scott.projectsomewhere

It looks like my last post had the desired effect. Get a bit of fire and motion back into the mothosphere.

Quite amusing that it’s so simple to wind people up for a handbags at dawn showdown. One of the more perverse ways to get a laugh out of it.

Anyway.

Nice to get the boat back out for a run this weekend. Nice and slippery as expected with a trail of suds following me wherever I went.

We raced WSC’s Cock of the Harbour season opener on Sunday against an assembled fleet of 49ers, i14s, B14s, Tasars and Lasers. In a building Nor-Easter, I port tacked the fleet and then built up a nice lead on the shy reach down to Ft Denison. The harbour was a washing machine with a run out tide and plenty of traffic, but the open water at the Sound proved more of a challenge with the opposite swell and wind chop making it difficult to foil on starboard.

Phil was in 2nd place as I headed back from Manly, but he was tiring quickly and Ben, Marty and the trailing 49ers were running him down.

I did a quick pitchpole near Sow & Pigs trying to thread the needle between a fishing trawler and a keelboat heading in opposite directions. But despite that little hickup I crossed in first, about 10 minutes in front of Ben in 2nd. A 65 minute lap around the Harbour.

So nice to be back on the water.

Ben also got the first taste of his new Mach2, and promptly pitchpoled his way downwind in the chop. A bit of re-learning to be done going from his Bladerider to the M2. But shouldn’t take long.

I also had Donosan make up vanity name tags for my sail. Prototyping suggestions from Thierry for better sailor identification. Maybe it will make it easier for photographers, and easier for commentators to identify boats around the course. What do you think?

Finally my boat is back after having a bath in a 5% detergent solution. I think things will be a little slippery the first time out thanks to AQIS.

In the meantime I’ve had a bit of time to get the ball rolling for Belmont, and catch up on the latest in the mothosphere.

Although I’m loathe to give it oxygen, it was fun to get a bit of a ribbing in the latest episode of the Mothcast. A little less talk a little more action was a good call, albeit a little cheap coming from someone who contributes so little to the class. Online or off.

It was also interesting to listen to a perspective of the recent Worlds formed via the Internet. When we were in Cascade Locks, we joked how different everyone’s recounting of the same events were, so in a way it’s not surprising to hear an account so divergent from reality given the multiple sources of information.

Not surprising that it goes hand in hand with the statement that no development goes on in Melbourne. Ha.

Though as a hack blogger, I couldn’t let the premise that to blog is to lose stand without correction. The absence of evidence is unfortunately not the evidence of absence. Given all the recent Moth World Champions have a blog in one form or another, along with various facebook profiles, and youtube or twitter accounts. The premise doesn’t stand up to proof, let alone logic.

Perhaps when a non-blogger actually wins an event we can reconsider a better thought out argument. Though it’s probably easier to stand back and claim anything when you don’t actually have to back yourself up at the Worlds.

Who said anything about cheap points?

A bit of a shame. I just hope Dave’s scientific approach to equipment development is based on surer ground. Otherwise it might make Rohan’s approach look rigorous by comparison.

In the meantime, the blogosphere rolls on. Filled the verbiage of both the vain self promoters and those who are passionate and confident enough about what they do to want to share it with anyone. The poor insecure tinkerers can meanwhile safely hold onto their precious secrets and their dog-eared copies of theory of wing sections in relative anonymity, hoping to strike it lucky with their likeminded puddle-dwellers while everyone else gets on with the business of making things better. Or they could get sailinganarchy logins.

I look forward to listening to what happens in Dubai. When I’m actually there.

PS. I love you too Dave.

A bit of a delay in the return to regular programming with a wet wetsuit in my fibreglass box causing the quarantine of my boat. I won’t do that again.

Hopefully it clears this week and I can get back onto the water again.

In the meantime, the boat has been sold and a new one is on the way. Another Mach2 for our club. Plenty of interest in boats, with a bit of new blood wanting to join in the fun.

There’s also been plenty of interest in replicating the slalom event concept that Rohan pushed in Geelong, and the class held again at the Gorge. There’s a similar event penciled in for the Nationals in Perth, and 3 different groups pitching to run an event in Sydney later in the year. If even one of them comes off it could be awesome for the class and the sport… If we can get some nice media coverage. Hopefully.

