Got two days of training, tuning and adjustments in Sydney with Nathan before he had to head overseas for 49er racing late last week and we both seemed to be very confident now with our equipment, set up and boat speed.
On the Friday afternoon it was a good 20-25 knots, and while Nathan and I were using the North V6/CST 353 and V8/SS 'Skinnyboy' respectively, we noted average upwind speeds of 16 knots in the gusts, peaking at 17 knots with our slowest speed around 14 knots. We also both could not believe how well the V6 sat on our rigs and how comfortable it felt even with +30 knots apparent on the nose. We will certainly be using these sails in the Worlds when the wind gets up.
Downwind we peaked out at about 25.6 knots average I think, but the cold water temps meant that super high speeds were not going to happen on that day. Might have to wait a few weeks to try and clock over 30 knots at the annual Hazelwood 'Sauna Sail' regatta where water temps should be over 25 degrees, cold air and super flat water. Can't wait!
Monday 11th May, 2009 - Bling!
Over the last few months, a few of the Bladerider crew have been working with Composite Components on some new rear foils. Glen came up with three designs and we opted to get the two smaller ones prototyped by CNC'ing some alloy to test them on the water asap.
I can't tell you the results of our testing just yet, but talk about a Gucci bit of kit on the Moth. They also look very cool underwater as the water sunlight reflects off them, almost like a Sailfish swimming underneath your boat. The only problem is the inevitable corosion reaction that is going to happen with the carbon. But for now they are serving their purpose well and giving us a lot of great feedback for our next generation of foils.
Tuesday 28th April, 2009 - Sydney Sailing
Got back from Sydney on Sunday after spending three days training with Rob and Nathan. Well worth the trip as their jellyfish are tiny in comparison to ours at the moment and plus they have good winds (except over Easter), warmer water and smaller waves. It is no wonder why so many people sail up there.
After Scott's incident on Friday, he decided to take Nathan's X8 out on Saturday afternoon to get some much needed foiling time on the water. Marty came down too and we did a heap of one lap races on the Laser course. The wind kicked up to around 20 knots by late afternoon and we ended up tearing around the short course in stupid times, making the Laser's look even more incredibly slow.
Looking forward to getting back up there next week along with some new and experimental gear that we are currently working on, as Melbourne is ridiculously cold at the moment and far from inviting to go sailing.
Wednesday 21st April, 2009 - Cocked Again
Steve and I attempted to sail in the annual Cock of the Rock race at Black Rock on the weekend, but all hope of trying to win this race again failed when we noticed the whole bay being covered in huge jellyfish. With all the recent sunshine and lack of wind, meant that the jellyfish bloom and sit close to the water surface.
This is bad news for us foilers especially in light winds, as it is like trying to run through the middle of a mosh pit at a System of a Down concert! So Steve and I gave up before we even started. It has been a few years now since we have had decent wind for this race, but we should be due for a good one next year.
I'm off to Sydney tomorrow to do some training with Rob and Nathan for the next few days, and plan to leave the boats up there and train for a few days each week over the next month or so.
BTW - Nathan clocked 28.23 knots (peak) and 26.9 knots (10 second average) the other day, giving him one of the fastest peak and average speeds ever recorded on a foiler Moth.
I don't know what day it is in April, 2009 - Where's my Lunch?
It has been well over 30 hours and four planes since I left my hotel in Rio and I am still not home yet. I have had breakfast now at least four times now too and I just want some lunch!
Firstly I had breakfast after a great 9 hour sleep (thanks to some magic pills) from Santiago to Auckland. Then I had breakfast again in the Qantas lounge in Auckland, then once more on the plane to Sydney and finally some McDonald's breakfast when I landed in Sydney.
Now I am waiting for a flight home at the Qantas lounge in Sydney to Melbourne (but refusing to eat breakfast again), but now I just hope that my luggage and myself get there after Qantas announced 1750 jobs to go yesterday and Qantas staff have been known to walk off the job in the past.
BTW - the photo on the right was taken by Andrew Lechte, who is an ex-Moth Victorian State Champion, now working for North Sails in Japan and also Telefonica Blue sail designer. Also on board was Tom Addis who I brought my second Moth from in Sydney many years ago. Small world...
Sunday 12th April, 2009 - Buggie Smugglers
It seems like I made the right decision to head over to Rio rather than go to the NSW States in Sydney, as for the last week we have had mostly good winds and weather, when it should be cloudy with no wind.
On Friday I went out in a gusty 5-20 knots and got in a few runs with a new experimental wand. Then a couple of the Green Dragon guys came out and one Aussie guy proved to be quite good for his first ride. It wasn't long after when a RIB load of adults, kids and crew from ESPN South America came out for some show and tell with the camera.
Once that was over, it was time to hand it over to some locals for a test sail. Clothed in only cock jocks, I warned them that they might need a bit more armour, but it seems as though the Brazils are very comfortable with their basic choice of attire in all sporting activities, including soccer, volleyball and running.
A few of the younger guys then got a ride and picked up the new art of foiling very quickly. Needless to say, I think they will all be wanting a foiler for Christmas. However with the taxes so high here (around 100% of the paid price), it is certainly a toy for the wealthy at this stage. We are looking into alternatives to get foilers here for a lot less, and hopefully we have a solution in the next few months.
Thursday 9th April, 2009 - Jesus Christ Pose
After nasty the foil incident on Wednesday, it allowed me some time to catch up on work and have a look around Rio in the afternoon with our new Bladerider Ambassador for Argentina - Juan.
So the first stop was the Corcovado, which in english translates to 'the big Jesus on the mountain in Rio'. I couldn't believe the amount of people up there and I hate crowds, so we didn't stay up there too long. We then proceeded to nearly get killed again in the Rio traffic and our 'optional seat-belts' rented Taxi for the day.
Next stop was Rio's big soccer stadium, some fancy cathedral and finally the home of the Rio Carnival (which happens in February every year, but I managed to buy the very last DVD available in Rio from the 2009 event). If you are naive like me and have no idea what this whole gig is about, I think the picture below says it all. Needless to say I am keen to watch the DVD now...
On the other hand Chris had a tiring day on and off the water while waiting for wind, doing a demo for ESPN South America and allowing everyone but himself sail the boat for over two hours. His 25 knot brusie from Wednesday has come up a treat to top it all off. I don't think it is possible to get two more contrasting photos either...
Wednesday 8th April, 2009 - The Path of Least Resistance
We are still amazed at the amount of interest in the foiler Moths here in Rio, and consequently we are frequently vacating our boats for local test sailors.
So today we got pushed off our boats onto the Telefonica RIB and somehow ended up helming Telefoncia Blue while they were testing some new sails off Cocacabana beach. Bouwe Bekking was even kind enough to let us grab the wheel for a bit while the crew were testing new sails. Chris thinks he did such a good at driving that he believes he is a in a good chance to helm a V70 in the next Volvo Ocean Race.
About an hour later, we got back to our boats only to find that one of locals managed to break my new wand and ripped the front foil flap off. Not sure what he did, but he must have hit something in the water which is so easily to do here.
The other day I sailed straight through a 150m long submerged fishing net while doing around 17 knots and hurt myself more than the boat. It is not unusual to hit bits of wood, plastic bags, tree branches and chairs in the water either, so you have to be super carefully about avoiding all the obstacles.
To top it all off, apparantly there is about 200 tonnes of sewage and drainage dumped into the harbour every day, hence why the water is so brown. Apparantly it is a lot cleaner than it used to be, but I always very cautious about putting my head under water, however sometimes you have no choice.
Chris found this out after the wash from his wand got caught up in his foils and catapulted him several times over the bow and occasionally into the side stay. Consequently he now has a massive bruise on his leg.
Cavitation here seems to be also be a bit more of a problem than normal and we think that sailing in sewerage and dirty water is similar to sailing in cold water, being that it is quite viscious and easily seperated into gas. looking forward to getting back to home waters where we only have to deal with huge jellyfish at the moment, however the water temperature is dropping rapidly.
Tuesday 7th April, 2009 - Printer Jam
Cool video on YouTube from Magnus Deppe, who is an amature film making here in Rio. Pretty good considering he is only 13 years old! It looks like Magnus is taking after his dad Rick who is onboard the Puma Volvo 70 as their Media guy.
Monday 6th April, 2009 - The Circus Comes to Town
Today we have a guest appearance from Chris Graham, so I will hand it over to Chris from here...
Righto, its been a while since my last blogging effort, so my spelling has taken a bit of hit and therefore I will make sure Rohan edits this thoroughly before he uploads it.
Brazil.... Rio... Sugar Loafing, Puma'ing, and a little bit of Mothing. There are quite a few things to report on so best to go through a typical day since we have arrived.
Wake up at some un-godly hour due to jet lag from the long ass flight here. Go for a run on Cocacabana beach or work out in the dodgey gym on the 20th floor. Going for run though is similar to Dubai, although the ass that you wait for before you start running is much hotter and better looking. The problem is though, they only come out in the late afternoon when it is too hot for us white boys to run in.
