a ball, Long Beach turning it on yet again, with solid 15s and dead flat water under the break water.

The vang line had snapped about 1/3 way down the cascade, so spent today cutting off all the Chinese Dynema and replacing it. Also gave me the chance to think through adding a purchase to the vang.

The trailer has arrived, good news! Although very over engineered, and over designed by Moi and built by Bear Trailer Sports in LA, it has come out great. Need to get one small adjustment made to the boat supports, but really pleased! Makes going Mothing ten times easier!

Training for the Gorge going well, we should be finalizing shipping for the SoCal boats this week. Want to get the vang sorted, plus the Raptor on the Nano 4 and Chris is sending me a nice set of North Spectra Hikers, so teh boat will be sweet! Roll on the event.

Physical, Physical, I wanna get Physical

THAT was a full on day.

My hands hurt, my shoulders feel like they've been wrenched out of their sockets, I tore the ass out of my skiff suit, broke the main sheet bridle, Nat lost his wand paddle and went through another rudder. Yup SoCal Moth training at it's best!

We had about 15s, I'm guessing, but unusually from the South so plenty of swell and chop which was great practice for the Gorge. We did umpteen upwind down winds about a mile a leg, and basically sailed till we couldn't hike anymore, and had accumulated the above list of damage. The on water photography continued, not bad from a Moth doing 18s!

What did we learn:

• Continued to play with the settings on the 13b. Not too much foot tension, and use the d haul to play between pointing mode (not on full) and over powered mode ( on full). Had plenty of height and speed. Vang on hard except in softer conditions.
• Keep practicing sailing with one hand, mess up a change of setting and the boat with you is gooone!
• Nat's Raptor looks good, fast up wind, but down wind in medium air I could sail through him, well once! Seems to have more speed, though both up wind and down in bigger pressure. But if we were both concentrating and hiking hard, no really difference in speed.
• He who sails the most..... wins.
• Finally, a crazy work week, and a bottle of wine / cigar the night before, doesn't make for a fit fast Mothista, almost threw up on the first long windward leg :).

Choices, choice there are always choices.........

There's Raptors Waiting in the Long Grass

The new Raptors have arrived in Long Beach! First shot you can see Nat's sail rigged, other three shots you can see my sail laid out over my trusty 13b. So what do we see Mothistas?

Although Nats sail is not loaded, it clearly sets up well on the stiff McConnachy mast. Smooth skin, flat up top, power where you'd want it.

Compared to the 13b, and yes only laid out on the floor, the plan shape is narrower, more area up top, quite a bit actually, higher clew (much easier gybing or go like Bora with a massive amount of rake!), and slightly lower luff curve. I can see why it really suits the Nano 4.

I'm planning to continue training with the 13b, stick the sail numbers on the Raptor, and then do a bit of testing with the Raptor before Gorge Madness. We're in the middle of a major product launch so don't have much time to burn of testing and finding set ups, so will need to be careful in my selection. I've got a nice set up going at the moment, and plenty of speed.

Bad Moon Rising, an American Memorial Day

Had some off Moth fun this weekend. Friends invited us out to the Mojave, rode dirt bikes, smoked cigars, drank Tequilla and Howled at the Moon....

Dont worry Mothistas, the boat will be wheeled out again next weekend... :)

I Can Sail for Miles and Miles

Finally got around to down loading my Velocitek. Quite some interesting data there:

First speed:

As chart above shows got very close to cracking 25 knots in our recent regatta. Came down the last leeward leg in the pressure of the day and still in relatively flat water. Even with the wand flicking like crazy I still had a ton of control in the Mach 2. It's really made me wonder about how to go for a max speed run. I think bear off, hike like hell and sail deep, using VMG to keep speed building. Been trying some other stuff recently, but next time its on, I'm going to give it a go. Recon if I start high up under breakwater at Long Beach where its super flat, shoudl be abe to build some good ol' velocity....

Distance:

Interesting stats. Thursday and Friday I sailed 45Km and 51Km respectively, whilst at ABYC regatta sailed 66.7Km on Saturday and 51.6Km on Sunday. Make you think that some long distance racing such as Border Run or the Ditch Run could be on the cards with the right weather and right suport boat, i.e. faaaaasst!

