Let's Get It Started

First Melges 20 regatta done........ Tick!

The Section 16 team entered the San Fran Melges 20 event last weekend.  My first regatta in the boat and as we didn't have the usual crew up yet sailed it with Jonathan McKee and Chris Lanzinger.

So how'd we do? ......  Awesome!  Got a second scoring 2,4,2,2,2 vs the Samba Pa Ti guys.

So how'd it go?...... Wild, 5 races in 20 - 28 knots of pressure and steep big waves.  As Jonathan said " that's the windiest you'll ever sail the boat in"!

So how'd ya find the going? ..........  Hadn't really been in a boat since Feb when we left SoCal so was a bit rusty.  Came out to sail on Wednesday from Europe.  Matty had boat in water so it was of the plane, change in car park and a quick 3 hour sail to get tuned up.  Whats it the say about jet lag? Oh yeah a little light exercise helps you.  Well lets just say I slept fine that night!  Our couple of days in the boat back in June helped but Jonathan gave some expert coaching on how to sail in heavy pressure and in waves and I gained confidence with every day and with confidence came the aggression to push the boat hard.  Had a few issue on race 2 with a mechanical with the rudder causing several spin outs, hard to take but a good learning experience! Boat worked great although after the abuse of the weekend will need a new race jib!  Well on our way to creating our own set of training sails! But that said we got a great set of tuning numbers, have plenty of speed, and looks like Matty built us  a good un!  The support we also get from Gill racing is second to none and the kit we chose worked really well in the face of a full San Fransisco onslaught

So whats next?......  Boats gone into dry storage in Tiburon and I'll be back out start of Oct for the Nats. This time our full crew will be up with Charlie McKee and Matt Pistay.

Can wait.......

Over and out from London

Splash

Taken a couple of weeks to get back to the blog, had a bit on with work. Anyway we splashed Section 16 at Lake Geneva (Wi not Sui) with Matt Pistay and Jonathan McKee.  didn't really get more than about 8 knots of breeze but had an epic time and some great training.  We got just about everything sorted, wrote a list of things to do about a mile long, which Matt has done a great job of wrestling to the ground.  Boat was just beautiful to sail even in light winds.  Had great fun trying to start the little outboard until we realised there was no gas in it!  We didn't get planing but it was good light weather training.  The kit we've bought or been sponsored with worked out great.  The Gill sponsored race clothing worked great in the hot weather, and we're using the "Race Collection" technical shirts, shorts and foulies.   New Quantums powered the boat and set great straight out of the bag.  

Cant wait for some more breeze in San Fran and our next outing is Melges Race Week in Mid August

Over and out from rainy London

The New Adventure Begins

No car, no home, but now we've got 2 boats!

Still working out of London through October, but the new race team is taking shape including the boat.  Took the plunge and have a Melges 20 built, photos from Matty at Melges above.  Decided to call the race team Section 16, as with my new job Im now considered a Section 16 Officer by the US Govt, and as job pays for the boats and race team, well my wife would call it addiction, hence the name.  Boat will get splashed at Lake Geneva at end of June where we'll have a training weekend.  Our team has Matt Pistay up front and a combination of the McKee brothers in the middle, with Jonathan for August Melges race week and US Nats in Oct.  Both boats will then head off to Miami for the winter regattas.

Excited!

Over and out from London

The Last Waltz

Epic day in Long Beach town. Ian came down to pick up trailer and we were rewarded by 15 - 18s, pretty choppy as it was wind over tide just awesome. But warm and just so much fun. Boats now packed for 6 months storage. Any of my UK friends out there who want to charter me a boat for the odd event please ping me. Otherwise the deposit's paid for the M20 and looking forward to the Section 16 campaign.

Final over and out from Long beach

What's the Story, Morning Glory

A lot happening, a lot happening! So here's the story. Decided to change jobs, which is going to mean a brief move back to the UK to sort through my visa, then US Immigration willing, back to the US late summer. But not to our beloved SoCal, but this time to Chicago. Not only that but also decided that during all this change, starting a Melges 20 campaign would also be a really good idea..... yes Liz also has a few words to say on this, but it can be done with the right attitude honey!

