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