Then comes one of the highlights of my day which is what some people would call breakfast. We have had the same thing for how ever many days we have been here now, chicken nuggets, weird sausage, scrambled egg. Thats about it, not very exciting, however there is a heap of fruit if you are into that sort of thing.
After catching up on emails, we catch a taxi down to the Marina de Gloria to rig up the boats. The only problem is that all taxi drivers here are totally crazy and incoherent! The 70km/hr speed limit to and from the Marina is also totally ignored as we frequently reach speeds over 100. On top of that, they continually chat to you in Portugese or Spanish the whole trip, even though they know you don't speak a word of the local language.
Once the 10 minute death ride is over, we rig up, have lunch and wait for the sea breeze to come in. During this process at least 100 locals and tourists come up to ask question and get their photo taken with the mini-il Mostro Moths. Occassionally we get asked to be included in the photo, but it is a rare event as they seemed to be only attracted to the awesome looking Puma branding on the boat. Some even try to souvenir our sailing gear, and it is hard to explain to them that we need our gear to sail.
Apart from all the tourists, we are also getting a number of VOR and South American sailors all showing lots of interest, and one in particular is Torben Grael's daughter who has already been out foiling once, and is now hooked and wants to learn to gybe now. She has obviously been talking it up to her bro and her other mates as well, as they are all super keen too. If we can get her famous dad out in between all the press conferences, interviews and boat preperation, then I think there could be another very good chick in the Moth class.
In between all the photos and sweating in the Brazilian sun, Rohan and I have plenty of time to play around with the new wands, gearing and control settings. But by about 1-2pm, the sea-breeze has usually filled in and its time to get the boats on the water. Unfortunately we have to share the launching ramp with the crazy tractor drivers continually launching power boats into the heavily polluted harbour. It is also the most ridiculous way of launching a boat I have ever seen.
After the very light In-Port race on Saturday, we came in early to take one of the Moth's up to Sugar Loaf Mountain for a huge Puma party for 700 people. Anyway, we were supposed to meet the truck driver at 3pm as arranged the day before, but Brazil time is just like 'Inshallah' time in Dubai or 'Penyana' in Spain, so it was 5:30pm by the time our local Puma Marketing friend turned up to take the boat away.
Yesterday we managed to race against the V70's in the last downwind leg of their Pro-Am race. Suprisingly we had more pace than them, but they were much deeper in the 7-9 knots. After this was over, we took to opportunity to sail out of the harbour, and do 'fly-bys' along the heavily populated Cococabana beach under specific instructions the Puma Marketing Team.
All was good until we got in the windless-vacumn under Sugar Loaf Mountain. Luckily I tacked out early enough, but Rohan got sucked in towards the breaking waves over the rocks and was in danger of destroying the boat. Luckily Rohan used the Internationally recognised emergency distress signal (ie waving his arms feaverishly over his head) to a non-English speaking fishing boat and they thankfully came to his rescue. They seemed quite curious about this completely unstable boat they have just rescued, however once they got him out into the breeze and cast him off, they all cheered when they saw this little boat jump out of the water and fly back towards the harbour.
Typically we get back to the hotel around 7pm, eat a very early dinner and are in bed between 8-10pm, only to wake around 6am to start the circus all over again.
Friday 3rd April, 2009 - 10 days in Rio
Not too hot and not too much wind here in Rio, but the humidity is high with plenty of cloud cover and rain. Chris got out on the boat late in the afternoon for a quick session and noted that the water was far from clean, but aparantly not as bad as India. The big difference is the spectacular scenery, with the huge green mountains surrounding the harbour, it is quite an amazing place to sail.
This weekend should be pretty full on with the In-port race scheduled for tomorrow and the Pro-Am race on Sunday. Suprisingly there is plenty of interest in the Bladerider's here in Rio and maybe end up selling a few boats as a result. Fernando is the Bladerider reseller for Brazil and has come over here from Portugal to see what sales he can drum up.
On a completely different note, there was a very interesting decision made in a court case here in Australia recently about a boat builder being charged for manslaughter after a keel feel off and four people died a few years ago. Hopefully this will spur some builders to take more care in the future when building boats.
Tuesday 31st March, 2009 - Off to Rio
Flying out to Rio de Janerio tomorrow morning for two weeks for promotions at the Volvo Ocean Race on behalf of Puma. I will be on the water every single day, which means I won't be on email all that much, so best to not email me unless urgent.
Thursday 26nd March, 2009 - Skiff Regatta Photos
Plenty of action and ariel shots of the Moths at the 2009 Skiff Regatta at Black Rock taken by Shane Baker. It doesn't look as windy as I remember it, but I suppose it never does in still photos.
Sunday 22nd March, 2009 - Victorian State Championships Day 2
Only three races scheduled today, but with a +20 knot Sou-Westerly frontal system pushing though, it meant the waves were up and interest in going out there was down. Only Steve, Dave, Leigh and myself went out but by the time we started, it was only about 15 knots and awesome foiling conditions, even with the short 1.5m waves. I was amazed at how high and fast I could go upwind with the North V8 and stock Bladerider mast and boom in these conditions, and ended up catching all the skiffs that started in front of us within the two laps, some 15 minutes ahead.
By the start of heat two, we had a solid +20 knots now but only three starters. Leigh retired from the race due to exhaustion and Dave retired with a broken vang, leaving to finish on my own, but not without a massive pitch pole near the finish line, caught on camera of course!
Since everyone else had gone in, I decided to do the same as it was getting hairy out there at times downwind, but the race committee decided to pull the pin anyway and declared no more racing for the inaugural weekend Skiff Regatta.
It has been a few years since I last won the Victorian State Championships, but it is good to have the old girl back home, as this is the oldest Moth trophy in the World dating back to 1932 when Len Morris won it in Olive.
It is also good to finally feel the fitness coming back to me as well, because about four weeks ago, I didn't think I had enough time to get prepared for the Worlds. But with all this cross training that I am doing, it looks like it is paying off. Just need to get stuck into the weights now and bulk up for what I think will be another windy Worlds.
Saturday 21st March, 2009 - Victorian State Championships Day 1
Heat one started around 10:30am in about 10-12 knots in hot Northerly and about 7 foilers and 1 lowrider took off upwind the shifty and gusty conditions. Rob got out in front early using the North V8 and stayed by nailing every shift upwind on all three laps. I got close to Rob at few times also using the V8, but Amac and Lochie also got close to me upwind each time only to lose ground each time downwind. Rob had a swim on the last downwind leg but had enough space to win by about 15 seconds from me, followed by Amac about 50 seconds back and Lochie not far behind.
By the time heat two started, we had a good 20 knots and I managed to hit most of the shifts this time and kept upright downwind which left me about 6 minutes in front of Rob by the finish, nearly lapping Amac in the process who seemed to be struggling downwind with altitude control and fitness after a long and hard stint in China recently. In the end, only Rob and I finished as the gusts were gusting up to 25 knots and everyone was pretty buggered.
We were postponed on shore for a good hour or two as the wind was peaking around 28 knots over lunch, but settled into about 20-25 around 3:30pm. However only Rob and myself ventured out to the line along with about 30% of the mixed fleet due to the fairly extreme conditions.
I stuck with my V8, but Rob went to 10b for comfort, however I seemed to manage really well with my V8 as the sail flattened off extremely well and had plenty of height upwind thanks to a super tight leech. I had one stupid swim after gybing on the top of the wave, while Rob had about three swims, leaving me to claim the win by about a minute.
Rob had to get a flight home to Tassie in a few hours, so he had to go in and pack up leaving me to start the race on my own. However I didn't finish alone as Amac came back out to start quite late, but this time with more altitude control and finished about five minutes back.
I was completely exhausted by the time I got back in and consumed more fluids and food over the next few hours, then I would in whole day. Tomorrow's forecast is for a flat and gusty Northerly in the morning, swinging around in the afternoon to around 20 knots. Just what we need for our aching bodies!
I don't think I will ever be comfortable when launching a new boat on behalf of a customer because I don't like the fact that I can't control the weather, jelly fish, fishing lines or other boats around me.
However I must be getting good at avoiding all the potential dangers that can happen on a new launch after doing this so many times now, as Rob's VRX went out on the water for the first time today with no incidents or the need to tighten up the toe straps once I got out there. We even got some great shots that will be on the Bladerider web site soon!
Still fine tuning these new North V8's but should have them sorted by tomorrow in time for our State Titles starting Saturday. Looking forward to it!
Wednesday 18th March, 2009 - Big V8
Got back from Cairns safely on Sunday, avoiding the Cyclone and the croc's. Actually the weather was quite nice and Justin (a new Mothie) drove all the way up from Mt Isa (about 14 hours) to meet up with Ben and myself to get some hot tips.
Since getting back, we have received the first (limited) batch of North V8 protype sails and so have been on the testing them with different mast and cam combinations to ensure that we can supply the best rigging advice to all customers. Below is a pic of the V8 rigged on a stock standard 50mm Bladerider mast and boom. It is not the best photo, but will get some more this week.
