Very Post Nationals rundown

Okay, okay so I completely failed at blogging at the nationals. Truth is I was having a bit too much fun!

Castle Cove showed all 70 odd boats how to run a great Moth event, with all the volunteers putting in a huge effort making us feel welcome with bacon sarnies galore, the most massive bbq I've ever seen and some top notch racing to boot.

The Moth fleet over here has really come along in the last few years with the spread of abilities really tightening up. I think a lot of this is down to just how sailable the boats are now, letting people crack on and learn to race the boat rather than worrying about keeping it in the water! Reliability has also come on hugely, with big Friday seeing winds over 25 knots and barely any epoxy or grinding to be seen or heard.

I had a very mixed few days which started with a big lack of upwind abilities. I was really struggling to get any fullness out of my 16 upwind (plus side, downwinds we're veeery fast!) and was losing up more than I was gaining down and with the top 30 all being capable Moth sailors meant it was a lot harder to get yourself back in the game.
The windy day went a lot better than I expected with no problems downwind, but my overpowered sail was really causing trouble leading me to get the saw out on my prodder overnight! Saturday saw me back on it a bit more with a bit more all round pace. I bought a used Raptor from Team Ireland (thanks Rory!) on Saturday night and rigged it up with Gio's CST Elite3 and suddenly could go upwind again having my best result of the week in 7th. Unfortunately this followed with my worst race of the week where I couldn't do anything right and had to wipe out avoiding traffic in the leeward gate.

So a real mixed bag. Loads of potential in the boat and always faster downhill than the boats I was around and after a couple of days of 'tuning/biggest event of the year' I was starting to get Rocket uphill too. If I'm going to continue with any delusions I may have of still being competitive I really need to get back on the rig development and maybe go sailing every now and again (having doubled my time on the water this year at the Nats!)

Final Results:

