Well, low and behold it was still at the sailing club. I think this was the longest period without any sailing since about 1989 for me - Life kinda took over and sailing took a back seat...
I'm still not sure if me and the Shredder are on talking terms after this absense as James Phare was the helm of the day on Sunday having a bit of a jolly and deciding on features for his Ninja in the new year. I meanwhile was testing out the latest Ninja to hit the water which has been a testbed boat for a customer who happened to have a lot of the same ideas as me for how to take the boat forward. It's been an interesting experience and I'm now considering my self imposed no-new-boat-beforethenextworlds rule as I think there is definitely something in it. What 'it' is you will have to wait and see!
James and I were joined at BCYC by Tom Lambert and Badger so we had 4 boats on the water, enjoying the relatively full lake and getting back into the swing of things.
I'm really excited about the upcoming Bloody Mary and the usual launch bunfighting. I doubt I'll do quite as well as last year as I've just not been sailing and I expect there will be a bit more competition from the south coast shandy drinkers with the event being part of the Moth winter series.
Nearly winter Solstice too. Roll on Summer!
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Saturday, 10 December 2011
X8 bladerider 3323 'badger' for sale
white hull black outlines, very good condition, and well set up.
Loads of upgrades including ;
High modulus super skinny rudder longer than original,
High modulus daggerboard
Ride height adjuster
Adjustable wand
Also comes with covers for boat, foils, mast, boom, prodder
Rig is a 353 cst skinny mast and a almost new Aardvark skinny boom
Bladerider sail in good codition
Custom road trailer slide on slide off with side boxes
£7700 ono
Near bristol and other info call martin 07776192410
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Long time no see
It's been a while!
Life has been keeping me well occupied lately, so I've only had a brief spin in Shredder at Queen Mary since the Port Talbot regatta. This has mostly been down to a lack of water in the reservoir, which is now sorted so sailing can resume.
In the meantime I've been keeping busy with a bit of mountain biking with a few trips over to the Forest of Dean and some local action in the Mendips. I think cycling is probably the perfect companion for sailing; it's something you can actually do when there is no wind, unlike my other random hobbies like windsurfing and radio yachting! I did however make the mistake of going riding with Doug Pybus. It seems Doug is a bit of a demon on a bike. I couldn't keep up and ended up hitting a tree with very little damage to myself, thankfully! Mr Payne took some of Doug's advice on cycling last year and ended up with a fixie and hilarity ensued. So perhaps the message should be "don't listen to him"!
My early midlife crisis has taken me down to Gosport for a radio multihull open meeting. Everyone takes the piss out of me for this, as it's supposed to be a bit of an old man's sport, but I find it quite intriguing. Trying to get a boat to behave at its best upwind and down with no outside input other than helm and sail control is quite an interesting design challenge. This combined with my limited multihull experience (that's my old mans department!) means I've got my work cut out.
The other aspect I love is being able to watch a race unfold in front of you. When you are actually sailing in a boat it can be quite hard to place yourself on the track against others with regards to shifts and track position. This all plays out for you with models and you can instantly see the effect of line bias, shifts, puffs. I'll be back down there with my tri this Saturday for part two of the club championship. Day one was a tight fought affair and I narrowly missed out on the top spot after turning up late and missing a race - hopefully I can sneak ahead this time around!
So, winter is fast approaching and usually some of the best sailing is to be had. I'm looking forward to getting back out on the water to test a few things and get back into the swing of things for my Garda campaign!
Life has been keeping me well occupied lately, so I've only had a brief spin in Shredder at Queen Mary since the Port Talbot regatta. This has mostly been down to a lack of water in the reservoir, which is now sorted so sailing can resume.
In the meantime I've been keeping busy with a bit of mountain biking with a few trips over to the Forest of Dean and some local action in the Mendips. I think cycling is probably the perfect companion for sailing; it's something you can actually do when there is no wind, unlike my other random hobbies like windsurfing and radio yachting! I did however make the mistake of going riding with Doug Pybus. It seems Doug is a bit of a demon on a bike. I couldn't keep up and ended up hitting a tree with very little damage to myself, thankfully! Mr Payne took some of Doug's advice on cycling last year and ended up with a fixie and hilarity ensued. So perhaps the message should be "don't listen to him"!
My early midlife crisis has taken me down to Gosport for a radio multihull open meeting. Everyone takes the piss out of me for this, as it's supposed to be a bit of an old man's sport, but I find it quite intriguing. Trying to get a boat to behave at its best upwind and down with no outside input other than helm and sail control is quite an interesting design challenge. This combined with my limited multihull experience (that's my old mans department!) means I've got my work cut out.
The other aspect I love is being able to watch a race unfold in front of you. When you are actually sailing in a boat it can be quite hard to place yourself on the track against others with regards to shifts and track position. This all plays out for you with models and you can instantly see the effect of line bias, shifts, puffs. I'll be back down there with my tri this Saturday for part two of the club championship. Day one was a tight fought affair and I narrowly missed out on the top spot after turning up late and missing a race - hopefully I can sneak ahead this time around!
So, winter is fast approaching and usually some of the best sailing is to be had. I'm looking forward to getting back out on the water to test a few things and get back into the swing of things for my Garda campaign!
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Port Talbot regatta
Richie Westbury and I joined DJ over at Port Talbot for the Tata Steel regatta on Saturday. We were blessed with 25+ degrees sunshine and 8-10 knots of breeze and had a all round ace time.
Richie now has his Bladerider pretty well pimped now with an Aardvark rudder and new high modulus daggerboard vertical and the results have been pretty impressive with the boat now foiling high and level and I was actually pleasantly surprised with it after a brief boat swap towards the end of the day. I think a new Ninja might have found it's way onto his christmas list though!
We did a couple of short course races with lots of laps and a good chance to sort out my awful tacking from Paignton. Finally getting my mojo back and nailing most of them. Hit some pretty good speeds over the course of the day putting in a 24.5 knot best in one of the bigger puffs.
Nick Dallimore took a load of photos which he's kindly letting me put up here... I never get over seeing my old boats sailing around. Must crack on with my new paintjob...
Richie now has his Bladerider pretty well pimped now with an Aardvark rudder and new high modulus daggerboard vertical and the results have been pretty impressive with the boat now foiling high and level and I was actually pleasantly surprised with it after a brief boat swap towards the end of the day. I think a new Ninja might have found it's way onto his christmas list though!
We did a couple of short course races with lots of laps and a good chance to sort out my awful tacking from Paignton. Finally getting my mojo back and nailing most of them. Hit some pretty good speeds over the course of the day putting in a 24.5 knot best in one of the bigger puffs.
Nick Dallimore took a load of photos which he's kindly letting me put up here... I never get over seeing my old boats sailing around. Must crack on with my new paintjob...
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Post Paignton
Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. The run up to Paignton was pretty manic getting Shredder vaguely sailable and after catching up with work a potential house move is interfering with the important task of Moth blogging.
Paignton was a success for me as far as I'm concerned! I managed to get the setup pretty much bang on for the first sail and in a marginal first race came in second. The breeze picked up a bit for the rest of the weekend and I proved incapable of tacking but started getting back on it by the final race to grab third overall from Andrew Friend who is really starting to get rapid in the Dazzle Moth.
I was especially pleased with the light airs stuff on Saturday as I was running a variant of the Skinny Ninja foils with 10% (hell, it worked for Rohan so why not eh?) off the span of both foils. I was still foiling about as early as Chris who has a bit of weight on me, but still earlier than the other boats I was around. There maybe a bit of potential for more to come off yet in my pursuit of that elusive 30 knots although I don't want to end up with a one trick pony thats only any good in 10 knots plus!
Paignton was probably the nicest weekends sailing I've had this year with good breezes and good competition. More of that please!
The Bristol crew are starting to get active again. Badger has a new high modulus daggerboard vertical in his Bladerider after an unfortunate incident with a faulty spare foil and a lack of manufacturer to send it back to! Darren had a prodder malfunction on his Prowler while Leo is threatening to get the saw out on Wasabi the Pimp Ninja. Hopefully Tom will be joining us again this winter too with potential for DJ and Richie Westbury to be sailing at Cheddar too - should be great to get some momentum going...
Stay tuned!
Friday, 23 September 2011
The Stealth Moth - Boatyard camo
I couldn't let Andrews Dazzle camo Moth go sailing without a fellow stealthy vessel and taking my inspiration from a lack of time I present the Stealth Moth/Boatyard camo. Basically I've primed it and polished it with the intention of abusing the boat for a few months before it receives it's silly paintscheme!
I've just finished roping the boat up this afternoon and she's now ready for the high seas of the English Riviera - that makes it two opens this year where I've launched a boat for the first time! Hopefully something I won't be doing again for quite a while...
I've just finished roping the boat up this afternoon and she's now ready for the high seas of the English Riviera - that makes it two opens this year where I've launched a boat for the first time! Hopefully something I won't be doing again for quite a while...
