Well another new year is about to rear its head and that always provides an opportunity for reminiscing. It's been a strange one from my point of view - I've done the least amount of sailing since I was about 7 and not through choice! I've tried pretty hard to go sailing and put the hours in but I've spent ages at the whim of weather, multiple club duties and now an empty lake. At some point you have to decide at what level you intend to compete and so far I have seen little point in driving hours across the country just to train but have come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to put the hours in! I know the boat is faster than ever and the TideRide proved that despite my rustyness so just the mission of getting back to racing fitness and getting on top of the boat handling again...
I suppose with the size of the UK and the broadness of sailing we have over here it's easy to take for granted what we have and while I am in a bit of a black hole in the country with only one club I could sail at, within 2-3 hours I could be at any one of a number of clubs with a load of other Moths enjoying some time on the water.
This has been one of my opposing thoughts on the wing topic in that in the UK we do travel frequently by trailer/cartop and hard sails would be a burden on that - not an insurmountable one certainly but a burden nonetheless and having had a chance to catch up with Adam over the Christmas period and check out his wing hasn't really alleviated my concerns in this area. Even the best case of it breaking down into 4 pieces still won't fit on a car and would need a large trailer (or a VW transporter, lucky me!). Don't even get me starting on the SA (stupid americans) forum wars. Too many people not knowing when to stfu, along with my favorite - I don't know who in their right mind believes there is an "anti wing lobby" makes it sound like the Illuminati is out to get us....
It's the usual exciting time in Mothland with Blog reports starting to come out (Matt Knowles has been excellent) and I'm looking forward to hearing all about it and wishing I was there. Someone asked me while I was feeling grumpy on Facebook how I could afford not to be there and I can see the sentiment but it's the harsh reality of self employment (and building things at that) in that just affording to go is only half the battle but it's what you can afford to miss out on workwise that's far more important. Those who can telecommute have it easy but nothing gets made while I'm gone...
Anyway. Looking forward - the Bristol Mothies are in good spirits despite not having been on the lake since September (July in my case!), and we all met up a couple of weeks back in Bath for drinks to catchup. It's been all change though, with Tom Offer picking up a Mach2, Simon Hindley sellling his Prowler to make way for the Turtle and me working on the 2011 boat and foils... Names and silly colour schemes on a postcard!
The winter silly season is kicking off with the Grafham GP this Sunday (sorry, too far for me for one day!) and the Bloody Mary the following Saturday which usually attracts a good bunch of Moths and I'm hoping for +figure temperatures at least...
Heres to 2011. May my blog posts be shorter and more interesting.
Friday, 31 December 2010
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Bristol Moth ice skating squadron
The recent cold spell, combined with the lack of water means the lake has now frozen over! What little sailing they were trying to run at BCYC has been canned for this weekend. Fingers cross it lets up enough to thaw out and that Bristol Water start filling up again.
Thankfully there has been no wind lately so I coulnd't have been sailing elsewhere! Aus is looking more and more sensible by the minute...
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Bristol Moth tea drinking squadron
Still no water. Rumour has it it's up a bit over the last few weeks and I'm hoping we'll be sailing again within a week...
Fingers crossed. I'm starting to forget what my boat looks like!
Fingers crossed. I'm starting to forget what my boat looks like!
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Solid Sail Society
I'm still not a fully paid up member of this exclusive club. I've been thinking about it for a while but it is not that straightforward. Building a wing itself seems pretty easy but the rule interpretations around it and the fact that the measurers themselves can't agree on even the basics without resorting to throwing one design insults means I'm just not ready to jump yet.
The recently published rule interpretations surrounding the adoption of wings lends more to my feeling that it's a square peg, round hole argument. The rules as they stand obviously aren't worded or built to cope with wings which has left the whole thing open for some pretty wild assumptions and it's going to be interesting to see what appears in Belmont and how it goes down with those attending.
As it stands, regardless of whether the mast is a mast and the bit on the back is a sail the only reason the whole system works is because it behaves as two sails and that simple fact puts me on the side that they probably shouldn't be allowed at all!
There are those who say that we are a development class and we should allow it but the flaw in that argument is that we have banned multihulls, sailboards and have limits on things for very good reasons. Whether a wing rig is something the class wants remains to be seen but I am very hopeful that decisions aren't made in Belmont without consulting the rest of us. Those that can afford to get there in the first place have a very different perspective on things...
Rant over - I'm off to Hayling to help out with the class coaching this weekend. The reservoir is filling back up and will hopefully be mothable in a couple of weeks time. in the mean time I've made another toy that only needs 8 inches of water to go sailing!
The recently published rule interpretations surrounding the adoption of wings lends more to my feeling that it's a square peg, round hole argument. The rules as they stand obviously aren't worded or built to cope with wings which has left the whole thing open for some pretty wild assumptions and it's going to be interesting to see what appears in Belmont and how it goes down with those attending.
As it stands, regardless of whether the mast is a mast and the bit on the back is a sail the only reason the whole system works is because it behaves as two sails and that simple fact puts me on the side that they probably shouldn't be allowed at all!
There are those who say that we are a development class and we should allow it but the flaw in that argument is that we have banned multihulls, sailboards and have limits on things for very good reasons. Whether a wing rig is something the class wants remains to be seen but I am very hopeful that decisions aren't made in Belmont without consulting the rest of us. Those that can afford to get there in the first place have a very different perspective on things...
Rant over - I'm off to Hayling to help out with the class coaching this weekend. The reservoir is filling back up and will hopefully be mothable in a couple of weeks time. in the mean time I've made another toy that only needs 8 inches of water to go sailing!
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Tide Ride shenanigins
Hayling laid on its finest conditions for a weekend of riding the tide. With the demise of Holt last year the event was lacking the usual push and turnout was down by all classes and the 800s and Mustos got canned at the last minute due to a lack on entries.
So 17 boats took to the harbour for a load of short sharp racing, enough to blow the cobwebs away and sort out rusty boat handling. I had my new Hyde back up after a small luff round mod to flatten off the bottom 1/2 of the sail which resulted in some more upwind pace and I spent Saturday battling it out with Mike L and Si. I felt I was generally as fast upwind but quicker down while my racing was littered with the usual mistakes and dropped maneuvers, the sort of thing that not going sailing much does to you!
Saturday night saw a few mothies chilling out at the sailing club with Ben Paton feeding Pete Barton many rums, tequilas and anything else he could find and the look on Pete's face in the morning said it all!
Sunday got pretty hectic with a lot of chop and traffic crossing the course. We were running the gibing slalom course which was highly entertaining although I spent quite a while going down the mine and managed at least one lap of one race failing to land a single gibe - I managed one near flawless race in the lead but one more fluffed gibe let Mike through! It's pretty scary the distance that one mistake can cost you!
Quite a bit of random damage over the weekend, with two tillers sat on, one mainsail under the jetty, one downed rig and one rudder attached to one of the marks - would have been interesting to see how a solid sail would have coped with the many stacks and HISC sand!
Chris Bashall took load of photos which are on his website here.
So with winter ahead and still no water at the sailing club there's not going to be a lot of sailing for the near future at least which leaves me pondering wings and things...
So 17 boats took to the harbour for a load of short sharp racing, enough to blow the cobwebs away and sort out rusty boat handling. I had my new Hyde back up after a small luff round mod to flatten off the bottom 1/2 of the sail which resulted in some more upwind pace and I spent Saturday battling it out with Mike L and Si. I felt I was generally as fast upwind but quicker down while my racing was littered with the usual mistakes and dropped maneuvers, the sort of thing that not going sailing much does to you!
Saturday night saw a few mothies chilling out at the sailing club with Ben Paton feeding Pete Barton many rums, tequilas and anything else he could find and the look on Pete's face in the morning said it all!
Sunday got pretty hectic with a lot of chop and traffic crossing the course. We were running the gibing slalom course which was highly entertaining although I spent quite a while going down the mine and managed at least one lap of one race failing to land a single gibe - I managed one near flawless race in the lead but one more fluffed gibe let Mike through! It's pretty scary the distance that one mistake can cost you!
Quite a bit of random damage over the weekend, with two tillers sat on, one mainsail under the jetty, one downed rig and one rudder attached to one of the marks - would have been interesting to see how a solid sail would have coped with the many stacks and HISC sand!
Chris Bashall took load of photos which are on his website here.
So with winter ahead and still no water at the sailing club there's not going to be a lot of sailing for the near future at least which leaves me pondering wings and things...
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
I'm over here with the wing!
I'm stuck in a circular loop on this one. I've been thinking about it and have got some preliminary ideas on how I'd do it. Just making a wing isn't the problem. Making one without ruining my Mothing is the difficult bit and I agree with Andrew's thoughts on this (see the M2 forum).
I want to go down the club, put my boat together and go sailing. I can do this in 15 minutes. I don't need help to make sure I get the rig up without damaging it. I dont need safe storage in the boat park for said rig as my mast is in 2 pieces under my cover along with my sail and boom. I don't have to worry about getting sand in the moving parts. I don't need a box trailer or van to take it to events as the boat goes on the roof.
The moth has a good track record of not managing development and letting things happen. The single biggest problem with that attitude this time around is that we have so much more to lose than before. Foils transformed the class - it's still ascending now and I can't see wings improving things rather destroying what's been built. The non circuit Mothies I have spoken to believe it's a step too far and it would stop them from joining in. That is a bad thing.
