Tuesday 27 December 2005

>

Off to Sydney on Friday arvo it looks like now for the Nationals. I will email results to my mailing list from my phone as often as possible as I am not sure how much internet access I will have.

>

Ronstan have given me my new boat name too... "Ronstan Stealth Moth". Congrats to the winner!

>

Uploaded some more photos from the SIRs. more...

Wednesday 21 December 2005

>

Back home, but still very tired from a 3 days of 15-25 knots racing on Sydney Harbour from SIRs. Scott sailed extremely well having only been foiling for a few months and will be a serious contender for the Australian Championships early next month. Robo had his new boat on the water too, and had some close racing with Scott. Bruce McLeod has taken some great photos of the foilers, thanks Bruce! report & results...

>

BTW - Looks like we have scored the home page of The Daily Sail (again) along with a new article.

Thursday 15 December 2005

>

Raced in the rather moderate winds on Saturday against the 14's, and finished mid fleet both races. Couldn't sail as high or as fast as I wanted to upwind due to the choppy seas, which meant I couldn't get the lead I needed to hold them off downwind. Craig and Amac raced as well, but struggled to stay up as long in the difficult conditions. Finally got a sail of Craig's Hungry Tiger on foils too, and felt pretty good considering it was not designed for foiling. I made a few quick changes to the wand elastic and toe straps on the water which made a massive difference tho. Can emphasise how important it is to have a tight wand elastic in rough seas, and to have very tight toe straps so your legs arn't in the air above your head when foiling upwind. I also think that the HT's need no packers in the rudder gantry to induce more lift in the transom.

>

Off to Sydney tomorrow for SIR's regatta. Looks like they are expecting a lot of boats, just hope we can find somewhere to rig?

Friday 9 December 2005

>

Club racing for the first time this season at Black Rock, thanks to a hectic start to the season on the A Class and Moth, anywhere but at my home club. Weather looks good with strong winds again (15-25 knots).

Thursday 8 December 2005

>

Happy Birthday Mum!

Monday 5 December 2005

>

Bloody windy and sore weekend again, this time at Colac on the A Class. Tried out one of Glenn Ashby's sails and worked much better than expected. Last race of the day finished 7th over the line I think. Six months ago I don't think I would have even made it to the start line. Amac borrowed my boat for the Saturday and clocked 22.3 knots as a max speed, but I beat him around the course this time ;-)

Wednesday 30 November 2005

>

As I am too lazy to come up with a name for my new boat, Ronstan are now running a competition on their site to name my new boat. Best entry wins a stack of goodies and maybe even a sail on the boat if they are lucky (NB - two up if they are not too heavy). more...

Tuesday 29 November 2005

>

Just picked up the Prowler from the new sticker job that Ronstan have done on it. Looks pretty good! Stay tuned for the photo release soon on the Ronstan web site, along with a competition for the kiddies.

>

Have put up Victor Kovalenko's photos from the 2005 Go For Gold regatta.

Monday 28 November 2005

>

Sunday was the last day of the Go For Gold, but we had all the left over sea slop from yesterday's sea breeze and westerly combined, so it was rough again. It started off with little breeze (5 knots) meaning I couldn't foil properly and got killed by the 49er's. But it built again quickly from the sea breeze to a solid 18 knots for the second and third race and was back up there again. Had some wild pitch poles in the big seas, some caught on camera too. Will put up the remaining photos that Victor took in my gallery shortly. Race Results...

Saturday 26 November 2005

>

Have sailed the last two days in the Go For Gold at Black Rock in what would seem rather difficult sailing conditions for any boat, but the new Prowler proved once again to survive without damage, and also handled extremely well without capsizing once.

On the Friday, I was scheduled to race against the 49ers, but every single one of them pulled out before even getting to the top mark due to the strong and gusty northlerlies (20-30 knots), so I ended up racing by myself as usual and then moved on to how quick I could lap the 420 fleet. The novelty wore off after a while, and went in to get to the boat ramp before the hord of plastic boats arrived ashore.

Today's racing was a bit more exiciting with most of the 49er fleet making the racing in a strong SW'ly (15-22 knots) but rather large and steep waves (1-2m) making interesting downwind sailing for any boat, on the water or not. Finished suprisingly well with 3rd, 1st and was just pipped for 1st in the last race of the day by Nathan Outridge.

It was interesting to note using the MSL9 yesterday that I had the top 1/3 of the sail so loose, that it actually felt like the drag was slowing me down in the gusts sitting on about 10-12 knots upwind. But today I had the MLS11 up and was sitting on 11-13 (peaking at 15 knots) in lighter winds and waves about 1m bigger. Ended up clocking a max speed of 22 knots on the Friday with the MSL9 tho on a nice reach. BTW - this new Velocitek S3 GPS I have been using is bloody unreal. Have used it for two full day straight and the NiMh batteries still had charge in the them by the end of today. Highly recommend it over anything else I have seen and used.

Monday 21 November 2005

>

Got down to Apollo Bay (Great Ocean Road - SW Victoria) on the weekend with Gin for their Crayfish Cup, but disspointing to see that I was the only Moth making the long trip. There were a few Fireballs, 420 and Flying Fifteens to race against so it wasn't all that bad in the end.

