Flying in Melbourne
Yes, I am absolutely crazy when it comes to sailing…
I flew down to Melbourne to go sailing on Saturday on Rohan’s foiler Moth. An interesting experience to say the
least.
The weather was typical Melbourne… ordinary. We knew to wait
through the calm since the weather will always change several times
during the day. And it did.
I went foiling and did a two races against Amac sailing Garth’s “On
the Prowl”. I raced Rohan’s World Champ boat.
It’s pretty safe to say that foiling around is awesome fun. But its
only fun when you can get it up… otherwise it feels like your
dragging someone in the water behind you… ie. not fast. I could
get it up ok most of the time, although upwind was tricky. In the
choppy/light conditions it was hard to stay up, and not launch. It
was also hard to work out what to do when it did go up. Do you
steer down and ease? Up and sheet in? Heel to windward or leeward?
Weight in or out? Forward or back? I tried various combinations of
the above but couldn’t find something that worked all the time.
More often than not the boat did whatever it felt like doing.
Racing was also different. I was miles behind Amac, then next to
him, then ahead, equal, miles behind (ie 500m+), then beside, then
behind. The race is absolutely dependant on who can foil and foil
for the longest.
Its also pretty safe to say foiling is a complete revolution in
Moth sailing. Most of the skills from Hungry Tigers are there, but
there is a stack of new techniques that need to be mastered before
the foiler is even competitive against the Tiger.
I did get pretty frustrated towards then end, when I was dead tired
(I haven’t hiked in a year) and the stupid thing wouldn’t foil. It
was very likely due to a broken linkage between the main-foil
adjuster and the sensor arm. More moving parts = more parts to
break.
So foiler Mothing is another huge challenge, but is it a challenge
worth taking?
The investment that needs to be made in time, effort, money,
training, fitness and enthusiasm is big. The match the level of
Rohan will take a few years and a lot of effort, to pass him will
take an absolutely incredible amount of effort. The pace that he is
developing new boats, new sails and new skills is
frightening.
Phil is going for the silver-bullet approach in his next
incarnation. I’m more inclined (since I don’t have the time to both
build a foiler and learn how to sail it) to buy enough kit to
become at least materially equivalent - then spend the rest of the
time learning how to sail and race. The problem is that Fastacraft would take a year or
more to get a boat to me* - and that’s just
useless.
The advantage that NSW has is a group of Mothies that (if they had
the kit) could work together to both improve it and themselves.
That’s not going to happen any time soon, but its a nice
idea.
Decisions decisions…
Update: It’s going to get harder to get hold of a foiler now, with
Rohan’s boat being snapped up by a loaded Euro offering too much
money. Back to the drawing board on that plan…
Update #2: John’s schedule has
improved a lot, and I could have a new boat somewhere around
April/May! /* reaches for chequebook */