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
All quiet on the Weston front
Life in Weston Super Mare has been pretty quiet lately. I sold my boat to DJ Edwards straight after Travemunde and have been getting my new one together slowly. This means no sailing (not full size anyway). It also means I will have a boat all through winter and will keep this one through to Garda, which means an uninterrupted run-up to a big event - something I've never managed before because I thought I knew better!
The new boat is mostly tweaks, with a few things taken onboard from Mr Rashley and a couple of things I've been meaning to do for a while. Hopefully I will be back on the water by Torbay albeit with a non-standard set of foils initially while the foil moulds go back to my good friends at Fathomtree in Nottingham in for a couple of tweaks while I'm on a well earned holiday!
Anyway. Enjoy this piece of vanity - should keep my sponsors happy! Thanks Anya!
The new boat is mostly tweaks, with a few things taken onboard from Mr Rashley and a couple of things I've been meaning to do for a while. Hopefully I will be back on the water by Torbay albeit with a non-standard set of foils initially while the foil moulds go back to my good friends at Fathomtree in Nottingham in for a couple of tweaks while I'm on a well earned holiday!
Anyway. Enjoy this piece of vanity - should keep my sponsors happy! Thanks Anya!
Monday, 8 August 2011
Random Travemunde pictures
Just a load of random non sailing pictures from the road trip... Anya has uploaded tons of sailing pictures on Picasa already...
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Days 4 and 5
After a nice delay parked up near Dortmund with a flat tire, Mr Pybus is now at the wheel of the Aardvark Tour Bus which is allowing me to muse over the last couple of days.
Thursday saw a frustrating day on the water. We launched out after lunch foiling all the way to the line only to find that once there the wind wasn't too happy to play ball. We loitered around for a while, tried to get a race in which was abandoned (with Ninjas in 1,2,3...) after a lap and then headed back in. We then headed back out again a short while later as we were informed that there was ten knots at the start boat. Unfortunately this wasn't strictly true and we sat around even longer with a start abandoned mid sequence and another race abandoned after one beat... The race officer wisely called it off at that point and the dash for cash took place next to the shore, the only place where there was actually a bit of wind! The big cheese Philip Kasermann won the big cheque for 1k euros and looked even happier than usual!
Friday saw the breeze on and we cracked on with two quick races, both won by Special Agent Barton on his chainsawed m2. I had a much better time of things with the boat doing what it was supposed to and despite being over the line and taking a dip on the finish mark thanks to Mr Paton I managed a ninth and after a bit more practice got 7th in the last one.
We had a good cheesey prizegiving on the other side of the river for the top ten, including podiums and stirring national music that wasn't actually the national anthem. The Mothie organisers had then laid on another massive free meal and 700 odd bottles of beer were still to polish off before a big night on the town for those that weren't hitting the road.
As an event I don't think this could have been done any better. The socials were excellent, our hosts friendly and welcoming, the local festival atmosphere was amazing and the race officer did a great job with what he was dealt. Everyone being in one place, camping together and having (free) breakfast together meant for plenty of chat and a good time in general. Anyone looking to take on organising a Moth event has just had the bar raised (HISC crew, I'm looking at you...).
On a personal note I'd like to congratulate Rashers for a job well done. I feel like I've let myself down a little and had a bit of bad luck go against me with races canned while im doing well. Suffice to say I might actually go and sail in waves for a few days before the next big event so I'm not so rusty!
Bring on Garda 2012...
Thursday saw a frustrating day on the water. We launched out after lunch foiling all the way to the line only to find that once there the wind wasn't too happy to play ball. We loitered around for a while, tried to get a race in which was abandoned (with Ninjas in 1,2,3...) after a lap and then headed back in. We then headed back out again a short while later as we were informed that there was ten knots at the start boat. Unfortunately this wasn't strictly true and we sat around even longer with a start abandoned mid sequence and another race abandoned after one beat... The race officer wisely called it off at that point and the dash for cash took place next to the shore, the only place where there was actually a bit of wind! The big cheese Philip Kasermann won the big cheque for 1k euros and looked even happier than usual!
Friday saw the breeze on and we cracked on with two quick races, both won by Special Agent Barton on his chainsawed m2. I had a much better time of things with the boat doing what it was supposed to and despite being over the line and taking a dip on the finish mark thanks to Mr Paton I managed a ninth and after a bit more practice got 7th in the last one.
We had a good cheesey prizegiving on the other side of the river for the top ten, including podiums and stirring national music that wasn't actually the national anthem. The Mothie organisers had then laid on another massive free meal and 700 odd bottles of beer were still to polish off before a big night on the town for those that weren't hitting the road.
As an event I don't think this could have been done any better. The socials were excellent, our hosts friendly and welcoming, the local festival atmosphere was amazing and the race officer did a great job with what he was dealt. Everyone being in one place, camping together and having (free) breakfast together meant for plenty of chat and a good time in general. Anyone looking to take on organising a Moth event has just had the bar raised (HISC crew, I'm looking at you...).
On a personal note I'd like to congratulate Rashers for a job well done. I feel like I've let myself down a little and had a bit of bad luck go against me with races canned while im doing well. Suffice to say I might actually go and sail in waves for a few days before the next big event so I'm not so rusty!
Bring on Garda 2012...
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Day three. Yesterday didn't happen!
We've just got off the water after a day of beautifull sunshine and light sea breezes where we managed to get another 3 races in.
I was going to gloss over yesterday altogether but in brief: Jason broke a shroud while leading the first race. He managed to get a rib ride in and back out for the final race of the 4 but that effectively puts him out of contention. Chris won all the races putting on a convincing display in the confused seas. I had a bit of a nightmare day with several random control issues.
First. The rocker arm at the bow managed to screw its bolt up tight over the course of the first race resulting in a locked wand and many pitchpoles with me heading to shore for the second race to sort it out. After launching back out I found a sandbar 100 yards offshore which I ran into with thankfully no damage.
Second, in a dose of high amusement for me, my wand retaining string decided it was going to start hooking itself around the wand paddle resulting in a couple of mega pitchpoles (one right in front of the start boat, no doubt on Youtube already..).
I generally didn't have enough gearing either so was struggling for control. I made it round for the next two with a long list of things to do overnight...
Team GB had a bit of a Barbeque which was organised by Katie, Richard Westburys far better half which went down very well with everyone.
Today saw a return to the lighter winds with a light sea breeze and Chris would have won all three had the clew of his 10c not fallen off mid gibe in the final race. He lowrode across the line in second with Ben taking the win after I fluffed my final gibe letting him through. I ended the day with 2,2,3 and climbed to 5th even after yesterdays mishaps just behind Ben Paton, Matt Renker and Markus Steeg, all some 40 points adrift of Rashers!
We're now enjoying a fantastic FREE bbq in the hangar courtesy of the sponsors and sort of enjoying Ben and Josh's attempts at dj'ing although "danger zone" was just played so may have redeemed themselves...
I was going to gloss over yesterday altogether but in brief: Jason broke a shroud while leading the first race. He managed to get a rib ride in and back out for the final race of the 4 but that effectively puts him out of contention. Chris won all the races putting on a convincing display in the confused seas. I had a bit of a nightmare day with several random control issues.
First. The rocker arm at the bow managed to screw its bolt up tight over the course of the first race resulting in a locked wand and many pitchpoles with me heading to shore for the second race to sort it out. After launching back out I found a sandbar 100 yards offshore which I ran into with thankfully no damage.
Second, in a dose of high amusement for me, my wand retaining string decided it was going to start hooking itself around the wand paddle resulting in a couple of mega pitchpoles (one right in front of the start boat, no doubt on Youtube already..).
I generally didn't have enough gearing either so was struggling for control. I made it round for the next two with a long list of things to do overnight...
Team GB had a bit of a Barbeque which was organised by Katie, Richard Westburys far better half which went down very well with everyone.
Today saw a return to the lighter winds with a light sea breeze and Chris would have won all three had the clew of his 10c not fallen off mid gibe in the final race. He lowrode across the line in second with Ben taking the win after I fluffed my final gibe letting him through. I ended the day with 2,2,3 and climbed to 5th even after yesterdays mishaps just behind Ben Paton, Matt Renker and Markus Steeg, all some 40 points adrift of Rashers!
We're now enjoying a fantastic FREE bbq in the hangar courtesy of the sponsors and sort of enjoying Ben and Josh's attempts at dj'ing although "danger zone" was just played so may have redeemed themselves...
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Day one. One race.
We had both an eventfull and eventless day!
We launched into a nice foiling breeze and got away nicely. I had a hundred yard lead on Jason before the wind went squiffy and Chris went past both of us. We lowrided down the last run only to have the race abandoned a hundred yards from the finish... After sitting around for a while we were sent back in to wait - I'd just decided to order a pizza when the race officer decided we were going back out!
Actual race one took place in marginal conditions and the Ninja's really shone taking the top 4 places with Chris just edging out Jason on the line and me a few seconds later after throwing my chance undercooking my final layline.
We then sat around a bit more, one start was abandoned in the sequence and another general recalled. We probably should have gone straight into another sequence then as the breeze was pretty good but we hung around a bit longer and then headed back in.