I personally think that a couple of year hold on using hard sails in competition would be the way forward as it would allow things to develop on the side and give the Moth the chance to grow and re-evaluate when more facts are present.
A seperate note:
Are they legal as it stands? A mainsail has to be held by it's luff to a mast as best as I can tell from the ISAF equipment rules which a separated split flap would go against.
My former class had a fairly simple restriction on the sail - it needed to be able to be rolled/folded without damage.
I want to go down the club, put my boat together and go sailing. I can do this in 15 minutes. I don't need help to make sure I get the rig up without damaging it. I dont need safe storage in the boat park for said rig as my mast is in 2 pieces under my cover along with my sail and boom. I don't have to worry about getting sand in the moving parts. I don't need a box trailer or van to take it to events as the boat goes on the roof.
The moth has a good track record of not managing development and letting things happen. The single biggest problem with that attitude this time around is that we have so much more to lose than before. Foils transformed the class - it's still ascending now and I can't see wings improving things rather destroying what's been built. The non circuit Mothies I have spoken to believe it's a step too far and it would stop them from joining in. That is a bad thing.
I personally think that a couple of year hold on using hard sails in competition would be the way forward as it would allow things to develop on the side and give the Moth the chance to grow and re-evaluate when more facts are present.
A seperate note:
Are they legal as it stands? A mainsail has to be held by it's luff to a mast as best as I can tell from the ISAF equipment rules which a separated split flap would go against.
My former class had a fairly simple restriction on the sail - it needed to be able to be rolled/folded without damage.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Monday, 4 October 2010
Bristol Moth Port Talbot invasion
Leo, Simon and I decided we needed another sailing fix, so we braved the Ryder Cup traffic (there was none!) and the rather dubious forecast (it turned out lovely) to head over to Port Talbot and get some sailing in with DJ.
We were greeted by a nice 10-15 knots and a very welcoming Corus SC. After fueling up on a bit of tea and cake we hit the water for a good three hour session. I've got a couple of silly toys on the boat which I wanted to get my head around before heading down to the Tide Ride and thankfully they were both working pretty much as I'd expected. I've also got my 2b Hyde back from Tom so was good to be on the water figuring everything out and trying to get my setup truly sorted.
DJ and I did the middle race of the club regatta, giving a chance to show the locals what the Moth can do and on a short windward leeward course I was lapping the Musto skiff on every other round! While I'm definitely not as polished as I was this time last year I feel I'm getting back into the swing of things before the Moth Winter Champs series kicks off next weekend down at Hayling... Only 8 Moths pre-entered at the moment - GET ON IT!!!
We were greeted by a nice 10-15 knots and a very welcoming Corus SC. After fueling up on a bit of tea and cake we hit the water for a good three hour session. I've got a couple of silly toys on the boat which I wanted to get my head around before heading down to the Tide Ride and thankfully they were both working pretty much as I'd expected. I've also got my 2b Hyde back from Tom so was good to be on the water figuring everything out and trying to get my setup truly sorted.
DJ and I did the middle race of the club regatta, giving a chance to show the locals what the Moth can do and on a short windward leeward course I was lapping the Musto skiff on every other round! While I'm definitely not as polished as I was this time last year I feel I'm getting back into the swing of things before the Moth Winter Champs series kicks off next weekend down at Hayling... Only 8 Moths pre-entered at the moment - GET ON IT!!!
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Bristol Moth Foiltown invasion
Theres been very little in the way of sailing at Axebridge since July now. Bristol water have a problem with one of their other reservoirs and have been using up all our lake! This looks set to continue for the next 4 weeks or so leaving us with very little else to do but go travelling when we can.
Last Sunday had us canning a planned trip to Port Talbot to sail with DJ due to a poor forecast but instead decamping to Weymouth. Foiltown did not disappoint giving us blue skies and 15 ish knots. Joining Foiltown resident Alex Adams were myself, Martin, Darren and Simon and we all got on the water around lunchtime for a good three hour session.
Martin was running a shiny new '10 North letting me play with his old X8 sail as I'd lent my Hyde to Tom Offer for a week in Rock (Tom still hasn't got his replacement sail after the Choppy incident in Switzerland). It was good to get on the water after only one sail myself since Silvaplana and while I struggled to get under the boom with the X8 sail up the boat felt really good. We did a load of windward/leeward, dodging the zone squaddies and generally having a very nice time!
Tom meanwhile has been living it up in Rock with Ninja Tuna, apparently getting out most evenings and playing around with his setups. Based on his progress this year I expect him to give me a good spanking next time we meet on the water!
We're reconvening at Port Talbot with DJ this Sunday if the wind gods play nice. Should be good to get out and play with some new toys I have on the boat and try to remind myself how to tack and gibe!
TIDE RIDE SOON!!!
Monday, 6 September 2010
Silvaplana
I've now had a couple of weeks to mull over the trip to Switzerland and I was hoping hindsight might make it feel a bit rosier but unfortunately I still hate the place!
The sailing itself was actually not too bad and although I struggled to figure the place out it was a nice bit of water to go for a plod around. Unfortunately that was marred by too many boats in too small a space, combined with some lunatic course ideas. The Swiss interpretation of the grand-prix finishing system left much to be desired with many people not getting proper finishes or positions. The split gate at the bottom was too close together and one single Moth on its side in the middle pretty much closed the thing out which, led to quite a few wipeouts and one very scary incident that resulted in one of the first protests I can remember at a Moth event - a Rule 69 no less. It also shouldn't take 8 marks to set a windward/leeward!
The event looked great to pretty much everyone that wasn't there and they did an excellent job in getting the publicity out and to a high standard. I believe the event suffered from a lack of attention elsewhere. Where were the socials? One trip up a mountain for an overpriced school dinner barely qualifies and the event tent was pretty much wholely wasted serving overpriced bowls of pasta and little else. Bearing in mind there was little else to do within a 10 mile radius it should have been the hub of the whole thing...
The money. I knew this place was going to be expensive but we were stung for absolutely everything. 5chf for a jug of tap water, 5 chf to have your pizza cut so you can share it, £50 to have a boat measured, £30 to have a sail measured, road tax on your car, road tax on your trailer, £20+ for a pizza? Seriously? Steak was out of the question, much to Rod's disappointment!
I came away from the whole thing feeling shortchanged (figuratively and literally). I started the week well but made a poor equipment call and lost a race (went to change sails only to have the previously slow race committee turn us around very quickly). I lost another 2 races following a monster wipeout where I damaged the gantry attachment. This left me counting a DNS in my final score, which put me in the low teens rather than top dozen. I also had a pretty successful mental meltdown on the final day despite having tons of pace and put in two shockers, making mistakes left and right, and wasn't helped by being put in on the start by Rob Gough - one of the few times I was actually anywhere near the line!
I've obviously got a lot to work on, but the boat doesn't seem to be one of them. I can't get off a start line to save my life (I haven't sailed in a fleet that big since the early 90s!), my boat handling is all over the place and tactics non-existent. What was good was that when I was near the front I could stay there, providing I didn't do anything stupid!
In the rest of camp Ninja, Jason Belben finished in 10th and definitely showed pace around the course. Ben Paton proved himself to be one to watch in the future, almost breaking into the top ten on the last day after only 4 months in the boat. He rides high and fast and isn't afraid to take risks. The boy is quick!
I'm pretty confident that the best sailors won in Switzerland, rather than the best boats, and Team Ninja are going to step up next season - next stop Travemunde!
The sailing itself was actually not too bad and although I struggled to figure the place out it was a nice bit of water to go for a plod around. Unfortunately that was marred by too many boats in too small a space, combined with some lunatic course ideas. The Swiss interpretation of the grand-prix finishing system left much to be desired with many people not getting proper finishes or positions. The split gate at the bottom was too close together and one single Moth on its side in the middle pretty much closed the thing out which, led to quite a few wipeouts and one very scary incident that resulted in one of the first protests I can remember at a Moth event - a Rule 69 no less. It also shouldn't take 8 marks to set a windward/leeward!
The event looked great to pretty much everyone that wasn't there and they did an excellent job in getting the publicity out and to a high standard. I believe the event suffered from a lack of attention elsewhere. Where were the socials? One trip up a mountain for an overpriced school dinner barely qualifies and the event tent was pretty much wholely wasted serving overpriced bowls of pasta and little else. Bearing in mind there was little else to do within a 10 mile radius it should have been the hub of the whole thing...
The money. I knew this place was going to be expensive but we were stung for absolutely everything. 5chf for a jug of tap water, 5 chf to have your pizza cut so you can share it, £50 to have a boat measured, £30 to have a sail measured, road tax on your car, road tax on your trailer, £20+ for a pizza? Seriously? Steak was out of the question, much to Rod's disappointment!
I came away from the whole thing feeling shortchanged (figuratively and literally). I started the week well but made a poor equipment call and lost a race (went to change sails only to have the previously slow race committee turn us around very quickly). I lost another 2 races following a monster wipeout where I damaged the gantry attachment. This left me counting a DNS in my final score, which put me in the low teens rather than top dozen. I also had a pretty successful mental meltdown on the final day despite having tons of pace and put in two shockers, making mistakes left and right, and wasn't helped by being put in on the start by Rob Gough - one of the few times I was actually anywhere near the line!