So after being on the water today I am happy to report that the sail feels bloody quick with no lee-helm at all thanks to a much higher clew. It is suprising how much downhaul and vang you have to use even in as little as 7 knots, but there is still heaps to pull on to get it really flat for high wind speeds.
The best part is the weight though. These sails weight 3.2kg with cams and fiberglass battens (nearly 1kg lighter than most other sails). Knock off another 500 grams with carbon battens too (when available).
Also with our Victorian State Titles on this weekend at Black Rock, we could have some very close racing with new top speed record holder Rob Gough and myself both using VRX's with North V8's hopefully. The only difference will be that Rob will be sporting a CST 351/353 mast and I will stick with the 50mm Bladerider mast.
Won't be long before we have one of the new Southern Spars rig as well, and in a few weeks time, we should have a pretty good idea how best to rig the V8's on each mast for anyone considering upgrading. Big Kev Hall from Kiwi land will be doing the same with the new North V10 as well during the Hawaii State Championships in a couple of weeks time. Stay tuned...
Tuesday 10th March, 2009 - AIR's Day 3
We got out on the water on time yesterday, but with not enough wind to fly we were fairly close together again up the first work in heat one. However Dave (who was now foiling gantry-less) and I could not be seperated the whole race. We both dragged around clumps of weed around our foils and neither of us dared to stop to clear the weed as we knew the ground lost would be hard to make up once going again. So by the bottom mark for the last time, Dave limped around to head upwind just in front, leaving him to win his first race in his new Moth career.
Heat two started with a bit more wind to fly, but it was impossible to get a good VMG upwind or downwind when dragging around so much weed, so it was always a big gamble to go high and slow or low and fast upwind. In end though, it worked out to be no difference but we were lucky enough at times to have an escort of Dolphins around the course instead.
So once again the five Moth's could not be seperated after the first lap but by the time we got to the top mark on the second lap, the wind had picked up and I was able to clear my weed and foil downwind to take the final race win.
Didn't get home to 2am and back to work today to try and clear a mountain of emails and paperwork related to the first batch of deliveries of the RX boats this week.
Off to Cairns tomorrow morning to help out our very first RX customer and also our first customer in Far North Queensland. Hopefully we don't have too much wind after a recent cyclone passed by to get some good sailing in on a local dam about an hour out of Cairns, that hopefully has no crocodiles in it.
Sunday 8th March, 2009 - AIR's Day 2
We were held back on shore for about half and hour due to lack of wind, and eventually got out around 11:30am, but only to be postponed again for another hour once out there.
We eventually started in a sub-foiling breeze and proceeded to drift around with the occassional gust of wind only to fly for around 10 seconds until our foils were covered in enough weed to cause us to come crashing back down to the ocean. I was lucky enough to get a nice puff at the top mark on the last lap and scooted downwind to finish with a comfortable lead.
All five of us had a close race together in heat two due to shifting winds, continual weed problems and considerable ground lost at each attempt to foil. Greg rounded the top mark in front with some nice pressure from the left and proceeded to clear out downwind to take the win while the rest of us sailed nowhere fast.
It was looking pretty light for the last race of the day and got down as low as 1 knot by the top mark, where the entire drifiting Moth fleet was passed by the J24 fleet which only made matters worse. Thankfully the breeze filled in on the second and final lap and we all manage to squeeze in about 10 minutes of decent foiling after being on the water for over four very long hours.
Saturday 7th March, 2009 - AIR's Day 1
Racing on John Harris' VRX for the first time today, I was a bit cautious sailing three races back to back, so I stuck to a fairly basic setup (ie standard Bladerider gearing and rig), but was prepared to try a couple of new things such as 4:1 on the mainsheet and a new rear foil.
The Adeliade 'SIR's' Regatta kicked off with the usual race course confusion during race one. Due to difference between the sailing instructions and course board, I sailed an extra half lap and then proceeded to do a third lap rather than crossing the finish line after the bottom mark. No idea of finishing places as it was a big mess of results. Dave had to make his way back ashore due to yet another broken gantry.
Heat two was started in a strong but comfortable sea breeze, but I still manage to capsize a few times after having too much lift on the front foil and the rear foil popped out of the water numerous times. Despite these hiccups, I rounded the two lap course in about 15 minutes and caught the finish boat off guard to claim the win.
Heat three was started in about 13 knots by this stage with a short chop. No idea what happened, but I am sure I had a few more swims after being greedy with my front foil lift again. By the time the last race was over, I was completely exhausted and proceeded to consume as much food and drink as possible to get my energy and sugar levels back up to par. Greg Wise graciously offered to help in the recovery of us all by offering a BBQ feast back at his house.
Friday 6th March, 2009 - On the Road
Off to Adelaide today with Leigh Dunstan and Dave Barnes to compete in the Adeliade International Regatta along with locals Greg Wise and Ned Dally.
Tuesday 3rd March, 2009 - Another Record Broken
Rob Gough has just clocked 28.71 knots (peak) sailing on his Bladerider X8 this morning in a strong 25 knot wind down in Hobart, Tasmania, finally breaking my 27.9 knots (peak) record that has stood for over 2.5 years now. More details in the next Bladerider newsletter.
Monday 2nd March, 2009 - A New Moth Species
If there is one thing that I have been preaching for the last few years and I suppose it has become my underlying message in my last few posts, is that it doesn't matter what foiler Moth you have or how much money you have, you will probably enjoy your foiling more and get better results if you had less equipment choices and put more time on the water by racing as much as possible.
It is probably not until you have the skills to get in the top five of your National fleet, that having the latest gear will make much difference to your results. However having a selection of equipment does not necessarily mean that you are going to win or will get better results either. If anything, I think having more than two sails or one set of foils in a Championship has impeded on my results in the past.
On the bright side for manufacturers in this market, it makes it easy to sell expensive gadgets, toys and gear to those that probably don't need it, but for me personally I find this more difficult to do as I would much rather sell good advice than unnecessary products.
For example, I get many emails where new Mothies ask me about a VRX, when I know for sure that they would be much better off to save their money to get a more durable and reliable Moth for their first 6-12 months of foiler. The new Bladerider RX is designed to fit this gap in the market and is the ideal entry level foiler suited to intermediate level dinghy sailors and hence a majority of sailors out there today.
Our first production RX goes on display this weekend at the London Dinghy Show and if you get the chance to see it or another in the near future, you will note that all parts are uniquely robust, simple and universal, while also ensuring our retail price is around the same price as a good second hand Bladerider X8.
So we will see what effect the release of our new boat will have in the Moth market, but one thing is for sure is that it won't be long before we put 15 RX boats in a container and send them to New Caledonia or somewhere exotic for an International Grand Prix event. This will mean you can just turn up with your sailing gear and race. What a life!
Sunday 22nd February, 2009 - Slogging it Out
Sailing on the FX is such a different boat compared to the X8, as you have more time to react, it is super solid, fractionally slower in doing everything but is a lot harder to work the boat upwind in waves. Yesterday was no different.
We had a typical 20 knot Southerly, but it was a combination of the very short 1-2 metre Black Rock waves and about two litres of water sloshing around inside the boat due to a lot of neglected over the last few months that made life interesting for a very unseaworthy helmsman.
With all the excess weight and travelling at low speeds upwind, my wand would repeatably flick out the back of a huge wave, stall the main foil and all 45kgs of boat and 70kg of me would come crashing down into the wave in front of me. Thankfully heading downwind was not so bad, and managed to stay upright somehow and hold off the attack from the 14's who also found the going very tough.
After an hour and half on my own and the thought of another two long laps remaining, my body decided that it enough of being pounded into the waves and therefore I retreated to the comforts of dry land. Needless to say there will be numerous modifcations and repairs that will need to be done to the boat over the next week before I even attempt to get on the water again in these sorts of conditions.
It also seems that I have once again I offended some people with my blog last week and consequently I have amended my posting to 'keep the peace' down here in this small but growing Moth community.
Sunday 15th February, 2009 - A Day of Firsts
Yesterday I ventured down to Black Rock to take a few people out for a spin on the FX and if the wind picked up, I decided to stay out there for the two club races in an effort to kick start my sailing fitness training.
By the time the first start sequence began, the wind was still at a steady 4-6 knots and a few other Moths showed up including Steve on his FX, Lochie on Amac's old X8 and Amac on his M2. I had no expections of a good result, however as it was a low riding race I thought I might be able to stay with them for at least the first leg and get something out of it.
So I managed to get a good start off the boat just above and behind Amac. Amac then slowly pulled away and tacked off to get clear air. I persisted with the same starboard tack out to the lay line because I knew that sailing such a heavy boat in comparison to any boat built from carbon in the last fifteen years, it takes a long time to get up to top speed after a tack.
The rig I had up was a well used and stretched Bladerider sail with a standard Burvill mast, but once the boat was moving through the water, it seemed to go pretty good and somehow managed to pull away from Amac.