Place	Points	Sail No	Helm	Club	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8	Race 9	Race 10	Race 11	Race 12
					27 Jun	27 Jun	27 Jun	28 Jun	28 Jun	28 Jun	29 Jun	29 Jun	29 Jun	30 Jun	30 Jun	30 Jun
1	14	4047	Robert Greenhalgh	Stokes Bay SC	1	1	1	1	(4)	2	1	2	2	2	1	(59/RET)
2	18	7	Chris Rashley	Royal London Yacht Club	(3)	2	2	2	1	(3)	2	3	1	1	2	2
3	31	3985	Simon Hiscocks	Castle Cove Sailing Club	2	7	4	3	(10)	1	3	1	5	(9)	4	1
4	38	3980	Mike Lennon	HISC	4	5	3	(6)	3	(6)	5	5	4	3	3	3
5	62	3942	Jason Belben	Stokes Bay Sailing Club	8	4	(9)	5	7	7	6	(11)	8	6	5	6
6	69	3982	Ben Paton	Lymington	5	3	6	17	(27)	(74/DNC)	7	9	3	4	10	5
7	79	40	Tom Offer	Rock	11	(16)	5	8	2	4	(65/OCS)	13	6	7	15	8
8	81	3795	Peter Barton	Royal Lymington YC	12	9	(17)	9	5	12	8	6	7	5	8	(15)
9	92	3945	Eelco Boers	de roerkoning	13	11	12	7	12	11	4	4	11	(14)	(16)	7
10	98	3941	Gareth Davies	stone sailing club	10	6	16	10	11	9	9	7	10	(41)	(28)	10
11	102	4037	Jason Russell	HISC	6	12	10	12	8	8	14	10	13	(16)	9	(16)
12	119	5	Mike Cooke	South West Cider Squad	9	15	11	19	18	(74/DNC)	11	8	9	12	7	(28)
13	142	3916	James Phare	Queen Mary SC	7	20	(40)	4	6	5	20	19	15	21	25	(38)
14	147	3607	Olivier Vidal		(21)	17	20	11	13	13	21	12	12	17	11	(25)
15	151	3729	Phillip Kasermann		15	10	(30)	13	15	10	15	14	14	(30)	19	26
16	158	3972	Yann Andrillon	ASNQ	18	18	19	18	14	15	10	16	17	(25)	13	(27)
17	163	4033	Ricky Tagg	Hayling Island	17	8	7	(32)	21	21	30	29	(58/RET)	11	6	13
18	165	3622	Fabien Froesch	SNG	16	13	13	(23)	22	19	16	15	(24)	19	23	9
19	175	3614	Doug Pybus	QMSC	14	23	(26)	21	16	17	12	17	23	(29)	21	11
20	180	3944	Richard Westbury	Bartley SC	(33)	21	14	(26)	20	18	13	23	26	15	18	12
21	191	3711	Dan Ward	Frensham Ponds	20	19	(35)	14	9	14	25	30	16	20	(35)	24
22	204	3981	Simon Reynolds	Whitstable Yacht Club	22	(30)	24	16	17	16	23	25	20	(32)	24	17
23	224	3592	Rory Fitzpatrick	NYC/RYC	24	24	36	20	33/RET	(74/DNC)	18	21	22	(62/OCS)	12	14
24	247	3870	Ollie Holden	HISC	25	25	22	25	25	22	27	24	28	24	(31)	(31)
25	252	3764	Dan Vincent	Stokes Bay Sailing Club	32	(33)	23	22	19	23	26	(33)	31	18	29	29
26	254	3915	Good Morgan	BRYC	28	32	27	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	22	22	33	8	22	19
27	257	3684	Sven Kloppenburg	RSV/SCR	31	26	25	36	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	28	28	25	22	14	22
28	269	940	Kevin Ellway		26	40	15	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	32	36	29	10	20	20
29	295	3947	Leigh Albrecht	QMSC	23	27	31	40	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	31	26	34	35	30	18
30	300	4042	Giovanni Galeotti	RYCB	29	44	42	15	23	24	39	31	19	34	(46)	(59/RET)
31	323	3718	Anthony Rezzoug	ASNQ	(58/RET)	29	48	41/RET	(74/DNS)	29	24	20	18	37	40	37
32	328	3943	Richard Edwards	Parkstone YC	27	45	28	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	17	18	41	44	33	34
33	328	4045	Matthew Ponsford	HISC	36	35	34	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	33	34	30	28	34	23
34	332	3766	Alex Koukourakis	Eastbourne Soverign SC	58/RET	56/RET	37	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	19	27	21	26	26	21
35	337	3635	John Chambers	Coal Harbour	37	34	32	(74/DNC)	24	27	34	37	(43)	38	38	36
36	350	3995	Graham Simmonds		38	36	21	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	29	32	27	36	27	30
37	362	3849	Constantijn Weber		40	41	(47)	34	28	28	37	42	36	33	(45)	43
38	366	3730	Jon Peats	Castle Cove Sailing Club	(58/RET)	37	50	30	26	25	35	38	38	(57)	43	44
39	383	3946	Paul Beard	Queen Mary SC	35	39	33	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	36	41	40	39	39	40
40	384	3940	Jo Evans	Stokes Bay Sailing Club	39	42	29	(74/DNS)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	38	44	37	13	36	32
41	390	3830	John Clifton	Shoreham SC	42	43	41	33	33/RET	(74/DNC)	(57)	39	32	42	52	33
42	405	3891	David Edwards	TATA Steel SC	19	14	8	31	30	20	61/RET	(74/DNS)	(74/DNS)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC
43	423	3715	Chris Jeeves		51	50	(53)	35	31	(74/DNC)	40	45	46	31	49	45
44	425	3758	Jono Pank	Castle Cove Sailing Club	41	38	49	38	33/RET	(74/DNC)	(55)	43	42	43	47	51
45	433	3924	Tim Penfold	HISC	30	28	38	27	(74/DNC)	30	61/RET	(74/DNS)	74/DNS	74/DNC	32	39
46	448	3935	Claire Gavigniaux		50	49	46	37	32	31/RET	54	51	48	(55)	(56)	50
47	449	3674	Neil Baker	HISC	34	22	18	24	29	26	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC
48	450	3914	Ole Frey		43	47	44	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	41	48	44	40	55	47
49	455	3605	Cameron Stewart	HISC	44	48	57/RET	28	33/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	50	45	54	48	48
50	455	3994	Damien Le Houerou		45	46	52	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	44	40	35	47	37	35
51	496	3432	Kyle Stoneham	TBYC	47	52	54	39	33/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	52	54	49	61	55
52	498	42	Phil Oligario	Stokes Bay SC	56	56/RET	45	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	43	46	49	74/DNC	42	46
53	513	3601	Hans Rasmussen		52	54	56	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	47	54	51	50	54	54
54	522	4043	Paul Hayden		48	56/RET	39	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	42	35	39	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC
55	531	3312	Miles Burrage	TBYC	54	53	55	41/RET	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	56	55	53	52	60	52
56	536	3893	Tom Lambert		49	51	51	(74/DNS)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	45	49	58/RET	74/DNC	44	41
57	539	3632	Martin Fear	Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club	46	31	43	29	33/RET	(74/DNC)	61/RET	(74/DNS)	74/DNS	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC
58	543	3106	Helen Rollinson	Castle Cove Sailing Club	53	56/RET	(74/DNS)	41/RET	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	51	53	52	48	59	56
59	552	3759	Nic Streatfeild	Rutland	55	56/RET	(74/DNC)	41/RET	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	49	56	58/RET	46	58	59/RET
60	566	3959	Paul Goodison		(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	27	17	4
61	584	3861	Annalise Murphey		(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	46	47	47	56	50	42
62	597	3757	Andrew Blee	Draycote Water SC	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	48	58	50	45	51	49
63	623	3837	David Simmonds	Hayling Island SC	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNS	74/DNC	74/DNC	58	57	55	51	53	53
64	649	3254	Keri Harris		(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	59	59	56	60	62	57
65	656	3665	Unknown		(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	23	41	74/DNC
66	659	3763	Simon Philbrick	Poole YC	(74/DNS)	(74/DNS)	74/DNS	74/DNS	74/DNC	74/DNC	53	74/DNC	57	58	63	58
67	664	3495	Stuart Scott	scalingdam	57	55	(74/DNC)	(74/DNS)	74/DNC	74/DNC	50	74/DNC	58/RET	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC
68	666	395	Jim McMillan		(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	52	60/RET	74/DNS	53	57	74/DNC
69	712	3621	Ken Barker	Parkstone YC	(74/DNS)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNS	74/DNC	74/DNC	60	60/RET	74/DNS	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC
70	725	3954	Unknown		(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	59	74/DNC	74/DNC
71=	740	3437	Unknown		(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC
72=	740	3946	Paul Beard	Queen Mary SC	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC
73=	740	3934	Damien Le Houerou	ASQ	(74/DNC)	(74/DNC)	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC	74/DNC