On the morning of the Saturday, a weak cold front had passed through giving us a very shifty and gusty 20-30 knots. It was pretty wild downwind, but never once felt out of control on the new boat. It was extremely stable downwind when on the water. I tried not to get air too much for fear of being killed or killing someone else in the choppy conditions combined with a rolling 2m swell. New rig worked a treat, and was quite easy to depower. Had a small problem with the new prototype outrigger/gantry, but that was easily fixed the next day by replacing the small holding screw that held in the adjustment screw sleeve, with a proper s/s bolt.

The wind moved around to the south on the Sunday and lightened off to 10-15 knots. Perfect conditions to demonstrate the new boat to the locals who had never seen a foiler on the water before. Won both races of the day in 20 minutes, about 8 minutes ahead of second place.

Tuesday 15 November 2005

>

Had a busy weekend starting by having to take a 3 hour round trip to pick up the new Moth from the other side of town on Friday night, so that I could rig it in time to sail sometime over the weekend. Spent most of that night and the next day rigging it along with the help of a new sponsor - Victorian Sailing Supplies in Seaford. Basically a one stop shop for all boat repairs, a sail loft and all yacht fittings/clothing, and to top it off, it is 5 minutes away from my house! They went to a lot of effort to help me get my boat on the water that weekend, and I am sure they will do they same for anyone else.

You couldn't have asked for a better day to launch a new boat at Black Rock on the Sunday. Amac and I had 8-12 knots and 0.5m waves and one of the best blasts around that I have had in a long time. The new boat was senstational, and was noticably the smoothest foiler Moth I have ever sailed. With the outrigger pushed back to the max 500mm, longer tiller and more responsive rudder foil adjustment, it made foiling easy in comparison to my 2005 Euro model. In addition, the new MSL11 is a substantial improvement over the 2005 Euro MSL10 which was more suited to 15-25 knots, and even compared against Amac who was carrying the bigger MSL9 up on the day, however it was difficult to get an accurate result against his 5 year old boat, 10kgs of extra weight and the 50 year old helmsman. ;-)

Nevertheless the real test will come when we can compare speeds and angles against all three sails in all conditions, on the next few Fastacraft Prowler's due in the next six months. Hopefully then we can then conclude ongoing discussions that the implementation of the new sail area measurement rules as decided by the IMCA National members (not by the IMCA Executive), has or has not affected performance for mothies of all weights. I still feel as though reducing the sail was not the right the thing to do, but I think this new MSL11 will be close in speed to the MSL9 in moderate winds, but faster in high winds. Now I just need to prove it.

>

Spent a fair portion of yesterday working with Ronstan for the new sticker job on the new boat. It is like nothing ever seen before on any boat of any size! Should be ready later this week hopefully. Stay tuned!!!

>

Some more photos from the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards night. more...

>

Finally, I can also welcome aboard Club Marine as they are now part of my ever growing list of supporters providing much needed insurance for both the A Class and Moth. Thanks guys, now I won't have to worry so much when I hit a jelly fish doing +20 knots. ;-)

Thursday 9 November 2005

>

The 1983 America's Cup legend John Bertrand, once said in a seminar that I was involved in, that sailing is the sport of Kings, but never did I realise that Gin and I might actually get to meet a real King one day, the King Constantine of Greece actually, especially when going up for the World Sailor of the Year Award. As expected Ellen walked away with the female award, and the Spanish Tornado boys Fernando and Antón, won the male award. I suppose it just goes to show how much people value the efforts and hard work of a top ranked Olympic team, even if it is an Olympic leap year. However we didn't walk away with nothing as the foiler Moth made quite an impact when ISAF showed about 1 minute of various foiling footage from the last few years to the 500 strong people in attendance Tuesday night in Singapore. I'll see if I can get a hold of the video they showed, as it came up quite well. More importantly, I believe that everyone there was truly inspired with all the nominee's short video clip highlighting their performances over the last 12 months, especially me. more...

>

One another note, my 4th Fastacraft Moth has been sent from Perth and should be able to start rigging it this weekend. Also picking up a new Ashby sail for the A Class this week, hopefully a lot flatter than my current sail. I also have been working out in the gym every day that we were away too, hopefully now I won't feel like a slug when I get back on the Moth.

Monday 31 October 2005

>

Had the Victorian Catamaran Championships on over the weekend at McCrae and just as I thought, it never got under 15 knots for most of the weekend, so I was pretty much overpowered the whole time. The first day was a right off seeing how I didn't even complete one race due to poor preperation on my behalf and a bit of wear and tear. But Sunday was much better as I finished every race without incident or breakages. The result wasn't important, but for the first time I actually felt like I was not struggling to survive in the 15-22 knots we had. There might be hope for a flyweight like me yet. Just need to get more confident with my starts tho, not used to such a bloody big boat nor with two hulls for that matter! results...

Thursday 27 October 2005

>

Off to Singapore next week (but not without a few quiet days on Penang Island beforehand) for the ISAF Awards. You can read the nominee bios by clicking on their head shot photo on this page. Cool photo gallery of all the nominees here too. It is not often that an amature sportsman is up for an award of this kind, so I will be making the most of it and go there with no expectations apart from a good feed, great company and a good nights sleep where Beki (my dog) doesn't wake me up at 5:30am to play with the ball each day!