By the time I got to the top mark, I was a good 30 seconds in front of Amac and well over two minutes in front of Lochie who was battling it out with Steve for third and fourth. Knowing that if I tried to fly downwind, I would risk any gain made upwind, so I focused on getting down to the bottom mark as fast as possible by using low riding techniques I have not used for a long time.
On the other hand Amac and Lochie unsuccessfully searched for speed by trying to sail high on the foils. This put me even further in front on the second lap and left me to comfortably foil downwind to finish my first race in my first come back, with a first place. Amac chose not to finish the race leaving Lochie to take second place.
By the time the second race rolled around, the wind had picked up to around 12 knots and knew this race was not going to end as well as the first. So I thought it would be best to start agressively and attempted an unorthodox method I first tried many years ago. This only usually works in mixed fleet racing, however my timing was off by about 5 seconds and had to go back and dip the line, which virtually gave away any advantage I could of have had to stay with Amac as long as possible.
To top it off, with about 1 degree of AOA on my main foil, a building upwind chop and an excess of weight, the FX was hovering only just out of the water and lacked any power to sail high and fast upwind leaving Amac to round in front and Lochie right between us. I continued to attack by sailing a different course to Amac and Lochie, however my legs were wobbling like jelly on the last upwind leg and there was nothing I could do but cruise in for a third place about a 1-2 minutes behind Amac. Not bad considering, but could have been a lot better.
After the race, my body definately felt the effects of too much time away from Moth sailing, however it was nothing that a can of Rum and Cola couldn't fix. I think I'll have to start to swtich my preference of rehydration fuel to something more appropriate next time tho.
Wednesday 4th February, 2009 - I'm Back Baby!
So after sitting on the side lines for the last 18 months watching everyone gradually improve their skills and speeds on the foiler Moths, I think it is time for me to get back into the class and put in a good show at the next few Worlds.
There are many reasons why I had to sit out for a bit, but now with some new competition on and off the water, my boss also felt the need for me to get back in as well and share notes with John and Nathan.
The Bladerider Team for the next two years already has the product support of North Sails, Velocitek, CST and FSE Robline, but Musto, Ronstan and Club Marine have given me their continued support as well which is most appreciative.
However the Bladerider Racing Team is looking for a primary cash sponsor for the next two years if a business out there is interested in providing support for things such as air fares, accommodation and boat freight. I doubt I will have much luck when approaching companies directly about sponsorship during such tough times, but I am sure someone out there reading this might know someone keen to get some major exposure over the next two years from a team of multiple World Champions extremely motived to win.
Now all I need now is a boat!
Monday 2nd February, 2009 - VSR RIB For Sale
If your yacht club, coach or someone else you know is interested in updating or purchasing a privately owned and well maintained VSR 5.4m coaching RIB (13 months old), I have mine up for sale as it has served its purpose extremely well and now no longer required (especially if I can get myself a VRX for the USA Worlds). It includes:
New style moulded cockpit
Hypalon inflatable tubes with pressure release valves
S/S under floor 65lt fuel tank
Spare 20lt emergency tank
Navman VHF radio
GME AM/FM radio
Yamaha 40Hp 4 stroke (with 180 hours since new)
Extremely low fuel consumption
25 knots top speed
Crane lifting attachments
Sunbrella top cover
Safety equipment & anchor
On Victorian registered Mackay trailer
Boat and trailer rego due Jan 2010
4 x Plastimo drifting marks for coaching also available
All in excellent condition
Asking Price: AU$35,000 ono (New Price: AU$44,000)
Tuesday 27th January, 2009 - It's Not About the Boat
It only took Nathan Outteridge about 20 days of sailing on a well used Bladerider X8 (including all races this week), to upset our compeititors and tipsters in the 2009 Australian Championships last week, so one can only imagine what he could have done with more time in one of our new boats.
Clearly Nathan is some kind of freak, but I'd like to think that the new North sail he used throughout the entire regatta had something to do with the result. A very determined Chris Williams in the USA has been responsible for this program over the last six months, and it is great to have been able to assist North with a win in their very first Moth regatta.
For those that don't know, Nathan used the latest version 7 sail from North that I tweeked a bit through the week, supported by a 353 CST mast and CST boom. We are hoping to auction this very sail off on eBay soon otherwise if you are interested in making an offer, please let me know.
Also if you are wondering whether we did any tricky stuff to Nathan's foils or wand, well you'd be wrong. We used a stock standard centerboard and front foil with one packer, giving an AOA of around 130mm. We did not even wet and dry the foils! There was also no packer in the rear foil and had absolutely stock standard gearing, wand, May stick, wire stays, spreaders, wing covers and alloy gantry.
The only thing that Nathan wanted to do different was to use 4:1 on the mainsheet and have a bit of extra purchase with a 16:1 vang system. For the first half of the regatta he didn't even have a properly adjusting outhaul!
So after probably one of the best regattas I have ever attended, we have already began work on a list of simple but effective enhancements that will be tested by Bladerider Racing Team over the next few months and ready for the 2009 Moth Worlds at the Gorge.
So the only question now is will Nathan and I be part of that Team? I can say that after these Nationals, we are now both highly motivated to put in a serious campign along with John Harris, and will certainly not be going there to make up the numbers.
Friday 16th January, 2009 - New Record!
We have taken delivery of a few of the new version 7 North Sails that will be seen on the rigs of a number of top Mothies at the Aussie Nationals next week.
However Arnaud was the first to sail with one of them today in 20-30 knots and clocked 27.4 knots as a new 10 second average speed on his Bladerider X8 with a MH7 sail. His peak speed was 27.8 knots making two people now within 0.1 knot of the highest peak speed ever recorded on a Moth.
Arnaud also has the only Cuben Fiber AP7 sail here and it weighs 3.2kg (with cams) which is 800 grams lighter than most other top sails on the market at the moment. The same North sail made from mylar adds an extra 500 grams to the overall weight, but will save you a lot of cash.
Pricing and ordering procedures for the version 7 production sails will be available in the next few weeks.
STOP PRESS - John Harris clocked a 10 second average speed of 27.02 knots (peak 27.59 knots) tonight in Sydney on his new VRX in a solid breeze as well!
BTW - It is confirmed that I will not be sailing in the Aussie Nationals as I do not have a boat. Instead all efforts this week have been spent trying to get James and Martin's RX prototype boats on the water ready for the Nationals. Should be able to launch the first RX at Black Rock (as usual) tomorrow.
Sunday 11th January, 2009 - Pucker Up
Didn't realise how long it has been since the last post!
After Xmas, Gin and I took some time off down the beach at Mallacoota where I took the VSR with me for some practice in the surf and nearly flipped it! Then after a long 7 hours drive back home, had to fly out to Singapore for some meetings and support at the Volvo Ocean Race stop over. There are a couple of local boats there as well and with the two Puma boats there as well, there was plenty of interest.
Suprisingly too, we had plenty of wind all week and so I took out Velocitek's new SpeedPuck out with me to see how fast we could get the boats going in the warm costal waters. Even with around 18 knots of wind, I comfortably clocked 24.32 knots, proving that once again that the warm water definately makes a difference to top speeds. Maybe one day someone will build a set of foils that has an internal heater to warm the surrounding water to go even faster? ;-)
I must admit for simplicity and ease of use, the SpeedPuck is bloody brilliant! I have been working with the Alex and Ken at Velocitek on this project for around a year now and it is good to see it working so well. One of the big benefits is the lift/header indicator as the production model is more sensitive than the prototype I tested in August last year, meaning that you will see the smallest lift or header on display. You have to try it to see what I mean.
I will have a demo SpeedPuck unit at the Moth Nationals at Geelong along with one of Sailing Bit's awesome new mounting brackets if anyone is keen to have a try.
While most have been looking at the results of Team America and Team New Zealand in Australia recently, there has been another race going on between Team Bladerider and Team KA off the water, namely the first to get their latest high tech boat on the water and foiling.
Well I am glad to say that it was us, as Aaron has been battling away in our factory building the first two VRX hulls over the last month and we had our first sea trials today that went a lot better than expected.
The Bladerider VRX uses the same hull mould as an X8, but that is where the similarities stop. Firstly we are using 160 gram carbon on the outer skin instead of 200 gram, but have beefed up a lot of important areas around the hull.
As a lot more time and care has gone into production of the VRX, the little things that we get feedback on have all been done such as putting in cam cleat wedges, locating the bung in the bottom of the transom, longer 1/4" rudder bolts, minimal deck grip, and super smooth front wing bar sockets.
We were also able to use only minimal glue when joining the hull to the deck (about 4 times less than previously used on the X8) and fitted a new push rod system inside the hull using longer cable sliders and a shorter push rod, allowing for a smoother and much more trouble free travel. In addition, we are now including a longer and stiffer wand to get more positive and responsive feedback.
But one of the big changes is the new alloy gantry. Sure it could be made from carbon, but it would add another US$500 onto the cost of the boat, and only save you about 150 grams. And from our tests and customers using them recently, everyone was suprised at the extreme stiffness of the alloy gantry over the carbon one. In addition, there is no way that this one will ever fail on you, even if you get hit from behind.
