Friday, 20 January 2012
Bloody Mary Video
James Phare was wielding my camcorder for the Bloody Mary so I've thrown together this montage of footage throughout the race. Having just moved house I have no broadband at home so only just found somewhere to upload it!
Monday, 16 January 2012
Minor Bristol Mothing
Finally starting to get some momentum up at Cheddar after sailing on New Years day and this past Sunday.
The less said about New Years the better, Tom, Alan and I all took to the water in some very marginal foiling conditions that saw us only really foiling downwind when we got lucky in the puffs. It was a pursuit race and I only made up one of the two laps the rest of the fleet had on me so managed to finish dead last, after both Alan and Tom called it quits early.
Yesterday Tom, Leo and I took to the skies for the club racing. I launched just before the start in the biggest wind of the day peaking with 20+ knot gusts and I managed 28 knots in the first minute on the way to the start! I led Tom astray sailing the wrong course so we just settled on doing some windward/leewards and trying to remember how to sail again and getting the tacking back up to scratch.
Leo was out for his second sail of the year after a long period out of the boat and it was good to see him blasting around and reminding me just how much fun these boats are without taking them too seriously!
Martin was down collecting some bits from his boat for some pimping before he starts getting sailing again while Darren was out on Race duty, making it an almost full complement of Bristol Mothies and the most we've had down the club for ages. Everyone is keen and I think this year is going to be a bundle of fun.
I'm currently busy plotting my bid to regain my crown in the GB speed league as this Saturday is looking pretty bonkers down in Foiltown...
The less said about New Years the better, Tom, Alan and I all took to the water in some very marginal foiling conditions that saw us only really foiling downwind when we got lucky in the puffs. It was a pursuit race and I only made up one of the two laps the rest of the fleet had on me so managed to finish dead last, after both Alan and Tom called it quits early.
Yesterday Tom, Leo and I took to the skies for the club racing. I launched just before the start in the biggest wind of the day peaking with 20+ knot gusts and I managed 28 knots in the first minute on the way to the start! I led Tom astray sailing the wrong course so we just settled on doing some windward/leewards and trying to remember how to sail again and getting the tacking back up to scratch.
Leo was out for his second sail of the year after a long period out of the boat and it was good to see him blasting around and reminding me just how much fun these boats are without taking them too seriously!
Martin was down collecting some bits from his boat for some pimping before he starts getting sailing again while Darren was out on Race duty, making it an almost full complement of Bristol Mothies and the most we've had down the club for ages. Everyone is keen and I think this year is going to be a bundle of fun.
I'm currently busy plotting my bid to regain my crown in the GB speed league as this Saturday is looking pretty bonkers down in Foiltown...
Monday, 9 January 2012
That Bloody Race!
The 39th Bloody Mary took place on saturday and with sunshine and a gusty12+ knot breeze it was finally looking like Mothy weather!
And it was, with Jason Belben, Mike Lennon, Ricky Tagg and Pete Barton taking the top 4 spots overall in the 250+ boat fleet! Mike and Jason in particular had a real ding-dong battle with place changing all the way round and Mike eventually missing out by overstanding the finish line and allowing Jason inside. Mike also gets the good sportsmanship award for shouting Jason back after he missed a spacer mark although I'm sure he's regretting that now!
1st Jason Belben
2nd Mike Lennon
3rd Ricky Tagg
4th Pete Barton
15th Mike Cooke
21st Tom Offer
30th Doug Pybus
47th Geoff Carveth
63rd Andrew Friend
68th Richard Westbury
107th Ben Paton
164th Neil Baker
221st Leigh Albrecht
229th Andrea Biagioni
Full results here
Fotoboat gallery here
SurftoTurf gallery here
Sportography gallery here
This one of me thanks to James Phare - will post more of his later...
I had a pretty good race once I got around the windward mark. Unfortunately the bit before that saw me dropping the mainsheet and falling in, then getting caught by a gust post tack and mining hard. By the time I got up and going again the leaders were already around the 1st leeward mark! Thankfully whenever I saw them next (going the other way around the course) they weren't pulling away so I know I was going well enough to have hung with them if I hadn't cocked up so badly!
In true Cooke fashion, I changed a load of stuff on the boat since I last sailed and this was my first test for my settings - the boat felt good, although I had run out of pushrod adjustment. I'm finally starting to pencil in some days sailing over the next couple of months after a hectic christmas period/housemove/trytosqeezeinsomeworktoo so hope the next couple of winter events go a bit smoother!