Tuesday 25 October 2005

>

Finally got out on a non-motorised boat on the weekend at McCrae. Just had one two-lap race on the A Class in 2-7 knots, needless to say I was on the wire some of the time while most were still sitting on the gunwhale. Ended up 3rd over the line from about 15 starters, which was quite suprising considering I still have no idea how to set one of these sails, plus I broke a new trap wire and my outhaul swivel cleat off the boom.

Sunday was probably the last trail bike ride for 2005, so went out hard doing jumps, hills and burns outs all day. Didn't come off once suprisingly. Must be getting better on the cat sailing as well as the bike? Hopefully my Moth sailing hasn't suffered as a result... All I need is a boat now to find out. Wonder where it is?

Wednesday 19 October 2005

>

I gave a speech last night at my old high school to about 200 odd graduating year 12 students, not to mention a room full of proud parents. It was good to see some familiar faces and past teachers, and ended up speaking to them all till late that night. Can only hope that someone got something from it or at least found it interesting as sailing isn't the most popular school sport in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

Tuesday 18 October 2005

>

Spent the whole weekend on the water, but none of it was sailing unfortunately. Saturday was the Moth's turn for class duty, so I was race starter. Sunday I coached the Sabots at Sandringham in what was a very tight series for their state team selection. So hopefully if the weather is nice I can get out on the A Class next weekend at McCrae, followed by the states the next weekend. Not the best preparation, but what can you do? New Moth should be arriving in the next two weeks (I hope).

Tuesday 4 October 2005

>

As the new summer sailing season draws near, I am starting to get back into training slowly after several months off this year. This includes getting back some cardio vascular fitness but more importantly, getting on the water again. more...

>

Have ripped and edited all the video off the camera that Gin took of us at Lake Garda and put some cool music to it. The whole thing goes for an hour (661Mb WMV @ 1.5Mbps otherwise will hopefully get it in DVD format soon) so have just uploaded heat 1 for now. BTW, heat 1 was about 8 knots to start off with and half way through the race, we got about 18-20 knots and about 95% of the fleet hit the piss at high speed at least once, so there are some good stacks in this race. If anyone wants the full version in any format, email me. view trailer...

Monday 3 October 2005

>

Part two of my Moth rig development article is published in Seahorse this month.

Tuesday 27 September 2005

>

So I can finally 'officially' announce that I have been short listed as a finalist for the Rolex World Sailor of the Year. Was a bit early leaking the news on my site a few weeks back, but it is not often you get news of this kind. Quite a mix there of talent with Finian Maynard breaking the outright speed record and two round the world record holders. Even better still, another Australian, Peter Gilmour has also been shortlisted as a finalist. Looking forward to meeting them all on the night. more...

Monday 12 September 2005

>

Have finally got around to uploading some of the photos from the 2005 Europeans. more...

Monday 29 August, 2005

>

Coached the Victorian Sabot team on Sunday at Mordialloc in quite gusty conditions. Amac rocked up with his boat, but we both agreed not go out on a count that it was 20-30 knots and we could't be bothered getting wet and sore.

>

More detailed report from the 2005 Europeans. more...

Monday 22 August, 2005

>

Went up for the Brass Monkey Regatta on the weekend and on the first day we had 5-20 knots, ferries everywhere, and wind shifts and gusts like you wouldn't believe which made staying airbourne and healed to windward very difficult against all the low riders there, not to mention sailing a borrowed boat that needed work done on it. Scott and I were going okay against the fleet, but I ripped the downhaul block out of the mast stump, so had to go in on the second lap of race 1, then Scott bent his outrigger and didn't want to risk more damage so he went in too. I could have fixed my downhaul on the water had I of had some spare rope but I didn't, so I missed the second race as well.

The next day scott lost a ball joint for his foils when putting them on his boat so he missed the two races. I went out there, but the wind was so crap (ie 1-5 knots, gusty and shifty, ie unfoilable and slow), I didn't feel like staying out there as I had a 10 hour drive home ahead of me. So I went in on the first lap and drove home contemplating ever racing a foiler Moth on Sydney Harbour again.

Thursday 18 August, 2005

>

Off to Sydney tomorrow to race in the Brass Monkey regatta on Amac's Moth. more...

Monday 15 August, 2005

>

Results and photos from the 2005 Europeans. more...

>

Big bummer that I couldn't be there for the Victorian and Australian Yachting Awards nights. I ended up claiming Victorian Male Sailor of the Year and was a finalist the Australian Male Sailor of the Year. more...

Thursday 28 July, 2005

>

Just about to jump on a plane to Italy for the European Championships at Lake Garda. Results will be availavle at www.moth-sailing.org and www.vccampione.org. According to the press release, they are expecting around 40 boats in total and 20 foilers.

Monday 25 July, 2005

>

Scott gets the first production built HT foiler on the water. Very neat package! more...

>

No sailing for me on the weekend. Wild weather meant that I dropped the A Class off down at McCrae and came back to run some errands with Beki. But the wind dropped quite a lot in the afternoon (15-20 knots from the north) and was perfect foiling conditions. Spewin' I missed it. Ah well, next weekend I'll be foiling in Italy.