The wing frame is the same as the X8, but we have new wing covers, that have a thicker 5mm rod for the front lacing pocket and handy pouch at the back for putting in emergency rope and small parts.
Along with the new FSE Robline dynemma ropes, we have also put on the custom made high load vang blocks from Ronstan in Denmark, making for extremely easy vang adjustments.
There is also only one coat of matt black paint on the foredeck and bottom of the hull, meaning the hull weight is down to a measly 8.5kg! There is no need to paint the side of the hull as this only adds weight.
We also saved another 500 grams on the rig by using the latest mylar North Sail from Cape Town (we could save another 300-400 grams by using cuben fiber too). Chris has done a lot of work over the last 6 months on these sails in the USA and it shows. I don't think it will be long before some of the top guys in the fleet will be sporting North's soon. If you are interested in getting one from the first production run (either 'high wind' or 'all pupose'), please let me know as it looks like Bladerider be a worldwide dealer for them now.
Even though all these changes don't sound sexy, you can trust me that after all our experience with these boats, some of them may make the difference between finishing first and not finishing at all.
So Aaron and I took out the first VRX for a spin this afternoon at Black Rock in a strong 15 knot sea breeze and was gob-smacked how light the whole set up was. I have lost count how many times I have launched a new foiler at Black Rock, but I reakon it must be around 20 by now, so I have a bit of a routine when it comes to testing a new boat.
I normally don't foil for the first minute or so until everything feels right, but I reakon it was about 10 seconds before I was doing 15 knots unintentionally. This boat did not want to sit on the water and felt like it had too much lift for a first fly (even without any packers), but once up, it never once came out of the water.
With the stiffer wand too, it was like sitting in a race car with stiff suspension. You could feel every single ripple in the water and was so not used to it, let alone the weight as it was way more sensitive and responsive then the FX that I am so used to sailing these days.
Apart from a few leaks, the boat came back unbroken which extremely rare with my track record for lauching new boats at Black Rock. So once leak tested and sealed up, this VRX will be boxed up for John Harris along with a second VRX and an FX for two new Mothies in Sydney.
Monday 15 December, 2008 - Going For Broke!
I took the Yanks to 'The Pond' (Hazelwood Pondage) as racing was called off on Sunday at Black Rock's Go For Gold. The Pond is a heated lake from a local coal power station and is still the home of the Moth World peak speed record at 27.9 knots. I thought I would show the guys this special foiling place at the Latrobe Valley Yacht Club as my theory is that due to warm fresh water, it is much less viscious and dense, than colder salt water and therefore easier to travel faster through.
So Kevin went out first, and even in the 15-18 knots we had with super flat warm water, he still clocked 25 knots as the best peak speed. I then had a go and got a two good runs in at 25.7 knots.
So I am 100% confident now that if we get a 20-30 SW day on the bay, then we are heading down there to finally clock 30! Kevin's boat was easily handled the sudden acceleration from 22 knots to 25 knots (in a 18 knot puff) and will comfortably handle more wind and more speed. Just have to wait for the right day now!
Saturday 13 December, 2008 - Going For Gold
Thursday this week was a mad house at the Bladerider factory as we had Charlie, Hans, Brownie and Kevin re-assembling, tuning and repairing their boats after Sail Sydney getting ready for the Go For Gold Regatta that started yesterday at Black Rock.
Two other local Moth's entered (Sam and Lochie) the annual Black Rock Regatta, but Brownie missed all of the races due to set up issues on his new boat (actually Mat Belcher's 2008 Worlds boat). In the first heat, Sam was the only one on the start line when the gun actually went, as the others were focusing a bit too much on boat tuning at the time (a common problem with most Mothies). However Kevin caught up to Sam quickly with much improved boat speed, but both rounded the wrong top mark. By the time they reached the leeward mark, I pointed this out to them and they went back upwind again to the correct top mark. Despite this Kevin made up a lot of ground to Lochie, Hans and Charlie who finished in the top three.
By the second race is was good to see nearly everyone on the line at 30 seconds to go (except for Lochie who missed the start again), in a nice 15 knot offshore breeze. There was one A Class cat that started with us also but all five Bladeriders tore off to windward rounding the top mark well ahead of the fastest single handed catamaran in the World. However downwind is where some serious gains can be made and Kevin pulled away from everyone by sailing full powered up and sitting a long way back with the rudder on max lift.
By the second lap, Lochie decided to pull out of the race early for no apparent reason apart from dropping off the pace, even though Charlie kept racing with much bigger issues when his rear wing bar block colapsed and Sam also kept racing even though she forgot to put her bungs in and carried around about 5kg of extra water sloshing around in her hull. So this left Kevin about two minutes in front of Hans, Charlie and Sam and around nine minutes ahead of the A Class.
The third race started in much less wind and was dropping fast along with the soaking rain. Despite the lack of wind, Kevin won again this time from Lochie, and Charlie and Hans drifted over the line around nine minutes back. Sam had no choice but to head in and drain the contents of Port Phillip Bay from her hull.
On Saturday morning, three races were scheduled, but only one race sailed due to lack of wind. But around 1pm today, 30-45 knots and 2-3m waves hit Black Rock and resulted in the cancellation of all races today.
Tomorrow's forcast looks pretty bad still with 25-35 knots forecasted and therefore looks like a perfect opportunity to take the Yanks, the FX and the RIB down to Hazelwood Pondage (1.5 hours away) where the water temperature is around 27 degrees and perfect for trying to crack a new peak GPS speed of 30 knots! stay tuned...
Charlie said that he was more suprised than anyone to be leading overall after the first day, let alone leading at the end of the regatta, so to say that he is happy is an understatement. To top it off, Bora and I helped him launch a brand new X8 and CST rig on Thursday afternoon, but maybe Bora might be less inclined to offer so much help next time?
Bora probably went into the regatta as favourite (especially when the wind picked up), however heading around the wrong marks in heat one cost him first overall. Scott on the other hand was the one to watch if the light and tricky Westerlies filled in, but sixteen year old Hans Henken from San Diego was probably the biggest suprise of the event, chartering a very early X8 (boat #20 from Aaron Gregory) with a standard Bladerider rig. He was fast and nimble in the light winds and consistent and upright in the windy stuff.
I would not look in too closely at John's early race results though, as his borrowed boat had many issues to address and was a long way away from his peak form in July (not to mention recently putting a new 18 on the water, working full time, running a small business on the side and still finding time for his wife). But if John can still win the last two heats after all that, he should be in fine form by the time the Nationals rolls around.
But the main reason why the top four guys finished where they did, is because they did not have any gear failures at all during racing (or none that I know of). If there were any bugs, they were all ironed out before racing started. On the other hand, every other competitor probably had at least one gear problem on the race course, and it showed with the amount of DNF's in the overall scores.
If you want to be at the top, you simply cannot afford to have any equipment failures during racing. This should be a no-brainer, but guys like Scott, John, Bora and Charlie are taking boat preparation, customisation and Moth tuning to a new level not seen in the Moth class before. There is also a lot to be said in having a good tuning partner with similar skills and equipment as well, but everyone should know that by now!
Saturday 6 December, 2008 - Chaos on the Harbour
Sorry for being offline there for a while, but my web host (which I used to own), shut me down as they wanted to turn the server off. Now I have to look for new web space or turn the site off. I am beginning to seriously consider the later and follow in the growing trend off 'blogging-off'. Anyway for now, I will just update on a number of things over the last few weeks:
It seems as though the first few FX and RX boats will arrive just before xmas (so I am told) and they have progressed a long way with the infusion technology and should be popping out three boats a day with one mould shortly. To top it off, each boat only takes three days to complete too.
We are still making the pre-preg VRX hull and decks in Taiwan's autoclave, however they will be glued together and finished off to each customer's requirements in Melbourne from here on, allowing for customisation which is unable to be done by Chinese or Taiwanese mass production factories.
So Aaron is flat out working in the Melbourne Bladerider factory at the moment and should have the first VRX finished for John Harris in the next week. We are also booked out of VRX's until probably late February at this stage too thanks to some more recent orders. I can also add that there will be continual improvements made on each VRX made, along with a number of new innovations that we will be testing over the next six months - some of which are extremely radical thanks to some creative geniuses in Bladerider.
Earlier in the week, Bora and I drove up from Melbourne to Sydney to get three USA boats (including one new one for Charlie McKee) ready for the Sail Sydney Regatta. It is wierd being up here and not having to worry about sorting my own boat out for racing as well, but my priorities these days are firmly dedicated to our customers and see that they are fully tuned and trouble free. It is impossible to do both of those jobs 100% at once.
On Friday we had the editor of Mazda's International Zoom Zoom Magazine fly out from London to do a story on the Bladerider (featured sometime next year if you are one of the two million readers of this magazine). Sydney sailing photographer Andrea Francolini took plenty of shots on land and a heap more in front of the Opera House in 3-7 knots of wind and surrounded by fast moving ferries and slow moving tourists boats. I think however more photos were taken by the tourists than Andrea, as I am sure none of them had seen a flying boat before.