Last nights entertainment was on the barque (tall ship) Passat where we had a free hot buffet laid on with a couple of the other fleets and more free drinks before Ben and Josh led the charge onto the other side of the river to the beach club. I got a bit over excited when we finally found the donuts I'd been smelling from on the water.
Thankfully for a few sore heads there isn't much wind this morning so we're held onshore and the dash for cash has been put back even later in the week!
Not to worry, we're having a good time and a lof of people are making the most with some serious boatwork...
We launched into a nice foiling breeze and got away nicely. I had a hundred yard lead on Jason before the wind went squiffy and Chris went past both of us. We lowrided down the last run only to have the race abandoned a hundred yards from the finish... After sitting around for a while we were sent back in to wait - I'd just decided to order a pizza when the race officer decided we were going back out!
Actual race one took place in marginal conditions and the Ninja's really shone taking the top 4 places with Chris just edging out Jason on the line and me a few seconds later after throwing my chance undercooking my final layline.
We then sat around a bit more, one start was abandoned in the sequence and another general recalled. We probably should have gone straight into another sequence then as the breeze was pretty good but we hung around a bit longer and then headed back in.
Last nights entertainment was on the barque (tall ship) Passat where we had a free hot buffet laid on with a couple of the other fleets and more free drinks before Ben and Josh led the charge onto the other side of the river to the beach club. I got a bit over excited when we finally found the donuts I'd been smelling from on the water.
Thankfully for a few sore heads there isn't much wind this morning so we're held onshore and the dash for cash has been put back even later in the week!
Not to worry, we're having a good time and a lof of people are making the most with some serious boatwork...
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Blowing old boots
Well, so far not much to report sailing wise...
The dash for cash was scheduled in for yesterday but unfortunately the wind wasn't playing ball with 15 knots gusting up to 30 at times. Rashers and Jason went out for a quick blast in the morning but with racing set to take place in the river off the quay it was even more gusty. We're now set to race the dash on Tuesday after racing. With the marquee's so close to the shoreline it will be a pretty good spectacle and a good showcase for the Moth...
This left team GB with the task of getting rather drunk as the forecast was for more wind again for the practice race and not much chance for sailing. Ben was leading the charge and when I left near midnight was mumbling something about girls dancing on poles outside the sailors beach tent. Apparently Pete Bartons dance floor skills involve pretending to be a hermit crab and then waving his arms around. Jif, Doug and James found their way onto a tall ship in an attempt to climb the rigging but were left making shapes in the spotlights and shouting down the funnels. Lochy and wingman Lambert weren't seen until well into the following morning.
This place is a pretty excellent event so far with a massive festival atmosphere, loads of places to eat and our German hosts have made a lot of effort to make sure we're well attended to with free breakfast and plenty of evening entertainment and prizes courtesy of Nordea, FSE and CTM.
Todays practice races have been called off with more big breeze. Tomorrows looking much better and the sun is even forecast to make an appearance to hopefully by the time the racing kicks off it'll be all good and Bens hangover will have gone and Jason R's need to hang out in the changing room (warmest place he's found) will have passed.
I'm off to find some donuts. The cake here is excellent but the tea leaves a bit to be desired, luckily I've found a box of earl grey in the supermarket...
The dash for cash was scheduled in for yesterday but unfortunately the wind wasn't playing ball with 15 knots gusting up to 30 at times. Rashers and Jason went out for a quick blast in the morning but with racing set to take place in the river off the quay it was even more gusty. We're now set to race the dash on Tuesday after racing. With the marquee's so close to the shoreline it will be a pretty good spectacle and a good showcase for the Moth...
This left team GB with the task of getting rather drunk as the forecast was for more wind again for the practice race and not much chance for sailing. Ben was leading the charge and when I left near midnight was mumbling something about girls dancing on poles outside the sailors beach tent. Apparently Pete Bartons dance floor skills involve pretending to be a hermit crab and then waving his arms around. Jif, Doug and James found their way onto a tall ship in an attempt to climb the rigging but were left making shapes in the spotlights and shouting down the funnels. Lochy and wingman Lambert weren't seen until well into the following morning.
This place is a pretty excellent event so far with a massive festival atmosphere, loads of places to eat and our German hosts have made a lot of effort to make sure we're well attended to with free breakfast and plenty of evening entertainment and prizes courtesy of Nordea, FSE and CTM.
Todays practice races have been called off with more big breeze. Tomorrows looking much better and the sun is even forecast to make an appearance to hopefully by the time the racing kicks off it'll be all good and Bens hangover will have gone and Jason R's need to hang out in the changing room (warmest place he's found) will have passed.
I'm off to find some donuts. The cake here is excellent but the tea leaves a bit to be desired, luckily I've found a box of earl grey in the supermarket...
Friday, 22 July 2011
On my way
Me and Doug have just departed Dover on our mammoth trip to Germany.
I stopped off at queen mary earlier this evening to load up the monster trailer and now have 6 moths and a van full of moth related junk!
Hopefully by lunchtime tomorrow we will be in Travemunde where it sounds like there are already plenty of mothies to meet us...
- Posted using BlogPress from somewhere in the English channel...
I stopped off at queen mary earlier this evening to load up the monster trailer and now have 6 moths and a van full of moth related junk!
Hopefully by lunchtime tomorrow we will be in Travemunde where it sounds like there are already plenty of mothies to meet us...
- Posted using BlogPress from somewhere in the English channel...
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
The Curse Pt2
So, my Nationals didn't go entirely to plan.
I was rigging up on Saturday to find my rear wingbar had split across the centreline. Bearing in mind it was absolutely honking at the time, I wasn't prepared to risk doing more damage to the boat by sailing on it so I packed up. It was a bit of an odd break really - I'd changed style of the rear wingbars on my boat to a single piece across the transom, rather than plug in socket style, as it should be a lighter solution. Good idea, not so good in practice for reasons I won't bore you with here! In hindsight (what a lovely thing it is) having dismantled it and had a closer look I could probably have gotten away with it...
It's a big 'what if' kinda decision. I don't tend to look too kindly on people who know something is wrong and sail on anyway, as the resulting mess is harder to clean up - so, if I talk the talk...!
It's a massive feeling of frustration, and the second consecutive nationals where a random breakage has put me out of contention early on. To all those who say you make your own luck, I tend to agree but I've been sailing in a lot of wind this year and am really surprised this hasn't come up sooner. If you believe in karma then maybe I should play the lottery this week!
Anyway. On a more upbeat note, Jason Belben put in a very solid performance to take the Nationals, beating off Arnaud for the open championship and a hard-charging Chris Rashley who put in a first and three seconds on the final day to take third (or second, depending on how you look at it!). Both were running the new skinny Ninja foils and will be a force to be reckoned with at the Euro's in 10 days time. Proof that the little Ninja from Somerset can mix it up with the best of them...
Final results are here
Photos from the event here
I was rigging up on Saturday to find my rear wingbar had split across the centreline. Bearing in mind it was absolutely honking at the time, I wasn't prepared to risk doing more damage to the boat by sailing on it so I packed up. It was a bit of an odd break really - I'd changed style of the rear wingbars on my boat to a single piece across the transom, rather than plug in socket style, as it should be a lighter solution. Good idea, not so good in practice for reasons I won't bore you with here! In hindsight (what a lovely thing it is) having dismantled it and had a closer look I could probably have gotten away with it...
It's a big 'what if' kinda decision. I don't tend to look too kindly on people who know something is wrong and sail on anyway, as the resulting mess is harder to clean up - so, if I talk the talk...!
It's a massive feeling of frustration, and the second consecutive nationals where a random breakage has put me out of contention early on. To all those who say you make your own luck, I tend to agree but I've been sailing in a lot of wind this year and am really surprised this hasn't come up sooner. If you believe in karma then maybe I should play the lottery this week!
Anyway. On a more upbeat note, Jason Belben put in a very solid performance to take the Nationals, beating off Arnaud for the open championship and a hard-charging Chris Rashley who put in a first and three seconds on the final day to take third (or second, depending on how you look at it!). Both were running the new skinny Ninja foils and will be a force to be reckoned with at the Euro's in 10 days time. Proof that the little Ninja from Somerset can mix it up with the best of them...
Final results are here
Photos from the event here
Friday, 8 July 2011
The curse of the moth nationals...
Day two of the moth nationals. Its currently blowing up to 30 knots and doesnt look like abating over the course of the day. Currently looking like were going to do the agm this morning and then make a decision on where to can it for the day.
Day one was a bit of a baptism of fire with a nice chop going around with 15-20 knots at times. I was late getting onto the water and only just made the start of race one and capsised three times up the first beat while getting myself figured out as my flat water settings obviously weren't u to it! I pulled through the fleet over the next few laps and unded somewhee in the teens.
Race two I got my act together and didn't do anything silly pulling from 5th up to 3rd by the finish.
Unfortunately race three saw a return to my usual form, failing to make my first tack twice. There then happened to be a nice set of standing waves/wash from a passing ferry that saw about a dozen of us all stacked at the top mark going nowhere... A pretty dismal showing from my good self really but i was starting to get the hang of my annual outing on waves!