Anyway. Cock of the Harbour marathon race this weekend will see a few Moths pitted against some 49ers, i14s and maybe 18s. No idea what the record is, but if the conditions are right we should give it a nudge.

A week or so at home and I’m back into the rhythm of work. Great.

No sailing unfortunately as my boat is still AWOL, so there’s been plenty of time to debrief, get things underway for 2011, talk through some sponsorship ideas and work out what needs to be done to go faster. So still plenty on.

And just to top off the fact that I don’t have a boat, it’s been 25+ degrees and windy enough. It’s still technically winter though, but the sailing season can’t be far away.

The 18s are ramping back up again for their October season start. The San Fran regatta kicks off soon enough, and a couple of teams have been out training on the harbour already.

Marcus and his new team on CST apparently broke a rig and lost their #1 mainsail on the tow home. So they’re having a typical introduction to 18s.

And the 7 program has been back at it, with a couple of morning training sessions trying to get their pocket luff mainsail working. Having worked out their last season rig was slower than the one before, it looks like they’re after a boat speed edge to put them back on top. Shame their cone of silence has more leaks than a watering can and everyone already knows they’re struggling to work out their cams.

Let the games begin.

So that’s it. All done.

Bora took the Worlds in impressive style. He sailed his Mach2 faster than everyone else, with a speed edge downwind that gained him places every race. Apart from a few early mistakes, he sailed well and took the championship easily. The first American in a very very long time.

I ended up 7th, taking Brad Funk in a couple of close races on the last day. Not exactly happy about the end result, but carrying a DNF, I was never going to trouble the top bunch. There’s still plenty of time to debrief on where things didn’t go so well, but equipment failure is sitting there as a big area for improvement next time.

Funny that for the last year I sailed a reliable but relatively slow boat, now I’ve got a fast but unreliable one. I’ll have to find fast and reliable next time. I spent plenty of time and money trying to get that sorted in Sydney before I arrived, but the mast and wingbar failures were pretty unpredictable. What can you do?

Anyway, even without the failures I still wouldn’t have troubled the placegetters. The top guys were just too good this time.

Next stop is Dubai, the Worlds there next March promises to be an awesome event. Both Dubai and Belmont have got a lot to live up to given how successful Cascade Locks has been.

Final day for the Moth Worlds tomorrow.

Today was a better day than yesterday, though that’s not too hard.

The boat stayed in 1 piece, so that was a win in my book.

It started out pretty poorly though. I struggled around and then dropped the main at the top mark and dipped a wing, then stuffed the first gybe on the z course to let another bunch through. Then I started to work through the boats and ended up crossing the line in 9th behind Rohan. Not so great.

The next race was better. Arnaud launched again and took a good lead. I battled it out, rounding the top mark in 2nd I think before Simon mowed me down downwind. I hung in there upwind, but Dalton went through and Bora was right behind for the run to the finish (never a good spot to have him). But for probably the first time in the regatta I held my own downwind, and even passed Dalton. But only just. We were smoking into the finish line, me on port, and Bora and Dalton on starboard. I crossed just ahead of Bora, and just behind Dalton with all of us traveling at over 20 knots. Then I crossed the line a couple of seconds ahead. So a 3rd place.

The next race was more of the same, everyone was getting tired through. Nathan fell out of the boat in a tack near the top mark, and I snuck around close behind in 2nd. I took some distance out of him downwind, but blew out the bottom mark rounding and let him through again. Even though they say it’s Bora in this video trailing Nathan up the shore, it was actually me. Anyway, I went closer to shore and then put plenty of distance on Nathan going higher and faster. Bora crossed ahead then behind upwind, but I stuffed the last tack and struggled to foil again in a lull across the spacer mark. Bora came through underneath and by the time I was back up to speed he’d put 200m on me. Damn.

But again I put distance on Nathan downwind and took 2nd place.

So a 9, 3, 2 for the day puts me up only 1 place, into 8th, tied with Rob and 1 point behind Brad.

Rohan is 26 points ahead, so the best chance for tomorrow is 7th. Two races to go so we’ll just see what happens.