Thursday 21 July, 2005

>

Preview of the 2005 European Championships at Garda. more...

Monday 18 July, 2005

>

Unfortunately no sailing over the weekend or late last week as the weather has been extreme with winds up to 45 knots. Ended up packing the boat up on Sunday afternoon to send to Switzerland on Tuesday.

>

World Moth Champion runner-up Simon Payne ended up winning the UK Moth Nationals with 4 foilers in attendance! Awesome effort with what sounds like a mix of light and moderate winds. more...

Sunday 17 July, 2005

>

Yes - that was my brother and family on Channel 7 news 6pm Sunday night. Seems like Tony is an attraction for terrorists and bombs going off having been in London the other week and now Turkey.

>

If you live in Melbourne, you might know of the AM radio sports station SEN. Actually went into the studio for a half hour interview with their sports panel Saturday night. Never done radio before, but it was quite interesting.

Friday 15 July, 2005

>

Picked up the new car today. Goes great with the V6! Can't wait for our next long drive somewhere.

Wednesday 13 July, 2005

>

Have been shortlisted as a finalist for the Australian Male Sailor of the Year against a very strong line up. Pity I won't be here for the awards night. more...

Monday 11 July, 2005

>

Saturday was a shocking day, but Craig, Amac and I all went out for a sail off Black Rock anyway. It was bloody cold, rough, windy (20-22 knots) and wet so we only lasted an hour and a half, but it was worth it as I got to test out the new MSL10 sail. Difficult to tell of any improvements in those conditions, but it went well enough not to capsize. Also, apparantly I am supposed to have a name for the boat, but I don't really care. If anyone wants to suggest a name, email me. The best so far is Craig's suggestion of 'Mile High Club'. more photos...

>

Went and looked for a new car on the weekend, something a bit more tame and lower to the ground than my Hilux Surf ATM. Have decided on a Subaru Outback in the V6 version with all the perk's. Might have something by next weekend if I am lucky.

Tuesday 5 July, 2005

>

Got the new Fastacraft boat delivered to work on Friday, so spent that night and most of Saturday putting it together. Didn't get out on Saturday or Sunday as there was no wind, but took Monday afternoon off with Amac and went for a spin in the new boat in a 15-18 knot northerly. With all the changes that we had made to the foil and wing bar configuration, there was a very noticable difference in stability compared to Amac's boat (ex Garth Ilett's). You could literally sail with your eyes closed as it was that easy. Downwind was just as easy as it was extremely rare to ever pitch the boat up too high and ventilate the foils. Needless to say we are quite happy with the changes and will be on the water as much as possible over the next two weeks prior to leave for Italy.

Monday 27 June, 2005

>

No sailing over the weekend as we had no wind, so helped fix up Amac's boat a bit with new ropes, etc, then went for a 12 hour 4wd across our snowy mountains (and yes we saw snow believe it or not).

Friday 24 June, 2005

>

Went to the VicSport Awards Night last night where I was nominated for the 'Frank Wilkes Male Athlete of the Year Award' and got down to the final three, but was pipped at the post by Stephen Molman, the Hockeyroos goal keeper from the Athens gold medal match and 2004 Male Hockey player of the year.

Friday 17 June, 2005

>

Off to the Victorian Sabot fundraiser tonight, then hopefully sailing again all weekend with Amac on the Moth at Black Rock. Weather looks average, but the wind looks perfect... 10-20 knots from the North.

>

ETA on the new Moth is still end of this month.

Thursday 16 June, 2005

>

Went sailing again last night on the Moth with Amac. No way near as windy as the other day, but still 15-20 knots with flat water.

Tuesday 14 June, 2005

>

With such nice weather that we have been having recently, there was little wind in the Latrobe Valley, so it was probably good that I took the A class down there. The first race on Saturday was very light and ended up second behind Simon McKeon. Next race was an absolute drifter which could hardly be called a race after one lap, ended up third in that one, and then I won the last race of the day on Sunday by quite a distance from Simon. That was enough for me, so we made our way home that night and spent Monday foiling with McDougall at Black Rock in a very gusty 20-30 knot northerly. It was bloody hard work in that kind of wind, but good fun!

>

Hmmmm, Amac just pointed out that Falkner Beacon (only a few kms away from where we were sailing yesterday) recorded a max gust of 37 knots. We were staying inshore mostly, but there were times it was impossible to even hold the boat down in the water. Needless to say we both tipped over numerous times. Probably explains why the OK's decided to call training off for the day before we went out.

Friday 10 June, 2005

>

Off to Hazelwood Pondage this weekend for the Sauna Sail Regatta. Water temperature is over 23 degrees and air temperature anywhere between 2 and 18 degrees. However the weather looks good down there this weekend for a change!

Wednesday 8 June, 2005

>

Have found out that I been nominated and shortlisted as a finalist for the VicSport 'Frank Wilkes Male Athlete of the Year Award' at Federation Square in a few weeks time. more...

Monday 6 June, 2005

>

Was awarded the 2004/5 Livingston Trophy at Black Rock Yacht Club on Saturday night jointly with Lindsay Irwin and Andrew Perry after their 14' skiff World Championship win. Both of us commented on the night that it was a pretty remarkable effort for two World Champions to come from the same club within five months of each other, both sailing skiffs and with a big development in hydrofoils! With only a small member base at Black Rock of a few hundred, surely that must say something about the club and the conditions we have there to practice in. It is not easy sailing conditions sometimes there, but they toughen you up a lot and make anything else around the world seem easy.

