scott.projectsomewhere

It’s that time again, time to put my Moth on the market to make way for the next one.

This is Moth #5 for me. After Les’ Lazich II, the Hungry Tiger, the Hungry Tiger Foiler, the Bladerider and then the Prowler Zero.

Details from the moth.asn.au for sale list:

AUS3263 – 2008 Prowler Zero

New foils in December ‘08, January ‘09.

Choice of KA MSL13 or MSL10B, both new in December ‘08.

CST hi-modulus mast and boom.

Good performance record:
- 1st ‘08 NSW States
- 5th ‘08 Worlds
- 2nd ‘08 SIRS
- 4th ‘09 Australian Championships

Located in Sydney, available immediately.

$17500 AUD.

Contact:
Scott Babbage
scott.babbage@gmail.com
+61405423724

Australia Day and 18′ skiff racing have never been a brialliant combination, and this year was no different.

Despite the cloudy weather keeping some of the hoardes at bay, the Harbour was still clogged with spectators making our racing pretty tricky.

We were racing well though, having an epic battle with SX and the spooners, swapping the lead every few hundred metres and rounding the marks within a couple of boatlengths over the first two laps.

But on the second downwind our trap strop let go, launching us all off the wing. John retied it around the spreader and after righting the boat we set the kite to try and stay in the race. But 250kg on the wire supported by a spreader is no good. The collar let go and we all ended up in the water again, now with no top spreader.

So as far as results go, it wasn’t really worth rushing back from Geelong for, but then again I still prefer it to spending 12 hours in a car.

The Daily Telegraph has a good story on the day’s racing, and the paper version is running with a big photo of us on our side. The camera boat was blasting along beside us as it happened, so whenever sailcam.tv gets around to editing the footage together, it should be good to watch.

SX has now taken the lead in the series, but will be fighting it out with 7 for the trophy next Sunday. We’re now a bunch of points down in 3rd place.

The Nationals are over for another year and it looks like my form predictions are way off.

0 out of 10.

I cursed Arnaud by tipping him for #1. Like the Worlds form guide, it seemed to do the job of knocking him completely out of contention. Arnaud showed brief moments of speed, but struggled upwind and didn’t manage the light and shite breeze to miss out on the top 10 completely. He will be bouncing back better next time.

But now the question is who will be cursed with the #1 spot for the Gorge Worlds?

Nathan Outteridge performed brilliantly through the week. Given he’d sailed the boat only a little in the leadup, Nathan won the invitation race and only improved from there through the regatta. I think he genuinely enjoyed the boat and the racing.

Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed so hard to get him to give it a go and to push Rohan into giving him a boat to use. Now both John and Nathan have won the classes major events, the class is better for it, but perhaps I should re-evaluate my recruitment criteria for my own sake.

Simon Payne performed well to take 2nd, despite doing his best to throw it all away in 1 day. Simon seemed to be doing it easy in the Mach2, higher and faster upwind, and lower downwind. I don’t think the boat has reached it’s full potential yet, and with a full complement of more than capable pilots joining the ranks, the boat is sure to be fighting it out at the front.

Dave Lister took 3rd with some incredible speed. At times seeming to do 2 to 1 over the next fastest boat, even in light winds. He wasn’t as inconsistent as I had expected, but still not consistent enough to win, despite ending up very close on points. His new adjustment mechanisms for gantry angle and pushrod length were interesting, if only for the spaghetti of control lines across the deck. The antics around the small rudder foils were also a good laugh with the covers going on to stop anyone looking at them at any time. Dave has done a good job to turbo his already quick boat, and his next one will be eagerly anticpated.

I finished in 4th spot. 1 ahead of where I predicted. I thought I sailed reasonably well, with my fare share of luck and otherwise, and some good handling and good calls at times. I had to f#*k with the dick I have so to speak, but it wasn’t quite enough this time. The boat has taken a big step up with the changes I made after SIRS, though I need to take a few more steps up if I’m going to stay competitive in the short term. I couldn’t really pull the trigger on boats around me when it came to the crunch, which was probably as much in my head as in my boat. Time to evaluate what’s next and what to do.

