scott.projectsomewhere

John Ilett sent me this photo to explain why I was having trouble with control downwind…

Might help if I had my eyes open.

The analysis of the Worlds has kicked off with a good article from Toby on thedailysail.com

This is the second year in a row they have turned up to the World Championships more prepared than the rest of the world. In particular they seem to place a much higher value on using training partners and groups than many other nations and this has shown in their results. Adam May commented to TheDailySail that: “The Brits just are not spending the time sailing together at the moment. Looking back at last year Rohan [Veal] and Amac [Andrew MacDougal] both spent a lot of time training together and this year John Harris and Scott [Babbage] did the same.” It is pretty easy to see this is the case with Harris winning the Worlds, Babbage taking fifth and Amac in second, having been the leader after the first day. By way of contrast two sailors who were predicted to be very fast, but who had both run very individual campaigns were Simon Payne and American Bora Gulari. They ended up in eighth and 20th respectively.

Great to see the media coverage of the event… with even a live-blog of the racing and the 4 hour + AGM on Wednesday! Toby must’ve been as bored as I was the day before when I blogged the manufacturer update.

I just got an offer of a new boat to race in the upcoming USA Nationals at the Gorge next Month.

I would so like to go…

Yes, it’s all over.

My form guide wasn’t too good, or bad. I created a bit of hype for some and not for others, which seemed to work out as expected in the wash.

John sailed impressively of course. Fast and consistent with only 1 capsize in the 7 races. He probably wasn’t the quickest upwind or downwind, but was always fast, and always there. Given that our boats are coming back home this year, our little training group at Woollahra is going to be fun come summer.

Amac was unbelievably quick. At his age, he is a freak of nature. His speed and height upwind was by far the best, and he pushed his boat so hard downwind. Probably too hard at times, where mistakes cost him in the end, but all in all a well sailed regatta. He’ll be the go-to man for foils and sails for the foreseeable future.

Mat Belcher punched above his weight in the conditions. Literally. He struggled when he tried the MSL13 against the heavy guys, but won the windiest of races when he had his MSL10B up. Again he was always there, racing around the course only boat lengths away. Not the fastest either, but by no means off the pace.

Arnoud taught everyone how to sail downwind. Nobody thought they could push that hard and fast, but he showed everyone how to do it, and the pace of the fleet ratcheted up quickly. Given he’s only had his boat since January, Arnoud’s performance was exceptional. If the Moth class continues to attract young guys of his calibre and character, racing will continue to improve at a rapid rate and the future of the class will be well and truly secure.

Me. The 5th was a bit of a disappointment given last years result, but despite the points, all the races were hard fought. John has had a touch of speed over me at home for a couple of months, and I’ve only bettered him when the breeze has gone down range. That didn’t help me this week. I was fast upwind, but again off the pace downwind, and often on the border of (or out of) control. I would lose a couple of places on each of the reaches to the Bladeriders, who seemed to be able to push so much harder when it got bumpy. Obviously control is key, and there is plenty of work to do there in the short term.

It was amazing to sail in this quality of fleet, where everything counts. Long gone are the days when 10 capsizes in a race can still get you 2nd at the Worlds. In one race, I battled it out with Belcher all the way around, gaining on him upwind only to overlay on the last tack and give away a 50m advantage that I couldn’t recover. A whole race at mach-10 speed only to blow it in a couple of seconds sailing over a layline. It’s unbelievable how far we have come in 12 months, and pretty frightening to think where we will be in another 12 months, or 2 years.

Alex Knight was the quiet one in 6th place. I don’t think I heard a boo out of him all week, and he was rigging next to us. In a banged up Bladerider with an old X8 sail, he bested the rest of the Brits fairly easily.

Graham. Always there again, but not quite on the pace of the leaders. Consistent and quick when he needed to be. He rolled me nicely with Andrew Brown in the last 200m of the last race before I took a massive wipeout. You can only push so hard I guess.

Simon. It would’ve been a different regatta for Simon if it was a bit lighter. But 7 races in 18 knots didn’t do him any advantages. He just didn’t have the weight to get to the top mark in a good place, and suffered because of it. Simon was talking about taking a break from Mothing, but I hope he doesn’t. While we’re all moving forward, we still need guys like him to keep the show together. John and I will be holding him to his promise of coming to Australia for the Nationals in January.