Jason Belben was on top, with a 1,1,2 followed by Arnaud, Si Payne and Chris Rashley all charging hard...
In the dinghy park, theres a few interesting developments. Arnaud has moved back to the larger Mach 2 rudder and also cut down his mainfoil slightly. I think that might have been the result of a night out in Portsmouth though. Most of the top guys are running adjustable wand length of some descripton. Mike and Richie are running a new evo of the current Hyde main and seem to be better paced when the breeze is up.
Now I've found the code for the wifi I'll try and get online a bit more. I'm also posting to the IMCA UK Twitter twitter feed when i can.
Day one was a bit of a baptism of fire with a nice chop going around with 15-20 knots at times. I was late getting onto the water and only just made the start of race one and capsised three times up the first beat while getting myself figured out as my flat water settings obviously weren't u to it! I pulled through the fleet over the next few laps and unded somewhee in the teens.
Race two I got my act together and didn't do anything silly pulling from 5th up to 3rd by the finish.
Unfortunately race three saw a return to my usual form, failing to make my first tack twice. There then happened to be a nice set of standing waves/wash from a passing ferry that saw about a dozen of us all stacked at the top mark going nowhere... A pretty dismal showing from my good self really but i was starting to get the hang of my annual outing on waves!
Jason Belben was on top, with a 1,1,2 followed by Arnaud, Si Payne and Chris Rashley all charging hard...
In the dinghy park, theres a few interesting developments. Arnaud has moved back to the larger Mach 2 rudder and also cut down his mainfoil slightly. I think that might have been the result of a night out in Portsmouth though. Most of the top guys are running adjustable wand length of some descripton. Mike and Richie are running a new evo of the current Hyde main and seem to be better paced when the breeze is up.
Now I've found the code for the wifi I'll try and get online a bit more. I'm also posting to the IMCA UK Twitter twitter feed when i can.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Messing about in boats
I had my last sail prior to the "Dash for Cash" today, seems like the season has only just got started and already the Nationals is upon us.
As my poor abused 10.c is with Dave Bosnia at Dynamic Sails for some tender loving care I was using the afternoon for messing around with the Silly Sail and some different mast combinations. I'm persisting with it as it's blindingly quick in certain conditions but unwieldy when the wind gets up, something I'm starting to get my head around with a stiffer mast and some planned mods to the luff curve. Still, nothing ventured and all that...
Alan was out for a pre-nationals blast around and to test his boat out after it blew over his car while rigged the other week! Luckily it escaped with only a broken gantry that was easily fixed. Leo also popped down to pick up his boat. It's looking like the full complement of the Bristol Moth Squadron will be heading down to Stokes Bay next week and with the entry list approaching 50 boats it's going to be one hell of an event...
As my poor abused 10.c is with Dave Bosnia at Dynamic Sails for some tender loving care I was using the afternoon for messing around with the Silly Sail and some different mast combinations. I'm persisting with it as it's blindingly quick in certain conditions but unwieldy when the wind gets up, something I'm starting to get my head around with a stiffer mast and some planned mods to the luff curve. Still, nothing ventured and all that...
Alan was out for a pre-nationals blast around and to test his boat out after it blew over his car while rigged the other week! Luckily it escaped with only a broken gantry that was easily fixed. Leo also popped down to pick up his boat. It's looking like the full complement of the Bristol Moth Squadron will be heading down to Stokes Bay next week and with the entry list approaching 50 boats it's going to be one hell of an event...
Sunday, 26 June 2011
My 2011 Nationals form guide
It's that time of year again and here's my take on the runners and riders. I'm not going to pick anyone as a winner, so as not to jinx the poor soul...
Top Tier: Those that may actually win the event...
I think you'd have to be pretty silly to write off the HISC M2 fleet. Master Payne and Mr Lennon have been a regular feature at the top of the UK circuit for a while now and the fact that they sail together frequently means they're able to push themselves and keep on top of their game.
Jason Belben and Chris Rashley have been doing the same thing down at Stokes Bay, which gives them a good home advantage. Chris has worked exceptionally hard at getting up to speed this year and it's shown with two open wins (in some pretty wild conditions) to boot. They've been there or thereabouts when the Hayling lot have come out to play and either would be a good bet.
Second tier: Those that might take a race here and there.
Ben Paton recorded the best non-M2 race position at the worlds, sailing on the original Ninja foils. He's now got his new 2011 foils and will be a force to be reckoned with. Lack of a medium setting means he may crash and burn while lit up to 11.
Richie Lovering has been starting to mix things up with the front runners this season and should be well up there when the breeze is on.
Ricki Tagg practically invented crash and burn sailing and may suffer a similar fate to Paton, but when he's upright there is no denying he's very fast.
Jason Russell is another one who's been slowly creeping his way up the results. He's very fit and works hard on the racecourse.
And then there is me. I've pretty much written off this season after promising myself so much. Nowhere near the right amount of time on the water, combined with a tiny bit of bad luck, has meant my season has been a bit of a non starter. A couple of race wins here and there show a glimmer of hope - the boat is obviously fast and I'm fitter than I've been in a while... Fingers crossed!
The great thing about an event like this is that it's actually nothing to do with the racing for me. A chance to spend time with a bunch of friendly, like-minded individuals isn't one to be missed and I hope loads of you join me!
Top Tier: Those that may actually win the event...
I think you'd have to be pretty silly to write off the HISC M2 fleet. Master Payne and Mr Lennon have been a regular feature at the top of the UK circuit for a while now and the fact that they sail together frequently means they're able to push themselves and keep on top of their game.
Jason Belben and Chris Rashley have been doing the same thing down at Stokes Bay, which gives them a good home advantage. Chris has worked exceptionally hard at getting up to speed this year and it's shown with two open wins (in some pretty wild conditions) to boot. They've been there or thereabouts when the Hayling lot have come out to play and either would be a good bet.
Second tier: Those that might take a race here and there.
Ben Paton recorded the best non-M2 race position at the worlds, sailing on the original Ninja foils. He's now got his new 2011 foils and will be a force to be reckoned with. Lack of a medium setting means he may crash and burn while lit up to 11.
Richie Lovering has been starting to mix things up with the front runners this season and should be well up there when the breeze is on.
Ricki Tagg practically invented crash and burn sailing and may suffer a similar fate to Paton, but when he's upright there is no denying he's very fast.
Jason Russell is another one who's been slowly creeping his way up the results. He's very fit and works hard on the racecourse.
And then there is me. I've pretty much written off this season after promising myself so much. Nowhere near the right amount of time on the water, combined with a tiny bit of bad luck, has meant my season has been a bit of a non starter. A couple of race wins here and there show a glimmer of hope - the boat is obviously fast and I'm fitter than I've been in a while... Fingers crossed!
The great thing about an event like this is that it's actually nothing to do with the racing for me. A chance to spend time with a bunch of friendly, like-minded individuals isn't one to be missed and I hope loads of you join me!
Monday, 20 June 2011
Spoke too soon!
I was just saying in my last post about the Moth not beating me up like it used to and then I went to Thorpe Bay. We were greeted by a pretty solid breeze which did it's best to give us all a good beating. When we rounded the windward mark we found the waves were suitably large that no-one could go downwind in any semblance of control. This resulted in a bunch of Moths sitting around, occasionally burning off for a few hundred yards before launching into a big ball of spray.
Top marks go to Ben Paton who's admirable workrate saw him furthest upwind and the most attempts at downwind. Chris Rashley was the only one who managed a lap of the course and therefore won the race. He was also the only one still on the water when the 45+knot squall blew through with lightning and hail and all. Apparently he was wary of holding onto the boat in the water while that went on...
I tried all sorts to get downwind and at one point was heeled and bore off so far by the lee that the boat started to gybe itself while I was still hiking! The resulting capsize went fully inverted in the not so deep waters of Southend and the combination of the sea bed, tide and big waves was too much for my poor mast. I've now got two massive bruises on my legs and a damaged ego which will take some healing I feel! It was quite interesting as you couldn't go slow enough to go down the waves without running into a steep dead end. You also couldn't stay on the wave peaks going across it as you just had to bear off at some point and you were then doing 24 knots into a trough!
Saturday night saw the obligatory Essex dodgy disco and Jason Russell demonstrating his sketching skills...
It was with some reluctance that the fleet assembled on Sunday. Chris was mega keen and went out for the first one and to show us that we were silly, before being joined by a small following for the next races. I'd already packed up by then and had a missing trailer wheel bearing to sort out so decided to nurse my wounds and contemplate how to survive that in the future...
Top marks go to Ben Paton who's admirable workrate saw him furthest upwind and the most attempts at downwind. Chris Rashley was the only one who managed a lap of the course and therefore won the race. He was also the only one still on the water when the 45+knot squall blew through with lightning and hail and all. Apparently he was wary of holding onto the boat in the water while that went on...