In 5th was Andrew Brown, who’d ratcheted it up a couple of notches since Weymouth. Brownie has done some development with his carbon rigging, variable gearing and southern rigs and combined with good racing skills he was a force to be reckoned with. A bit like me, Brownie was always there, but rarely fighting it out for the lead. It’s a shame to see him take a break from the class, but I’m sure he’ll be back very soon.

Bora came home in 6th, after what would’ve been a frustrating series. Bora often lead or was close to it at the first mark, but didn’t finish there often. Despite a good deal of work in the leadup to the event, he was outgunned this time. I’m sure Bora is going to head home and redouble his efforts on improving his gear, speed and sailing in preparation for the Worlds.

John finished up in 7th, well off his Worlds form. He never seemed to really wind his boat up, but will not be taking it so easy over the next couple of months.

In 8th was Luka, who’s results continued to improve through the event.

Then in 9th came Rob Gough, just to throw my top 10 picks out (despite the order already being screwed). Rob was the quiet achiever of the event. Always the boat you couldn’t quite place.

And then Robbo rounded out the top 10. Robbo was fast in the light winds on Amac’s Bladerider, but lost points here and there when it was windier.

So there we have it, a form guide that was well off the mark. The consolation for missing the picks in the form guide was a decisive victory in the Golden Cleat competition, ahead of tipster TD Foster.

This years Nationals has been a big step up on previous years, and it really is encouraging to see the increase in both the quality and quantity of the fleet. The Wilson brothers who ran the racing were one if the best race committees I have seen, and they seemed to relish the opportunity to relive their former Moth days from the start boat.

The Bladerider challenge that Rohan pulled off on Saturday evening was a huge success, with some spectacular racing and a lot of interest generated from the mass of yachtie spectators who lined the dock to watch. We will be doing that again for sure.

The next big event for the local fleet looks to be the NSW championship over the Easter weekend from Woollahra, before the Worlds roll around in August.

Next stop for me is the 18 footer today for Race 4 of the Australian Championships before the JJ Giltinan in February.

The penultimate day of the Moth nationals was another day of everything. We postponed on shore while the wind blew itself out, so by the time we actually started the breeze was dropping and getting patchy.

I started badly and was rolled pretty quickly. After tacking out I low-rode for a bit then headed off to the right with Nathan and John.

Shame the breeze went left on the first work.

I sort of picked my way into contention at the end of the work (other than Bora who’d cleared out), then gybed down in a puff and did well up the next work to be in the top 3 and not far off them.

But then I lost a couple on the run, lost Arnaud upwind, then got hung out to dry on the final run to finish 9th. Not flash.

We floated around for a bit while the breeze went left then built.

By the time we started it was breeze on. We blasted away upwind, and I rounded in about 7th or so. Then boats started dropping on the downwind. Sam went down, then got it up and still rounded the bottom mark right behind me, if you could call blasting off at 180 degrees to the upwind mark a rounding.

The field was fairly close a the top, with Dave and Nathan fighting it out. I passed a couple of boats then engaged a bit of the limping crab mode to see Brownie, Arnaud and Rod run down the inside. I gybed and took their stern on the layline, with Rod and Brownie hitting the piss on the gybe and Arnaud doing a massive pitchpole right infront of me. I passed Simon when he was wallowing upside down at the gate and started taking Bora apart upwind – thank god for that weed. At the top I rounded in 5th close to John and Bora, then saw Bora go into submarine mode trying to avoid John on the layline into the finish.

So I landed a 4th due to staying upright. Nathan did a massive capsize but still finised way ahead of me in 2nd place, with Dave in the lead.

After 9 races, I’ve dropped to 4th, behind Nathan, Simon and Dave. Simon seems to have stolen defeat from the jaws of victory with an OCS and a DFL.

Close behind me with 1 race left to run are Brownie and Bora, and with a 10am start, anything can happen.

After the late finish, a bunch of boats waited around for a Bladerider dash-for-cash series. 9 boats started, with 1 boat eliminated in the first race, and two in each race afterwards, down to a match race final for the $500.

The course was a starboard reach start off the marina, with 3 reaching legs and gybes before a short upwind to the finish.