In the afternoon, Mazda offered $500 prize money to the fastest 10 second average speed of the day to any Moth that wanted a crack. Firstly Charlie McKee clocked the highest at 22.2, then Dave Lister at 23.0, then Ben Crocker came in with a big reading of 24.0 knots (and a peak of 25.1). Rob Gough had recently clocked 27.8 knots (peak) in Hobart on his stock standard Bladerider X8 a few weeks ago and was keen to stay out until 8pm and see if he can do better. Unfortunately his fast pin popped from his shroud and his mast came down. Somehow John Harris helped him put the rig back in on the water and got rig tension back on for Rob to clock around 23 knots for his highest 10 second average speed of the day. So Ben scored the cash and has kindly offered to put the money towards dinner for all Mothies on Monday night.
So even with the most talented and widely travelled fleet ever assembled on foils in Australian waters, it was suprising to see that a few local sailors still decided not to compete in SIRs starting Saturday. Nevertheless, two races were held today in 15-20 knots, right in the middle of the Sydney Harbour traffic.
Bora leaped from the pack at start of the first race, and just crossed the the bow of the Manly Ferry extending his lead even further, but unfortunately went to the wrong weather mark and lead most of the fleet with him. Scott and Charlie were the only two to do the correct course and got the only good points available in that race.
In heat two, the wind picked up and so did the carnage. Sitting at the leeward mark, we saw numerous cartwheels, gear failures and one collision when a 49er ran straight into the rear wing bar of Rob Gough who came all the way up from Hobart (luckily we had a spare for him). To top it off, Bora and Scott lost count of their laps and went around again for a fifth lap, taking 3rd and 4th with them as well. This left Charlie McKee to take the win, but Bora still had enough of a lead to claim second place ahead Scott and John Harris (who broke his vang after the start and lost about seven minutes, but sailed the correct number of laps).
Hopefully everyone has the gremlins out of their boats by tomorrow and they do the correct course as well, so we can see some quality racing. Unfortunately I am heading home tomorrow arvo for Mum's 60th and will have to read the blogs to see what happens on Monday and Tuesday.
Friday 15 November, 2008 - Black Friday (Again)
On Friday the 9 November, 2007, I said that it was Black Friday for Olympic Sailing in my blog. Well it has happened again nearly a year to the day.
The ISAF Council had the opportunity today to update one of the older sailing class (Women's 470) and use a more modern and higher performance boat (29erXX) and the Council decided to go against every single recommendation it received from all sub-committees and keep the 470.
It seems as though all the small countries with low sailing participation wanted to keep the 470, as they either had established coaching/development programs in place, had invested some money into some new 470's or had selected the 470 for future regional competition. These countries with smaller budgets or fewer 29ers than 470, were offered assistance to update boats from the Bethwaites, but none seemed to take the bait.
Australia on the other hand have invested a substaintial of time and money in the 470 program and have the results and ongoing finance to back it up and therefore there is obviously no way they were ready to give up a fairly safe Gold medal just yet, even though there are plenty of talented chicks in Australia that could win Gold in a high performance skiff.
I really think there was a big opportunity to move forward here for the first time since the 49er was introduced, and it was lost by a matter of 2 votes. As soon as the votes were announced I couldn't stay in that room any more and walked out of the meeting in disgust.
The CEO of Singpore Sailing (also a Vice President of ISAF funny enough) also walked out of the room with me, but instead he went out to hug fellow supporters while they cried with joy in his arms. That only frustrated me more because it was clear that it was not about the money (otherwise they would have showed signs of relief), but rather some countries would rather stay with a class that they know their country would perform better in than others, than to accept something new and start fresh like everyone else.
So now the only opportunity for Olympic Sailing to move forward in 2016 (assuming that the IOC do not give back the 11th medal) and to restore the balance of modern and traditional boats (keeping in mind that there is now only one modern boat out of seven selected for the 2012 Games), is by the following:
both the 29erXX and the 49er have to take over the two 470 spots,
the Tornado fills the Open Double Hander HP spot from the 49er, and
there has to be support for a new Open Single Hander Event in 2016 (let's call it the 'Light Weight Dinghy' or 'High Performance Single Hander'),
the Bladerider RX or Musto Skiff fills this new Open Single Hander Event, otherwise they submit for the Heavy Weight Dinghy Event and see what happens (as there is clearly no definition of what ISAF call 'Heavy')!
This removes all the chaos and restores a sensible balance with four tradition and four modern boats. It also has six Gender Specific Events and two Open Event boats.
I don't think anyone can argue that the 470 barely survived another Olympics and therefore after today, Singapore, Australia and other small Sailing countries have four years to prepare for a big funeral of the 470, just like the Flying Dutchmen back in 1980's, as an outdated Double Hander.
But based on what I have seen here at these ISAF meetings over the last few years, this is all extremly unlikely, as the ISAF Council clearly only like a maximum of two changes per Olympics, despite every country's desperate cries for more modern, exciting and media friendly boats in the Games.
So therefore we would have to ask the question, why should we even bother trying to get our boat in the Games, when we could potentially waste so much time and money, just like Julian Bethwaite has over the last few years. I really feel sorry for him, as he said to me a few years ago how much of an effort it was to get the 49er in, but I think this fight has caused a lot more wounds than anticipated.
At the moment the Olympic Sailing program is going backwards and so if the ISAF Council are not willing to make some changes in 2012, when will they ever be ready?
Thursday 13 November, 2008 - Global Sailing Crisis
As an observer here at the ISAF conference here in Madrid, the best word I can use to describe the feeling here, is the same as on Wall Street at the moment; "Panic"!
Firstly there are submissions left, right and center for a complete restructure of the Olympic Events, in addition to ISAF doing their best to maintain the same number of Olympic Events as per 2008 for 2012 with the IOC. Most of which seems fairly unlikely to happen at this stage considering the emergence of new sports trying to get into the Games, that will threaten Sailing's limited appeal as it currently stands.
However a majority of the talk has been around the 29erXX and Women's 470 equipment vote. There is a very loud and clear message being sent from Youth and Women's Committees for the 'NEED' for the faster and more exciting 29erXX. On the other hand, the Events Committee and Council have already approved structure to maintain consistency among equipment choices in Youth and Olympic Events for men and women over the next few years. Then there is the Council members represented by each country/region, who clearly have vested interests in specific classes and yet they are the ones that will approve this decision or not. What is certain tho, the 470's days look numbered.
Personally I hope the 29erXX gets in, because as much as it is going to hurt some countries (especially our own), 'Change We Need' as the lobby from Barack Obama's Presidential campaign once said.
If the 29erXX gets the Women's Double Hander spot in 2012, it will stay that way for a long time to come and therefore it would also look likely that the 49er will become the new Men's Double Hander in 2016 for commonality reasons, leaving the 470 to fend for itself in a proposed new event something along the lines of 'Open Double Hander'.
If this does happen, then this leaves the door open for other new Event proposals in 2016 such as the Multihull (should it not get back in for 2012 for an 11th medal) and maybe even an Open Single Hander High Performance, Kitesurfing or an Open Foiler (considering that in four years time, Foilers and Kitesurfing could be the fifth and sixth discipline of sailing after dinghies, catamarans, keel boats and windsurfing).
Personally I don't consider Windsurfing and Kitesurfing as 'Sailing' as they have no mainsheet or rudder and would be far better off coming under the sport of 'Surfing' (considering that the word 'surfing' is obviously in their Event name as well). Surfing could then pitch directly to the IOC for a new sport with three Events, ie Surfing (waves), Windsurfing (slalom, course racing, waves and/or freestyle) and Kitesurfing (freestyle). This would make much more sense, would get plenty of TV and open up two more valuable spots for 'real' Sailing Events, rather than wasting two Events on 'Air Rowing'.
Far less talked about was the Moth Class submission in the Men's Single Hander Event, but it was suprisingly well received in the Equipment Committee where it received two votes over the Laser (which was two more than the Finn, Musto Skiff or Europe I believe). However once it got to the Equipment Committee, the Laser was recommended by all members and therefore will more than likely receive all the votes again once it gets to Council today or tomorrow.
We never expected the Moth to get into 2012, hence why no time or money was spent by IMCA on the lobby, however it was good to be here on behalf of Bladerider and see some agenda items finally about the class in open meetings. Apparantly it was discussed for around 30 minutes in the Equipment Committee as well.
So should any of this 'change' possibly ever happen, this is where the new Bladerider RX could fit in should this one design foiler Moth grow widely and quietly as expected inside the Moth fleet. As stated before, we are not going to push our boats into the Games as 49er has done so and the 29erXX is now doing so, as I have seen the amount of effort required and believe that it is just not worth it.
If ISAF feel the need to have a Foiler in the Olympics to increase their expsoure and hence income, then I am sure they will let us know, otherwise we will continue to grow exponentially which cannot be said for any other Olympic Classes who need the Olympics to simply maintain numbers, let alone grow their membership and fleet numbers.
