Moth Nationals in Weymouth

The Moth Nationals were held last week down at Weymouth Sailing Academy. All involved had a good week and plenty of fun on and off the water.
Only two of the Bristol Moth Crew were in attendence, Alan Watson and Myself.
The new boat has proved herself finally foiling early,with good pace and now much easier to sail than after Garda. My scoreline improved as the week went on and really could have done without the last two days being canned.

Day one
The 2007 International Moth UK championships got off to a slow start today with a short postponement while waiting for breeze. This gave all in attendance the chance to fiddle, munch on bacon butties and swap war stories from the recent Garda Campaign. With 20 competitors signed up, and a few more on the cards for later in the week, this promises to be a great event (and brilliant practice for next year's worlds, which will be held at the same venue!).

Race One got underway with a good 12 knot breeze and a clean start. Jason Belben in his Prowler took an early lead, hotly pursued by Adam May in his Weapon and Sam Pascoe sailing his Mistress 3. These three, along with Alex Adams, each showed a clean pair of heels to the rest of the fleet and broke free from the pack. After some chopping and changing at the top end, Adam took first from Jason, Sam came in third, with Alex finishing 4th

Race Two saw the same few faces break away, although there was a much bigger gap between Sam and the rest. He disappeared into the distance, leaving Adam and Jason to battle it out for second - with Adam finally sneaking ahead to take the silver. Ricky Tagg showed some great bursts of speed and finished in fourth. Another one to watch out for is Tim Boon, who has great speed out of the blocks and on the downhill legs.

In Race Three, with the wind dropping from 15 knots to 10, the top three folk remained the same, although they swapped around again, with Jason taking first, Sam in second and Adam third. Alex Adams returned to take fourth again in this race and Ricky came in fifth.

So, a round of the event so far: 3 competitors are tied for first place and only one point separating the current 5th and 6th (with Ricky Tagg on 15 and Tim Boon on 16). First low-rider is currently Russ Wheeler, who resides in 13th place. Here's to more sun and breeze tomorrow!

Top 5:
1st Jason Belben
1st Sam Pascoe
1st Adam May
4th Ricky Tagg
5th Tim Boon

Day two
Mike C: Some large holes in the shadow of Portland made for some entertaining sailing and some interesting tactical choices, as to whether to avoid the light patches or take the direct routes giving plenty of overtaking options. Jason Belben had a storming start to the day winning the first two races from Sam Pascoe with Adam May taking third in both. Adam however returned to form for the final race taking first from Jason in an ever lightening breeze Sam came in third nearly losing out to the lighter Alex Adams and Mike Cooke who were still foiling up the last beat. Russ Wheeler was king of the low riders today with an 8th in the light airs of the final race.

Day three

Poor visibility and 20 knots on the harbour wall caused a short delay, allowing hangovers to be cured, after Sam Pascoe's birthday bash the previous night. Once out on the water however it was a different story with 15 knots blowing, which slowly died off throughout the day. Jason continued his fine form taking the first race from Sam with Adam in third. Adam then took the second race from Jason then Sam with Alex Adams fourth in both. The final race saw some big lulls making continuous foiling the key and finding the breeze. Jason again came out on top with Adam again in second and a close fought battle for third between Alex and Mike saw Alex come out on top on the final reach of the course.
The racing for the top three is extremely close with the smallest mistakes being penalised in this fast paced racing.

Tomorrow sees only one race, with a foil school being run in the afternoon. Should be good!

Overall position

1st Jason Belben
2nd Adam May
3rd Sam Pascoe
4th Alex Adams
5th Ricky Tagg
6th Mike Cooke
7th Rod Harris
8th Paul Hayden
9th Tim Boon
10th Russ Wheeler (1st Low rider)


Day four

Today only saw one race as the fleet had decided on a session of foil school in the afternoon to try and help newcomers with some boat setup advice and a bit of video coaching.

Jason Belben made a premature start and had to return allowing Simon Payne (just arrived) to head up the fleet followed by Alex Adams, Sam Pascoe and Mike Cooke. Jason was however very fast through the fleet and by the end of the first lap was battling it out for the lead with Simon. These two were so engrossed in their battle for the lead that they missed out the windward gate resulting in a DSQ!
Alex Adams lead at the finish, closely followed by Adam May who had fast recovered from a poor start with Sam not far behind and Ricky Tagg taking fourth at the line.

Foil School in the afternoon saw the opportunity to show off near the cameras and try and throw some manoeuvres in, to show how it should - and shouldn't be done. A video debrief in the evening along with some BBQ action provided much entertainment.

Overall results after four days of racing:

1st Jason Belben
2nd Adam May
3rd Sam Pascoe
4th Alex Adams
5th Ricky Tagg
6th Mike Cooke
7th Rod Harris
8th Tim Boon
9th Paul Hayden
10th Russ Wheeler (1st low rider)

Day five

The crash test team was sent out to assess the situation, only to discover that it was in fact very very windy. After a brief display by the pros (and a bit of mast-breaking action from King Payne) they came back to tell everyone else to stop rigging, as racing was canned for the day with 30 knot gusts going through.
Sam decided the rest of the series should be decided with some bowling instead and everyone headed off into Weymouth for an evening of entertainment (had masts been involved, there would certainly have been a few more breakages).
Racing is due to carry on on Thursday for the final races although the forecast is looking pretty bleak...

Day Six

The final day of the 2007 Moth Nationals started with over thirty knots blowing on the harbour wall. The Race officer made the difficult decision to call off racing early, which turned out to be the right option as the weather deteriorated even more throughout the day.

This left Jason Belben as the overall winner after a close fought series with local boy Adam May in second place and his Weymouth buddy Sam Pascoe in third. Alex Adams has shown himself to be a contender in the future, taking a race win and giving the top three a run for their money in most of the races. Ricky Tagg put in a solid performance to take fifth after a close run week with Mike Cooke; these two were the only ones to occasionally break up the top four.

A good spread of equipment is being used at the front of the fleet with only mistakes separating the positions at the top. The two Bladeriders in attendance through the week were unfortunately plagued by teething troubles, although they do seem to have the pace.

In total 24 boats made the trip to Weymouth for a fantastic week of close racing, tip-sharing and stunt performing. The mid-week foil school was enjoyed by all in attendance, with those at the top of the fleet taking out boats from lower down and making sure they were set-up for achieving their maximum potential. All-in-all these nationals were a great success and the GBR International Moth team cannot wait to return to the venue for the World Championships next year...and fighting for/beating the Aussies in the Ashes.

Overall Results:
1st 4090 Jason Belben Prowler KA Sail Fastacraft foils
2nd 4098 Adam May Mistress 3v KA Sail Fastacraft foils
3rd 4093 Sam Pascoe Mistress 3 KA Sail Fullforce foils
4th 4082 Alex Adams Mistress 3 KA Sail Fullforce foils
5th 4094 Ricky Tagg Mistress 3 KA Sail Fullforce foils
6th 4099 Mike Cooke Axiom v3 Hyde Sail Aardvark foils

1st Lowrider - Russ Wheeler - Hungry tiger
1st Youth - Claire Dallimore - Magnum 9.9
1st Lady helm - Claire Dallimore
1st Junior - Douggie Imrie - Skippy
1st Master - Jason Belben
1st Veteran - Ricky Tagg
1st Wide boat - Claire Dallimore