And it was, with Jason Belben, Mike Lennon, Ricky Tagg and Pete Barton taking the top 4 spots overall in the 250+ boat fleet! Mike and Jason in particular had a real ding-dong battle with place changing all the way round and Mike eventually missing out by overstanding the finish line and allowing Jason inside. Mike also gets the good sportsmanship award for shouting Jason back after he missed a spacer mark although I'm sure he's regretting that now!
1st Jason Belben
2nd Mike Lennon
3rd Ricky Tagg
4th Pete Barton
15th Mike Cooke
21st Tom Offer
30th Doug Pybus
47th Geoff Carveth
63rd Andrew Friend
68th Richard Westbury
107th Ben Paton
164th Neil Baker
221st Leigh Albrecht
229th Andrea Biagioni
Full results here
Fotoboat gallery here
SurftoTurf gallery here
Sportography gallery here
I had a pretty good race once I got around the windward mark. Unfortunately the bit before that saw me dropping the mainsheet and falling in, then getting caught by a gust post tack and mining hard. By the time I got up and going again the leaders were already around the 1st leeward mark! Thankfully whenever I saw them next (going the other way around the course) they weren't pulling away so I know I was going well enough to have hung with them if I hadn't cocked up so badly!
In true Cooke fashion, I changed a load of stuff on the boat since I last sailed and this was my first test for my settings - the boat felt good, although I had run out of pushrod adjustment. I'm finally starting to pencil in some days sailing over the next couple of months after a hectic christmas period/housemove/trytosqeezeinsomeworktoo so hope the next couple of winter events go a bit smoother!
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Where did I leave that boat?
Well, low and behold it was still at the sailing club. I think this was the longest period without any sailing since about 1989 for me - Life kinda took over and sailing took a back seat...
I'm still not sure if me and the Shredder are on talking terms after this absense as James Phare was the helm of the day on Sunday having a bit of a jolly and deciding on features for his Ninja in the new year. I meanwhile was testing out the latest Ninja to hit the water which has been a testbed boat for a customer who happened to have a lot of the same ideas as me for how to take the boat forward. It's been an interesting experience and I'm now considering my self imposed no-new-boat-beforethenextworlds rule as I think there is definitely something in it. What 'it' is you will have to wait and see!
James and I were joined at BCYC by Tom Lambert and Badger so we had 4 boats on the water, enjoying the relatively full lake and getting back into the swing of things.
I'm really excited about the upcoming Bloody Mary and the usual launch bunfighting. I doubt I'll do quite as well as last year as I've just not been sailing and I expect there will be a bit more competition from the south coast shandy drinkers with the event being part of the Moth winter series.
Nearly winter Solstice too. Roll on Summer!
I'm still not sure if me and the Shredder are on talking terms after this absense as James Phare was the helm of the day on Sunday having a bit of a jolly and deciding on features for his Ninja in the new year. I meanwhile was testing out the latest Ninja to hit the water which has been a testbed boat for a customer who happened to have a lot of the same ideas as me for how to take the boat forward. It's been an interesting experience and I'm now considering my self imposed no-new-boat-beforethenextworlds rule as I think there is definitely something in it. What 'it' is you will have to wait and see!
James and I were joined at BCYC by Tom Lambert and Badger so we had 4 boats on the water, enjoying the relatively full lake and getting back into the swing of things.
I'm really excited about the upcoming Bloody Mary and the usual launch bunfighting. I doubt I'll do quite as well as last year as I've just not been sailing and I expect there will be a bit more competition from the south coast shandy drinkers with the event being part of the Moth winter series.
Nearly winter Solstice too. Roll on Summer!
Saturday, 10 December 2011
X8 bladerider 3323 'badger' for sale
white hull black outlines, very good condition, and well set up.
Loads of upgrades including ;
High modulus super skinny rudder longer than original,
High modulus daggerboard
Ride height adjuster
Adjustable wand
Also comes with covers for boat, foils, mast, boom, prodder
Rig is a 353 cst skinny mast and a almost new Aardvark skinny boom
Bladerider sail in good codition
Custom road trailer slide on slide off with side boxes
£7700 ono
Near bristol and other info call martin 07776192410
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Long time no see
It's been a while!