In the first race Nathan led out to the first mark til I pushed a gybe inside and he rushed into a capsize. By the time he was up he was too far behind, so the golden child was out on the first start. Bora also headed in to save his kit.

The second race looked a bit ordinary for me, with John leading the way, and me plowing through the gybes in last place. I did a good bottom mark gybe rounding and passed enough boats to progress to the next race. Amac and Rod were eliminated.

4 boats left, Brownie, Lochie, John and I.

I led around the marks, but John was looking shaky after a capsize on the fist gybe.

On the work, John overhauled Lochie to progress to the final.

In the final race for the cash, I led but stuffed the gybe, so John pushed it through the inside to take the lead, before promptly dropping the tiller and ejecting from the boat infront of me.

So I took the win and the cash, thankyou very much. I don’t think the assembled crowd were cheering for me as much as they were for John’s stack -to be posted on YouTube soon.

I wonder what I can use that cash for?

Day 3 of the Moth Nationals was a long one.

We started off on time at 10 am in a shifty light nor-westerly. Off the line I didn’t foil off with the boats around me and then got stuck in irons for a while while the fleet sailed away. I was in good company with Nathan stuck at the other end of the line. I ended up heading into good pressure on the right with Robbo. We headed off to the layline, but I left the tack back too late and didn’t fly again that leg. I went from the top couple to deep in the 20s as everyone sailed around me. By the time I got around the leaders were already at the bottom mark.

On the downwind I headed out into pressure and blasted past almost everyone into 4th. Not bad.

The next upwind, the same thing. I went a little too far right and fell out of the pressure on the way back to lose the bunch I was in, and then another 10 or so boats. Robbo, Simon, John and Nathan led on the way back downwind.

And even though there was only 1 leg left on the shortened course, there was plenty still to play for. I flew downwind with Les, Arnaud and Alan, past another bunch of boats, then John when he ventilated, and Robbo when he stuffed the gybe, into 3rd over the line a second ahead or Arnaud.

So saved a good score from what could have been a very ordinary finish.

Simon ended up first with Nathan second.

We then went ashore and waited around for a couple of hours til the afternoon scheduled start time. Then when we did finally hit the water, we postponed for what felt like hours waiting for the breeze to settle.

We headed back in then back out at 5pm when the seabreeze settled in.

With a nice 15 knots or so I managed a good start and picked a good layline to be next to Simon and then ahead at the spacer mark, but only by a little. Then Simon left me for dead downwind and Dave and Luka started gaining ground. The shifts claimed Simon’s lead on the last work, and Luka took the win followed by Dave, Simon then me.

There was a bit more pressure for the last race, but still plenty of shifts.

Nathan, Simon and Bora led on the first upwind, with me in the top 5 or so. Around the next couple of laps I lost ground on the boats around me, slowed by some of the weed that seems to be stalking certain people.

In the end I crossed 7th, making it a pretty consistent day, but not quite good enough.

I’m running 3rd overall behind Simon and Nathan. I’m a couple of points ahead of Dave, but my drop isn’t so bad (or good). Consistency sucks sometimes, except when it’s consistently 1st or 2nd.

2 races scheduled tomorrow, before the final morning lottery on Sunday to finish the regatta.

It’s been an interesting week talking to the guys in the boat park, with some great comments from some of the new league of professionals.

Things like:

- I’d hike harder if I was getting paid $1000 a race.

- Morning races are no good because they interrupt my sleep schedule, since I rarely get up before the crack of noon.

- It’d be so much better if everyone just sailed the same boat.

- I thought these boats were supposed to be hard to sail, I’ve only been out twice.

- Talk to my people.

- We should be doing a 16 race series with no laydays, and definitely no medal race.

- Make sure my boat is repaired and ready to go in the morning.

- I thought a blog was what you did after cereal and coffee in the morning.

- Membership? I though the AYF covered that?

- Fuck my Audi is out of fuel again. Why doesn’t somone fill it up?

And

- I’m sick of these interviews, speak to my agent who’s over near #11.

These comments may or may not be based on reality, but even so it’s going to be an interesting few years ahead.