I could go on and on, but there are just too many good sailors and really impressive performances in the fleet.

From here the Moths move to The Gorge in Oregon in August 2009, then Dubai in April 2010, then Australia in January 2011. We have a lot of big events in the next 3 years. For the Australians, we will have - without a doubt - the most competitive Australian Championship in Geelong in January. Already we have Bora, George and Charlie McKee from the US, Sten-Mark from Estonia, Arnoud from Switzerland, Simon from the UK, and Mr Velociraptor Dave Chisholm heading down for the event. Add in Rohan with a fleet of new Bladerider models. This is going to be one hell of a tough event. If someone can step in to steer the 18 for the weekend, John will probably make it there too.

For me, I have a bunch of ideas on how to get a bit of extra performance out of this boat. I seriously need to improve control on a power reach in waves in 20+. I know my upwinds were good, but I still think I can eek more out of it and have a bunch of ideas to make it happen. I also have some ideas to get better control downwind, but I’ll have to get the balls to push it hard downwind to make sure they work. My racing style is way too conservative for that all out speed approach that’s needed for 2008, let alone 2009. This Moth racing is no sport for conservative old men (even though they are often outrageously fast).

Next up on the agenda is 6 weeks without a boat, as our boxes are seafreighted back to Australia. In the interim I will probably take the new carbon-rigged 49er out to destroy. Then there’s the new 18 footer to rig in time for the season start in October. And then I need to start planning out what events I can fit into next year. Moth Nationals in Geelong. Moth Worlds in the Gorge. 29er Worlds in Garda. 49er Worlds in Garda. 18 JJ Giltinan in Sydney. 18 JJ Giltinan in France. Hmmm…

So what else can I say.

Despite an anti-climactic finish to the event, I’m so happy to be involved in the Moth class. There is nothing like it anywhere else. The bunch of people involved are all incredible. I really do hope we can keep doing what we’re doing for a long time to come…

Nice to be under the radar in the lead up to the event. John sailed better than everyone and never looked outside the top 3. Impressive result and well deserved.

I finished 5th, after losing out on 4th place in the final race to Arnoud. Again impressive sailing from the young newcomer.

It doesn’t feel like the regatta should be ending, after only 2 days of racing. But then again this has been one of the most drawn out events of all time. The boats are boxed up again ready to ship back home.

After losing weight for this event, it’s time to eat.

Racing started today, after 5 days of waiting ashore. As expected the fleet was damn close, mistakes were very costly.

It was still fresh, and I was quick uphill, but fairly slow or out of control or both downwind. The broad reaches at the bottom of the triangle were killing me, costing me 8 or so places in Race 3. I figured I had too much lift after ditching a bunch of times, so I went down to -1 and wound in a bunch of lift. Much more manageable downwind (losing 1 place downwind in that race instead of 2 every leg in the other races), but then didn’t have enough lift to fly fast uphill… which hurt. The breeze dying off when I backed everything off probably didn’t help my cause. But that’s what you get. I’ve made another change to the wand to try and stop the maystick bottoming out on the topside flare, so that might help me… or might not.

Don’t you love those setup issues

Anyway, I finished with a 3,4,12 (or something like that), 6. John is killing it with 2,2,2,2 (like my Garda scorecard). Amac is super fast, and right on the border of control, scoring a 8,1,4,1 to be leading after the first drop is factored in. Belcher is also doing well, winning the windiest race 3, even though he’s fighting it out at midget weight. Arnoud is also there with 1,2,4 and about 8. Plenty of other fast boats in there that I’ve missed. I might be around 5th if I’m lucky.

Swede Martin Gravare was super quick downwind in Race 3, and Sten-Mark from Estonia ran me down on the line in Race 4. Every place counts and I didn’t do such of good job of holding onto them.

We need 1 more race before we have a series, so it’s on again for tomorrow. They’ll probably get 3 races in before the 3pm time limit. Forecast is for 18-22, so more of the same.

Official results aren’t out yet… but they will be soon. Check www.moth-sailing.org or www.wpnsa.org.uk. Plenty of photographers out so sure to be some impressive shots on the way.

–

Unfortunately they put me down for a 65th in Race 1, instead of 3rd. Which sort of hurts in the overall score as it stands… but that will be all sorted in the morning.