Friday 3 October, 2008 - 2012 Olympic Moth?
Before this blows up in the Mothosphere (but I am sure it will anyway), I should probably say a few words now to explain some background and intentions about this proposal.
Firstly the Bladerider 2012 proposal is not an IMCA (International Moth Class Association) initiative, as we have instructions from IMCA that any commercial builder can do their own lobby now that the Moth Class has offically been nominated and shortlisted as a possible Olympic Class for 2012. IMCA was not prepared or financial able to do any lobby anyway, so we thought why not waste the opportunity and at least be there at the ISAF conference to answer any questions that ISAF might have (however I think the web site is pretty self explanatory for those that have bothered to read all of it).
As the Bladerider boats are part of an International Class already, there is no need for us to have seperate International Status. But if ISAF want seperate rules, constitution and class for our boat in the Games, then so be it. But that is just a formality and put another ISAF plaque on the back of the boat (the same way the Hobie Tiber does). ISAF have made it clear anyway that being an International Class is not a requirement for a new Olympic class, and the reasonably new RSX Olympic windsurfer is a good example of this.
If by some miracle the Moth does go Olympic, then I can see that there would have be two circuits for the Moth fleet. One for professional one-design Olympic boats and the other for open/development/amature racing (as there currently is). The Moth World Championships would not change in the respect that it would still be Open, however I think that a lot of Olympic OD Moths would either race amongst the development boats for training to see if they are on the pace with top development guys or maybe they have development rigs and foils that they can easily attached on their one design hull and be more competitive.
Either way, the Olympic Moth would always fit under the open Moth rules tho, as the 1-2 year old Olympic Moths will also help fuel cheaper development platforms for open Moths (unlike the Europe Class which were design to be a completely seperate class). What is clear is though is that there can only see huge growth potential for both Moths fleets.
Obviously there are people that think that the foiler Moth 'needs' to be in the Games to help the profile of sailing and increase the number of high performance boats participating, so we are just fulfilling that need. Then again I have heard many times now that some think the Moth class would be better without being involved in the Olympics, yet most of those people sail a current Olympic Class and probably feel as though we are a threat, so I can see why they might say this. However one of my favourite sayings is 'don't die wondering', so roll on Madrid.
Sunday 14 September, 2008 - SHOW ME THE MONEY!
If anyone has seen the movie Jerry Maguire, they probably know what I am going through at the moment. We have put together a great team of sailors and boats over the last two years and consequently have dominated the last two Worlds.
However now that there is another new boat on the block, I know some of our team are thinking of defecting (hence the reason for our Team page being completely empty at the moment).
So over the last week I have been trying to find out who is in and who is out, as I don't not want to go through what happened last year when we put a lot of time and money into our team, and then nearly lost two of our best to a competiting brand. Back then, I foolishly assumed that both would stay on with us without a contract, but that was not the case.
Unfortantely one of them did stray but many of you don't know that the other came back to us after his boat did not arrive on time. Consequently he had a new Bladerider X8 two weeks later and then went on to win the 2008 Worlds. So from now on, I am asking our guys to sign on the dotted line to ensure that we only have those that won't jump ship. We cannot afford to lose our most valuable assets again!
Don't worry, I havn't forgotten that I jumped ship to KA's first attempt at a complete Moth package in late 2006, but back then I was provided with an obviously and frustratingly slower boat than the Prowler Mk4's. Luckily I got its first and most important result on the board at the 2006/7 Australian Nationals during a lull of local Moth competition.
These days it is not so easy to change teams as the competition is a lot hotter, there is less margin for error and the early X8 turds are now polished enough to make it the fastest thing on water. BTW - These results are also clear proof that experience or knowledge does not necessarily make you fastest in a straight line, but rather guts, courage and determination is a more important ingredient for speed. It is not hard to teach a youngster this stuff, but mark my words, with a few more big regattas under their belts, these 'kids' will be very hard to beat!
So only time will tell if all of our proposed team will sign or go elsewhere. One thing is for sure, their decision may once again make the difference between being World Champion and not.
Saturday 6 September, 2008 - A New GPS but Terrible Directions
So the cat is out of the bag with Amac's new boat, which has now given me an extra 2 hours worth of emails and phone calls a day since because people want to know what I know and what Bladerider is going to do about it.
Firstly competition is always good, especially in the Moth class, however history has shown many times over that new builders come and go, but generally speaking there is normally only one professionally produced boat that stands out in front. It would be great to have multiple builders all doing well, but unfortunately it is not that simple.
Thanks to this Moth blogging revolution, you cannot keep anything secret any more. The more hype and expectation that is built behind the project, the more it will be scrutinized by Mothies and bloggers. Amac's project will be no different now that it is already being talked up so much and so early (Bladerider was no different though).
But even before Amac announced his new boat, we realised that we had to do better than our X8 to stay at the front of the Moth fleet, which is why we announced plans for the VRX. Complete details are yet to be announced about this new boat, but not only has Bladerider employed a new full time staff member to manage this project exclusively but it will be completed with far greater professionalism, development, engineering and quality control than our X8 project ever was when we used to be with McConaghy.
No one doubts Amacs design or engineering skills, however it is impossible to build a new Moth and get it right within 12 months or without constant development. Nor can you expect a high tech product like a foiler Moth, to remain at the front of the market without any enhancements or tweeks over time. This should all be expected, not a suprise or a problem.
I am sure some early customers Bladerider thought that brought a dud back in early 2007, however you will be hard pressed to find anyone that says their problem was not fixed promtly and to their satisfaction. Nor will anyone say that we don't put any effort into improving all parts for all customer's boats so they are stronger, stiffer, lighter and faster.
What is funny though is that this 'after sales support' does not seem to effect the purchase decision for many customers these days. Whether you are buying a car, television or Moth, it is obvious that we all seem to crave nothing other than slick marketing, the latest in technology, discounted pricing and super fast delivery times.
However brand loyalty is also an interesting point, as some customers will remain loyal to a particular brand for life, like me and my toothpaste or sports cars :-). But when it comes to technology products, customers don't mind taking risks to try a new product every now and then, even if we are happy with our current product as we assume that other similar products will be the same quality and have the support to back it up if something goes wrong.
In the past I have been known to stray from brands (which includes televisions and Moths), so I know why some are motivated to do this. I did this again last week after I brought a new and very cheap generic branded wide screen GPS with built in sat-nav maps at Aldi. Looked great in the brochure, however after numerous tests, I realised that a Melbourne taxi driver could get me where I wanted to go a hell of a lot faster and quieter. Mind you it does play MP3's as well (but I didn't buy it for that reason) through a crappy interface, but the biggest problem is that there is a horrible background noise coming from the speakers whenever a DC power source is connected to it. But if there is no power to it, how can I listen to any music for longer than an hour?
So I called customer service four times now and all I have got was an answering machine. I am still waiting for that call back! There is nothing on the Aldi web site about this problem and all I can find in Google are 16 pages of other people complaining about other problems they are having, and that was an older model as well. If someone doesn't call me back soon with a solution, I am going to throw this GPS through my local Aldi's front window with the receipt and a brick attached!
My old GPS used TomTom software and it still works great (actually I am back using it now). In addition, if I have a problem, I can fix it myself on their awesome web site with plenty of great support material (ie no need to call them).
I suppose that's what makes TomTom the best sat-nav on the market then. But regardless of their strengths, neither TomTom or Bladerider can stop some customers wanting to try a new product, however some will come back eventually.
Thursday 21 August, 2008 - USA Trip #2 Over
Last week's USA Nationals was quite a suprise for many reasons. Firstly the number of new talent appearing with new or used boats. Some of these guys are exceptional sailors in other classes and won't be long before some of them are ranked in the top 20 in the World. Bora had also done a lot of work on his boat and was just stupidly high and fast out of the water. He could have won every race still even if he capsized every leg. The conditions were bloody hot (very unusual for there apparanty), but also very windy and then very moderate. So I would expect a bit of everything there next year. One obvious point tho, is the water is very flat and the club is very organised and welcoming.
After two nights in Boston for a meeting, I caught another two flights on American Airlines 'Bus' Service to Honolulu (Hawaii) to do some training with our new reseller there and take some guys out for a sail. People normally ask for an asile or window seat on when checking in luggage before a flight, but now I have got into a habit of asking American Airlines staff 'not' to be seated next to anyone over 250lbs or 100kg, as they use the arm rest as support for their love handles (ie excess fat around their waste).
So yesterday we took the boat down to Waikiki Yacht Club to look at their rigging and launching area. It was not the best as the rigging area for dinghies was half the size of a basketball court, followed by launching off a small pontoon and then 15 minutes of tacking/gybing out through the narrow marina channel. However the hassles of doing all this were forgotten once we got out in the bay and foiling off Diamond Head. Man, the water is sooooo clear you can even see the front hydrofoil flap moving when foiling!