I've obviously got a lot to work on, but the boat doesn't seem to be one of them. I can't get off a start line to save my life (I haven't sailed in a fleet that big since the early 90s!), my boat handling is all over the place and tactics non-existent. What was good was that when I was near the front I could stay there, providing I didn't do anything stupid!
In the rest of camp Ninja, Jason Belben finished in 10th and definitely showed pace around the course. Ben Paton proved himself to be one to watch in the future, almost breaking into the top ten on the last day after only 4 months in the boat. He rides high and fast and isn't afraid to take risks. The boy is quick!
I'm pretty confident that the best sailors won in Switzerland, rather than the best boats, and Team Ninja are going to step up next season - next stop Travemunde!
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Silvaplana pictures
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| Action man Paton - one to watch I think... |
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| Brief appearance of the Ellway mk2 |
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| Special Agent Barton - weeks most improved |
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| Mr Pybus in Lola |
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| Turtle in action |
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| Doug proud of his latest sponsor |
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| A rare smile on my face! |
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| 4 Ninjas in the icy water |
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| Phil's branding is a bit subtle... |
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| Whereas James' will sell many tractors... |
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| Martin peaked too soon! Fastest BR on the lake though... |
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| Katherine sporting the mini rig |
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Where do you spend your time?
Si's blog post about the May/Beer wing (kudos to Adam and Kev) has got me thinking. How do you decide where to focus your time on a campaign? Those of us without coaches or squaddie experience tend to have more of a point and shoot focus on sailing. Get in boat, go race.
But a Moth is more of a challenge than that. Do you focus on design and hope to get the leap on people with pure boatspeed. This is a tricky one as you have to be happy that you know the state of the art and know you can do better. I suspect as more and more people become adept at handling Moths that more focus will come onto this but the gains will be smaller and smaller.
Do you focus on handling - being able to nail one more tack and gibe than the next man has got to help
Tactics?
Who knows. I know I spend most of mine in the workshop working on other things!
Anyway, Martin and myself braved the weedy lake that is currently Cheddar for a quick sail yesterday. I was out for a blast checking new foil setups (vastly improved on the Nationals!) and testing out my new standard Hyde which I am very pleased with. Martin has a trial Skinny Ninja rudder on the back of his Bladerider which appears to be doing the business. Will be interesting to see how he gets on with it.
Training at Stokes Bay this weekend before the long drive out to Switzerland. Should be getting out there on Monday evening and hoping for a nice few days of mountain biking, bimbling and the occasional sail with Martin and Rodders. Anyone else out there early?
But a Moth is more of a challenge than that. Do you focus on design and hope to get the leap on people with pure boatspeed. This is a tricky one as you have to be happy that you know the state of the art and know you can do better. I suspect as more and more people become adept at handling Moths that more focus will come onto this but the gains will be smaller and smaller.
Do you focus on handling - being able to nail one more tack and gibe than the next man has got to help
Tactics?
Who knows. I know I spend most of mine in the workshop working on other things!
Anyway, Martin and myself braved the weedy lake that is currently Cheddar for a quick sail yesterday. I was out for a blast checking new foil setups (vastly improved on the Nationals!) and testing out my new standard Hyde which I am very pleased with. Martin has a trial Skinny Ninja rudder on the back of his Bladerider which appears to be doing the business. Will be interesting to see how he gets on with it.
Training at Stokes Bay this weekend before the long drive out to Switzerland. Should be getting out there on Monday evening and hoping for a nice few days of mountain biking, bimbling and the occasional sail with Martin and Rodders. Anyone else out there early?
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Weymouth Road trip
Tom Offer and myself packed up the boats early this morning for a quick trip down to Foiltown (Not sure why we still call it that - Nostalgia maybe?) to get some weed free sailing in.
Turned out to be a cracking day for it and joining Me and Tom were Doug Pybus, Alex Adams and Helen Rollinson and later on in the day Adam May and Katherine Knight were spotted out as well although they launched from the Academy while we were all hiding on the beach at Castle Cove. The wind gods treated us well with a 15+ knot Westerly giving us all a chance to stretch out sea legs and blow the cobwebs away.
Alex also obliged with a bit of a measuring session as I've got my new Hyde, plus the Ellway sail to get sorted so I'm not panicking and running around Silvaplana. Speaking of which - 8 days till loadup!
Really looking forward to it. 80 boats... I think this is probably this years real world championships - a sign if any that 2 worlds within 8 months of each other were too many and hopefully a mistake the class wont make again.
Turned out to be a cracking day for it and joining Me and Tom were Doug Pybus, Alex Adams and Helen Rollinson and later on in the day Adam May and Katherine Knight were spotted out as well although they launched from the Academy while we were all hiding on the beach at Castle Cove. The wind gods treated us well with a 15+ knot Westerly giving us all a chance to stretch out sea legs and blow the cobwebs away.
Alex also obliged with a bit of a measuring session as I've got my new Hyde, plus the Ellway sail to get sorted so I'm not panicking and running around Silvaplana. Speaking of which - 8 days till loadup!
Really looking forward to it. 80 boats... I think this is probably this years real world championships - a sign if any that 2 worlds within 8 months of each other were too many and hopefully a mistake the class wont make again.
Friday, 30 July 2010
Minor Bristol Mothing
Not much has been going on since the Nationals. Tom and Alan have been off with their boats to Rock and Falmouth respectively to get in some sneaky practice away from my watchful gaze!
I got out for my first post Nationals sail on Wednesday with Tom only to be greeted by 20-25 knots and piles off weed lying around the lake making it less pleasant than needed. We've both decided to scarper off down to Foiltown on Saturday to try and get some real sailing in - time is running out before hitting the road to Silvaplana and I feel rusty!
On the tinkering front I've been busy butchering cams with the aim of trying to fit an extra one in the head of the sail to alleviate a bit of a crease that has appeared which has really smoothed out the head of the sail and given a much more progressive camber up the sail as it seemed to be flattening out too early in the top. I haven't yet decided whether to use the new Ellway sail at the euro's but it's currently looking good. I've just taken delivery of one of the new standard Hydes so I have a backup...
I got out for my first post Nationals sail on Wednesday with Tom only to be greeted by 20-25 knots and piles off weed lying around the lake making it less pleasant than needed. We've both decided to scarper off down to Foiltown on Saturday to try and get some real sailing in - time is running out before hitting the road to Silvaplana and I feel rusty!
On the tinkering front I've been busy butchering cams with the aim of trying to fit an extra one in the head of the sail to alleviate a bit of a crease that has appeared which has really smoothed out the head of the sail and given a much more progressive camber up the sail as it seemed to be flattening out too early in the top. I haven't yet decided whether to use the new Ellway sail at the euro's but it's currently looking good. I've just taken delivery of one of the new standard Hydes so I have a backup...
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Nationals lessons
Well, I've had a week to sit and ponder on my shortcomings at the Nationals and I think I have figured out what the lesson was. If you are going to take spares, you should be prepared and pretty happy with what you could possibly end up sailing with!
So my mast inexplicably fell down on day one right near the end of race one, leaving me out of race two. I headed back in and started trying to get my head around what I had and what I could make work.
My new mainsail was working better on the stiffer mast I was running and wasn't happy to go back to a bendy mast. I went hunting for a sail that might suit it and 2 boats down the dinghy park found Doug Pybus with a lovely MSL10 that he was prepared to lend.
So on to day two. After some rushing around with ropes and some overnight new shrouds at great expense I rigged up in the morning happy that I had something I could work with - until I tried to launch - first the bottom cam blew seconds after putting the boat into the harbour. Second attempt saw me two tacks in before the whole lot went at once. Third attempt, same deal. Gave up - not something I'm used to having to put up with.
I went back and figured my event was over now anyway as I was now counting DNS's so started rigging up the new Ellway sail as I just wanted to go sailing at this point. After a false start where the cams fell off (highly unusual on a Hyde, mostly to do with the big hole caused by the broken mast!) I finally made it out of the harbour and went to join in the final race of the day. Had pretty good downwind pace but was really struggling for height upwind. Ended up calling it a day after two laps in 5th as my prodder had come unattached and was making some nasty noises (didn't have a spare of that!).
Day three - Found Mike Lennon had a spare 2b (last years sail) which he would lend me and after duck taping an extra number on finally got on the water to see what this Turtle could do. 4th after 2 swims to sort gantry, a 6th after an appalling start and another swim to sort ride height adjuster and 12th after fouling Giovanni on the start line then fluffing my turns leaving me a good half a beat behind and a lot to catch up on. Not too shabby really although a bit rusty and getting myself into situations I would normally spot.
The final day saw a light 6-10 knot breeze and some careful sailing was required. I had a poor first beat but came to the top mark near the lead bunch and clawed my way up to third by the bottom gate. Managed to pull back 200 yards on Si and Arnaud up the next beat and stick with them for a round and just pipping Arnaud down the run when he fluffed his gibe.
The final race of the event had Arnaud and myself battling for the first lap or so before Mike Lennon pulled a flyer and rounded the top mark a couple of hundred yards ahead. I had managed to shake Arnaud in the marginal stuff on the beat and set about reeling Mike back in. Turned out to be not enough racecourse in the end and I finished just behind him.
