scott.projectsomewhere

The 49er states were a bit of a non-event in the end. Tai & I
raced on the Saturday in 8-10 knots against 4 other 49ers from
Woollahra. In
the 3 races we sailed pretty average, but won by legs! The boat was
very nice, and if I could find a way to pay for one (and a good
crew to race/train with) then I’d get one.

We didn’t race on the Sunday. With gusts of up to 28 knots on the
Harbour, Tai decided it was probably best if we didn’t attempt it -
and potentially break Julian’s boat.

I must say - after only a day or two sailing on a 49er, I have a
new-found respect for how good the top 49er sailors are! There’s a
long way to go.

So in the end I jumped in the car and drove home - then got a ride
as sheethand on a 16 in the race at Belmont. Charging around
on the lake in 20+ knots was good fun We sailed ok, but lost a
few boats right at the end of the race to finish just outside the
top 10.

It looks as though the current 29er Australian Youth Champ is
embarking on a new endeavour on the Hobie 16 in order to become the
Australian representative at the next ISAF World Youth
Championships (after Poland).

It’s going to be very interesting to see how Evan adapts from
monohulls to cats. His experience with assymetrics is surely going
to give him some advantages over the opposition. The Hobie 16 has
added a spinnaker for youth events only recently. It’ll also be
interesting to see how quickly he gets up to speed against the
current representative Mike Pfeffer, with coaches the likes of
Bundy and
Simone it shouldn’t take long.

Good luck Ev.

Not long now

Here are some photos (thanks to google) of
where I’m going… should be good!

The NSW Association will be having their 75th Moth Anniversary
at Balmoral Sailing Club on Saturday 27th March. There will be a
race for those
who are interested and afterwards a BBQ with lots of chat.

If you’re interesting in Mothing at all, or have been involved in
the class during the last 25 years, make your way down to Balmoral
and have a look.

There’s
a bunch of photos on the Offshore
Sails site (linked from Tai’s blog) of
the new Bethwaite 8m sports boat.

Looks good
Update: I had to turn down a ride on the boat today.. they
needed a crew but I was stuck at work with no gear! Damn!

There’s an interesting discussion going on
with a bunch of different ideas on Foiler designs. It will be very
interesting to see if this bunch of rocket scientists can come up
with any improvements on the Fastacraft bi-foil
configuration.

Hmmm…