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.

Best Moth Trailer in the World pt 2: Does my Ass Look Big with this Trailer

OK, 6ft by 10ft by 36" turned out to be massive. See pic 1! Quick re think and the use of the grinder and its now down to 18" high, see pic 2. Looks much better and still has awesome storage, now I won't be towing someting the size of a family caravan around behind me. Vic has made a really sweet mounting system on the lid as well so all cool. Will be a few more weeks before it's finished.

Even better news my foil and push rod have arrived so I'm back in business for this weekends Skiff Fest in Santa Barbara so no more tangential posts. Normal service will be resumed!

The Best Moth Trailer in the World

As I sit here patiently waiting for my new front horizontal and push rod (more later), I thought I'd share my new trailer design with y'all Mothistas.

Genesis of this has been Marty's trailer back in Sydney, but the real catalyst was the weight of the dolly on the new Mach 2. Currently Liz and I lift boat onto roof rack of our Honda Element. Easy with the Bladerider but much much harder with the Mach 2. Much complaining from Liz and a few idle hours on a flight and the design was born! Took me a few weeks to find Vic at Bear Trailer Sports who was willing to take on the challenge of fabricating this for me. Many many conversations and photos later, especially trying to explain what a Moth was, and the trailer is part complete. Key specs are 6ft by 10ft by 24ins deep. Top opening with ability to open lid with Moth on already. It will also have the ability to add on a "double decker" so I can take 2 Moths. The boat goes for a fitting on Monday morning before trailer goes for powder coat. Pics Monday where I get to see if what I designed on paper comes to reality.

Back to the sailing front, was nice to take a few weekends off after a very busy 4 months, but now I am pinning for the boat. Talked to Amac last week and foil and push rod have left Melbourne on Tuesday for Sydney where my Nano 4 will be added to package and the whole lot shipped to LA. I really really hope this all arrives before the Santa Barbara skiff fest next weekend. I have a bodge for the broken foil and push rod just in case but it really won't be pretty! Hopefully I won't be posting pics of it!

Liz is complaining about how many rigs I now have, as I attempt to do a Bora / George multi sail spar combo thing. There's a North V8 and Southern Spars mast for sale :)

Exit All directions

Final photo from the sequence above..... good times!

That Start. Junior goes Down Town

There's been some real enthusiasm for Port tack starts recently. Need to get to the right hand side of course? Tacking a Moth is risky and slow unless you really have your foiling tacks dialled in. What better than fire it up on port with 30 secs to go, blast down the line and look for the gap, be first to the favoured side, especially in Long Beach. What could be better right? Well if your timing is slightly off, and in Moths we are talking by say 2 - 5 seconds, and the starboard tack foilers are pushing the pin equally aggressively you get the above sequence.... Awesome to watch if not a bit scary. Closing speeds on opposite tacks would be around 25ish knots. One touch and we would be picking a million carbon pieces out of the ocean. Full marks to Junior for giving it a go, but kudos to Adam who really pulls it off (BR in shot s2, 3 and 4).