Friday 3 June, 2005

>

Gin and I went to Tasmania last Friday for the weekend, but came back with a really bad cold. Took a couple days off work, and ended up loosing 5kgs in weight! I can't remember the last time I was under 64kgs. Need to eat more I think.

>

Interview on H2o sail. more...

Tuesday 24 May , 2005

>

As promised, I have updated an article that I wrote a while back on goal setting in sailing. more...

Monday 23 May , 2005

>

I went 4wd'ing yesterday with two mates and tried a creek crossing but it was a lot deeper than I thought (well over a 1m) and got stuck half way across in the soft sand base. Inside of car started to fill with water through the door seals. Eventually got a strap on the back of the car and got pulled out by Roger with his 3.0lt Patrol. Passenger side was slightly flooded and Beki was in the back the whole time wondering what was going on. Car never stalled or got water in the engine thanks to the snorkle Craig and I put on a few years back. That just paid for itself 5 times over.

Thursday 19 May , 2005

>

So I nearly got killed on Tuesday night riding home from work and last night I was unwrapping some more wedding presents and ended up slashing a very deep cut onto the top of my hand on a brand new Global knife that we got. Bloody hell! What next?

Wednesday 18 May , 2005

>

Rode my usual 25kms to get home last night after work at dusk and pulled up to a major 10 lane intersection with a red light. As the crossing traffics light when red, I waited for ours to turn green and clipped in and took off. As I pedal my first few strokes, I thought to myself that I should probably check to make sure that no one ran the red light, and sure enough I turn around and there is a massive bus coming straight for me about 10m away doing 70km/hr giving no warning. I turned away from the bus immediately to avoid getting smacked. Surely if I didn't look up for that brief moment, I don't think I would be here today. Bloody bus drivers!

Wednesday 11 May , 2005

>

I only just remembered that I said several years ago, that I thought the Moth class and the people who sailed them were neglected in the sailing world for their skill and creativity and I really wanted to turn that around. But just recently I have read on a few occasions that some sailing legends are comparing me to people like Ellen, Coutts, Cayard, Ainslie, Grael and Scheidt. To me this seems a bit strange as I envy these sailors and wouldn't even consider for a second that my achievements come close to the risks, sacrifices and effort they went thorugh to get where they are. To me, I only see my achievements as a result of something that I am very passionate about. Therefore maybe it is not the results or achievements that inspire people, but rather their passion for doing something that they feel so strongly about.

So I would be curious to know whether those names above were driven by results or their passion for sailing. I know in the back of my mind I had set myself goals to win a Moth Worlds so I was always looking for that edge, but really when I was on the water, I didn't care about that, and instead all I could think about was just enjoying the moment and then coming back in and try to share that with as many people as possible through video, reports or photos.

I knew at the time that foiling Moths was something that no other class could offer, but believe me, it wasn't easy to persuade members into accepting foils into a what was becoming a conservative 'development' class.

Therefore my enthusiam was not entirely welcomed when I published foiling updates and photos on our class web site at the time, as it may have been seen as being to media bias towards the foilers and may not be the views of all members as the best way to go forward as a class. However this was the only exciting news in the class at the time and was the only thing that non-members were interested in, so I quit as webmaster and started putting up all my views, articles, photos and videos on this site. Now my site is generating more traffic than those sites combined.

But still I don't think I would put myself next to people like Cayard or Coutts otherwise I wouldn't be desperately looking for a sponsor to pay for the new boat that I have ordered, let alone to pay for another trip to Europe in August.

Why is it that the foiler Moth seems to attract more sailing media interest than anything except Ellen at the moment, and yet even I can't find one decent cash paying sponsor? Am I selling myself too short by not asking for enough 'real' money? Are we seen as being a wild and reckless breed that are too fast for the corporate world?

Anyway, getting back to the reason why I wrote this post, maybe my dedication over the last few years was seen as being inspiring, but without the media friendly attitude I took and my committment to trying push the foiler Moth as much as possible, the whole thing may not have even got noticed.

Nevertheless, the interest is there now and we are getting great coverage thanks to mag's like Seahorse and Australian Sailing and I think we have potential for some major sponsorship. Personally I would love to find some money to pay for the new boat and a trip to Italy, but in the end, it won't stop me from doing what I love doing.

>

BTW - looks like my new Prowler won't be ready til the end of June now, and that is if everything goes to plan and there is no delays. Doesn't really leave me much time to get some decent training in before the Europeans. Maybe this will be a good handicap for me to work from. I will be sailing the A Class through all of June now it seems, so at least I will be sailing fit by August. The only problem is that I will have to put up with Azza calling me the 'stable table' on the water.

Monday 9 May , 2005

>

No sailing on the weekend or for the next three weeks (still no boat), but will be coaching the Sabot State Team instead. I actually jumped into a one on Saturday and found it rather unstable but I quickly remembered how to roll tack again.