Deus ex Machina will be in storage here in US for a few months, which means I'll miss most of summer regattas, but should be back to do M20 in San Fran in August, Nationals in Oct and then Moth Pac Rims in mid Oct. With John Harris and Matt now in mid West wondering of we can link up with the Bora / Bear juggernaut and start to build a mid West Moth fleet. During stay in UK I'm going to see if I can charter a boat for a couple of events locally. Been a while since I've sailed in UK, see the black and white photo from 1976! 2012 will be a little disjointed but it can be done.

It does mean I'm going to step down as the US Moth class president, but we have a replacement, the regatta schedule is set for 2012, and I'll be back in time to support the Hawaii Worlds. Its been a gas but having the US President as a Brit, now based out of Britain is probably stretching it to far. See the US Moth web site for more info. Blog could be a bit sporadic for a while, but will have last Moth on Saturday with the Go Pro so looks out for one last video,

Over and out form Long Beach

When 2011 ends, how you gonna come, with your hands on your head or the trigger of your gun....

So when 2011 ended, I came out with my hands on my head. 3 days of tooling around above 11 000ft and I had HAPE..... I didn't think this was even possible (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema), although the Docs that treated me assured me it was very very possible and the reason they live in Telluride is they get to see it and treat it at an "too often rate" rate. Anyway, I've discovered that slowly drown in your own fluids is not fun, it gives you a headache you can only dream of in your post new years eve day after. Never felt anything so bad. To cut a bad story short, ended up in the local hospital where 4 hours on pure oxygen got rid of the worst. I think it was Ian Andrewes who I said I tended to go out big when sailing the Moth, this sets an all time record.

Reflecting back on the 2011 season thought of some thoughts:

1) We got a pretty full seasons in with several great events, but generally poor turn out. That said, I think I attended all the regattas with the exception of HPDO, and each w=one was a blast for their own reason. Seems strange that it was less than 12 months ago we were pre Aus Worlds and embroiled in "Wing gate". Would love to know what Mothistas want as a regatta schedule.... you know how to hit reply.

2) Great to see new youngsters coming in like JP, especially as they challenge the "world order".

3) Awesome to have another Brit in the fold with Simon Propper arrival at ABYC. As the new West COast Mach 2 dealer and having a demo boat available, I'm really looking forward to 2012 as the year we take off and march down "Road to the Hawaii Worlds 2013.

4) Its been a breath of fresh air to have Anthony Kotoun and Matt Knowles driving the East Coast with the Miami Grand Prix Series. First series was done mid December with a very innovative series hosted in Coconut Grove Sailing Club. Beautiful place, great breeze and again a club that couldn't make us more welcome. Loved the innovative AC style course which had us reaching in to top mark, before usual up wind down wind. Had the effect of compressing the fleet, tighter racing and if your a weekend warrior like me, kept you with the big boys longer. Cant make the next event, but can't wait for the March event 16th and 17th so mark you calendars! Only disappointment was to see only 3 East Coast boats there.

We've a great 2012 race schedule built, take a look at the Class web site. The number of boats are growing slowly, some nice Mach 2s appearing on the second hand market allowing a cheap upgrade. But to make our Class thrive here in the USA, we need participation, especially from the working stiffs like me! Come on guys and girls, this is our class, if we want it to thrive, we need to turn up and participate. Its fun believe me and little effort to ship the boat around. Lets all commit to doing one more travel away regatta than we did in 2011 and it'll make a huge difference to numbers, participation and fun!

Over and out in 2012 and see you in Miami in March

Das Boot

No racing Saturday due to lack of wind, but an awesome day today. Everyone up early with a 10am start, out on water by 9:15, straight into foiling. With an 8 races scheduled it was always going to be a full on day. We got to use our AC style course, with a reach into to the turning mark, a down wind, then upmwnd, twice. Races were very exciting, fleet pretty much together at least to leeward gate? Apart from having brain fad end thinking we were doing windward leewards on first race, I really enjoyed it. Very different but very fast paced. And yes we crammed in 8 races. I started to get into the groove, then about race 5 started to struggle. It wasn't till part way through race 7 I realized I'd lost my breather tube out the back of the boat, and was starting to make some good submairine impressions. Could just about get on the foils but very bow up, then as water moved forward, yup massive nose dives. As or sailing into a marina, hmm, any way thanks to the collection of powerboats who helped me before I sunk completely. Boat took well over an hour to drain and I'm guessing back tank was full near enough.

On the racing side it was Bora all the way, from Anthony, then Matt Pistay. Really solid regatta, great location,

Happy holidays over and out......