Finally got out on Wednesday for a bit of a blast - my first sail since the inlands. Time has been rare due to too much work to do and not enough time to do it in! I got the chance to mess around with wand ratios as I'm still not happy I'm quite getting what I should from it but it was so windy testing wasn't really happening, just hanging on for dear life.
No other Mothies about as Martin has too much work to do, Alan has a dodgy knee and is taking it easy, Emma's FBG is still in hibernation but about to emerge...
Otherwise, looking forward to Weymouth and sailing in some warmer water and not long till the Aardvark road trip to Denmark!
Friday, 29 May 2009
Monday, 11 May 2009
QMSC Inlands
This weekend saw the first inland championships in the UK for a while. The weather was predictably unpredictable with a shifty marginal foiling breeze on the Saturday
Mike Lennon made a good start, taking race one in his new M2, closely followed by Si Payne in his slightly older M2. I recovered well from being over the line and having to loop back and a capsize at the first leeward mark to push through to third. I was also having to cope with a dodgy twist grip which had give up the ghost on the way out to the start and was lashed up with a piece of string to stop it flapping around! Alex Adams made a welcome return to sailing after dissapearing to Africa with Sailrocket and came in fourth. The races were all about making your way through the holes as best as possible and keeping in the breeze when you had it which made for some frustration as boats sail through to leeward and windward while you were parked up along with boats pulling flyers and sailing all the way around the outside of the course!
Race two saw normal service resume with Si taking the win from me by about 15 seconds. We had a good battle around the course with premium on tacking skills and not making mistakes. I did manage to tack for the spreader mark rather than the windward mark at one point while in front but thats all part of the game isn't it... Racecraft is something I am seriously lacking!
Race three was tight to start with, until I managed to hook into a gust and pull out a half a leg lead downhill which I held to the finish from Si in second and Adam May in third.
Race four went seriously weird. With about 20 seconds to go the wind went left and left most of the fleet unable to make the line which included me! It was the flakiest it had been all day with some massive holes and made for a seriously frustrating last race. It was looking bad, until the final run where I went from 9th at the last windward mark to 4th. Simon, Adam and Mike L made up the top three.
We all loitered around the dinghy park for a bit discussing the days shenanigins before decamping to Walton on Thames for a fine pub grub meal by the river and more Mothie chat.
Sunday dawned and looked surprisingly good given the forecast for nothing at all. Unfortunately what was there turned out to be varying between 3 and 8 knots and direction was all over the place. A few took to the water for a play but the general consensus was that proper racing was not really possible so we canned it at midday, had a quick prizegiving then sat down to watch the grand prix!
Overall:
Si Payne, Mach2 3381
Mike Cooke, Ninja 3382
Mike Lennon, Mach 2, 3243 for now...
Adam May, Velociraptor, 3373
Alex Adams, Mistress 3, 3366
Full results are here
As a general roundup, I felt I was foiling before anyone else and for longer which was making up for my serious muppetry on the helm. It would be interesting to stick a top flight sailor on the Ninja and see how she really goes! New foils are definitely good so far...
I've got a load of photos from the saturday from Kevin Ellway who was up watching the racing which I will try to upload soon.
Cheers
Mike
Mike Lennon made a good start, taking race one in his new M2, closely followed by Si Payne in his slightly older M2. I recovered well from being over the line and having to loop back and a capsize at the first leeward mark to push through to third. I was also having to cope with a dodgy twist grip which had give up the ghost on the way out to the start and was lashed up with a piece of string to stop it flapping around! Alex Adams made a welcome return to sailing after dissapearing to Africa with Sailrocket and came in fourth. The races were all about making your way through the holes as best as possible and keeping in the breeze when you had it which made for some frustration as boats sail through to leeward and windward while you were parked up along with boats pulling flyers and sailing all the way around the outside of the course!
Race two saw normal service resume with Si taking the win from me by about 15 seconds. We had a good battle around the course with premium on tacking skills and not making mistakes. I did manage to tack for the spreader mark rather than the windward mark at one point while in front but thats all part of the game isn't it... Racecraft is something I am seriously lacking!
Race three was tight to start with, until I managed to hook into a gust and pull out a half a leg lead downhill which I held to the finish from Si in second and Adam May in third.
