And the Survey Says...

So the survey results from Belmont are in (they make an interesting read) and I noted that I'm an outlier of interest in one of the charts (in other aspects of my lift this is true also, but off topic for this post!).

I knew I was on the heavier side, but 10kg more than the next biggest sailor (and 20kg + above the average), thats giving a big head start to everyone...

I honestly thought there were a few more guys kicking around Belmont into triple figures. The survey tells me otherwise.

I knew I was behind the eight-ball going into Belmont, but I guess it is a good opportunity to refocus, especially as I am enjoying sailing the boat so much, and want to keep improving.

Sailing season is almost here in the southern hemisphere, so the goal is 90kg, so I need to drop 10kg (i am still at my "race weight" from Belmont). See if that makes a difference to my sailing!


I guess this is an opportunity to "Man Up" and take ownership of my goal. So here goes.

90kg by Christmas 

And stay that way until the states next year (usually March). Then we can see how much of a difference that makes.

Keep watching for regular updates, I'll be watching the scales and the cakes...

Long time no blog...

Some action from the home of the foiler moth...

http://youtu.be/so1p4MDBw9s

Congrats to the WA moth team for putting it together.

Boat is in at Fastacraft getting some TLC, hopefully back out on the water soon.

Almost won the lottery…

I don't play the local lottery (pick six numbers out of 42 and cross your fingers) but a lot of Western Australians do, and sometimes I hear stories of the guy who "almost won a million bucks", by getting five of the numbers right but missed the very last one.

I got a bit of an insight today into what it must feel like to miss the sixth number, and the million dollars...

Regular readers of the blog will know of my ongoing inability to foil gybe, and after the worlds experience I have decided that this is the most critical thing on my list of stuff to do before I can commit to another major event.

After hanging around the club for a few hours waiting for wind four of us managed to get out for a spin in a light southerly.

Before we hit the water we had made a few changes to my mast rake and bridle which had the bonus effect of increasing the amount of room under the boom for me to squeeze my 6'2" 100kg frame, critical for what came next.

After drifting around watching the 60 and 70 odd kilogram guys popping up on the foils in what can only be described as a sparrows fart puff of breeze, I finally got a puff that could lift both my Prowler and I up onto the foils and off we went.

The first thing I noticed going into my first practice gybe was how much more room I had available to get through the boat, a great side effect of the setup change.

And then it happened, I was across the boat, still on the foils and on the opposite gybe, now just to pop the battens and accelerate off, and that's when I lost the million bucks.

I either sailed into a hole, or I didn't head up enough out of the gybe for the conditions but the boat dropped off the foils and back into low rider mode. Almost but no cigar. This happened once more before the wind dropped out and I had to head back in.

I didn't win the lottery today, but unlike that random game of chance, I now know it's only a matter of time now before I strike it rich!!

With winter setting in here in Perth the focus will move onto setup and repairs when the weather isn't co-operating, but luckily the weather never gets so bad that the boat needs to be packed away, so the learning should continue in preparation for busy 2011/12 season.

(I dreamt about a foiling tack the other night, somehow I think it will remain like that for some time longer!)

Moth Swarm invades Swan River

The largest group of Moths to have sailed on the Swan River at the same time since the 2010 Australian Nationals hit the water on Saturday to participate in some informal racing, boat tuning and good fun sailing.

The fleet consisted of 5 Prowler Zero's, 2 Bladeriders and a Lister and we ran a few gate start windward leeward races over a short course in a gusty 15 to 18 knot easterly and nice flat water.

Breakages culled numbers with a main and boom meeting their maker, but this allowed a chase boat to head out to the remaining boats and get some video and pictures.

As a result I was able to confirm my recent assumption that I haven't got enough vang travel and the leech was too open when sailing upwind. I was able to shorted the strop and get things working a bit better, will confirm this next time I line up with the guys upwind.

Gybing still eludes me and tacking is a comedy of errors, but the straight line stuff (including using the secondary controls ie tiller twist, dial etc) is making sense so hopefully it won't be much longer before it finally comes together!

Most importantly we now have at least 10 active Moths in the Local fleet, and things are looking good for the future of Moth sailing in WA, with interest from a number of regions including some clubs outside of Perth.

Why moths are worth the effort. 

Full vang on before shortening - middle of the leech WAY to open!!