Yeah, I'm still here

For a while my blogging was inversely proportional to my sailing time, choosing to spend time on the water. That's gone out the window this year and my blogging is pretty much on par with my sailing time!

I worked out the other day that my Moth sailing hours are barely into double figures this year, and that includes the recent inlands at Bala which is pretty much the only event I've made it to! Thankfully it turned out to be a belter, with beautiful sunshine and awesome breezes on the Sunday. Rocket is proving to be a trusty companion for me, with plenty of pace and nice easy handling. While I ended up third in the event, it was a close run thing and my missing the start of race 4 (by half the beat!) cost me dearly. Badger is back on it, in his Rocket Powered M2 - slowly getting the hang of setting that up...

Rocket development is proceeding apace, with boats 5 and 6 in build at the moment. Gio and Dylan Fletcher are providing valuable tuning feedback and we're slowly getting an understanding of how the boats like to be setup and they're proving to be pretty quick at first launch now which is a good sign of how the setups are coming together.

Suffice to say I plan on being on the water at the Nationals in plenty of time for the starts, even if I don't get any hours in beforehand! It's shaping up to be a great event too, with nearly 40 boats entered within the first few days of registration and plenty of Euro folk heading over for the chance to win loads of cake by the sounds of it.

Sounds like my kind of event!

Dinghy Show this weekend

The RYA Dinghy Show will be this weekend at Alexandra Palace. Well worth a visit to see the latest in Moth Innovation along with the Exocet ;-p

We'll be displaying Chris Rashleys new boat, along with the first Rocket and both Simon Maguire and I will be on hand all weekend to hopefully answer all your questions, as long as they don't all consist of questions about the wand!

Hopefully see you all there!

Rocket Launcher

 

So the Rocket finally took to the skies at Queen Mary yesterday. I'll post a bit more in depth later on but I figured I ought to put something up for those poor people not on Facebook ;-) . Things went hitch free thankfully and I spend a good couple of hours blasting around trying to remember how to sail (not been in a boat since October) and starting to figure out what settings need tweaking.

You'll have to forgive the ridiculously high boom, this was before I started playing with everything to get it all in the right place!

 

Fresh start

So, it's 2013. Wow - that one crept up pretty rapidly.

I've not sailed now since the Hayling open (which I failed to blog about as it sucked man balls) and as I've been boatless I was intrigued to see how fired I'd be when I finally got around to the thought of sailing again!

Suffice to say, I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. The build process for the Rocket has been a long one as I've been relying heavily on pulling favours for some major items (thanks Dave!) but as the end of it all approaches I've got a CnC'd hull blank and mould, a pretty awesome looking new mainfoil mould and a rudder mould landing any day. There's a good stash of new thinking on this boat mostly based on my experience with the Ninja builds, I had a good blueprint in my head as to where I wanted to go with it all and a lot of it is the sort of thing you can only do with a fresh start - no ties to the past or backwards compatibility. I suppose all will be revealed and if you've been following my Facebook page you'll probably have seen a few hints.

So, with my Fresh Start (TM) thinking in mind I've resigned from Cheddar. I'll probably sail a couple of times there in the winter series but I suspect I'll be doing most of my sailing from either Queen Mary or Weymouth - it'll be a mission, but the competition is what I need to try to bring myself back up to scratch and give the Rocket it's best chance. I've not been getting much use out of BCYC and there's all sorts of behind the scenes nobbery with the committee running the place that's forced other members out and it's just not a great place to hang out.

Not sure what that means for the blog, but at least I still live near Bristol....