Try flying… yesterday
Yesterday’s try-flying day on the Moth was a huge success!
The day started early, with 7 guinea pigs lining up to take it
on.
John Harris, skipper of Rag &
Famish - former 18′ Skiff JJ Giltinan Champion - was the first
to take up the challenge. He foiled at times, crashed at times and
came off the boat trying to catch his breath.
Next on was John Winning, former 29er World Champion and skipper of
the 18′ Skiff
Appliances Online. John foiled easily with his light weight,
but didn’t last much longer than 15 minutes… a bit too much hard
work.
John Sweeny was next, skipper of our 18 Active Air. Sweeny got enough
air (but not too much) and had some issues tacking… I remember
those times back when I was sailing Full Frontal.
Next onboard was Peter
Harris, the 92kg bowman off our 18. Needless to say I was a bit
worried watching him hike off the wing bars! Everything held up
very well, and Pete blasted around very well… though I can’t
believe how hard he had to hike to get the boat down…
hmmm…
Nigel Littlewood, the skipper I sailed with in the 49er Nationals,
was up next. Pete was totally buggered by the time we got Nigel out
onto the water and was thankful to get a rest. Nige sailed it
around pretty easily in the constant breeze, foiling downwind and
close-hauled without too much hassle. It took us a while to get the
boat back off him.
Thorpey was up for another ride, taking it out for another hour and
sailing well out of sight in the process.
Emmett Lazich was next out of the blocks. The former Moth World
Champion and multiple Australian Champion did well, foiling at
times though commenting that he only saw probably 20% of the boats
potential in the hour he sailed. Or was that 21%?
Thorpey then had the boat to race in the usual Balmoral saturday
sailing. 5 foilers raced including Chris Dey, Luka Damic, Pete
Harney & Phil Stevenson with Ian Sim & Ian Ward
low-riding.
So at the end of the day, lots of different people had a taste of
foiling and the best thing is my boat held up perfectly, with not a
dent in the topsides and no visible damage.
Now to schedule the next one…
