scott.projectsomewhere

I just watched one of Jean-Pierre’s videos from the Moth Worlds. Not a bad effort from the crazy Swiss guy and his video camera.

A bit pissed that I didn’t make the cut though, not that I remember being interviewed, maybe I was just too cranky with another day of coming 2nd!

So much for having some time off after a couple of hectic months of Mothing.

I was in the country for all of 12 hours last Sunday before Cam called with an offer to sail his 12 at the Port Stephen’s “Winter in Paradise” regatta.

Well, it wasn’t really paradise - with it’s nice breeze, but freezing cold water. We raced the 12 against a couple of others and a mixed fleet of an 18, a 16, a 14, Cherubs, a Canoe, a Moth and a flotilla of double and single-hulled tupperware.

In the end, the committee decided to finish boats on whatever lap they chose, so despite being laps behind, the Cherubs beat us across the line in some races.

Winter racing in Sydney - sort of like a good summer’s day in the UK - continues with the Brass Monkey Regatta on the weekend of the 11th and the Woollahra Harbour Marathon on the 19th.

Hopefully we can line up the 18 for a hit out against the other boats…

Aus Moth measurer Phil is stirring the pot on sail measurements and equipment restrictions on the Australian Moth Forum, and the UK Moth Mailing List.

I started a thread and posted about it about a year ago. But nothing really came of all the Internet chatter. Who would’ve thought?

This wasn’t such a big issue in Garda, since Rohan killed everyone by miles, and the conditions didn’t suit the big sails. But Weymouth could be a different story.

The flat water and lighter winds should theoretically see the fleet a bit closer, and the small (or not so small) advantage of the pre-2005 sails may come into play for the pointy end of the fleet.

So who’s going to do the right thing and make the little mods to their pre-2005 sails so they measure under the current rules?

Ummm… I’m thinking nobody.

So that means the exec comm, or whoever is writing the NOR and SIs for the next few major championships need to add a clause or two… as Phil suggests.

The sails (can anyone spot the difference?):

Modified MSL10:

MSL12:

MSL9:

The 2007 Moth Worlds is all done and dusted. The internet analysis has started, and it’s my turn to add my belated, rambiling and verbose attempt.

Firstly, I’d have to say congrats to Rohan - Lord of the Wings - on an awesome regatta. He had pretty much the same fast gear I did, but sailed without mistakes, had awesome fitness and could get downwind at full pace without stacking it. It was impressive to watch. Impressive but disappointing.

I can’t be too upset with coming 2nd though. I knew I could sail, but given my obvious doubts, I thought a top 3 was a big ask. A top 5 was realistic. 2nd was unexpected.

Given that it’s was only 2 months since my boat arrived, I can’t complain. I knew I was quick out of the blocks in Australia, but the advances we made in Torbole the last week prior to the regatta were nothing short of phenomenal.

I did plenty of lineups against Simon “I feel the need… the need for speed” in the week leading up to the event, and I had a minor speed advantage uphill, but a massive speed disadvantage downhill. A day or 2 before the event, I put a new spec centreboard in, and voila. 10% would not do it justice.

Making a few more mods in those last days, like Amac’s launch prevention program, and the boat could be driven much harder downwind.

Not enouch credit can be given to Amac for his work here, nothing short of remarkable. I would have been wrecked after working so hard on the water, then coming in to keep a fleet of customers happy with repairs and modifications. Amac often comes in for a lot of criticism, but what he did, and was able to achieve in Torbole was just incredible. My boat and parts went into that concrete oven of a workshop a couple of times prior to, and during the event, and Amac worked away grinding carbon dust and laying up laminate left, right and centre. As much as Rohan is the face of Bladerider, Amac is the brains.

Many thanks Amac. I only hope my result was some justice for the hard work, and my bitching, moaning and sail changes didn’t give you too much stress.

Anyway.

The last day of racing was, I think, the best of the regatta. That probably had something to do with Rohan not being a leg ahead, but also that the flat water and moderate breeze brought the fleet together. The finishes were closer, the lead changed several times in each race, and the last race windward leeward added plenty more passing opportunities. I think this format could make things a bit more interesting than the procession that the current course is becoming.

As I alluded to above, I used a prototype Truflo sail for the last two races. The sail was dropped to me a couple of days before my boat shipped to Europe, and I only had a chance to sail with it once. That and being part of team Bladerider meant I couldn’t risk putting it up earlier. Anyway, the sail went well in the lighter conditions, and from the photos looked to be big and powerful. That probably helped on those last vmg runs. Les said the sail with it’s blue reinforcing would look pretty good on his Sector 7G, so it might be hard to get it back from his boat box when it arrives in Australia.

I don’t think I’ve been in an event before (and probably won’t again) where I had such a significant speed advantage over the fleet, and such a significant handling disadvantage to Rohan. Often the races saw Rohan a couple of hundred metres (or more) away, with the remainder a similar distance behind. It got a bit lonely out there on my own. The closest I got to him was race 6 I think, the only race of the series I didn’t capsize, and there was 100 or so metres in it.

I think everyone, especially Simon, was surprised by the improvement that the Bladerider had made in the 12 months since Denmark. It is pretty clear that standing still - even for a year - is not an option at this stage. There is just far too much development going on, and far too much left to do. It is going to be an interesting 12 months to see what Fastacraft and Mistress come out with in response.

On development, Adam May’s Weapon was bursting with new ideas. The regatta didn’t work out so well for him, but there were plenty of people looking at the handiwork and plenty of photos taken.

What else to say.

Graham Vials sailed exceptionally well to finish 5th in his early production Bladerider. He had nowhere near the pace I did, yet was giving 3rd place a go right til the end. He’s obviously knows how to sail - and should feature in the form guide for ‘08.

On the ‘08 Worlds. I wasn’t looking forward to returning to Weymouth early on, but I’m slowly warming to it. Not that I have anything against Weymouth, but it’s just hard to compare with Lake Garda, with it’s beautiful scenery, great food, great accomodation, great locals, great conditions and it’s g-string-bikini-clad-yummy-mummies.

If there was a proposal to sail the Worlds there every year, I would vote for it.

Anyway, time to go and lose some weight in preparation…

I don’t think that phrase will be used on the UK site for a while…

Reflections on the Worlds at Torbole. First, let’s get one thing straight: we were wrong. Our pre-regatta form guide was way off.

But mine wasn’t too bad. Except for the part below:

But in all reality, the championship is going to be fought out between 2006 World Champion Simon Payne (UK), and 2005 World Champion Rohan Veal (AUS). Really, nobody else has a snowball’s chance in hell of being at the top at the end of the regatta.

In the end Rohan was fighting for the title with himself.

And gees it’s cold here today.

After the almost constant updating during the Worlds, it’s been a slow time for news.

I’ve been visiting the familia in Calabria, which is not suprisingly devoid of Internet connections. That may or may not be a bad thing considering how much time I normally spend in front of a computer.

Stay tuned, I will update with a bit of a wrapup etc etc when I land in Sydney.