So plenty of promise in there somewhere. I turned out to be fitter than I thought, faster than I'd hoped while being rustier than I'd expected! New foils felt good, rig was interesting and need more time with it. Team Ninja didn't fare too badly either. Jason Belben was always thereabouts, winning one of the races, Ben Paton, Tom Offer and Pete Barton all got into the top 20 despite sailing Moths for about three months and it was nice to see so many bright coloured boats there. DJ Edwards also managed 8th in his Ninja powered Bladerider!
The event itself was great and the dinghy park had the same camaraderie I've come to expect from Moth events and I'm glad the class continues to be friendly with all the fresh faces coming in.
So my mast inexplicably fell down on day one right near the end of race one, leaving me out of race two. I headed back in and started trying to get my head around what I had and what I could make work.
My new mainsail was working better on the stiffer mast I was running and wasn't happy to go back to a bendy mast. I went hunting for a sail that might suit it and 2 boats down the dinghy park found Doug Pybus with a lovely MSL10 that he was prepared to lend.
So on to day two. After some rushing around with ropes and some overnight new shrouds at great expense I rigged up in the morning happy that I had something I could work with - until I tried to launch - first the bottom cam blew seconds after putting the boat into the harbour. Second attempt saw me two tacks in before the whole lot went at once. Third attempt, same deal. Gave up - not something I'm used to having to put up with.
I went back and figured my event was over now anyway as I was now counting DNS's so started rigging up the new Ellway sail as I just wanted to go sailing at this point. After a false start where the cams fell off (highly unusual on a Hyde, mostly to do with the big hole caused by the broken mast!) I finally made it out of the harbour and went to join in the final race of the day. Had pretty good downwind pace but was really struggling for height upwind. Ended up calling it a day after two laps in 5th as my prodder had come unattached and was making some nasty noises (didn't have a spare of that!).
Day three - Found Mike Lennon had a spare 2b (last years sail) which he would lend me and after duck taping an extra number on finally got on the water to see what this Turtle could do. 4th after 2 swims to sort gantry, a 6th after an appalling start and another swim to sort ride height adjuster and 12th after fouling Giovanni on the start line then fluffing my turns leaving me a good half a beat behind and a lot to catch up on. Not too shabby really although a bit rusty and getting myself into situations I would normally spot.
The final day saw a light 6-10 knot breeze and some careful sailing was required. I had a poor first beat but came to the top mark near the lead bunch and clawed my way up to third by the bottom gate. Managed to pull back 200 yards on Si and Arnaud up the next beat and stick with them for a round and just pipping Arnaud down the run when he fluffed his gibe.
The final race of the event had Arnaud and myself battling for the first lap or so before Mike Lennon pulled a flyer and rounded the top mark a couple of hundred yards ahead. I had managed to shake Arnaud in the marginal stuff on the beat and set about reeling Mike back in. Turned out to be not enough racecourse in the end and I finished just behind him.
So plenty of promise in there somewhere. I turned out to be fitter than I thought, faster than I'd hoped while being rustier than I'd expected! New foils felt good, rig was interesting and need more time with it. Team Ninja didn't fare too badly either. Jason Belben was always thereabouts, winning one of the races, Ben Paton, Tom Offer and Pete Barton all got into the top 20 despite sailing Moths for about three months and it was nice to see so many bright coloured boats there. DJ Edwards also managed 8th in his Ninja powered Bladerider!
The event itself was great and the dinghy park had the same camaraderie I've come to expect from Moth events and I'm glad the class continues to be friendly with all the fresh faces coming in.
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Torbay Photos
Emma took a load of photos while out on Terry's gin boat on Friday which I've uploaded to my FlickR page. The originals are massive, so if you want any of them to print out yourself for posterity please get in touch (£5 a time?).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aardvarkissues/
Proper report to follow, including the story of how I only managed 20th and only finished 5 races! Rockin'...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aardvarkissues/
Proper report to follow, including the story of how I only managed 20th and only finished 5 races! Rockin'...
Friday, 9 July 2010
Nationals day one
Well my defence of the nationals got off to a pretty appaling start.
I was finding my upwind speed was pretty much on par with everyone but I had enough depth downwind to more than make up for my tactical errors on the beats. After clawing myself into contention with the top bunch, trading places with Ricky Tagg and Jason Belben my mast folded up going up the last beat leaving me dissasembling and cutting ropes in the water.
Thankfully I have spares and have now borrowed an MSL10 from Doug Pybus. Spent most of yesterday evening reroping and sorting shrouds...
What fun!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I was finding my upwind speed was pretty much on par with everyone but I had enough depth downwind to more than make up for my tactical errors on the beats. After clawing myself into contention with the top bunch, trading places with Ricky Tagg and Jason Belben my mast folded up going up the last beat leaving me dissasembling and cutting ropes in the water.
Thankfully I have spares and have now borrowed an MSL10 from Doug Pybus. Spent most of yesterday evening reroping and sorting shrouds...
What fun!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Forming an opinion
Well the nationals is finally upon us for another year and with the lack of any form guides on the web I'm sitting in my hotel writing one before heading down to the club!
Top gun has to be Simon Payne. He's world number one for a reason and while he's not had much time on the water that has never stopped him before.
Jason Belben is my next pick. He sails a lot and has had the better of Payne in several nationals - more likely to shine given a lighter regatta.
Mike Lennon has been sailing hard all year and has seems to be on top of his sail development with some cracking looking new rags. Very fast but too many toys in his boat for my liking...
I think Jason Russell is going to surprise a lot of people this year. He's fit and sails hard and has obviously been training hard at HISC.
I tipped DJ Edwards last year and the boyo let me down in the epic saundersfoot conditions. I still think he could be up there as he is a smart sailor with probably on of the best sorted bladeriders going. Perhaps the shifty Torbay breeze will play to his strengths?
As usual, I'm not tipping myself. I've barely sailed, have a ridiculous rig and some experimental sails. Maybe it will all come together... Just maybe!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Top gun has to be Simon Payne. He's world number one for a reason and while he's not had much time on the water that has never stopped him before.
Jason Belben is my next pick. He sails a lot and has had the better of Payne in several nationals - more likely to shine given a lighter regatta.
Mike Lennon has been sailing hard all year and has seems to be on top of his sail development with some cracking looking new rags. Very fast but too many toys in his boat for my liking...
I think Jason Russell is going to surprise a lot of people this year. He's fit and sails hard and has obviously been training hard at HISC.
I tipped DJ Edwards last year and the boyo let me down in the epic saundersfoot conditions. I still think he could be up there as he is a smart sailor with probably on of the best sorted bladeriders going. Perhaps the shifty Torbay breeze will play to his strengths?
As usual, I'm not tipping myself. I've barely sailed, have a ridiculous rig and some experimental sails. Maybe it will all come together... Just maybe!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, 5 July 2010
Weekend sailing
We very nearly had all 7 of us out on Saturday but a bit of boatwork got in the way. I was still trying to get all my lines in order/trimmed to length and in amongst that and tea drinking/chatting with the various Bristol Moth crew whom I'd not seen most of in a very long time it my boatwork took far longer than it ever should.
So, on Saturday Simon, Leo, Martin and Darren all got out on the water and all showing good signs of improvement. Darren's Prowler is now rebehaving after diagnosing a control system lockup which was stopping his flap going down more than halfway. Simon was back out after a long period off the water due to work commitments and while his boat is currently for sale I think he's reconsidering it. Martin was back out practicing with his KA sail as the North has gone back to be repaired again. Leo however was smoking around the lake - recording a 25 knots top speed in his 5 year old boat! He's also now starting to nail his gibes as the old girl gets more and more tuned up.
Sunday saw Tom, Martin and myself joined out on the water by DJ from Port Talbot. We got out for about three hours in a gusty southerly topping out at around 18 knots. We did our own windward leeward course and all waited around the bottom before restarting and going around again. It was awesome to be back on the water and the Turtle is showing good early promise with a new personal best for me of 24.1 knots. Everything feels stiff and is working as it should and just have to remind myself quite how all this sailing lark works.
Not sure if I'll fit any more sailing in between now and the start of the Nationals on Thursday. Needless to say I'm really looking forward to it and hope to see the biggest Moth nationals fleet for a long time.
So, on Saturday Simon, Leo, Martin and Darren all got out on the water and all showing good signs of improvement. Darren's Prowler is now rebehaving after diagnosing a control system lockup which was stopping his flap going down more than halfway. Simon was back out after a long period off the water due to work commitments and while his boat is currently for sale I think he's reconsidering it. Martin was back out practicing with his KA sail as the North has gone back to be repaired again. Leo however was smoking around the lake - recording a 25 knots top speed in his 5 year old boat! He's also now starting to nail his gibes as the old girl gets more and more tuned up.
Sunday saw Tom, Martin and myself joined out on the water by DJ from Port Talbot. We got out for about three hours in a gusty southerly topping out at around 18 knots. We did our own windward leeward course and all waited around the bottom before restarting and going around again. It was awesome to be back on the water and the Turtle is showing good early promise with a new personal best for me of 24.1 knots. Everything feels stiff and is working as it should and just have to remind myself quite how all this sailing lark works.
Not sure if I'll fit any more sailing in between now and the start of the Nationals on Thursday. Needless to say I'm really looking forward to it and hope to see the biggest Moth nationals fleet for a long time.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Flying Turtle
Wednesday saw Ninja Turtle take to the water/skies. My box of goodies from Hyde arrived just in time for me to roll out to Cheddar and get rigged.