Race four went seriously weird. With about 20 seconds to go the wind went left and left most of the fleet unable to make the line which included me! It was the flakiest it had been all day with some massive holes and made for a seriously frustrating last race. It was looking bad, until the final run where I went from 9th at the last windward mark to 4th. Simon, Adam and Mike L made up the top three.
We all loitered around the dinghy park for a bit discussing the days shenanigins before decamping to Walton on Thames for a fine pub grub meal by the river and more Mothie chat.
Sunday dawned and looked surprisingly good given the forecast for nothing at all. Unfortunately what was there turned out to be varying between 3 and 8 knots and direction was all over the place. A few took to the water for a play but the general consensus was that proper racing was not really possible so we canned it at midday, had a quick prizegiving then sat down to watch the grand prix!
Overall:
Si Payne, Mach2 3381
Mike Cooke, Ninja 3382
Mike Lennon, Mach 2, 3243 for now...
Adam May, Velociraptor, 3373
Alex Adams, Mistress 3, 3366
Full results are here
As a general roundup, I felt I was foiling before anyone else and for longer which was making up for my serious muppetry on the helm. It would be interesting to stick a top flight sailor on the Ninja and see how she really goes! New foils are definitely good so far...
I've got a load of photos from the saturday from Kevin Ellway who was up watching the racing which I will try to upload soon.
Cheers
Mike
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Finally on the water
A lot of stuff going on down the club today. I got down the club early to get my new foils fitted and this took a whole lot more faffing than intended but I got there in the end.
While messing around with my boat, I found time to sort out Secret Squirrel and her new owner Paul Rigg. He's a Queen Mary mothy but about to move up to Scotland so we might not see the Squirrel for a while. There was a good breeze blowing so Paul took her for a spin and quickly got a handle on things.
Leo was back out in the Pimp Ninja and after a few tuning mods he was flying around merrily.
New foils were really good and while they were barely finished and in need of some polish initial impressions are good - flys earlier and stalls later... No GPS as I couldn't find it though. Will go into more detail in a new post soon.
While messing around with my boat, I found time to sort out Secret Squirrel and her new owner Paul Rigg. He's a Queen Mary mothy but about to move up to Scotland so we might not see the Squirrel for a while. There was a good breeze blowing so Paul took her for a spin and quickly got a handle on things.
Leo was back out in the Pimp Ninja and after a few tuning mods he was flying around merrily.
New foils were really good and while they were barely finished and in need of some polish initial impressions are good - flys earlier and stalls later... No GPS as I couldn't find it though. Will go into more detail in a new post soon.
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Ship shape and Bristol fashion
Well, almost anyway...
The last two weeks have been pretty busy for me with getting my new foil tooling up and running and I've just finished putting the last coat of gloss on my new set of Ninja foils. With all being well I might actually get out onto the water again. It will be a good chance to test out my shiny new sail which arrived last week with my funky ninja logo in the corner.
All has been quiet on the Bristol Mothing front lately. Martin has been pretty busy with work and not been able to get out lately and while Emma is mumbling that it might be warm enough to go sailing again it has left Alan the only Mothie getting out on the lake. Leo managed to get out in his freshly converted Pimp Ninja on Sunday and while it needs a few tuning tweaks was all good.
However our numbers are about to be bolstered again as former lowrider Chris Bishop has seen the light and is selling his 700 and getting a Ninja lined up...
The last two weeks have been pretty busy for me with getting my new foil tooling up and running and I've just finished putting the last coat of gloss on my new set of Ninja foils. With all being well I might actually get out onto the water again. It will be a good chance to test out my shiny new sail which arrived last week with my funky ninja logo in the corner.
All has been quiet on the Bristol Mothing front lately. Martin has been pretty busy with work and not been able to get out lately and while Emma is mumbling that it might be warm enough to go sailing again it has left Alan the only Mothie getting out on the lake. Leo managed to get out in his freshly converted Pimp Ninja on Sunday and while it needs a few tuning tweaks was all good.
However our numbers are about to be bolstered again as former lowrider Chris Bishop has seen the light and is selling his 700 and getting a Ninja lined up...
Monday, 20 April 2009
Hayling and Beyond
After my manic CnC mission on Friday I wasn't expecting much out of this weekend other than to enjoy the sunshine and get some more hours in on the Ninja.
A great turnout of 22 boats made the trip to Hayling including some new faces in new boats.
