8 sutures and a nice cup of tea

"Let's just pop out for a quick mountain bike". Guess Thursday night was going to be prophetic. Arrived late, rode further than we anticipated, and it was butt a** cold. At the top of the last long descent with the sun setting, Liz took a dive over the handlebars. Nice puncture wound from the brake lever (I thought they weren't supposed to do that) in her thigh. Now its getting dark and we still have 5 miles to go. Fortunately we had a trained paramedic with us. Cut the shorts, take a quick look, wow that's really deep, tell her it's just a scratch. pad, and tap it all together some how, ride back and drive to hospital. 8 stitches later, (she freaked when she knew how deep it was :)) and we realise this ain't the NHS. Doctor did the suturing, everyone seemed to care, and we were in and out in 2 hours. Pic is of my smokin' hot wife's lily whites with the cut pre suture!

Once I get my foil back from Amac, in about 10 days I hope, normal service will be resumed and we'll be back on Moths. Till then you'll have to put up with what ever adventure we're currently on.

Thursday Grind: Bora perfects "no hands" gybe

Now he has perfected the "no hands" gybe, Bora is rumored to be getting rid of the tiller assembly.

Asked for comments Bora stated "its intuitive".

Remember you heard it hear first

EPIC

Long Beach saved the best to last. Day started off pretty light, marginal foiling. Half the fleet went to the wrong mark, yes the further one. Zack called it right (why didnt I listen) and aced it. The breeze switched off for about 30 mins then built and built, coming in pretty steady at 20++ for last race. The bear away at the top mark was of epic proportions, especialy as we had to dodge the Cal 20 fleet to get down range. The Velocitek was nailed at 25 knots the whole way, very bumpy but the boat held on. Nailed the gybe, don't know how and seeent it for the finish gate! Slight misunderstanding with the coach boat and I lost 2 inch off the tip of my foil, plus the push rod. Tried to sail in, and no you cant sail a Moth with out a flap. Really happy with the regatta, club loved it as did the Moth class. Came 7th and very happy with my light wind speed, still needs work higher up the range but it will come.

Consumate performance and new Cal State Champion Bora Gulari with a very polished performance in all conditions.

Man of the match, Charlie McKee. Leaves his boat with Committee boat, sails a juniors boat in, comes back and sails his boat in, all in 20knots ++

MVP, Zack Maxam, getting better every second!

Results

1) Bora

2) Zack

3) Charlie

Rest will be posted on Sailing Anarchy / Scuttlebut / Moth class web site

6s and 7s

Long Beach really turned it on today. 6 races in a building breeeze which top out around 20 knots for last two races. Really happy with my boat speed and handling scoring a series of 6 thru 8. Not reulst up yet but Bora is leading, chased by Charlie. I just need to cut down on the silly mistakes and be much more accurate with lay lines. The sail in was wild with the usual standing waves in the channel mouth.... more later

Day 1 ABYC regatta Welcome to the Dark Side

Nothing like a name change to up the sperm count! Sitting around the table after an awesome sail and the regatta has been re christened. This is now the California State Championships.!

We just need to remember to tell everyone else!

Today was all about find the boat containers, unpack, remember what the hell was in them, rig and go for a sail. Wind cooperated with a 18 -20. Classic Long Beach. We set a windward leeward tucked up under the break water, smoking fast, think I saw 23 ish at one point down range. Ran about 4 or 5 races, Bora was fast and lead, then swapped boats with Charlie, where he was fast and led! About 8 of us out, all close competition. Nat going super fast in his Cinchillazilla up against the Mach 2 armada, Bates and Matt representing Bladerider. New Mach 2 is fast enough, and very stable, but I need to sail the right way and stop making stupid handling mistakes. But he ho the gybes and foiling tacks are coming on well.

We also ran a demo, 5 guys foiling for first time. Just awesome to see them all foil in quite tough conditions for first timers. Think Ive lost my voice from shouting "Sit forward" very hard to break the dinghy habit of sitting back the faster you go.... Still recon they are hooked.... Welcome to the dark side !