Tom Offer was out there in my old boat getting some time in before the Nationals next week and is looking pretty tidy after having been firmly bitten by the bug.
Suffice to say, everything on the new boat went very nicely. The mk2 version of Kevin's mainsail design looks really good (props to Hyde) and I've got a few days of practice and fiddling to try and get the most out of the new foils and controls.
Terry (spar making Aardvark) has done me a cool 2 piece HM mast with interchangeable top sections so in theory I can gear up or down depending on the breeze but will have to see how they look rigged up first before getting too carried away!
All in all, very pleased with things. Unfortunately I just don't think I'm going to be fit enough to last a full regatta...
Tom Offer was out there in my old boat getting some time in before the Nationals next week and is looking pretty tidy after having been firmly bitten by the bug.
Suffice to say, everything on the new boat went very nicely. The mk2 version of Kevin's mainsail design looks really good (props to Hyde) and I've got a few days of practice and fiddling to try and get the most out of the new foils and controls.
Terry (spar making Aardvark) has done me a cool 2 piece HM mast with interchangeable top sections so in theory I can gear up or down depending on the breeze but will have to see how they look rigged up first before getting too carried away!
All in all, very pleased with things. Unfortunately I just don't think I'm going to be fit enough to last a full regatta...
Monday, 28 June 2010
All work and no play
Makes Mikey a dull boy... I'm pretty sure Emma has something like that in mind at the moment anyway. Just got back from a holiday in Greece and I'm straight back into the workshop (on a Sunday) trying to get my latest boat together. Ninja Turtle is taking shape and should be on the water by Wednesday (deliveries of sails and stuff better get here!)...
I suspect my late launching and the fact that I've been sailing less than 10 times in 6 months coupled with a load of new toys on the new boat probably means the possibility of conceding my Nationals title to a new champion. The difference between now and 12 months ago is that there are now other Ninja owners who have the potential to carry on in my stead!
I'm feeling a form guide coming on...
I suspect my late launching and the fact that I've been sailing less than 10 times in 6 months coupled with a load of new toys on the new boat probably means the possibility of conceding my Nationals title to a new champion. The difference between now and 12 months ago is that there are now other Ninja owners who have the potential to carry on in my stead!
I'm feeling a form guide coming on...
Friday, 28 May 2010
Final Sail
Been a bit busy lately! Had a few laps of the Prodrive test track in a Lamborghini Gallardo (wedding present c/o Mrs Cooke) last weekend. Also been working all hours getting a new Cherub mould done along with working through the list of Ninja orders - it's great to be so busy but just need to keep on top of things!
Had my final brief sail in Ninja Tuna on Wednesday. Tom was down to go through rigging and launching and the breeze filled in just enough to give me a 20 minute blast and time for him to get some foiling runs in. I'm pretty sure that will be my last sail till the week before the Nationals!
Great prep really - fingers crossed that all my efforts on the new boat show some reward... Luckily my boat handling wasn't too rusty and as long as I keep my fitness up between now and then (windsurfing in greece for a week should help!) I'm sure I will be OK.
I will apologise in advance to those who've gone to the effort of putting on the Poole and Scottish opens as I would normally have been at both and hate to be unsupportive of what circuit has been put on. Got to look at the bigger picture at the moment for once and spending time building rather than sailing has to be done...
Had my final brief sail in Ninja Tuna on Wednesday. Tom was down to go through rigging and launching and the breeze filled in just enough to give me a 20 minute blast and time for him to get some foiling runs in. I'm pretty sure that will be my last sail till the week before the Nationals!
Great prep really - fingers crossed that all my efforts on the new boat show some reward... Luckily my boat handling wasn't too rusty and as long as I keep my fitness up between now and then (windsurfing in greece for a week should help!) I'm sure I will be OK.
I will apologise in advance to those who've gone to the effort of putting on the Poole and Scottish opens as I would normally have been at both and hate to be unsupportive of what circuit has been put on. Got to look at the bigger picture at the moment for once and spending time building rather than sailing has to be done...
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Ninja Tuna Sold!
Edit - SOLD!
Tom Offer, a Musto Skiff sailor from Chew Valley has bought her and will hopefully be joining the Bristol Moth Squadron...
Bearing in mind how little sailing I'm doing at the moment and the fact that I'm building a new boat for the Europeans I've decided to put Ninja Tuna up for sale now...
GBR3618, Ninja Tuna
Built oct 2009, 31KG all up
Harken hardware
2010 Hyde sail, used once
HM Skinny Aardvark mast (353 equivalent) and boom
High modulus rear wing bars (very stiff boat)
Aero profiled compression bars
Ride height bias adjuster
Continuous control lines
Launching trolley
Foil bags
Top cover
Tuned up open meeting winner, ready to win. Can be repainted for £250 if you dont like pink...
£8000 mike '@' aardvarkracing.co.uk
Tom Offer, a Musto Skiff sailor from Chew Valley has bought her and will hopefully be joining the Bristol Moth Squadron...
Bearing in mind how little sailing I'm doing at the moment and the fact that I'm building a new boat for the Europeans I've decided to put Ninja Tuna up for sale now...
GBR3618, Ninja Tuna
Built oct 2009, 31KG all up
Harken hardware
2010 Hyde sail, used once
HM Skinny Aardvark mast (353 equivalent) and boom
High modulus rear wing bars (very stiff boat)
Aero profiled compression bars
Ride height bias adjuster
Continuous control lines
Launching trolley
Foil bags
Top cover
Tuned up open meeting winner, ready to win. Can be repainted for £250 if you dont like pink...
£8000 mike '@' aardvarkracing.co.uk
Team Ninja rule the inlands!
Well done to Top Ninja Jason Belben for winning the inlands this weekend beating Adam May and Ricky Tagg in their M2's along with Ninja Olivier Vidal in 4th. I couldn't make the event this year for various reasons but it was good to see just over 20 boats (6 Ninjas!) made the effort despite a miserable forecast.
I've barely been doing any sailing lately and am unlikely to be doing much for the next month or so as I've got quite a few projects on the go at the moment. Concentrating on the technical bits for now and hopefully leaving enough time to get up to speed - just have to rely on mountain biking to keep my fitness up!
Will keep posting here, so long as the rest of the Bristol crew keep me updated!
I've barely been doing any sailing lately and am unlikely to be doing much for the next month or so as I've got quite a few projects on the go at the moment. Concentrating on the technical bits for now and hopefully leaving enough time to get up to speed - just have to rely on mountain biking to keep my fitness up!
Will keep posting here, so long as the rest of the Bristol crew keep me updated!
Monday, 26 April 2010
Sunday Sailing
We had 4 boats out at the club yesterday enjoying a patchy 4-10 knot breeze.
Darren was out in his Prowler for the second time and while the lighter patches were hard going he's getting the boat going and will be flying fine in no time while Leo was out in the Pimp Ninja making the most of some new setup mods and is flying much earlier and more consistently.
Alan was going great in his Yellow boat and has made some massive improvements in his tacking and is very regularly foiling out the other side. Gibing is still entertaining however! Alan did the second and third races and was pulling out a good lead in the last one when the breeze was at it's most consistent.
I managed the first and second races. The first was heavy on lowriding with a couple of bursts of foiling meaning I just managed to beat the ent's on the water while the second saw a bit more foiling action but managed to keep in the puffs and shifts to keep up with the lead boat (300) while lowriding. I finished a good lap up in the end but don't think it will have been enough!
The crazy sail has some new battens in now, which seems to have fixed a couple of issues, but made another one worse! The sail doesn't gibe itself and you now have to hit it really hard to get the battens across in light airs meaning a mid-gibe-whack technique is called for. It is now flying closer to its design shape and we've got a pretty good idea where to go with the MK2 though however. It's been quite an interesting experience trying to get Kevin's theory to merge with the practical reality of sailmaking. It's great that we have Mike Lennon and the Hyde team on board to try and coax the ideas into reality...
While the breeze hasn't really been playing ball lately I've been getting out and doing some Mountain Biking with Emma. We've got a great playground around here in the mendips and I feel it's doing some good to my fitness - at least this year I might be able to persuade myself into a reasonable shape before the end of the season. Maybe one year I might be able to do that and get some practice in too!
Darren was out in his Prowler for the second time and while the lighter patches were hard going he's getting the boat going and will be flying fine in no time while Leo was out in the Pimp Ninja making the most of some new setup mods and is flying much earlier and more consistently.
Alan was going great in his Yellow boat and has made some massive improvements in his tacking and is very regularly foiling out the other side. Gibing is still entertaining however! Alan did the second and third races and was pulling out a good lead in the last one when the breeze was at it's most consistent.
I managed the first and second races. The first was heavy on lowriding with a couple of bursts of foiling meaning I just managed to beat the ent's on the water while the second saw a bit more foiling action but managed to keep in the puffs and shifts to keep up with the lead boat (300) while lowriding. I finished a good lap up in the end but don't think it will have been enough!
The crazy sail has some new battens in now, which seems to have fixed a couple of issues, but made another one worse! The sail doesn't gibe itself and you now have to hit it really hard to get the battens across in light airs meaning a mid-gibe-whack technique is called for. It is now flying closer to its design shape and we've got a pretty good idea where to go with the MK2 though however. It's been quite an interesting experience trying to get Kevin's theory to merge with the practical reality of sailmaking. It's great that we have Mike Lennon and the Hyde team on board to try and coax the ideas into reality...