Saturdays racing was pretty hard work, in marginal shifty conditions leading to some big gains and losses to be had on the course. Simon was head of the pack as you would expect, but I found it interesting that he wasn't as far ahead as I would have thought he'd be in his old Prowler - I think the M2 foils are pretty heavily targeted at the high winds of the Gorge and Aus and it remains to be seen as to how well it will find a home in the lighter breezes in the UK.
The Ninja seemed at ease in what I feel are her ideal conditions, and I posted two thirds and a fourth. The 4th was a proper lottery, with Simon, Mike Lennon and myself all in the running going down the final run until we all parked up and Andrew Friend used his Norfolk punt club skills to foil round the lot of us! I called it a day at that point as my arms were cramping up. A sure sign that I haven't been sailing enough...
Hayling put on some good grub for the few Mothies that stuck around for the evening - It's a really nice place to chill out for a weekend - maybe we should have a worlds there?
I felt pretty rubbish come sunday, with a few aches and still not really enough sleep but I made my way out to the start anyway as the RO informed us that it was a nice force three out in the bay. It wasn't really, and with a nasty confused chop there were a few scattered Moths about so I made the call to head back in and find a gym to join. Sailed around the harbour for a bit with Phil from the Worthing Moth crew and he seems pretty well sorted.
Some interesting new kit on display too, with the usual array of wand paddles flying around the dinghy park. Mike Lennon's latest offering from Hyde is pretty sweet and I can't wait to get my hands on mine.
Ninja's new foil moulds look sweet. Kevin has put a lot of time into the design of the new foils and I'm keen to get the first set of the water - especially now the Squirrel has sold and I can't use the foils from her anymore!
A great turnout of 22 boats made the trip to Hayling including some new faces in new boats.
Saturdays racing was pretty hard work, in marginal shifty conditions leading to some big gains and losses to be had on the course. Simon was head of the pack as you would expect, but I found it interesting that he wasn't as far ahead as I would have thought he'd be in his old Prowler - I think the M2 foils are pretty heavily targeted at the high winds of the Gorge and Aus and it remains to be seen as to how well it will find a home in the lighter breezes in the UK.
The Ninja seemed at ease in what I feel are her ideal conditions, and I posted two thirds and a fourth. The 4th was a proper lottery, with Simon, Mike Lennon and myself all in the running going down the final run until we all parked up and Andrew Friend used his Norfolk punt club skills to foil round the lot of us! I called it a day at that point as my arms were cramping up. A sure sign that I haven't been sailing enough...
Hayling put on some good grub for the few Mothies that stuck around for the evening - It's a really nice place to chill out for a weekend - maybe we should have a worlds there?
I felt pretty rubbish come sunday, with a few aches and still not really enough sleep but I made my way out to the start anyway as the RO informed us that it was a nice force three out in the bay. It wasn't really, and with a nasty confused chop there were a few scattered Moths about so I made the call to head back in and find a gym to join. Sailed around the harbour for a bit with Phil from the Worthing Moth crew and he seems pretty well sorted.
Some interesting new kit on display too, with the usual array of wand paddles flying around the dinghy park. Mike Lennon's latest offering from Hyde is pretty sweet and I can't wait to get my hands on mine.
Ninja's new foil moulds look sweet. Kevin has put a lot of time into the design of the new foils and I'm keen to get the first set of the water - especially now the Squirrel has sold and I can't use the foils from her anymore!
Saturday, 18 April 2009
A Weekend Under The Influence
Any weekend that starts at 5.45am with a can of red bull doesn't usually end well. The fact that 4 hours earlier I was packing my foil moulds into my car in Nottingham makes this one even more unusual!
I'm currently in a services on route to Hayling, on my second caffeine fix of the day and just hoping I get there in time for a nap...
Posted with LifeCast
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Rise of the Ninja - part 2
Good 15-20 knot breeze on at BCYC yesterday allowing me another chance to get the Ninja sea trials underway. After taking her home on Wednesday to sort some bits and pieces out I was keen to get back out and see what she was capable of.
It was pretty blustery and bearing in mind I still haven't got my control lines anywhere near the right lengths the Ninja posted just shy of 24 knots!
Back in the workshop for a few pimps (still need to add a wand paddle amongst other things) before a mad mission to Nottingham for new foil moulds followed by training at HISC next weekend...