I tried all sorts to get downwind and at one point was heeled and bore off so far by the lee that the boat started to gybe itself while I was still hiking! The resulting capsize went fully inverted in the not so deep waters of Southend and the combination of the sea bed, tide and big waves was too much for my poor mast. I've now got two massive bruises on my legs and a damaged ego which will take some healing I feel! It was quite interesting as you couldn't go slow enough to go down the waves without running into a steep dead end. You also couldn't stay on the wave peaks going across it as you just had to bear off at some point and you were then doing 24 knots into a trough!
Saturday night saw the obligatory Essex dodgy disco and Jason Russell demonstrating his sketching skills...
It was with some reluctance that the fleet assembled on Sunday. Chris was mega keen and went out for the first one and to show us that we were silly, before being joined by a small following for the next races. I'd already packed up by then and had a missing trailer wheel bearing to sort out so decided to nurse my wounds and contemplate how to survive that in the future...
Monday, 13 June 2011
The minor things
The Moth is a tricky beast sometimes. It's a complicated package that relies on every single part doing its job. Once one part fails there is no redundancy to pick up the slack.
Hayling open was a write off for me for exactly this reason. A buckled pushrod at the top of the daggerboard caused all control to vanish a lap into the first race. With a long semi out of control sail back in there was no way it was getting fixed for that day. Unfortunately I made such a hash of replacing it that I damaged my flap hinge which I only noticed when I went to rig up on Sunday. A pretty epic weekend of fail really. Thankfully Jason was on hand to keep the HISC boys honest.
I've not been able to get much Mothing in lately as the conditions haven't been kind at BCYC. I've taken the opportunity to go windsurfing instead which has been doing my fitness levels the world of good as, being quite bad at it, get the kind of beatings I used to get when I started foiling (Garda anyone?).
So on to Thorpe Bay. I grew up in Burnham and used to sail at TBSC quite a bit but dont think I've visited since my teens. It's an excellent club and the waters should give a fairly good simulation of Stokes Bay. That reminds me - almost form guide time...
Hayling open was a write off for me for exactly this reason. A buckled pushrod at the top of the daggerboard caused all control to vanish a lap into the first race. With a long semi out of control sail back in there was no way it was getting fixed for that day. Unfortunately I made such a hash of replacing it that I damaged my flap hinge which I only noticed when I went to rig up on Sunday. A pretty epic weekend of fail really. Thankfully Jason was on hand to keep the HISC boys honest.
I've not been able to get much Mothing in lately as the conditions haven't been kind at BCYC. I've taken the opportunity to go windsurfing instead which has been doing my fitness levels the world of good as, being quite bad at it, get the kind of beatings I used to get when I started foiling (Garda anyone?).
So on to Thorpe Bay. I grew up in Burnham and used to sail at TBSC quite a bit but dont think I've visited since my teens. It's an excellent club and the waters should give a fairly good simulation of Stokes Bay. That reminds me - almost form guide time...
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Don't run your friends over.
There's been some minor Bristol Mothing lately. We had a bit of an open day two Saturdays ago with DJ, Andrew Friend and Rich Westbury all joining in and I think we had 7 boats out at various stages. Darren took a few pictures which he's posted on Facebook...
I als had an entertaining run in with Mr 'Badger' Fear on a Wednesday night when he went for an unexpected gibe and wiped out in front of me - leaving either a run up the concrete bank or a swift gibe as my only options. I went with the gibe and didn't quite make it, resulting in a small hole in my nice new sail! Live and learn. Nothing a bit of tape won't fix anyway and it could have been much worse!
I've been busy in the workshop, mostly knuckling down and getting some of the new 2011 foils out the door along with Tom Lambert's new 2011 Ninja in the most tasteful colour yet!
I have been able to sneak in a bit of time on Donatello, finally getting around to my take on an adjustable wand (also known as the Oligario Sissy Stick or Pimp Cane) and fitting my proper Hyde tramps.
Terry the spar man, has been making me a new mast to fit my MSL10, which is a bit stiffer than my usual, but with a longer topmast taper to force more bend from higher up. Might get the chance to have a look at that this weekend before the open in Hayling. If the W.I. can get out of bed for their own open meeting we might actually get a good turnout! ;-)
I als had an entertaining run in with Mr 'Badger' Fear on a Wednesday night when he went for an unexpected gibe and wiped out in front of me - leaving either a run up the concrete bank or a swift gibe as my only options. I went with the gibe and didn't quite make it, resulting in a small hole in my nice new sail! Live and learn. Nothing a bit of tape won't fix anyway and it could have been much worse!
I've been busy in the workshop, mostly knuckling down and getting some of the new 2011 foils out the door along with Tom Lambert's new 2011 Ninja in the most tasteful colour yet!
I have been able to sneak in a bit of time on Donatello, finally getting around to my take on an adjustable wand (also known as the Oligario Sissy Stick or Pimp Cane) and fitting my proper Hyde tramps.
Terry the spar man, has been making me a new mast to fit my MSL10, which is a bit stiffer than my usual, but with a longer topmast taper to force more bend from higher up. Might get the chance to have a look at that this weekend before the open in Hayling. If the W.I. can get out of bed for their own open meeting we might actually get a good turnout! ;-)
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Parkstone Open
24 Boats rocked up for the open at Parkstone over the weekend. After the lacklustre turnout at QM for the inlands I was a bit worried about the UK circuit but things are looking brighter now the sun is out.
The first race was some of the closest we've had in the UK with Si Payne, Mike Lennon, Chris Rashley, Jason Belben and me all duking it out for the top spot, swapping places in the puffs and putting a real emphasis on tacking as one drop put you at the back of the group. I seemed to have height on everyone and after a few tactical blunders pulled past on the penultimate beat before pulling out a bit of a lead to the finish. That was pretty much my only moment of glory for the day as I had a pretty shocking two races after that, with capsizes in both races and a botched start. I managed to pull back through in the second one to 4th but the last race was really bad with my rusty race skills and a lack of sailing fitness taking their toll and putting me back to 8th.
The Ninja death squad were on good form with Rashers putting in a 3,2,2 and Jason just behind him. Mike Lennon was out in front with a solid 2,1,1 (Must be the Ninja rudder...)
Rodders had us out and about for a good pizza before putting up with about half the fleet on his floor. Buck the truck still has the SYZ and Co sticker on from the Euro's although I'm not sure if the tiller of doom made an appearance...
Sunday dawned with a vicious streak and 30 knot gusts going across Poole harbour. There was a large hesitancy in the air with the monster gusts putting off a lot of the fleet, especially those about to pack for Spain. I wasn't too keen on the harbour launch and recovery and, bearing in mind the amount of work I've got on, didn't want to be putting Donatello back together again after finding the shallows!
The weather backed off nicely and the brave(er than me) enjoyed a good 15-20 knot blast. Simon P showed a return to form with 2 firsts and a second with Jason Belben taking the other race. It's going to be interesting to see how Jason gets on now he's got his set of 2011 foils!
I spent the day eating cake, pondering my wimpiness and sorting out Leo and Badger's wand systems.
With the top 3 separated by 3 points this season is going to be mighty good fun. I just need to make sure I can sail for more than one day in a row and man up a bit!
Gallery of Saturdays racing is here
Results from both days are here
Next open is here...
The first race was some of the closest we've had in the UK with Si Payne, Mike Lennon, Chris Rashley, Jason Belben and me all duking it out for the top spot, swapping places in the puffs and putting a real emphasis on tacking as one drop put you at the back of the group. I seemed to have height on everyone and after a few tactical blunders pulled past on the penultimate beat before pulling out a bit of a lead to the finish. That was pretty much my only moment of glory for the day as I had a pretty shocking two races after that, with capsizes in both races and a botched start. I managed to pull back through in the second one to 4th but the last race was really bad with my rusty race skills and a lack of sailing fitness taking their toll and putting me back to 8th.
The Ninja death squad were on good form with Rashers putting in a 3,2,2 and Jason just behind him. Mike Lennon was out in front with a solid 2,1,1 (Must be the Ninja rudder...)
Rodders had us out and about for a good pizza before putting up with about half the fleet on his floor. Buck the truck still has the SYZ and Co sticker on from the Euro's although I'm not sure if the tiller of doom made an appearance...
Sunday dawned with a vicious streak and 30 knot gusts going across Poole harbour. There was a large hesitancy in the air with the monster gusts putting off a lot of the fleet, especially those about to pack for Spain. I wasn't too keen on the harbour launch and recovery and, bearing in mind the amount of work I've got on, didn't want to be putting Donatello back together again after finding the shallows!
The weather backed off nicely and the brave(er than me) enjoyed a good 15-20 knot blast. Simon P showed a return to form with 2 firsts and a second with Jason Belben taking the other race. It's going to be interesting to see how Jason gets on now he's got his set of 2011 foils!
I spent the day eating cake, pondering my wimpiness and sorting out Leo and Badger's wand systems.
With the top 3 separated by 3 points this season is going to be mighty good fun. I just need to make sure I can sail for more than one day in a row and man up a bit!
Gallery of Saturdays racing is here
Results from both days are here
Next open is here...