Monday 2 May , 2005

>

Wandering down to Black Rock on Saturday arvo to see if they needed help for the first race of their icicle regatta and found myself getting soaking wet while coaching the Sabots all afternoon. Looks like I will be coaching them a bit more over the next few weeks too while I am still waiting for my new Moth. Not long now (I hope), as I am running out of good sailing weather here.

>

Got my plane ticket to Switzerland today for the Moth Euro's. Looks like I have to wait 10 hours in Dubai overnight on the way back for some stupid reason. At least they have offered to put me up in a Hotel for the night.

>

Still no development with our speed record attempt. Just trying to decide on a team name at the moment and look into venues a bit more. Tim and Simon think that they will have Maquarie Innovation back on the water later this year, so hopefully we will be there with them.

>

Finally no A class sailing until July for their winter regatta.

Wednesday 27 April, 2005

>

There was an interesting case yesterday in the High Court of Australia where a javelin thrower and part time police woman was order to declare all income earned from her sport, up to June 1999 and pay tax accordingly. This decision will now affect all athletes working and competiting at the same time, but the question is how much do have to receive (either in sponsorship, winnings or endorsements) before you have to declare it? Secondly what if you expenses are greater than your income and when does your sport stop becoming a hobby and start being a profession? I think the Australian Tax Office and more importantly the accountants will have their hands full with this one. more...

Friday 22 April, 2005

>

No sailing this weekend as we have a long weekend (ANZAC Day) and Gin & I are taking the motorbikes up to Swan Hill somewhere (4 hours away).

Tuesday 19 April, 2005

>

Went to the VIS Awards night last night with Krystal and ended up being shortlisted as a finalist for the VIS 'Spirit Award'. Chris Legh ended up with the award after his massive recovery from almost death during the Hawaiian Ironman, back to racing and winning Ironman races last year. Phenomenal effort! Somehow I still scored $200 as a finalist tho!

Monday 18 April, 2005

>

Raced on the A Class on Saturday at McCrae and just as i leave the beach and crank on the downhaul, the sail comes down the track. So I try for the next 10 minutes to get the bloody thing back up and the hook won't latch on, so I have to tip it over and hook it on by hand. Problem was that I didn't have enough weight on me to right the boat back up. Eventually it came up after about 10 minutes of struggling, but by this time I had missed the start and played catch up from there in a dying wind. Ended up 10th out of about 20 I think.

Tuesday 12 April, 2005

>

Just as we are discussing plans with Sean Langman to break the world speed record run on a custom designed and built vessel later this year, Finian Maynard goes and breaks the record again at 48.7 knots in 40-45 knots of wind. The fact that this is less wind than they had last year and he actaully went faster means that he is becoming more efficient in moving through the air and water. Looks like it will be a race now to not only break 50 knots, but to also maintain it as an average over 500m.

Thursday 7 April, 2005

>

Off to Sydney tomorrow for a meeting with a few foiler enthusiasts to discuss how to break the outright world speed record on a new craft sporting the latest in hydrofoil design. Not sure what is involved as yet, but I wil report when I know more.

Monday 4 April, 2005

>

Think I have finally got the A class sorted after changing a heap of things around on the boat, ie battens, spreader angle, mainsheet system, control lines, mast race, and rig tension. I missed the first start of the Club Captains Trophy at McCrae, but ended up improving on each race finishing just behind Graeme in the last race of the day. Still got heaps of work to do, but I am a lot more confident with the boat and my starts now. Anything over 20 knots still concerns me tho!

Friday 1 April, 2005

>

Four races at McCrae tomorrow on the A Class. Have got my new centreboom sheet sorted out and will hopefully have time to fix my diamonds, so I have no excuse for not finishing better than I did in the states. Weather is lookin' ggoooood!!!

Thursday 31 March, 2005

>

There was quite a gathering of Victoria's best sailing talent last night at Brighton Yacht Club to discuss 'sponsorship in sailing'. I reakon there were at least 10 world champion titles to names there not to mention John Bertrand, Alistair Murray and Andrew Plympton all discussing ways to help Victoria sailors find and get the best deal from sponsorship in sailing. I wrote a heap of notes on the night that were extremely informative and if you would like to see a copy, please email me and I'll send it to you.

Tuesday 29 March, 2005

>

I'm back! Thanks for all the emails from everyone over the last week. The wedding was perfect and the honeymoon was even better. When we got back, Gin and I went motorbike riding near Taralgon and nearly killed myself trying to get up a massive steep hill on the bike. No damage to me or the bike, just bloody good fun!

Friday 18 March, 2005

>

As they say, when it rains... it pours. The sailing media and a few newspapers have been all over the Moth foiler and the results from the Worlds recently. Here are some of the articles that Adam and I have come across in the last few months. BTW - the Dubarry boots that I got from Seahorse are bloody unreal, just hope I get to use them one day on a ORMA 60 or a maxi cat! :)

>

After Michael Blackburn's crazy sail across Bass Straight, sounds like it may have created a bit of interest with a few mothies do something similar, ie English Channel crossing . I think I'll stick to short course racing for the time being.

>

Sorry to dissapoint you Ella, but I am getting married tomorrow. Thanks for the offer tho. ;) Also means no more posts until after my honeymoon and our Easter motor bike/4wd trip. Have a good one!