Life has been keeping me well occupied lately, so I've only had a brief spin in Shredder at Queen Mary since the Port Talbot regatta. This has mostly been down to a lack of water in the reservoir, which is now sorted so sailing can resume.
In the meantime I've been keeping busy with a bit of mountain biking with a few trips over to the Forest of Dean and some local action in the Mendips. I think cycling is probably the perfect companion for sailing; it's something you can actually do when there is no wind, unlike my other random hobbies like windsurfing and radio yachting! I did however make the mistake of going riding with Doug Pybus. It seems Doug is a bit of a demon on a bike. I couldn't keep up and ended up hitting a tree with very little damage to myself, thankfully! Mr Payne took some of Doug's advice on cycling last year and ended up with a fixie and hilarity ensued. So perhaps the message should be "don't listen to him"!
My early midlife crisis has taken me down to Gosport for a radio multihull open meeting. Everyone takes the piss out of me for this, as it's supposed to be a bit of an old man's sport, but I find it quite intriguing. Trying to get a boat to behave at its best upwind and down with no outside input other than helm and sail control is quite an interesting design challenge. This combined with my limited multihull experience (that's my old mans department!) means I've got my work cut out.
The other aspect I love is being able to watch a race unfold in front of you. When you are actually sailing in a boat it can be quite hard to place yourself on the track against others with regards to shifts and track position. This all plays out for you with models and you can instantly see the effect of line bias, shifts, puffs. I'll be back down there with my tri this Saturday for part two of the club championship. Day one was a tight fought affair and I narrowly missed out on the top spot after turning up late and missing a race - hopefully I can sneak ahead this time around!
So, winter is fast approaching and usually some of the best sailing is to be had. I'm looking forward to getting back out on the water to test a few things and get back into the swing of things for my Garda campaign!
Life has been keeping me well occupied lately, so I've only had a brief spin in Shredder at Queen Mary since the Port Talbot regatta. This has mostly been down to a lack of water in the reservoir, which is now sorted so sailing can resume.
In the meantime I've been keeping busy with a bit of mountain biking with a few trips over to the Forest of Dean and some local action in the Mendips. I think cycling is probably the perfect companion for sailing; it's something you can actually do when there is no wind, unlike my other random hobbies like windsurfing and radio yachting! I did however make the mistake of going riding with Doug Pybus. It seems Doug is a bit of a demon on a bike. I couldn't keep up and ended up hitting a tree with very little damage to myself, thankfully! Mr Payne took some of Doug's advice on cycling last year and ended up with a fixie and hilarity ensued. So perhaps the message should be "don't listen to him"!
My early midlife crisis has taken me down to Gosport for a radio multihull open meeting. Everyone takes the piss out of me for this, as it's supposed to be a bit of an old man's sport, but I find it quite intriguing. Trying to get a boat to behave at its best upwind and down with no outside input other than helm and sail control is quite an interesting design challenge. This combined with my limited multihull experience (that's my old mans department!) means I've got my work cut out.
The other aspect I love is being able to watch a race unfold in front of you. When you are actually sailing in a boat it can be quite hard to place yourself on the track against others with regards to shifts and track position. This all plays out for you with models and you can instantly see the effect of line bias, shifts, puffs. I'll be back down there with my tri this Saturday for part two of the club championship. Day one was a tight fought affair and I narrowly missed out on the top spot after turning up late and missing a race - hopefully I can sneak ahead this time around!
So, winter is fast approaching and usually some of the best sailing is to be had. I'm looking forward to getting back out on the water to test a few things and get back into the swing of things for my Garda campaign!
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Port Talbot regatta
Richie Westbury and I joined DJ over at Port Talbot for the Tata Steel regatta on Saturday. We were blessed with 25+ degrees sunshine and 8-10 knots of breeze and had a all round ace time.
Richie now has his Bladerider pretty well pimped now with an Aardvark rudder and new high modulus daggerboard vertical and the results have been pretty impressive with the boat now foiling high and level and I was actually pleasantly surprised with it after a brief boat swap towards the end of the day. I think a new Ninja might have found it's way onto his christmas list though!
We did a couple of short course races with lots of laps and a good chance to sort out my awful tacking from Paignton. Finally getting my mojo back and nailing most of them. Hit some pretty good speeds over the course of the day putting in a 24.5 knot best in one of the bigger puffs.