Monday, 2 May 2011
The 28.8 Knot club
I don't think there is a 30 knot club in the UK yet, so I have here my highest bid. I also appear to have my rash vest on backwards.
Has anyone been faster over here? I know Rodders/Rashley and Offer have all put in 27 knots recently at least and Martin "Badger" Fear was the fastest in the UK for most of last year with a 26.9.
Anyway, Martin, Darren and I braved the ferocious land that is a crazy northerly at Axbridge today. With gusts coming out of the gorge like bullets it was a wild ride. It was actually surprisingly difficult to get any decent speed runs in as the gusts were so short that you tended to sail out the other side of them...
If I'm honest, there wasn't really much actual sailing to be done today - it was barely possible to get back upwind half the time as the change in windspeed and direction tended to have you underwater at a moments notice!
Still, looking forward to Poole this weekend and seeing if I can take some of this speed onto the racecourse...
Are you serious?
Seems the latest craze with Mothies is blogging less. Even Phil Oligario is doing it!
I think it's a bit of a shame that in order to be competitive people seem to be spending less time online sharing their experiences - sure, most of the time it's just people like me spouting off about nothing in particular but there are always little gems hidden away in amongst the general sailing posts.
I think it's a sign of the newer people in the class bringing in a level of professionalism and not wanting to give their game away or share their secret tweaks. Probably also a sign of the pulls of modern life meaning there is so much to pack into a day.
So, to be serious about your Mothing you shouldn't be online spouting nonsense when you could be sailing, doing some boat work or going running or whatever fitness craze has taken hold since the new year!
I'm currently sitting in the sailing club watching some vicious gusts flying down the lake. Yesterday was blown off with 35 knot gusts and today looks a bit like more of the same. Normally I'd go windsurfing but my van is in the garage being sorted out and apparently you can't fit a free ride board in an mx5 or citroen c1! We did find that you can fit two mountain bikes in the c1 though but I won't let Em and myself's off road adventures get in the way of my blogging....
I think it's a bit of a shame that in order to be competitive people seem to be spending less time online sharing their experiences - sure, most of the time it's just people like me spouting off about nothing in particular but there are always little gems hidden away in amongst the general sailing posts.
I think it's a sign of the newer people in the class bringing in a level of professionalism and not wanting to give their game away or share their secret tweaks. Probably also a sign of the pulls of modern life meaning there is so much to pack into a day.
So, to be serious about your Mothing you shouldn't be online spouting nonsense when you could be sailing, doing some boat work or going running or whatever fitness craze has taken hold since the new year!
I'm currently sitting in the sailing club watching some vicious gusts flying down the lake. Yesterday was blown off with 35 knot gusts and today looks a bit like more of the same. Normally I'd go windsurfing but my van is in the garage being sorted out and apparently you can't fit a free ride board in an mx5 or citroen c1! We did find that you can fit two mountain bikes in the c1 though but I won't let Em and myself's off road adventures get in the way of my blogging....
Sunday, 24 April 2011
Summer time and the sailing's easy.
Darren, Alan, Martin and I made it down to BCYC yesterday for the first proper sea breeze session of the year. The hot weather lately has been warming things up nicely and by midday there was a nice 8-10 knot breeze that increased slightly over the afternoon. This gave Martin and I a good couple of hours in, practicing our tacking and gibing and doing speed runs. Martin is going very nicely now and we're slowly pinning down the areas that need inprovement.
I've been quite surprised with my own progress after doing next to no sailing for over 6 months. The foiling tacks are still there and I'm just not quite as smooth as I was. The new boat is going really nicely and I'm looking forward to getting to a couple of events now to really see how things shape up! My fitness doesn't seem too bad either, having taken up running a couple of months ago to make sure I was vaguely fit before the season started rather than being vaguely fit by the time it finishes...
I've got my nice swivel-jammer based Pro-start mount working now, with a couple of tacking lines running off the mainsheet bridle bringing it up to windward every time. I've never really sailed with visible boatspeed before, just recording my tracks for viewing later but it is quite interesting getting into a groove and seeing how the boat behaves.
Emma was on camera duty, enjoying the sunshine.
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Wednesday sailing
Well despite the greyness and sudden re-emergence of winter I journeyed out to Axbridge for a nice quiet sail this afternoon.
The wind was all over the place and coming and going quite frequently. This made for plenty of string twiddling trying to get the most from the rig. I feel I'm finally starting to get the foils and gearing how I like it and this is allowing me to start getting into the rhythm of tacking and gibing again and even pulled off a few no touch tacks.
I've been tinkering with a mount for my Prostart as it's impossible to read from hiking if it's mounted facing aft at the mast. After hacking up a mainsheet swivel jammer and building a mounting plate around it I just need to figure out how to tack it now. Bungee onto the kicker didn't work unless the boom was well off the centreline. Thinking either toestraps or mainsheet bridle next...
I'm off down to Weymouth on Friday afternoon for a bit of sailing with some other moths before the coaching kicks off on Saturday.
The wind was all over the place and coming and going quite frequently. This made for plenty of string twiddling trying to get the most from the rig. I feel I'm finally starting to get the foils and gearing how I like it and this is allowing me to start getting into the rhythm of tacking and gibing again and even pulled off a few no touch tacks.
I've been tinkering with a mount for my Prostart as it's impossible to read from hiking if it's mounted facing aft at the mast. After hacking up a mainsheet swivel jammer and building a mounting plate around it I just need to figure out how to tack it now. Bungee onto the kicker didn't work unless the boom was well off the centreline. Thinking either toestraps or mainsheet bridle next...
I'm off down to Weymouth on Friday afternoon for a bit of sailing with some other moths before the coaching kicks off on Saturday.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
MSL - Main Sail Limbo
Sailed for the first time with a MSL 10C on my boat today and discovered I can barely get under the boom! Going to have to put a second clew eye in I think and lose a bit of area off the foot. You don't get the niceties that you get with the Hydes like leech or luff telltales although my cams didn't fall off so that was a good start!
Had a beautiful sail down at Axbridge this afternoon - the first wednesday of the year and with 10-12 knots it was good to try and get back into the routine of Moth sailing, trying to remember how to tack and gibe and start to get my setup dialed. The boat and new foils are behaving themselves and I managed to crack out a 23 knot run in one of the bigger puffs which could have been no more than 15 knots.
Darren and Martin were both down a little later but unfortunately the wind was shutting off by this time, leaving me as race officer to run a race with next to no wind by the finish...
We're having a bit of a Bristol Moth Fest on Sunday with most of the club boats likely to be out + DJ visiting us from Port Talbot - should be fun!
Had a beautiful sail down at Axbridge this afternoon - the first wednesday of the year and with 10-12 knots it was good to try and get back into the routine of Moth sailing, trying to remember how to tack and gibe and start to get my setup dialed. The boat and new foils are behaving themselves and I managed to crack out a 23 knot run in one of the bigger puffs which could have been no more than 15 knots.
Darren and Martin were both down a little later but unfortunately the wind was shutting off by this time, leaving me as race officer to run a race with next to no wind by the finish...
We're having a bit of a Bristol Moth Fest on Sunday with most of the club boats likely to be out + DJ visiting us from Port Talbot - should be fun!
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Fast as lightning.
I would love to say that I am describing my new boat. While it does indeed feel very fast it's also early days.
Instead I am describing quite how quickly I left the lake earlier today after the sudden onset of thunder and lightning alarmingly close to the lake at Cheddar...
There wasn't much wind for my sail and when the breeze kicked in I thought I was in for a nice ride, until a bolt of lightning made me nervous and we all evacuated the lake pretty rapidly. One of the sailors was telling me afterwards how he didn't mind too much as he had a carbon mast. He wasn't sure if I was joking when I told him that carbon was an excellent conductor!
No other mothies about. Martin was off for sneaky practice in Wales with DJ, Tom is off down in Rock with his boat, Darren was 200 sailing while Leo has a fractured rib! I'm hoping we can get our act back together and all get out again soon...
Instead I am describing quite how quickly I left the lake earlier today after the sudden onset of thunder and lightning alarmingly close to the lake at Cheddar...
There wasn't much wind for my sail and when the breeze kicked in I thought I was in for a nice ride, until a bolt of lightning made me nervous and we all evacuated the lake pretty rapidly. One of the sailors was telling me afterwards how he didn't mind too much as he had a carbon mast. He wasn't sure if I was joking when I told him that carbon was an excellent conductor!
No other mothies about. Martin was off for sneaky practice in Wales with DJ, Tom is off down in Rock with his boat, Darren was 200 sailing while Leo has a fractured rib! I'm hoping we can get our act back together and all get out again soon...
Monday, 28 March 2011
QMSC inlands
Just had a great weekend at Queen Mary for the inlands. While the turnout was down, the fun was up and some great racing was had with new Ninja rider Chris Rashley taking three wins on the Saturday and after looking for and failing to find my foiling wings I then took the only race on Sunday.