Thursday 17 March, 2005

>

As the new and official ambassador of Carrum Primary School, I was asked to present the school captains with their badges today. I remember when I was in grade 6 and I was green house captain with Johanna Williams. All I can remember doing was organising my house members to do yard duty on rostered days and that Johanna never really spoke to me because she was cool and I was a nerd. I saw Johanna last year at a school reunion and she has started up her own cosmetic line in the UK and France I believe. I think I spoke to her more in 10 minutues that time than I did in 10 years when I was younger.

>

Just picked up a motor bike trailer so we can take some trail bikes away with us now. So it looks like I am getting a motor bike too as Gin's brother is getting rid of his. Broken arms, here we come!

Wednesday 16 March, 2005

>

Amac won the Victorian State Moth Titles on the weekend for the fourth time, but more importantly the first time was 27 years ago! Mic, Aaron, Andrew and Craig were all close in every race, however it sounds like the last race was a bit messy where all of them were tipping over before the finish line.

Tuesday 15 March, 2005

>

Finally a nice weekend in Melbourne with 30 degrees everyday for the A Class states although being a bit on the light side for the A Class, I got hammered when the seabreeze kicked in each day tho. Didn't even start two of the races and the other races I had mainsheet problems that couldn't be fixed until I got on the beach. Got a bit of work to do on the boat now in an effort to get rid of some power and fix some issues. I had way too much on once the wind got over 18 knots. Getting married this weekend, and then going to Cairns for our honeymoon for four nights, then going motorbike riding and 4wd'ing for Easter.

Tuesday 8 March, 2005

>

Just got back from the UK for the Dinghy Sailing Show. It was mad and I am absolutely buggered after my 30 hour trip to get home! Never seen so many people into dinghy sailing in one place ever. Everyone was really enthusiastic and friendly which made it even better.

I had great time, especially playing Vitual Skipper against a whole stack of 14 year olds keen to beat me in the finals. Sure enough I lost the final after hitting the pin end at the start. Can't come back from there!

The future for dinghy sailing in the UK sure looks good, unlike here. I think we should be taking a much harder look at the programs and events that are established and try and emulate them over here. Where do you start tho?

The IMCA UK and Ronstan stands were going off with two foiler Moth's on display. Linton had a huge amount of interest and looks like he'll be busy making foiler kits for the next 5 years. Of the 1600 or so Ronstan Moth posters that we had to hand out as well, there was about 50 left by Sunday afternoon. So hopefully that's about 1550 potential Mothies in the making.

Thanks for the Ronstan boys for looking after me while there and also big thanks to Marlow for all the rope too! Great to have you guys on board.

I think I need to go to bed and sleep!

Wednesday 2 March, 2005

>

It was a big day for me yesterday and I didn't even know it was coming!

Firstly I was told that I won Seahorse magazine's 'Sailor of the Month' award in the UK against the winner of the Sydney to Hobart. Not sure of the prizes as yet, but it looks like it includes gear from Henri Lloyd, McLube and Dubarry. Not sure what I am going to do with the big boat sailing gear, but it may come in handy one day!

Then Gin and I went to Melbourne's 'Leader Newspapers' Sports Star of the Year Awards night where I was nominated as a finalist for the Frankston Leader Newspaper. Hosted by Melbourne's own super star sports commentator Steve Quartermaine, I was up against other athletes who excelled in their sports and lived in the Frankston district. Well I ended winning this and walking away with a $900 cheque. Krystal won her 'Bayside' division as well and also scored a $900 cheque.

However it didn't end there, as winners of each division (including Krystal and myself) were named as the finalists in Southern Melbourne's overall winner, and I ended up winning this too, along with a $3000 cheque! Bloody hell.... I didn't expect that! That money came at the perfect time too, as getting engaged has left a huge hole in the bank account leaving me short for the new boat that I have ordered from Fastacraft. Buying an A class didn't help either tho! ;-)

>

BTW - as printed in Australian Sailing magazine, if anyone wants a DVD from the Moth Worlds, you can order them directly from the IMCA web site.

Monday 28 February, 2005

>

Raced the A Class for the first time at Blairgowrie against five local A's and one Tornado there. I had no idea what I was doing, where to start, what the course was or how to sail the boat. To top it off, my harness was coming undone, my foils were humming, I had no watch to get the start time, all my control lines had come loose and had rope all over the tramp and under the boat/around the foils plus my mainsheet core broke and had to reverse the sheet around whilst using only 4 to 1 before the start. Needless to say I looked very messy and un-co, but I started well with the fleet and headed downwind to the leeward mark trying to do the wild thing as often as possible. I couldn't believe I was actually keeping up with these guys let alone winning the race at this stage! However I droped back to 4th shortly after, mainly due to dropping the mainsheet and falling in the water upwind.

By the 3rd lap I sort of figured out how to sail high and fast upwind but more importantly my Moth foiling skills were very handy in flying the hull downwind. My weight probably had something to do with it, but I found it easy to keep one hull airborne the whole time in pressure and sail faster and lower than the other guys sailing current model Flyer boats. This put me back in the lead and I pulled away a bit from 2nd and 3rd. My next problem was how to finish! I had no idea, so I followed the Tornado just in front of me and worked it out crossing the line in front of the other A's (only just tho, after about 10 tacks in 100m and getting into irons).