While the breeze hasn't really been playing ball lately I've been getting out and doing some Mountain Biking with Emma. We've got a great playground around here in the mendips and I feel it's doing some good to my fitness - at least this year I might be able to persuade myself into a reasonable shape before the end of the season. Maybe one year I might be able to do that and get some practice in too!
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Bristol Moth open
The first International Moth open of 2010 took place on Saturday at Bristol Corinthian yacht club. With a dire forecast for no wind and a few boats still astray after the recent Worlds in Dubai, 10 of the most persistent Mothies took to the skies in a very patchy marginal foiling breeze including three attending their very first Moth event.
Race one took part in the most constant breeze of the day and started off with a tussel between Martin Fear and Chris Bishop in their Bladeriders and Mike Cooke in his Ninja with current national champion Cooke coming out on top making the most of the lighter patches to pull away.
Race two was a brief one lapper as the breeze was veering wildly. Cooke managed to throw away a hundred yard lead on the run watching Bishop sail around the edge of the lake in breeze and foil through the line. Robin Wood took third after a close battle with Gareth Davies.
The final race of the day saw a patchy couple of laps as the last of the breeze faded. Cooke drifted across the line to take the win, closely followed by Alan Watson in his Ninja with Bishop in third.
Overall results:
1st, 3618, Mike Cooke, Ninja, BCYC
2nd, 3511, Chris Bishop, Bladerider, BCYC
3rd, TBA, Alan Watson, Ninja, BCYC
4th, 3330, Robin Wood, Bladerider, British Steel
5th, 3323, Martin Fear, Bladerider, BCYC
6th, 3253, Gareth Davies, Bladerider, Stone SC
7th, 4085, Simon Hindley, Prowler, BCYC
8th, 3371, Leo Carswell, Axiom v1, BCYC
9th, TBA, Thomas Lambert, Ninja, Wilsonian SC
10th, 3495, Jon Peats, Bladerider, Queen Mary
Monday, 5 April 2010
Bristol open this weekend
The first open of the season is this coming weekend at Bristol Corinthian YC. The event is set to be a 3 race series run on the Saturday 10th April starting at 11.30.
Now, I had planned on running a spectator friendly slalom event on the Sunday fitting around the club racing so as not to get in the way but it hasn't panned out particularly well. If anyone would like to stick around and sail on the Sunday in the club racing and do some tuning they will be most welcome and I will find us somewhere to go for grub on the Saturday night. This is a bit frustrating for me as we did something very similar two years ago with great feedback from those at the club about how good it was to watch.
The postcode for finding the club is BS26 2DL. It is pretty well signposted once you get near.
For accommodation, Axebridge is the closest village and Cheddar another good option.
Cheers, hope to see you all there.
Mike Cooke
GBR3618 Ninja Tuna
Now, I had planned on running a spectator friendly slalom event on the Sunday fitting around the club racing so as not to get in the way but it hasn't panned out particularly well. If anyone would like to stick around and sail on the Sunday in the club racing and do some tuning they will be most welcome and I will find us somewhere to go for grub on the Saturday night. This is a bit frustrating for me as we did something very similar two years ago with great feedback from those at the club about how good it was to watch.
The postcode for finding the club is BS26 2DL. It is pretty well signposted once you get near.
For accommodation, Axebridge is the closest village and Cheddar another good option.
Cheers, hope to see you all there.
Mike Cooke
GBR3618 Ninja Tuna
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Queen Mary Coaching Weekend
We had a unprecedented turnout of 16 boats at QMSC over the weekend with plenty of new faces turning out to polish their skills and several people stepping foot in Moths for the first time!
While I will admit that my organisation left a little to be desired, I'm pretty sure everyone left the weekend with some new tricks to ponder over. We have a ton load of footage of people which I am currently sifting through at the moment and getting up onto Youtube. While it won't win any awards for cinematography it does at least allow people to go back over it and see what they were doing.
So thanks to Alex Adams and Doug Pybus for helping out on the water with Phillipe and Helen covering the video on Saturday. James Roche and Ben Sutcliffe helped out with on the water footage on Sunday and some yelling of times for our mini racing sessions...
I had a great weekend and I hope everyone else did too! Heres the first video, I'm afraid it's me as it was the easiest one to pick out of the clips with that sail...
While I will admit that my organisation left a little to be desired, I'm pretty sure everyone left the weekend with some new tricks to ponder over. We have a ton load of footage of people which I am currently sifting through at the moment and getting up onto Youtube. While it won't win any awards for cinematography it does at least allow people to go back over it and see what they were doing.
So thanks to Alex Adams and Doug Pybus for helping out on the water with Phillipe and Helen covering the video on Saturday. James Roche and Ben Sutcliffe helped out with on the water footage on Sunday and some yelling of times for our mini racing sessions...
I had a great weekend and I hope everyone else did too! Heres the first video, I'm afraid it's me as it was the easiest one to pick out of the clips with that sail...
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Sunday sailing
While another world championships was being wrapped up (well done Si), Leo and myself were out enjoying the sunshine and the first double figure (air, but certainly not water!) temperatures of the year with a bit of a sail down at Axebridge.
I did the first race of the day in the blustery 15-20knots which was all over the place at times - it's very difficult trying to test out gear when the wind is like this as the combination of vicious gusts and big shifts mean you can't settle down and get a handle on things. I'm still pretty happy with how the crazy sail is behaving and have a couple of things in mind to improve a couple of its foibles. I'm very keen to sail with it against some fast boats and see how it stacks up as I have effectively been sailing in isolation all winter....
Leo had a wild ride and has posted his first 20 club speed, jumping on the ladder at 21.7 knots! I got very excited by my 25.9 before I spotted the units were in mph - I wondered why my takeoff speeds were a bit high...
Leo wasn't the only new 20+knotter over the weekend, with Jo Evans pushing her Ninja into the 20 knot club down at Stokes Bay which is quite an achievement given the Solent chop!
More sailing this sunday, hopefully team Wales will be joining us, along with a new Mothy in the shape of Darren Mcnamara who was bought Alan's Prowler.
I did the first race of the day in the blustery 15-20knots which was all over the place at times - it's very difficult trying to test out gear when the wind is like this as the combination of vicious gusts and big shifts mean you can't settle down and get a handle on things. I'm still pretty happy with how the crazy sail is behaving and have a couple of things in mind to improve a couple of its foibles. I'm very keen to sail with it against some fast boats and see how it stacks up as I have effectively been sailing in isolation all winter....
Leo had a wild ride and has posted his first 20 club speed, jumping on the ladder at 21.7 knots! I got very excited by my 25.9 before I spotted the units were in mph - I wondered why my takeoff speeds were a bit high...
Leo wasn't the only new 20+knotter over the weekend, with Jo Evans pushing her Ninja into the 20 knot club down at Stokes Bay which is quite an achievement given the Solent chop!
More sailing this sunday, hopefully team Wales will be joining us, along with a new Mothy in the shape of Darren Mcnamara who was bought Alan's Prowler.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Get pumped
Sitting on the sidelines yet again watching another worlds go by is leaving me frustrated. I'm not much of a hindsight person tending to just get on with things and take it on board but this past week has been one of regret! Having spent the winter sailing in light airs alone Dubai looks like it would have been a great Ninja venue. I kinda knew this already but couldn't get excited enough by the venue to get my act together.
The pumping thing has come to the fore again, mostly thanks to Cleans commentary. I feel that if we de-restrict pumping in order to get foiling we are going to have another windsurfing style problem where suddenly you have a fleet of gulls flapping their wings to get started rather than using the finesse that rules currently. The raceboards had a situation when pumping was allowed and suddenly the fitness levels had to increase massively to cope with the increased workload and I feel that will be bad for the class - putting top level competition out of the reach of a 9-5er and favouring those who can go to the gym/sailing all the time.
Being allowed to pump won't mean the heavier guys get more of a level playing field, as the lighter guys will just foil earlier anwyay.
I may be biased as I'm currently not too bad at it, but I find marginal conditions incredibly testing and rewarding - sure you get the frustration as guys foil past you but the challenge of getting going, looking well up the course keeping in the breeze and picking your spot to gybe involves just as much finesse and technique as sheeting on and pelting downhill at 25 knots. As always, sailing is a sport of averages, every dog has his day and those that deal best with whats thrown at them tend to come out on top and if you spend your whole time practicing in 10+ knots you should wholely expect to get your ass handed to you in 5.
Anyway, well done to Amac, a triumph (so far) of brains over brawn. Also well done to Mike Lennon who regularly gets overlooked and is right up there, thanks to a winter of hard work (Aardvark spars help obviously!).
Rant over. Normal service to be resumed...
The pumping thing has come to the fore again, mostly thanks to Cleans commentary. I feel that if we de-restrict pumping in order to get foiling we are going to have another windsurfing style problem where suddenly you have a fleet of gulls flapping their wings to get started rather than using the finesse that rules currently. The raceboards had a situation when pumping was allowed and suddenly the fitness levels had to increase massively to cope with the increased workload and I feel that will be bad for the class - putting top level competition out of the reach of a 9-5er and favouring those who can go to the gym/sailing all the time.
Being allowed to pump won't mean the heavier guys get more of a level playing field, as the lighter guys will just foil earlier anwyay.