Chris, Ben Paton and Tom Offer had some cracking racing on the Saturday with plenty of place changing and some close finishes in 10-15 knots. I meanwhile was busy with trying to remember how to sail having amassed about 5 hours on the water since October. I missed the first race with a minor pushrod problem, I also had far too much rake meaning whenever I fluffed a tack (often!) the boat would stick head to wind and stay there until I dumped the kicker altogether and reversed off... Regardless, I was very pleased with the boats performance given it was it's first day on the water and by the end of the races I was motoring and rapidly making up for my mistakes.
Saturday night saw the QM Ninja death squad lead us off into Staines for a fantastic curry buffet and as much rum, Jaegermeister and whiskey as Tom could handle!
Sunday looked breathless, but come race time a patchy 5-8 knot breeze floated in meaning we could fit in one race before the sun came out and the breeze evaporated. I was pleased to find the new foils were up the the usual Ninja light air abilities, taking the race by over 5 minutes from Ben, Tom, then Chris.
I'm very pleased with the new boat and will go over it a bit in a future post. A few batten changes have improved the mk2 Ellway sail and improved it in a bit more breeze and it's still excellent in the lighter airs. The new foils feel good and I'm looking forward to getting some hours in and seeing what they can do.
I'm also pleased to see Chris, Ben and Tom all sailing well, having put in a lot of time on the water over the winter and Chris winning his first Moth open.
Meanwhile, somewhere on the south coast, the Wailing Islanders (W.I. For short) couldn't pluck up enough enthusiasm to leave their sandy playpen and drive an hour up the road...
Chris, Ben Paton and Tom Offer had some cracking racing on the Saturday with plenty of place changing and some close finishes in 10-15 knots. I meanwhile was busy with trying to remember how to sail having amassed about 5 hours on the water since October. I missed the first race with a minor pushrod problem, I also had far too much rake meaning whenever I fluffed a tack (often!) the boat would stick head to wind and stay there until I dumped the kicker altogether and reversed off... Regardless, I was very pleased with the boats performance given it was it's first day on the water and by the end of the races I was motoring and rapidly making up for my mistakes.
Saturday night saw the QM Ninja death squad lead us off into Staines for a fantastic curry buffet and as much rum, Jaegermeister and whiskey as Tom could handle!
Sunday looked breathless, but come race time a patchy 5-8 knot breeze floated in meaning we could fit in one race before the sun came out and the breeze evaporated. I was pleased to find the new foils were up the the usual Ninja light air abilities, taking the race by over 5 minutes from Ben, Tom, then Chris.
I'm very pleased with the new boat and will go over it a bit in a future post. A few batten changes have improved the mk2 Ellway sail and improved it in a bit more breeze and it's still excellent in the lighter airs. The new foils feel good and I'm looking forward to getting some hours in and seeing what they can do.
I'm also pleased to see Chris, Ben and Tom all sailing well, having put in a lot of time on the water over the winter and Chris winning his first Moth open.
Meanwhile, somewhere on the south coast, the Wailing Islanders (W.I. For short) couldn't pluck up enough enthusiasm to leave their sandy playpen and drive an hour up the road...
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Blokart for sale - NOW SOLD
Realise this isn't Moth related but it is windsport related!
I'm selling my classic Blokart which is one of the early ones with a pretty tired 3M sail and a new 4M and all the bits that go with...
Looking for £900ish - email mike 'at' aardvarkracing.co.uk
I'm selling my classic Blokart which is one of the early ones with a pretty tired 3M sail and a new 4M and all the bits that go with...
Looking for £900ish - email mike 'at' aardvarkracing.co.uk
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Dinghy Show
For the first time in lord knows how long I've watched the dinghy show from the sidelines! I love going, for the same reason I love the silly winter events. Meet buddies from other classes, see shiny toys and ancient hulks of timber with tons of varnish and loads of string that doesn't make 'em any faster!
Well done to Phil for getting a concours nomination but ultimately losing out to the Aardvark built E6 Cherub! I still haven't seen it since it's been finished but everyone who has says it's a work of art...
I was busy in the workshop on my boat. I've finally got all my new pieces of moulding sorted out including the new deck mould for the 2011 Ninja now done. As this was coming off my boat it means I can now crack on and finish the paintwork and get back on the water. Hopefully by next weekend I can be sailing my new boat on my new foils.
I haven't decided what to do about sails just yet so will be sailing on my v2 crazymain from last summer. I still think this sail is amazing downhill but a bit unwieldy upwind. I'm hoping some batten mods I've got up my sleeve will correct this and I guess we'll find out at the inlands in a couple of weeks time...
Better hope that I've been able to develop myself past of the lack of sailing I've done lately!
Well done to Phil for getting a concours nomination but ultimately losing out to the Aardvark built E6 Cherub! I still haven't seen it since it's been finished but everyone who has says it's a work of art...
I was busy in the workshop on my boat. I've finally got all my new pieces of moulding sorted out including the new deck mould for the 2011 Ninja now done. As this was coming off my boat it means I can now crack on and finish the paintwork and get back on the water. Hopefully by next weekend I can be sailing my new boat on my new foils.
I haven't decided what to do about sails just yet so will be sailing on my v2 crazymain from last summer. I still think this sail is amazing downhill but a bit unwieldy upwind. I'm hoping some batten mods I've got up my sleeve will correct this and I guess we'll find out at the inlands in a couple of weeks time...
Better hope that I've been able to develop myself past of the lack of sailing I've done lately!
Friday, 4 March 2011
If in doubt, get out!
If you know you are going to crash - make sure you can leave the boat easily! It's a lot easier on the boat stopping itself than it is for it to stop your 80 kilo self too!
Some excellent crashing going on here and it shows just how windy it was in Belmont at times - 3 years ago at Weymouth people weren't even considering launching in some of those breezes...
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Life goes on...
Sitting in my usual spot (somewhere in the workshop with a half finished boat) I'm getting that feeling that the year is passing me by! Tom, Alan, Martin, Leo and Darren have all been out sailing at Cheddar and the best I can manage is dropping the mini40 in the lake and blasting that around.
The 2011 Ninja is shaping up nicely now though after a long gestation period. There are no drastic changes afoot. Lots of little tweaks to make life simpler for building and to neaten up little bits of stiffness and aero here and there. With the completion of the final piece of foil mould jigsaw over the weekend I'm left looking forward to finding out what Kevins' latest creations are capable of.
The first set is going to the Stokes Bay Ninja death squad where Chris Rashley and Jason Belben will be testing them against last years foils while I will no doubt be launching mine boat and foils on the morning of the inlands at Queen Mary.
On the plus side, I've taken up running (albeit very slowly) so I hopefully won't spend the first half of the season getting fit for sailing by going sailing. The sun even came out for a bit yesterday and I vaguely thought mountain biking would be doable again...
So, a bit of a ramble - which you've probably come to expect by now if you come here often. Bring on the season!
The 2011 Ninja is shaping up nicely now though after a long gestation period. There are no drastic changes afoot. Lots of little tweaks to make life simpler for building and to neaten up little bits of stiffness and aero here and there. With the completion of the final piece of foil mould jigsaw over the weekend I'm left looking forward to finding out what Kevins' latest creations are capable of.
The first set is going to the Stokes Bay Ninja death squad where Chris Rashley and Jason Belben will be testing them against last years foils while I will no doubt be launching mine boat and foils on the morning of the inlands at Queen Mary.
On the plus side, I've taken up running (albeit very slowly) so I hopefully won't spend the first half of the season getting fit for sailing by going sailing. The sun even came out for a bit yesterday and I vaguely thought mountain biking would be doable again...
So, a bit of a ramble - which you've probably come to expect by now if you come here often. Bring on the season!
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Normal service resumed
The last two weekends have seen normal sailing resume at BCYC. Both Leo and Darren were out in their boats last weekend and Darren and Tom were both out this weekend despite gusts over 30 knots.
Tom is getting to grips with his M2 nicely now and it will be good to have him to race against at the club and hopefully we can both push our games up.
Simon has now bought the Ninja Turtle and should be on the water in that over the next few weeks while I'm busy trying to get the various pieces of the 2011 Ninja together with new moulds for pretty much everything including new foil designs. It's safe to say I'm pretty excited about this season as I believe the Turtle was very quick and Kevin is confident that he's moved the foils on again...
Roll on spring!!!
Tom is getting to grips with his M2 nicely now and it will be good to have him to race against at the club and hopefully we can both push our games up.
Simon has now bought the Ninja Turtle and should be on the water in that over the next few weeks while I'm busy trying to get the various pieces of the 2011 Ninja together with new moulds for pretty much everything including new foil designs. It's safe to say I'm pretty excited about this season as I believe the Turtle was very quick and Kevin is confident that he's moved the foils on again...
Roll on spring!!!
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Steve Nicholson Race
5 Moths rocked up at Northampton SC for the 2011 Steve Nicholson Race. There wasn't much wind when we turned up, but thankfully we weren't starting until after midday which gave a bit of time for the forecast 10 mph to kick in.