My legs ache

OK off Moth topic but on Sunday we rode Stage 8 of the Amgen Tour of California, a tough 63 miles and about 5000ft of climbing with two climbs up the fabled "Rock Store " climb. This was to support the "Breaking Away from Cancer " charity. All this after about 4 hours in the boat on Saturday. Rode another 53 miles today as I get ready for the amateur race on the same stage during the Tour itself. Yes its official my legs ache! On the way home thought I'd take the easy way out a call Liz to pick me up before the final climb to our house. My wonderful wife was there waiting, great, bike in the back, turn the key, battery dead. F*ck! Phone towing service, bike out, leave Liz with car, ride rest of way home, legs now killing me and on the verge of bonking, Liz gets jump start, takes car to garage, pick her up in my car, come home, legs still aching like hell, now really hungry, eat and going to bed! Only hope this will help me for the up coming three days of hike like hell racing that is a Moth regatta...

Su Su Seventeen

With the ABYC regatta coming up next weekend looks like we will have around 17 entries, way more than we anticipated when we set out on the venture to build the class at ABYC. Nat has made a sterling effort to marshal the club, and the club are really behind us in pulling this together. The demo day on Friday will be pretty interesting and we're keen to see if we can hook a few more into buying Moths. There are some really well sorted out boats around at the moment but boy they are selling fast.

Long range forecast looks a bit ho hum, good Friday but easing pressure through weekend. But forecasts are forecasts, yesterday was supposed to be good, 12 - 15s, but end up a gusty and shifty 8 - 10. That was no where in the forecast. First boats should be out around Thursday, I'll be there from Friday.

Nice 13 knots in 8 knots of breeze yesterday.....

End of an era

Well my beloved Black Pearl has finally left the building. She was sold before the Worlds and has gone to a new home up in Seattle, fortunately to a keen Mothy!. Loads of adventures together as I learnt to foil in this boat. She took me from the beginning in Balmoral Sydney, through the move to LA, and final to a great campaign at the 2010 Dubai Worlds. The list of mods was waaay too long to list. and as all Bladerider owners know, the hours of boat work were endless but tons of fun. All the learning has now been transferred to "Deus ex Machina" my new Mach 2. The boats gone but the spirit lives on.

I was reading one of Simon's recent posts about growing the class through inexpensive X8s. This has to be the way to go. If you're new to the class, buying a well sorted strong as an ox X8 has to be the way to do it. They are competitive enough and whilst not quite as fast as a well sailed Mach 2, until you can foiling gybe and tack faultlessly and under pressure, you wont know the difference.

So here's your chance if you live in SoCal. Our first ever Moth regatta at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach will be weekend of 17th 18th April. There will be a demo day on Friday 16th. There are several well sorted and clean Bladeriders for sail and a couple will be here for the regatta. Stolen from motor racing world.....

"Demo Friday, race Saturday"...

See you there

First attempt at on board photos

First attempts at on board photography. I don t think Thierry Martinez has anything to worry about quite yet. Still builds the skills of sailing with one hand....

Great day at Long Beach, nicely coupled with an, lets say, unusal boat set up. By the time I realized I had waaay too much AoA, I was pretty beat. Blowing about 15 - 20s, coupled with teh Long Beach power boat chop, and I had monster height, which of course led to the usual large crashes. First time I have ever been able to stand a Moth on its nose, with me still in the hiking straps. Figured out best set up was use the back hole on the case, reducing AoA, and making the boat much faster and predictable. Found my boat sspeed in several long up winds with Nat in the very rapid Chinchilazilla. Games came to an early end after Nat down hauled the mast through the top of his sail, well Karl's sail. Only 1 more V6 to go! Regaining the channel was no easy feat as it was starting to blow by this stage and the chop more confused than ever. Awesome foil, sending it straight down the channel in flaaat water!

I've Finally Given In

OK so this is the first blog. Going to the Worlds in Dubai has driven this. After 18 months of Mothing, being a member of the original Blog Free Zone, Balmoral Sailing Club, I've given in and started a blog. Plan is to focus on being a mid pack Moth sailor with aspiration. As Bora says, "want to sail slow, start a blog". Here goes. Hope I can find out how to get back in....