I may be biased as I'm currently not too bad at it, but I find marginal conditions incredibly testing and rewarding - sure you get the frustration as guys foil past you but the challenge of getting going, looking well up the course keeping in the breeze and picking your spot to gybe involves just as much finesse and technique as sheeting on and pelting downhill at 25 knots. As always, sailing is a sport of averages, every dog has his day and those that deal best with whats thrown at them tend to come out on top and if you spend your whole time practicing in 10+ knots you should wholely expect to get your ass handed to you in 5.
Anyway, well done to Amac, a triumph (so far) of brains over brawn. Also well done to Mike Lennon who regularly gets overlooked and is right up there, thanks to a winter of hard work (Aardvark spars help obviously!).
Rant over. Normal service to be resumed...
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Sunday sailing
Got out for a brief sail today and was joined by Martin and Robin Wood who was over from Wales for a bit of company. There wasn't much wind but I managed the first race pretty well, despite lowriding for most of the first lap. The wind started dying off over lunch so we all headed in. Martin however decided not to de-rig and went back out an hour later in a nice 10-15 knot breeze - Typical!
Martin has a new North V8 and CST mast to mess around with which are a huge leap on from the X8 rig he's been using up till now. He's looking pretty tidy now and is close to nailing some foiling tacks but still has a huge ventilation problem in the cold water. Robin has a new Ninja rudder fitted to the back of his X8 which seems to have cured it - He's now foiling much higher with no sign of the dreaded vent and the smaller rudder T doesn't seem to have affected his take off which was my main concern with the experiment. Will be interesting to see how he gets on with it in a bit more breeze.
Ninja Tuna is now back home for a bit of a tidy up before going to the dinghy show next weekend so no sailing for me then - come by the Moth stand and say hi as I will be there both days...
PS - Good luck to everyone out in Dubai - I shall be watching enviously yet again and if anyone suggests a worlds within 6 months of the next one at the AGM, please shoot them.
Martin has a new North V8 and CST mast to mess around with which are a huge leap on from the X8 rig he's been using up till now. He's looking pretty tidy now and is close to nailing some foiling tacks but still has a huge ventilation problem in the cold water. Robin has a new Ninja rudder fitted to the back of his X8 which seems to have cured it - He's now foiling much higher with no sign of the dreaded vent and the smaller rudder T doesn't seem to have affected his take off which was my main concern with the experiment. Will be interesting to see how he gets on with it in a bit more breeze.
Ninja Tuna is now back home for a bit of a tidy up before going to the dinghy show next weekend so no sailing for me then - come by the Moth stand and say hi as I will be there both days...
PS - Good luck to everyone out in Dubai - I shall be watching enviously yet again and if anyone suggests a worlds within 6 months of the next one at the AGM, please shoot them.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Rumour Mill Pt 2
So the latest rumour flying around is that Rob Greenhalgh has picked up a Mach 2 and has yet another AC designer working on foil designs and shiny ally moulds... Make of that what you will - interesting to see people coming in and throwing money around. I'm sure fresh minds looking at the boats will produce some new ideas and will be good to see what they come up with...
Monday, 15 February 2010
Sunday sailing
We had 4 Moths on the water on Sunday at Cheddar enjoying some sunshine and a very flakey north westerly with just enough to foil in the gusts.
I was out in Ninja Tuna, helping Tom Lambert launch his new Ninja "Very Orange". Tom will be sailing up at Draycote where there is a little bit of a fleet beginning to form. Leo was out in the Pimp Ninja, having done some hacksaw mods to the rudder which appear to have improved the flying characteristics somewhat! Martin was also out in his Bladerider practising some manuevers.
To be honest, there's not really much to blog about, but it was nice to get out and about with some fellow Mothies! Alan's new Ninja is nearly done and should be hitting the water in just over a week and with the dinghy show on the horizon it is starting to feel like the season is coming...
I was out in Ninja Tuna, helping Tom Lambert launch his new Ninja "Very Orange". Tom will be sailing up at Draycote where there is a little bit of a fleet beginning to form. Leo was out in the Pimp Ninja, having done some hacksaw mods to the rudder which appear to have improved the flying characteristics somewhat! Martin was also out in his Bladerider practising some manuevers.
To be honest, there's not really much to blog about, but it was nice to get out and about with some fellow Mothies! Alan's new Ninja is nearly done and should be hitting the water in just over a week and with the dinghy show on the horizon it is starting to feel like the season is coming...
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
The Tiger that wasn't
This weekend saw an small fleet of Moths up at the Tiger Trophy at Rutland. Unfortunately the weather forecast was dire which meant that only myself, James Phare and newcomer Gareth Davies made the racing.
Saturday's racing got off to a slow start with the racing delayed while waiting for the mist to clear (which it didn't!). It was pretty marginal allowing foiling at times and keeping to the handicap of 700 was going to be damn near impossible. I had a pretty rotten start with a 800 tacking onto port at the pin end and parking in front of me leading to a capsize avoiding him. I managed to recover foiling downwind and up a bit of the beats and finished close to the leading boats but needing a lot of time on them to do any good. Similar story in the second race with lots of lowriding but some fun downhill rides dodging the masses of boats all parked on the run.
Unfortunately for me, for the second weekend on the trot the race team didn't seem to count all my laps, placing me behind Gareth overall, despite nearly lapping him in both. James had a disagreement with the black flag and was dsq'd from the second one!
With even less wind on the Sunday for the pursuit race we all decided to call it a day and get packed up. Eventual winner was a Merlin - hardly surprising given the top 20 was made up almost entirely of Merlins and Phantoms...
Hardly a classic weekend for the Moths but was still good to raise the profile a bit with all the youth squad teams who seem to inhabit Rutland...
Full results are HERE and some photos have been posted here
Saturday's racing got off to a slow start with the racing delayed while waiting for the mist to clear (which it didn't!). It was pretty marginal allowing foiling at times and keeping to the handicap of 700 was going to be damn near impossible. I had a pretty rotten start with a 800 tacking onto port at the pin end and parking in front of me leading to a capsize avoiding him. I managed to recover foiling downwind and up a bit of the beats and finished close to the leading boats but needing a lot of time on them to do any good. Similar story in the second race with lots of lowriding but some fun downhill rides dodging the masses of boats all parked on the run.
Unfortunately for me, for the second weekend on the trot the race team didn't seem to count all my laps, placing me behind Gareth overall, despite nearly lapping him in both. James had a disagreement with the black flag and was dsq'd from the second one!
With even less wind on the Sunday for the pursuit race we all decided to call it a day and get packed up. Eventual winner was a Merlin - hardly surprising given the top 20 was made up almost entirely of Merlins and Phantoms...
Hardly a classic weekend for the Moths but was still good to raise the profile a bit with all the youth squad teams who seem to inhabit Rutland...
Full results are HERE and some photos have been posted here
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
The rumour mill
So there is finally a bit of a hint about this mystery new builder in the UK mentioned in a previous Mothcast.
Word is that Simon Maguire (builder of the M4 foiler from a few years back) has a Moth design on the go. Rumours of a tie in with Ovington abound and I wouldn't be surprised with at least one former Mothie working there. They are aiming to have a boat together in March apparently so would reckon on seeing one at the London Dinghy show.
It will be interesting to see what isolated development can bring to the table and whether they manage to persuade any top jockeys into a boat. If the last year has taught me anything, you can have the best boat in the world but it doesn't mean anything unless you get the results to prove it....
The other entertaining rumour heard at the weekend was that the new small rudder Amac was using in Australia came about after a small collision with a rock! No idea if there is much truth in that but stranger things have happened!
Word is that Simon Maguire (builder of the M4 foiler from a few years back) has a Moth design on the go. Rumours of a tie in with Ovington abound and I wouldn't be surprised with at least one former Mothie working there. They are aiming to have a boat together in March apparently so would reckon on seeing one at the London Dinghy show.
It will be interesting to see what isolated development can bring to the table and whether they manage to persuade any top jockeys into a boat. If the last year has taught me anything, you can have the best boat in the world but it doesn't mean anything unless you get the results to prove it....
The other entertaining rumour heard at the weekend was that the new small rudder Amac was using in Australia came about after a small collision with a rock! No idea if there is much truth in that but stranger things have happened!
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Steve Nicholson weekend
* EDIT* Added link to Chunkypics website here...
6 Moths and one 600FF made up the foiler fleet at the Steve Nicholson race this weekend and were greeted by bright sunshine and a marginal 6-10 knots.
Race one was a battle to find the holes and avoid them as the gains and losses were huge. 4 boats all arrived at the windward mark at the same time and the battle was on to get foiling and keep there down the run. I used my Ninjapowers to pop up and make my way out right hoping to stay in the breeze which worked until near the bottom where I parked up with Geoff Carveth - leaving Mr Garyman and Alex Adams to sneak through. I pulled through by the leeward mark and then managed to sneak a bit of a lead which I kept to the finish with Alex in second and Gary third with the fleet quite spread out.
The second race was in a bit more breeze but still the occasional hole to find yourself in. I finally got my cobwebs blown away and figured out some tactics (if you want to tack, it helps to do it in breeze rather than a hole!) and stretched out to pull out a half lap lead after 4 laps with Alex again in second and Gary in third.