Nick Dallimore took a load of photos which he's kindly letting me put up here... I never get over seeing my old boats sailing around. Must crack on with my new paintjob...
Richie now has his Bladerider pretty well pimped now with an Aardvark rudder and new high modulus daggerboard vertical and the results have been pretty impressive with the boat now foiling high and level and I was actually pleasantly surprised with it after a brief boat swap towards the end of the day. I think a new Ninja might have found it's way onto his christmas list though!
We did a couple of short course races with lots of laps and a good chance to sort out my awful tacking from Paignton. Finally getting my mojo back and nailing most of them. Hit some pretty good speeds over the course of the day putting in a 24.5 knot best in one of the bigger puffs.
Nick Dallimore took a load of photos which he's kindly letting me put up here... I never get over seeing my old boats sailing around. Must crack on with my new paintjob...
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Post Paignton
Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. The run up to Paignton was pretty manic getting Shredder vaguely sailable and after catching up with work a potential house move is interfering with the important task of Moth blogging.
Paignton was a success for me as far as I'm concerned! I managed to get the setup pretty much bang on for the first sail and in a marginal first race came in second. The breeze picked up a bit for the rest of the weekend and I proved incapable of tacking but started getting back on it by the final race to grab third overall from Andrew Friend who is really starting to get rapid in the Dazzle Moth.
I was especially pleased with the light airs stuff on Saturday as I was running a variant of the Skinny Ninja foils with 10% (hell, it worked for Rohan so why not eh?) off the span of both foils. I was still foiling about as early as Chris who has a bit of weight on me, but still earlier than the other boats I was around. There maybe a bit of potential for more to come off yet in my pursuit of that elusive 30 knots although I don't want to end up with a one trick pony thats only any good in 10 knots plus!
Paignton was probably the nicest weekends sailing I've had this year with good breezes and good competition. More of that please!
The Bristol crew are starting to get active again. Badger has a new high modulus daggerboard vertical in his Bladerider after an unfortunate incident with a faulty spare foil and a lack of manufacturer to send it back to! Darren had a prodder malfunction on his Prowler while Leo is threatening to get the saw out on Wasabi the Pimp Ninja. Hopefully Tom will be joining us again this winter too with potential for DJ and Richie Westbury to be sailing at Cheddar too - should be great to get some momentum going...
Stay tuned!
Friday, 23 September 2011
The Stealth Moth - Boatyard camo
I couldn't let Andrews Dazzle camo Moth go sailing without a fellow stealthy vessel and taking my inspiration from a lack of time I present the Stealth Moth/Boatyard camo. Basically I've primed it and polished it with the intention of abusing the boat for a few months before it receives it's silly paintscheme!
I've just finished roping the boat up this afternoon and she's now ready for the high seas of the English Riviera - that makes it two opens this year where I've launched a boat for the first time! Hopefully something I won't be doing again for quite a while...
I've just finished roping the boat up this afternoon and she's now ready for the high seas of the English Riviera - that makes it two opens this year where I've launched a boat for the first time! Hopefully something I won't be doing again for quite a while...
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
All quiet on the Weston front
Life in Weston Super Mare has been pretty quiet lately. I sold my boat to DJ Edwards straight after Travemunde and have been getting my new one together slowly. This means no sailing (not full size anyway). It also means I will have a boat all through winter and will keep this one through to Garda, which means an uninterrupted run-up to a big event - something I've never managed before because I thought I knew better!
The new boat is mostly tweaks, with a few things taken onboard from Mr Rashley and a couple of things I've been meaning to do for a while. Hopefully I will be back on the water by Torbay albeit with a non-standard set of foils initially while the foil moulds go back to my good friends at Fathomtree in Nottingham in for a couple of tweaks while I'm on a well earned holiday!
Anyway. Enjoy this piece of vanity - should keep my sponsors happy! Thanks Anya!
The new boat is mostly tweaks, with a few things taken onboard from Mr Rashley and a couple of things I've been meaning to do for a while. Hopefully I will be back on the water by Torbay albeit with a non-standard set of foils initially while the foil moulds go back to my good friends at Fathomtree in Nottingham in for a couple of tweaks while I'm on a well earned holiday!
Anyway. Enjoy this piece of vanity - should keep my sponsors happy! Thanks Anya!
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