We were sailing with the asymmetric fleet which gave us a busy startline to play with and plenty of moving obstacles around the course to do battle with. After some vaguely synchronized port tack starting with Tom, I took and early lead and didn't really look back with the shifty lake sailing playing to my advantage and the Ninja Turtle doing the rest. After 7 laps I'd nearly lapped Tom in second with Martin a few minutes behind him posting a 23 knot best in not much breeze and very cold water...
The format of the event means we get to sit around and watch the other fleet race before going back out for a second race. With the weather being pretty cold it's quite hard to drag yourself back out again and it takes about 20 minutes back on the water just to get vaguely warm again! This became a bit of my downfall with two appalling tacks on the first lap, once with the tiller extension up the back of my buoyancy aid and another saw me kicking out my elbow while leaning on the wingbar post tack dumping me unceremoniously out of the boat! Anyway, I managed to get back in the groove and catch up with Tom and after having a good battle with him for a few laps sneaked away as the breeze died towards the end with Martin coming in third again.
Was very good fun as usual despite the ice on the ground and massive windchill! Results are up HERE and I will post links to photos when they materialise. I had the first chance to use my new ProStart and it's definitely idiot proof - Hopefully when I get back out at BCYC I can use it to sort out my starting issues!
We were sailing with the asymmetric fleet which gave us a busy startline to play with and plenty of moving obstacles around the course to do battle with. After some vaguely synchronized port tack starting with Tom, I took and early lead and didn't really look back with the shifty lake sailing playing to my advantage and the Ninja Turtle doing the rest. After 7 laps I'd nearly lapped Tom in second with Martin a few minutes behind him posting a 23 knot best in not much breeze and very cold water...
The format of the event means we get to sit around and watch the other fleet race before going back out for a second race. With the weather being pretty cold it's quite hard to drag yourself back out again and it takes about 20 minutes back on the water just to get vaguely warm again! This became a bit of my downfall with two appalling tacks on the first lap, once with the tiller extension up the back of my buoyancy aid and another saw me kicking out my elbow while leaning on the wingbar post tack dumping me unceremoniously out of the boat! Anyway, I managed to get back in the groove and catch up with Tom and after having a good battle with him for a few laps sneaked away as the breeze died towards the end with Martin coming in third again.
Was very good fun as usual despite the ice on the ground and massive windchill! Results are up HERE and I will post links to photos when they materialise. I had the first chance to use my new ProStart and it's definitely idiot proof - Hopefully when I get back out at BCYC I can use it to sort out my starting issues!
Saturday, 22 January 2011
It's Miller time
No I've not started drinking again. Yet.
Nope, it's that time of year again. I'm up in Nottingham getting the latest round of Ellway foils machined up. The very fast and skinny foils of last year are making way for something faster... Rudder mould is nearly done (this pic was taken late last night) and the wings and daggerboard will be done over the next few days...
2011, year of the Ninja.
Nope, it's that time of year again. I'm up in Nottingham getting the latest round of Ellway foils machined up. The very fast and skinny foils of last year are making way for something faster... Rudder mould is nearly done (this pic was taken late last night) and the wings and daggerboard will be done over the next few days...
2011, year of the Ninja.
Friday, 14 January 2011
Down in Flames
Well, I think it's safe to say the ashes will be staying in Australia this time around...
I'd like to congratulate Nathan on a dominating performance on a relatively level playing field shows him to be a true class act. I would also like to congratulate Scott on a top result while running the event - This has been far and away the best worlds to watch online with the daily video and constant Facebook updates.
2011 is going to be an interesting year - I'm currently trying to get my head around how on earth the GBR fleet can up our game sufficiently!
I'd like to congratulate Nathan on a dominating performance on a relatively level playing field shows him to be a true class act. I would also like to congratulate Scott on a top result while running the event - This has been far and away the best worlds to watch online with the daily video and constant Facebook updates.
2011 is going to be an interesting year - I'm currently trying to get my head around how on earth the GBR fleet can up our game sufficiently!
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Bloody Mary 2011
11 Mothies braved the most reasonable forecast anyone has seen at QM for a long time. We arrived to find it blowing dogs off chains but due to the forecast drop after lunch and non freezing temperatures no-one was too phased.
With the first boats going off at midday and the Moths not due to start until 75 minutes later we all sat back to watch the race unfold which is a most bizarre thing to do! Got to feel sorry for the slower boats chugging around for all that time while we are ashore drinking tea...
Our startline proved quite entertaining as we had boats crossing on two different downwind legs while we were milling around and with the general tactics being to stay the hell out of trouble off we went.
With the wind having abated by our start, Alex Adams and I played a good game of cat and mouse as we sailed into and out of puffs pulling away then getting caught again. This was going to be the order of the day, although I gave Alex a good lead at one point when I missed a mark out due to following an MPS who obviously had no idea where he was going leading me astray (I never know where I'm going either...). We both spent a good leg lowriding on the second lap while the wind gods stopped for tea, but once they kicked back in we got the hammer down pulling through the fleet nicely. I had to stop for a break a couple of times too, having my mainsheet block break off the boom and need a lashing (figuratively and literally) and my pushrod bottle screw undoing itself while I wasn't looking meaning another nice dip and cool down while I reassembled on the water!
The final lap was a good one and with time ticking away we both tried to pull through as much of the fleet as possible getting around two big chunks of boats on two seperate legs. I pulled through to 10th in the end getting past 10 or so boats on the last reach and unfortunately left Alex just behind them in 25th.
Further back in the fleet DJ Edwards had a good race coming in 77th, Olivier Vidal in 80th, Geoff Carveth and Tim Penfold duking it out for 100th and 101st respectively, Martin Fear in 111th, Doug Pybus in 118th with an overtightened wand bolt causing some pretty special launch positions, Gareth Davies in 130th, Jon Peats came in 184th. Tom Offer had a nightmare, launching to a KA special with cams popping off, starting late and then taking half the tiller extension with him after missing the toestraps post tack... Overall was taken by the 14 of Roger Gilbert.
I always enjoy this event and this year was a good one with my personal best result being a mid teens in a N12, coming away with the first foiler trophy and first in class, although they are both pretty much the same thing now the 600 fleet has vanished. If anyone has any ideas what to do with 1.4L of Vodka when you don't drink, please let me know.
Next event is the Steve Nicholson Race on Saturday the 29th of Jan. Meanwhile Fotoboat and Ian Roman have both posted up some galleries from the event already...
With the first boats going off at midday and the Moths not due to start until 75 minutes later we all sat back to watch the race unfold which is a most bizarre thing to do! Got to feel sorry for the slower boats chugging around for all that time while we are ashore drinking tea...
Our startline proved quite entertaining as we had boats crossing on two different downwind legs while we were milling around and with the general tactics being to stay the hell out of trouble off we went.
With the wind having abated by our start, Alex Adams and I played a good game of cat and mouse as we sailed into and out of puffs pulling away then getting caught again. This was going to be the order of the day, although I gave Alex a good lead at one point when I missed a mark out due to following an MPS who obviously had no idea where he was going leading me astray (I never know where I'm going either...). We both spent a good leg lowriding on the second lap while the wind gods stopped for tea, but once they kicked back in we got the hammer down pulling through the fleet nicely. I had to stop for a break a couple of times too, having my mainsheet block break off the boom and need a lashing (figuratively and literally) and my pushrod bottle screw undoing itself while I wasn't looking meaning another nice dip and cool down while I reassembled on the water!
The final lap was a good one and with time ticking away we both tried to pull through as much of the fleet as possible getting around two big chunks of boats on two seperate legs. I pulled through to 10th in the end getting past 10 or so boats on the last reach and unfortunately left Alex just behind them in 25th.
Further back in the fleet DJ Edwards had a good race coming in 77th, Olivier Vidal in 80th, Geoff Carveth and Tim Penfold duking it out for 100th and 101st respectively, Martin Fear in 111th, Doug Pybus in 118th with an overtightened wand bolt causing some pretty special launch positions, Gareth Davies in 130th, Jon Peats came in 184th. Tom Offer had a nightmare, launching to a KA special with cams popping off, starting late and then taking half the tiller extension with him after missing the toestraps post tack... Overall was taken by the 14 of Roger Gilbert.
I always enjoy this event and this year was a good one with my personal best result being a mid teens in a N12, coming away with the first foiler trophy and first in class, although they are both pretty much the same thing now the 600 fleet has vanished. If anyone has any ideas what to do with 1.4L of Vodka when you don't drink, please let me know.
Next event is the Steve Nicholson Race on Saturday the 29th of Jan. Meanwhile Fotoboat and Ian Roman have both posted up some galleries from the event already...
Monday, 3 January 2011
UK Winter event pre entry
For all you fellow winter idiots out there, here are the links for the rest of the Moth winter series events. So far we've had the Tide Ride and the Grafham Grand prix, although it looks like no-one went to the GGP! We usually have a big turnout for the Bloody Mary so lets make this one a bumper year...
Bloody Mary pre-entry is HERE....
Steve Nicholson pre-entry is HERE....
And finally the Tiger Trophy is HERE...
Bloody Mary pre-entry is HERE....
Steve Nicholson pre-entry is HERE....
And finally the Tiger Trophy is HERE...
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