Overall results were:
1st Mike Cooke
2nd Alex Adams
3rd Gary Ireson
4th Martin Fear
5th James Phare
6th Geoff Carveth
7th George Hand (600)
George has traded in his 600 for Gary's Prowler and will be a welcome addition to the Moth fleet in the midlands which is starting to see a bit of growth with a couple of boats expected at Draycote.
We all hung around for a bit drinking tea and trying to get some feeling back in our feet (the lake was starting to freeze as we left!) before heading into Northampton for a curry and a few drinks followed by crashing out at Gary's.
Sunday dawned with plans for a bit of a coaching/video session but unfortunately the wind gods weren't playing that game so we resorted to some measuring and bimbling and some spreadsheet related nonsese.
I was pretty pleased to be honest, as I think I've sailed less than 10 times since the UK nationals and was expecting to be a bit ropey! I'm still foiling nice and early as is Alex in his NinjaMistress and it will be interesting to see how he gets on out in Dubai if it does turn out to be a light airs regatta that is expected...
Pics to follow hopefully!
6 Moths and one 600FF made up the foiler fleet at the Steve Nicholson race this weekend and were greeted by bright sunshine and a marginal 6-10 knots.
Race one was a battle to find the holes and avoid them as the gains and losses were huge. 4 boats all arrived at the windward mark at the same time and the battle was on to get foiling and keep there down the run. I used my Ninjapowers to pop up and make my way out right hoping to stay in the breeze which worked until near the bottom where I parked up with Geoff Carveth - leaving Mr Garyman and Alex Adams to sneak through. I pulled through by the leeward mark and then managed to sneak a bit of a lead which I kept to the finish with Alex in second and Gary third with the fleet quite spread out.
The second race was in a bit more breeze but still the occasional hole to find yourself in. I finally got my cobwebs blown away and figured out some tactics (if you want to tack, it helps to do it in breeze rather than a hole!) and stretched out to pull out a half lap lead after 4 laps with Alex again in second and Gary in third.
Overall results were:
1st Mike Cooke
2nd Alex Adams
3rd Gary Ireson
4th Martin Fear
5th James Phare
6th Geoff Carveth
7th George Hand (600)
George has traded in his 600 for Gary's Prowler and will be a welcome addition to the Moth fleet in the midlands which is starting to see a bit of growth with a couple of boats expected at Draycote.
We all hung around for a bit drinking tea and trying to get some feeling back in our feet (the lake was starting to freeze as we left!) before heading into Northampton for a curry and a few drinks followed by crashing out at Gary's.
Sunday dawned with plans for a bit of a coaching/video session but unfortunately the wind gods weren't playing that game so we resorted to some measuring and bimbling and some spreadsheet related nonsese.
I was pretty pleased to be honest, as I think I've sailed less than 10 times since the UK nationals and was expecting to be a bit ropey! I'm still foiling nice and early as is Alex in his NinjaMistress and it will be interesting to see how he gets on out in Dubai if it does turn out to be a light airs regatta that is expected...
Pics to follow hopefully!
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Weight Weenie part 2
While waiting for the wind to fill in today Leo and myself got a bit over enthused by the scales and went around weighing everything on all the boats we could find! Results were interesting, but the one thing we didn't have to hand was a Mach 2 or Assassin. I shall wave my scales at the next one I see... All up weights include the sail, but I have included them seperately as they varied quite a bit.
My Ninja
All up 30.5KG
Sail (Hyde crazymain) 3.2 KG
Leo's Axiom 1
All up 38.9KG
Hyde 2008 sail 3.8KG
Martins Bladerider X8
All up 35.8KG
Sail (KA X8) 4.5
Chris' Bladerider RX
All up 44.4KG
Sail (KA X8) 4.5
Simons Prowler 3
All up 36.9KG
Sail (KA MSL10) 4.5KG
The wind did fill in at lunch and we got a race in, although I missed the start due to a schoolboy rigging error (not sailed much since the Nationals...). Boat is going well and I'm looking forward to the Steve Nicholson race next saturday. Will be interesting to see how the new sail actually goes against some other Moths as I haven't lined up against anyone for ages.
My Ninja
All up 30.5KG
Sail (Hyde crazymain) 3.2 KG
Leo's Axiom 1
All up 38.9KG
Hyde 2008 sail 3.8KG
Martins Bladerider X8
All up 35.8KG
Sail (KA X8) 4.5
Chris' Bladerider RX
All up 44.4KG
Sail (KA X8) 4.5
Simons Prowler 3
All up 36.9KG
Sail (KA MSL10) 4.5KG
The wind did fill in at lunch and we got a race in, although I missed the start due to a schoolboy rigging error (not sailed much since the Nationals...). Boat is going well and I'm looking forward to the Steve Nicholson race next saturday. Will be interesting to see how the new sail actually goes against some other Moths as I haven't lined up against anyone for ages.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Weight weenies
Having signed up with Emma for a 100km charity bike ride later in the year I've been fiddling around with her mountain bike trying to figure out where I can shave a few grams.
It's pretty impressive how things add up and even small gains like 50g off each inner tube can all sum up to quite a big difference once you add in a bit of physics. It's easy to know where to focus on a bike, spinning weight is bad, all up weight is also bad, but not so much...
It's quite a lot like looking at Moths, except once a Moth is up to speed a bit of extra weight doesn't make a huge difference. It's a whole different ball game once you start looking at maneuvers though - every gram off helps, especially up top as it makes the boat so much easier to get through the gybes. This really came home for me sailing Emma's FBG at the Tide Ride - in a straight line I could pace a Bladerider offwind just through sheer guts and ride height, but carrying an extra 10 kilos couldn't land a gybe half the time (ok, I was rusty too...)! This soon adds up around the course...
Do I have a point? No, not really it's just a bit of food to feed the brain - on a Moth, start at the top and work down. I really need to get on and weigh the latest Ninja all up - everyone is always surprised when they pick one up...
It's pretty impressive how things add up and even small gains like 50g off each inner tube can all sum up to quite a big difference once you add in a bit of physics. It's easy to know where to focus on a bike, spinning weight is bad, all up weight is also bad, but not so much...
It's quite a lot like looking at Moths, except once a Moth is up to speed a bit of extra weight doesn't make a huge difference. It's a whole different ball game once you start looking at maneuvers though - every gram off helps, especially up top as it makes the boat so much easier to get through the gybes. This really came home for me sailing Emma's FBG at the Tide Ride - in a straight line I could pace a Bladerider offwind just through sheer guts and ride height, but carrying an extra 10 kilos couldn't land a gybe half the time (ok, I was rusty too...)! This soon adds up around the course...
Do I have a point? No, not really it's just a bit of food to feed the brain - on a Moth, start at the top and work down. I really need to get on and weigh the latest Ninja all up - everyone is always surprised when they pick one up...
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Bloody crazy people
Londons finest bunfight took place yesterday with a massively reduced turnout of 60 odd boats. Normally you can't fit in the dinghy park with the 300 others but the snow and ice put paid to the Bloody Mary's usual scale. The fact that the temperatures were barely above freezing and a bitterly cold northerly wind on top of that meant that most people thought sailing in the first place was a really bad idea - But somehow that didn't stop 7 intrepid/stupid (delete as you see fit) Moth sailors from attempting the silliest boat race in history. I think the fact that the Moths were lined up to start 74 minutes after the topper started (and two minutes after an 18 if there had been one!) at least meant the race would be shorter than for most...
2 and a half hours later and only one Moth was left standing in the shape of Geoff Carveth who came in 15th out of 30 finishers, beating home the two 600ff's of Sam Pascoe and Simon Hiscocks despite the fact that they had caught up with Geoff halfway around the first lap.
So, well done to these guys for giving it a shot - Geoff Carveth, Alex Adams, Doug Pybus, James Phare, Andrew Friend, Jon Peats and Ben Sutcliffe. Apparently making the biggest fleet in attendance. Also well done to moonlighting Mothies sneaking around in other classes - Pete Barton and Ben Paton sneaking in 4th in the GT60 Cherub, Sam Tozer crewing a 200 in 9th.
I was umming about going with a boat, but found out on Friday that BCYC is closed off at the moment due to the snow, leaving my boat firmly stuck out there. I kind-of missed not doing it, but seeing the guys launch soon made me think otherwise!
Steve Nicholson race at Pitsford is the next winter event on Saturday the 30th of January with a mini training event on the Sunday thanks to Gary Ireson and Tom Castle who have organised a rib for us.
2 and a half hours later and only one Moth was left standing in the shape of Geoff Carveth who came in 15th out of 30 finishers, beating home the two 600ff's of Sam Pascoe and Simon Hiscocks despite the fact that they had caught up with Geoff halfway around the first lap.
So, well done to these guys for giving it a shot - Geoff Carveth, Alex Adams, Doug Pybus, James Phare, Andrew Friend, Jon Peats and Ben Sutcliffe. Apparently making the biggest fleet in attendance. Also well done to moonlighting Mothies sneaking around in other classes - Pete Barton and Ben Paton sneaking in 4th in the GT60 Cherub, Sam Tozer crewing a 200 in 9th.
I was umming about going with a boat, but found out on Friday that BCYC is closed off at the moment due to the snow, leaving my boat firmly stuck out there. I kind-of missed not doing it, but seeing the guys launch soon made me think otherwise!
Steve Nicholson race at Pitsford is the next winter event on Saturday the 30th of January with a mini training event on the Sunday thanks to Gary Ireson and Tom Castle who have organised a rib for us.
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