Ninja + old foils = Ninja Squirrel

With a busy few weeks of moving house and post dinghy show sorting out I still haven't got as far as new foil moulds for the Ninja project so I have been taking my spare moments where I can find them and making all the bits from Secret Squirrel fit the new boat and setting up wands and the like. Colours aren't especially tasteful mind as the pink clashes with the green!

Today should have been a good opportunity for a test sail in the new boat but unfortunately it was blowing 30 knots so I went off blast around the Mendips on my mtb instead and found a nice little downhill spot which I hadn't spotted on my previous rides.

Wait and see for the weekend - unfortunately I don't have a lot of time on Saturday and have to do race duty cover on the Sunday. Not much time for a workup before Hayling at Easter and the following open meeting...

Dinghy show in piccies

Mostly non Moth stuff, but in no particular order...

Daniel Holmans' new Punk dinghy, interesting take on the hiking singlehander with a modified windsurfer boomed Finn rig.


Rondar N12. Right idea, poorly styled but it does come in at a price point...



Dan Kembles Banshee Cherub. Most fun looking 2 hander in the show!



New Tomahawk singlehander developed by Linton at Fullforce. Apparently its going to pace a Moth downwind with its surface ventilated foils but frankly I can see nothing but drag...



Bladerider RX. Interesting bolt together stylee wing frame and a welded gantry and prodder and supposedly more affordable but its still well over 10K...
Sam Pascoe demonstrating the sun lounging capabilities of the 600FF!
Star of the show - the Mini foiler! Could have sold quite a few of these so best get a move on with the new moulds...

The new Ninja - far and away the least tastefull paint scheme of the show - lots of admiring looks and good feedback despite the colour!

The Moth stand in whole. Si Payne did a great job pulling us all together and even dragging the ever humble master of foils John Ilet over from Aus showing off his "Aircooled" from the worlds last year.

Dinghy Show

First day of the dinghy show over and done with now, got some proper photos on my SLR, but haven't got that far yet! Will report fully on Foiler shenanigins when I get back to reality...

For now, you will have to put up with the iPhone piccy here: The Ninja in all her glory.

Sunday sailing

After a mad saturday combination of working on the new boat and packing up Tom Whicher's v.4 with its new owner en-route to Maastricht I finally got out on the water on Sunday.
Martin turned up late but my brother and I got his boat rigged and ready for him while waiting for our start to come around. It was a pretty light race with a leg or two of non-foiling but it was a good chance to get out and enjoy the bright sunshine and nice weather after a fair while of snow/rain/cold.
The second race was a bit full on - the wind had picked up to over 20 knots at times and the top mark and second mark were right up in the corner of the lake in the really shifty gusty bit, leading to a few capsizes and a very hairy top reach.
Managed to lap most of the fleet in both races but until I get the times from the races for my PY adjustment session wont really know how well I was going...

There was a good article on the Daily Sail this week about the Mach2 which I'm looking forward to seeing at the Dinghy Show next weekend. I was a bit dissapointed to hear however that we are expecting a reduced turnout at Saundersfoot - its news to me! I don't see why we have to go to some crappy sailing academy to get out best Nationals turnouts and as soon as we go to a nice actual VENUE (rather than place to go sailing, there is a difference...) the UK Moth fleet baulks.
I have already booked my accomodation and I'm looking forward to it. Lets just hope the southern shandy drinkers at HISC decide to come too....