Future Mothie?

For those of you that met my Wife at the worlds you would have noticed the bump, so I am happy to let everyone know that little Connor arrived safely on Friday night after a short 5 hour labour.

Connor was 2.93kg and 46cm in length on arrival, but he does have big hands and feet, so its unlikely that he'll stay small for long!

Both Mum and Baby are doing fine, I'm almost over the shock of it all, and settling into fatherhood.

It's too early to say if the little guy will take up sailing, football, cricket or any of the other hundreds of activities out there for kids these days, but if sailing is a choice he makes, I hope that i'll have the joy of sailing a Moth against him one day... certainly an excuse to keep the waistline growth down over the next 15 years!

Depending on how the next week goes, I may get out for some of the Moth WA state titles next weekend, but from now on there is one thing more important than sailing...

Picture Tells a Thousand Words

Thanks to the unofficial official Moth Photographer Thierry Martinez for taking the event photo's.

I star in 2 of 1500 odd photo's on his website. Pic 1 is below, Pic 2 is the aftermath.

No other photo could sum up my event better!!

Credit: http://www.thmartinez.com

Worlds Wrap Up

The below post detailing my first two lap race at the worlds summed up my best day of sailing at the worlds regatta. The following day, which was day 1 of the finals was a repeat of day 2. In race 1 of the day I managed to get within 100m of the finish line when I saw the blue flag come down meaning I was more than 20 minutes behind the leader and still on my first lap.

The wind was blowing hard, I had lost a contact lens and I was knackered after the previous 3 days of sailing. I swallowed my pride again and sailed in and packed up for the day. 3 more DNF's to add to the collection!

The lay day was used to good effect, chilling out and staying away from the yacht club. I think the majority of the fleet followed the same tactic with only a few people going for a sail.

For those of us in silver fleet we returned to the club on Day 5 to rig up and spend the afternoon on standby under postponement onshore. Gold went out for a sail in what were reportedly epic conditions, and to say I was happy to watch was an understatement. If silver fleet had been racing I would have gone out and tried, but my results would have been similar to day 4 I expect.

Gold had one race at 1300, and a second at 1630, which I enjoyed from the comfort of the club balcony along with other members of Silver fleet. It was great to watch the best mothies in the world charging around the top mark and fly off downwind. I had my Wife's camera with me with a long lens, and tried out the camera's rapid fire mode and took some 1200 photo's. Just need to sort them out and pick the best few to post on here later!

Day 6 started with a 1000 first race, with 5 races planned for the silver fleet. I managed to fight my way through 3 races, not getting a decent start in any of them, and failed badly in the tacking department on the beats.

We were second start for race 2 so I enjoyed watching the Gold fleet head off. Bora's port tack start was impressive to say the least. He didn't  cross the fleet but wanted the right bad enough that he was prepared to duck sterns to get it. I worked out why once our race had started with a sizable right shift turning our run very one sided after an immediate gybe at the top mark.

So after 3 races in heavy winds, I was exhausted, had lost yet another contact lens (this time in my "good" eye so vision was pretty blurry) and I faced the last day dilemma of any travelling sailor. Head in early and get a head start on the packing, or beat myself up for no further gain on the scoreboard... The end result was that I headed in and got to work on packing up the boat. Glad I did, because my rear transverse wingbar was damaged from the U-bolt and probably a few 100kg wingbar bounces from failure.

So what did I get from the worlds experience? I finished 96th, tied on points with my nemesis for the 10 days of racing, Greg Wise. Even at the back end we had our "race within a race" which made the event that much more enjoyable.

I learnt where I am deficient in my moth sailing, some things I would never have found out sailing by myself on the river at home. I also realised that the jump from back end to mid fleet isn't that big, it just takes some dedication to training and improved fitness. I plan to work on this over the next 12 months.

Next up for me is the WA moth state titles, which we are hopeful we can get over 10 boats to. A finish in the top 5 would be a reasonable target for that event, especially given at last years states I couldn't even make it to the startline having only had the boat a week or so.

To wrap up the worlds experience, I am glad I made the effort. Many thanks to the organisers sponsors and my fellow competitors for their advice and competitive spirit and my wife for her support during the event. I hope that after the arrival of our little one I'll be able to make it to another moth worlds in the future.