Some of the guys picked up the foiling thing pretty quick, and some not so quick, but I think it was safe to say that everyone was impressed way beyond their expectations. I spent a lot of the time in the water holding the wing bar for the newbies, and it wasn'tt hard to think about seeing a shark in the water, especially after watching Jaws II on TV last night. Luckily the only thing I saw was a large turtle, which was quite amazing.
We had to head in early to get Ken from Velocitek back to the airport, but on the way in, I flew past about 50 surfers waiting a for big set of waves out the back and every single one of them stopped their quest to ride the best wave of the day, to look and this thing flying above the water in about 8 knots. It is safe to say that all Hawaiians love their water sports, but most had seen nothing like this and with the boat on the roof on the way back to house, I am suprised we did not cause any accidents. However some people along the way had seen photos of video on the internet, and could not help but to stop and talk to us. It was quite interesting.
So I am flying home tomorrow morning back to sunny and warm Melbourne. It will be a shame to leave here, but there is so much going on at the moment back home, I am suprised I can keep up with it all while away from home, for example I reakon I am getting an average of 80 emails a day at the moment.
Wednesday 13 August, 2008 - Last Minute Trip
Off to Portland for the USA Nationals tomorrow via Sydney and Los Angeles (my two least favourite International Airports), to help all the new Bladerider guys out with their boats. I will only be there for two days, after which I will be travelling to Boston then back via Hawaii to see our Reseller and do some promotions. This works out to be 8 flights in 10 days! I don't know why I punish myself like this, but maybe I enjoy the busy lifestyle? I think more so I just want to get home as soon as possible.
Anything would be better than staying at home in Melbourne's horrbile weather at the moment tho. The best remedy for that though is working from home with the heater on and watching the Olympics on in the background. I wonder why they are not showing any of the Sailing on TV???
Mat Belcher is over there at the moment driving a RIB around for the Media and emailed to say we could have easily flown our Moth's over there as everyone is getting bored watching slow boats go around. Anyway, the Aussies look like they are comfortable in the 470's, but Tom's Laser campaign looks in trouble after his first two races were shockers.
I have also got the most comfortable, spacious and economical Foiler Moth transport vehicle in the World now on the market - Ford Falcon LPG Wagon. I have loaded this baby up a heap of gear in the back, a boat on the roof and four on the trailer, and it still cries out for more. Normally people don't like selling their second hand cars to someone they know, but I have no problem selling this one as there is nothing wrong with it. I should have a new model version of the same car when I get back from the States. When you are on a good thing - stick to it!
Saturday 2 August, 2008 - Baywatch Vanuatu Style
My apologise for being offline for so long, but Gin and I had to get away for week after the Worlds, so we went to Vanuatu to visit some friends and just chilled out. Vanuatu is a small Pacific Island about 3 hours from Melbourne, and was voted as the happiest country in the World in 2006. It also happens to be a tax haven and consequently a lot of Aussie's invest money there.
They have a few very tired resort catamarans there, so of course we took them for a spin and of course I had to fix them up as much as possible to make them go faster. One day Gin and I took a cat out each along with a crew each (actually new friends we made also from Melbourne). However Gin and her crew was getting to used to cleating the mainsheet and did not know how to uncleat when they got hit by a gust of wind.
Consequently they tipped over an 'untippable' catamaran and Gin's crew who had never been on a boat before and didn't know how to swim, was now in the water! Rescue came fast in the form a local in a tinny (small alloy powerboat) and put the boat back upright. Thinking that this could not happen again was a mistake. But this time when the tinny didn't come back to help, and I had to do a 'Baywatch dive' to rescue the damsels in distress.
So after a week in paradise, it was back to the office, which meant clearing up a number of emails of support and sales after the Worlds. It was interesting to note that a month before the Worlds, I don't think we sold any boats, however immediately after the Worlds was over, I got about 30 emails in two weeks for new boat purchases. Virtually all of these have been about the World Champion X8's and our new VRX's, but I think by the end of the year, about 70-80% of the sales will come from the cheaper fiberglass boats once they are released.
To help with those sales, we are in Sydney this weekend to give as many people as possible a test sail on our latest FX prototype. The only problem is that I don't think we will have enough boats or time - yet again!
Saturday 12 July, 2008 - It's Finally Over!
Even though I didn't get to race in this year's Worlds, I think that this year was far more exhausting than last year, mainly because about half of the fleet was our boats and I was managing and coaching a team of sailors that was probably too big.
John won comfortably by sailing a consistent, flawless and well planned regatta. He could have still won without winning any races as well, but winning a heat at the Worlds is a pretty big deal these days and means you are a real player.
Amac on the other hand proved that while being very fast and winning a majority of races, also showed that mistakes were very costly and one premature gybe in heat five probably lost him the series. Had he not done that double gybe at the bottom mark and capsized three times, he could have easily settled for and carried a second place behind John in that race and won the World by two points, rather than carrying an 11th place in heat one.
This then provoked a suggestion from Amac that in Formula 1 motor car racing, extra points are awarded to podium finishes, so then why not award more points to podium or even first place finishes for Formula 1 on Water? This then pushes sailors harder for races wins and faster boat development/speeds. Could be an interesting concept for a Grand Prix series if we can get them off the ground in the future.
I think there were a few highlights for me at this years Worlds, but the best ones were seeing Bladerider owners up in places during and at the end of races where they are not normally. This includes Lochie Byrne sailing on the FX prototype who was seen in the top 10 at a few mark roundings in some races, also Sam 'Baberider' England who beat a number of the boys (and some really good ones as well) and Alex Knight who had only sailed his new Bladerider a few times along with a standard rig but still managed to finish as top Brit and 6th overall.
But the biggest suprise and standout was Eelco Boers from Holland who sailed his first Moth event, was blistering fast unwind and improved dramatically throughout the seven races to finish 3rd in the final heat, all with using a standard Bladerider package (including sail) straight out the box. At one point he sailed straight over the top of Simon Payne upwind doing about two knots more speed. I didn't think this was possible, but sometimes you just never know.
I was also suprised that our equipment only suffered a very small amount of breakages, despite the rather windy conditions and lack of maintenance of some owners. We did however take a lot of preventitive measures with our top guys 'just in case' and it would be hard to tell if it would have mattered or not. What did not matter though was weight (either skipper or a complete boat), as 63kg Mat Belcher won the windiest race of the regatta and Lochie on the 10kg heavier FX suprised us all rounding marks in front of some favorites with all the go fast and light weight gear. It was clear though that some parts were either too light or not made correctly and were promptly fixed or replaced, but this is still not good enough for us and we will be redesigning some equipment very soon!
So I am looking forward to starting work on these new hulls in Melbourne and by the sounds of it, we are already booked up to the end of the year already. You never know, I might even hop into a boat for the next Aussie Nationals next year in January? Don't ask me about the Worlds next year at the Gorge tho, as that is too far away for me at the moment to even comprehend.
Gin and I are heading back home to Melbourne on Sunday, and can't wait to have a good rest.
Thursday 3 July, 2008 - Pre-Worlds Preperations
I obviously have not been blogging for a while now, but that is because I have been flat out getting the team, their boats and ourselves ready for the Worlds.
Had a really good Qantas flight over to the UK and got plenty of sleep thanks to a few Temazepans (sleeping tablets). For the last two days, I have been out on the water for many hours in the RIB to see how the team, our competitors and our customers are going with their boats. It seems as though everyone wants to find out the latest in tuning and setup with their X8's and consequently have been working Simon overtime in the makeshift Bladerider support center.
Suprisingly we have had no breakages with any of our supplied equipment, despite the winds being around 10-20 knots most days. However with the harbour water being so enclosed, it is no suprise either that some of the guys have been posting speeds in excess of 25 knots. Apparantly Amac clocked 26 knots today (pending ratification).
So after running numerous short course races for the team and anyone else that wants to jump in over the last two days, it has been fairly obvious to all that some boats are considerably higher and faster than others. I have not run any races with all the top guys in it together as yet, but it is certain that there is not one person that is consisently at the front of every single race.
It is very obvious that there is a lot more talent in the top 10 this year and being more than a minute behind the leader may not even be good enough to get a top ten placing. It might be a different story if the winds are light, but if we get anything over 12 knots like we have been recently, I think there are a few guys who have been seriously underestimated with their speed, skill and abilities. The question is can they pull it all together and minimise mistakes to win races, and also be consistent enough in all conditions to pull an overall win?
Below is a quick edit of some practice racing that we did in about 15-20 knots on Thursday 3 July...
Wednesday 4 June, 2008 - Finally It's Here!
To say that the Bladerider office has been working flat out over the last few weeks is an understatement. Not only have we been trying to get the Team and ourselves ready for the Moth Worlds, but we have also been busy trying to get a new boat on the water along with all the marketing and sales material.
This project has been about 12 months in the making, so it was a big relief to finally get the FX on the water last Friday and see it sail much better than we all expected. While on the water we had our video camera out as usual and Gin and I captured plenty of action and I have done a quick edit of all the clips for a sneak peak and to hopefully demonstrate the potential and speed similarity between the X8 and the FX.
