The Aus Nationals went better than expected to be honest, although the final result may not look that way on paper. I finished 92nd out of the 102 entries, and managed to finish 1 lap of every race. Yeah, I got lapped by the good guys a number of times, but given that race 1 was my first ever moth race, I'm pretty happy with the results.
Being on the start line with 100+ boats meant I wanted to keep out of the way until I got the vibe of the start line, and by races 5 and 6 I was able to get a couple of OK starts in and be foiling off the line around other boats.
Had good height and speed , but just tend to point too high at times leading me to be high and slow. Just need to find a target speed on the Velocitek and steer to that upwind until I get the feel right I guess.
Downwind on Day 2 had a lot of improvement. I had my gantry set all wrong for the first race, causing me to fly out downwind, a quick chat to John Ilett had that sorted before the second race, and the downwinds were much better, except for the 5 or 6 capsizes on the way to the bottom mark each race trying to gybe!
Plan for the worlds now is to improve further on the first two days of sailing, and hopefully by the end I'll be finishing 2 laps of the course.
Got some good advice of the foiling gybe from Greg Wise so hopefully may be able to pull that off by the end of the regatta too!
My Wife snapped this shot on my way out to the start on Day 2 (Bow up trim due to dodgy gantry setting). This is my first ever foiling photo, so its a pretty special on for me! 130kg of foiling boat and skipper, who said that big boys can't foil?
Good luck to everyone racing today, hope you remember your fleet colour and course!
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