My Random Walk Down the Start Line

This week, I was really fortunate to have 2 days coaching with Charlie and to be joined on the Friday by a mystery Mothista for some windward leeward fun. Massive amount of learning from an excellent coach, who was able to diagnose and break down my "issues" into manageable chunks that I can work on and improve on my own. Great breeze, up to 25 knts on Thursday and a more modest 18 knts on Friday, made for some great foiling. We just have to have the NAs or US Champs here in 2011.

Biggest "ahah" for me was the exercise "pick a point before line and accelerate into pin end start". I knew sort of where I wanted to put the boat, but either couldn't put it there, or couldn't hold it there for long enough. Made me wonder about just how random my starting has been. Yes I can basically figure out which end of the line to aim at, but the rest for me was then a random wander down the start line reacting to what ever I encountered and if lucky enough foiling off the line roughly as the gun went and in a direction the boat just happened to be pointing at that moment. It really made me think about just what have I been doing or not doing. Still now I have a system to break it down and hopefully remove the randomness! Next regatta we will see!

I also got much better at gybing on the whistle, so much so that Liz is now thinking of getting one to see if she can train me at home: "peep" do the dishes, "peep" do the ironing, "peep...." ok I am sure you get the idea....

Whilst the cats are away: Post Script

I thought about this some more last night. Whilst we only had 4 boats there, we really went at it on the start lines. 7 races and every start was really hotly contested by all 4 boats. Closest I have been to other Moths all played out at high speed. I pushed Nat over the line, he pushed me over, we both pushed Dan over, port starboards, Eric trying to catch us on the line with a starboard start. This was much closer than ever. I am guessing but without the "Heads of State" to keep order, and with fewer boats, we had more room to dial up, both contributed to some white hot starting action. There were definitely a few starts where I couldn't believe what we were doing. I could have thrown my water bottle and hit all three other boats easily. Awesome practice and a ton of fun.....

While the cats are away the mice will play. Santa Barbara Skiff Fest day 2

With all the usual suspects out sailing Melges, the Moth SoCal B fleet took to the water for day 2. Bit of June gloom, (mist) on little wind made for a slow sail out and a bit of worry about what we were going to get. BUT magically as the 5 min gun went first Nat then me were up on foils. By the gun we were all on it and another incredibly tight well fought for port hand start. Starts were the order of the day, Nat pushed me over in race 2, getting me back for pushing him over yesterday. Returned and fought hard to get back to a second inching Eric on the line. Sorry dude but I needed it! Wind built to a nice 15 - 18 again and sunshine, Nat almost taking the win, coming downwind on the pressure of the day. The morning group foil tuning seemed to have paid off at least for Eric, he was really pushing it and almost won the last race. Ended up with 1,2,1,1,2,1,1 so was pretty happy but my starboard to port gybe, wow that was bad. Even manged to turtle on one gybe chasing Nat in the second race. Think I am being a bit too timid and need to drive the boat round the turn. Always something to work on. Funnily enough I seemed to have nailed my port to starboard. Its a strange ol world! Still awesome fun weekend and a ton of sailing. Nice to sail with Dan and Eric, they are going to be tough competition in a few months.

Back to the beginning: Santa Barbara Skiff Fest day 1.

Last year this was my first event on US soil, well ocean. I'd learnt to sail the Moth, sort of, in Sydney and had relocated with work to SoCal. Boat arrived, we still weren't members of a club saw the event on the Inter Web and thought, well its a skiff festival, must be Moths. Well got that wrong, last year I was the only Moth in a hoard of I14s and 29ers. This year we're more organised and Nat, Eric, and Dan ( who drove down from San Fran) are rewarded with awesome conditions. Given its been a year, I'm pretty happy. Standard of my sailing and racing has really improved, I've been to my first Worlds, got a new boat, been through several rigs and settings, and just had a blast in this awesome class. Roll on the next 12 months, yeehaa>

Now our normal service will be resumed and back to the racing.

The June gloom, gave way to sunshine as we sailed out and we were on foils from the getgo. Dana ran a tight program in building breeze and well/ chop. Wind steadied at 15 - 18s, and we cranked out three races. I managed a 1,2,1 with Nat, 2,1,2 and Dan and Eric catching up fast as they get used to their boats. My new foil worked really well on old settings until wind built but managed to find a new setting quickly and ground it out in the third race. My gybing was awful, I don't think I pulled one off during the races despite have a great practice on the way out. Practice practice practise tomorrow. Very strange only having 3 races after 4 months of 4 - 6 races at events, quite relaxed really. Back on the schedule tomorrow.