I have got soooo much to improve on plus a bit of work to do on the boat, but will have to wait til the states in two weeks time as I am off to the UK for the Dinghy Sailing Show on Thursday arvo.

Monday 21 February, 2005

>

Lindsay and Andrew won the i14 Worlds on the weekend, but not without controversy. This now gives, two worlds champs for Black Rock Yacht Club and Ronstan in two months in the two biggest development skiff classes in the world, and all from Melbourne! Must be something in the water ;-)

>

Took the A Class out for a spin for about 5 hours yesterday in winds up to 17 knots. Great fun and got going pretty quick downhill sometimes doing the 'wild thing', until I went over.

Thursday 17 February, 2005

>

Looks like my 2005 Euros boat has been sold and it hasn't even been made yet!

Wednesday 16 February, 2005

>

Picked up the A Class today, but not without any dramas as we had to lift the whole thing off the back of the truck with a crane as we could not get a fork lift in time. Also went to the dentist today for the first time in 12 years for a check up!!! Needless to say there was nothing wrong.

>

One of my favourite boats l'Hydroptere just broke the Channel sailing record between Dover GBR and Calais FRA in 34min 24s, with an average speed of 33.3 knots over 19 miles! Check out the photos...

Thursday 10 February, 2005

>

It's all been happening the last few days. Have just dropped my Worlds boat off at the airport for Manuel and sent it back by airfreight along with 2 A Class sails and a Moth mast for only $1485. The guys there at Jupiter Oceania always look after me and needless to say i'll be using them later on this year as well. I have also purchased a MkV A Class cat from Brisbane. It will be leaving on the back of a truck on Monday and should have it Wednesday arvo ready to go for a sail on Thursday/Friday night. Looks like I'll be sailing the A class at McCrae Yacht Club too (only 25 mins away) as there is a good A class fleet there and I have welcomed warmly. All I need to do is learn how to sail it before the A class states on the 12-14th March at Sorrento.

My 2005 Europeans Moth should be ready in the next few months now too, so I'll be looking extra hard now for a new major sponsor asap otherwise, I'll be 'singing for my supper'. The new Moth will be pretty much the same as the last although we it will be made with vacumn infusion instead of pre-preg. This will hopefully save time on fairing the hull once it comes out of the mould and possibly save on weight. We will also be going with slightly bigger wings on the foils, in an effort to stop the boat from pitching to high downwind and over waves.

Amac and I have also finished work on the MSL10 and will hopefully have a prototype here soon to test. The shape is the same, but we had to cut area from the leach to conform to the new class rules, however we are now able to extend the leach area above the head and have also gone for a hollow leach.

Now all I need is a buyer for the boat after the Europeans! Check out my 'for sale' advert if interested. (Note - the girl doesn't come with the boat, it is mearly my interpretation of how 'sex sells'. I hope it works.)

Monday 7 February, 2005

>

Italian A class cat sailor 'Manuel Viccari' is in Australia to catch up with the local Moth scene in Melbourne and Perth in a hope to start up the Moth fleet in Italy. So we went out for a sail at Black Rock and ended up buying my boat along with Glen Oldfield's in WA to take back with him. So now I won't have a boat for our Victoria State Titles :( but will hopefully have an A class by then to watch the racing anyway. So my 2005 Worlds boat is all packed up, ready to leave this week. We have to send it to Switzerland as Italian customs like to charge duty on everything that comes in regardless of whether tax has been paid elsewhere or if it is a personal/second hand item. Hand piece of info to know for when we leave in July!

Monday 31 January, 2005

>

Had a sail of Glenn Ashby's A class on Sunday in about 7-10 knots and the best comparison I can give to a foiler Moth is that the A class is like a Formula 1 racing car and the foiler Moth is like a 500cc motorbike. Both are very fast and fun, but the F1/A class is more expensive, more elegant, more powerful and a lot easier to sail. I won't stop sailing Moth's as I think we have only just scratch the surface in terms of foiling and racing potential here, but I am interested in having a bit more of a go on an A class just for fun and see if I can learn anything from their sailing techniques, plus it might be good for me get my arse kicked for a while. However the Moth class will always be the ultimate challenge for anyone that is getting bored with their dinghy sailing.

>

Oh yeah, I am up for nomination on Seahorse's Sailor of the Month again. You know what to do!

Friday 28 January, 2005

>

Put up some new photos from the Worlds and Geelong Week. more...

Tuesday 25 January, 2005

>

Sailed the last three days in the Skandia Geelong Week as part of their Skandia Team in great winds and weather. results...

Tuesday 18 January, 2005

>

Looks like I am going to the 2005 London Dinghy Sailing Show courtesy of Ronstan to sit on their stand for the weekend!

Thursday 13 January, 2005

>

Here is my own report from the 2004/5 Moth Nationals and Worlds. more...

Tuesday 11 January, 2005

>

Here is a list of all my sailing goals list since I started sailing Moths in January 2001. more...

Monday 10 January, 2005

>

Well finally it is over! I won my first World Championship in the Moth Class and it only took four years. There is a good report and photos on the Black Rock Yacht Club web site. Will do up my own report of the regatta once I get sorted. more...

Sunday 2 January, 2005

>

World Championships start today!

Blog Archive