Photos by Laura Hitchcock.
It was pretty blustery and bearing in mind I still haven't got my control lines anywhere near the right lengths the Ninja posted just shy of 24 knots!
Back in the workshop for a few pimps (still need to add a wand paddle amongst other things) before a mad mission to Nottingham for new foil moulds followed by training at HISC next weekend...
Photos by Laura Hitchcock.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Rise of the Ninja
Finally got out for a brief sail in the Ninja today in a sunny but light 6-8 knot breeze. Felt like everything a good Moth should be especially in what should be her ideal conditions. Very quick to foil, fast in lowriding mode and particularly useful in the corners. Usual first boat teething troubles but otherwise very, very pleased.
Alan and Martin were both out practicing on the first Wednesday afternoon sail of the year - just great to be on the water.
Should be out again on Saturday, hopefully with someone to take piccies this time!
Alan and Martin were both out practicing on the first Wednesday afternoon sail of the year - just great to be on the water.
Should be out again on Saturday, hopefully with someone to take piccies this time!
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Ninja + old foils = Ninja Squirrel
With a busy few weeks of moving house and post dinghy show sorting out I still haven't got as far as new foil moulds for the Ninja project so I have been taking my spare moments where I can find them and making all the bits from Secret Squirrel fit the new boat and setting up wands and the like. Colours aren't especially tasteful mind as the pink clashes with the green!
Today should have been a good opportunity for a test sail in the new boat but unfortunately it was blowing 30 knots so I went off blast around the Mendips on my mtb instead and found a nice little downhill spot which I hadn't spotted on my previous rides.
Wait and see for the weekend - unfortunately I don't have a lot of time on Saturday and have to do race duty cover on the Sunday. Not much time for a workup before Hayling at Easter and the following open meeting...
Today should have been a good opportunity for a test sail in the new boat but unfortunately it was blowing 30 knots so I went off blast around the Mendips on my mtb instead and found a nice little downhill spot which I hadn't spotted on my previous rides.
Wait and see for the weekend - unfortunately I don't have a lot of time on Saturday and have to do race duty cover on the Sunday. Not much time for a workup before Hayling at Easter and the following open meeting...
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Dinghy show in piccies
Mostly non Moth stuff, but in no particular order...
Daniel Holmans' new Punk dinghy, interesting take on the hiking singlehander with a modified windsurfer boomed Finn rig.
Rondar N12. Right idea, poorly styled but it does come in at a price point...
Dan Kembles Banshee Cherub. Most fun looking 2 hander in the show!
New Tomahawk singlehander developed by Linton at Fullforce. Apparently its going to pace a Moth downwind with its surface ventilated foils but frankly I can see nothing but drag...
Bladerider RX. Interesting bolt together stylee wing frame and a welded gantry and prodder and supposedly more affordable but its still well over 10K...
Sam Pascoe demonstrating the sun lounging capabilities of the 600FF!
Star of the show - the Mini foiler! Could have sold quite a few of these so best get a move on with the new moulds...
The new Ninja - far and away the least tastefull paint scheme of the show - lots of admiring looks and good feedback despite the colour!
The Moth stand in whole. Si Payne did a great job pulling us all together and even dragging the ever humble master of foils John Ilet over from Aus showing off his "Aircooled" from the worlds last year.
Daniel Holmans' new Punk dinghy, interesting take on the hiking singlehander with a modified windsurfer boomed Finn rig.
Rondar N12. Right idea, poorly styled but it does come in at a price point...
Dan Kembles Banshee Cherub. Most fun looking 2 hander in the show!
New Tomahawk singlehander developed by Linton at Fullforce. Apparently its going to pace a Moth downwind with its surface ventilated foils but frankly I can see nothing but drag...
Bladerider RX. Interesting bolt together stylee wing frame and a welded gantry and prodder and supposedly more affordable but its still well over 10K...
Sam Pascoe demonstrating the sun lounging capabilities of the 600FF!
Star of the show - the Mini foiler! Could have sold quite a few of these so best get a move on with the new moulds...
The new Ninja - far and away the least tastefull paint scheme of the show - lots of admiring looks and good feedback despite the colour!
The Moth stand in whole. Si Payne did a great job pulling us all together and even dragging the ever humble master of foils John Ilet over from Aus showing off his "Aircooled" from the worlds last year.
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