Friday 9 May, 2008 - Unmodified MSL9 on eBay (no reserve)
If you can't afford a new MSL13 but want a light wind and go fast KA Sail for the Weymouth Worlds, here is your chance.
This unmodified MSL9 has only been used about 10 times including the 2006 Worlds in Denmark and for two days at the 2007 Worlds in Italy... Read more or bid for this in eBay.
Tuesday 29th April, 2008 - Another Olympic Event Viewpoint
Martin Gravare pointed this one out to me on Scuttlebutt. Realistically though, this will never happen, but some good points in there none the less.
Saturday 26 April, 2008 - There and Back Again
Once again after arriving in Auckland on Monday night with Sam England, I brought the wind with me. So on the Tuesday the group went out in a gusty offshore 15-25 knots. There was quite a bit of improvement shown since I was last here and young 13 year old Sam Schofield was the stand out, comfortably coping with the difficult conditions thanks to a nice and flat MSL10. He will be one to watch in the future. Ex-Finn sailor and current AC sailor Kevin Hall was belting around the bay easily with plenty of speed and power, however he snapped his mast whilst mid-air and going to windward. Quite a mess, but luckily I was not far away in the RIB to help him out. We had some other smaller incidents, but nothing that could not be fixed overnight.
Gradually the wind dropped over the next few days making starts and racing easier to manage for all of us, rather not having to worry about survival or gear failure. One little bonus I threw in during some light wind racing was the command of connecting and disconnecting the wand on a whistle, as I think there will be a bit of this at the Worlds.
The New Zealand Moth Nationals started on Friday with seven entires and will run until Sunday. Results and info here...
Sunday 20 April, 2008 - Hold the Phone
Heading to Auckland tomorrow morning to do some coaching with the local foiler fleet, so please go easy on the emails and phone calls this week as I won't be responding much if at all.
Saturday 19 April, 2008 - Rope & Pulley Upgrades
I thought I would upload a comment on Scott's site about his 'Love Rings' post, but after thinking about it, I have way too much information on my experiences with different vang pulleys, ropes and cascades now to post there.
Sailing Bit's lightweight alloy round thimble are 100% fail safe and that is why Amac and I used them at Garda as well. They easily replace the small HL 20mm block in the second part of the cascade, but then you still need a double block at the end of the cascade to complete the minimum puchase. But we both felt they lacked a bit puchase at the top pulley in the cascade (but in the middle they were fine), so for the upper pulley, we made our own using a special 40mm sheave, s/s hub and a long D-shackle. These gave an easier pull, but were a fraction heavier and also had issues with the rope jumping off the sheave.
The Bladerider comes standard with two RF468's that can withstand the huge +300 kg loads we are putting on the vangs, but are a little heavy for their size and purchase, therefore Scott's Rings are a cheap, light and simple replacement for the upper and second pulley.
Recently I have been experimenting with special 40mm upper and lower pulleys custom made in Denmark with a s/s hub and safe working load well over 500 kg. I am trying to find out now if we can order a batch of them to sell if people want to upgrade as Amac and I now swear by these (especially the lower pulley with the becket). But please don't email me asking to have one if I get them as I am not going to send out one pulley to 100 different people, therefore 'if' I can get them, I will bring a heap with me to the Weymouth Worlds to sell. They are definately heavier and a lot more expensive than Scott's rings, but if you are struggling to pull on the vang hard enough and don't care about the weight, tyou will love these!
If you don't want to wait until the Worlds to see if I can get these custom pulleys, you can still get the standard bearing version of this part from Ronstan, but I am sure Scott will have his rings to sell at Weymouth anyway.
Next is what rope to use? The 5mm FSE Robline Dinghy Control we supply with each X8 is extremely durable and stiff, but this effects how 'flat' the rope can spread over the pulley and distribute the load. Therefore once again I have been experiementing with a 'softer' 5mm dynemma/polyester blend (with no core) called Racing Sheet made by FSE Robline in Austria, that seems to stretch a bit more initially, but seems to make the load easier to pull on. I would only suggest to use this rope at the final part of the cascade (and where you cleat) and then use 5mm Dinghy Control or 4/3 dynemma in the two top parts of the cascade with some nice splicing (or if you are like me, get someone who knows how to splice to do it for you).
Finally if you are still struggling to pull on the vang, you can always add more purchase in the system. The easiest way to do that is to use a becket pulley on the top and bottom of the cascade and run a longer main-load line starting from the becket on the upper pulley then down through a 20mm pulley at the becket of the bottom pulley and then back up and around the 40mm upper most pulley, then attach the end to a single 20mm pulley or Round Thimble. If that makes no sense, you'll have to work out something out yourself.
Finally possible the best upgrade you can have on your Moth is a 9mm dynmmea/polyester mainsheet once again like FSE Robline's Racing Sheet. This stuff is not cheap and is very hard to find, but there are other alternatives out there. If you can get your hands on some 8mm, it is okay, but the 9mm is just that little bit more confortable in your hands, even though it is a tight fit through any 30mm b/b pulley.
One day I will get around to taking a photo of all this to show the different upgrade options in our support notes, but then again ideally we can supply each new X8 that leaves the door soon with the same setup as I would use.
Friday 18 April, 2008 - Tough Crowd!
If some people were tipping me to win the 2007 World Sailor of the Year, you'd think I'd be a shoe in for 2007 Australian Sailor of the Year after being announced today as a finalist for this fairly prestigious award. Sure I am stoked to be even short listed, however if you look at the line up for this years award, you'll see that I have absolutely no chance, not only because I didn't win an Olympic World Title, but I don't live in Sydney (NSW) either! ;-)
Personally though, I would prefer to see a short list similar to follow what ISAF do and only short list the best Olympic sailor and then select a variety of sailors from non-Olympic disciplines (ie Ocean Racing, Match Racing, Speed Sailing, etc) as then there is no obvious bias towards any one group of sailors.
Everyone says that the Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport, but you could easily include people like Marcus Hamiliton who spent over five years trying to win the Contender World Championships to finally win it last year, or Mark Richards and the team on Wild Oats for three consecutive Sydney to Hobarts, or even James Spithill for his bloody awesome effort on Prada at last years Cup (not to mention all his other victories).
How does one value how much time, money, blood, sweat or tears that any of these guys put in to their victories? I am sure that Marcus and Mark both have full time (non-sailing) jobs as well. Otherwise maybe no one nominated these guys this year, however I was sure no one nominated me either.
Still not sure that I can make the trip up to Sydney in two weeks for the rather fancy $175 dinner put on for us, but if I don't I am sure my sister will take the free ticket and wave the little Moth flag for me instead.
Wednesday 9 April, 2008 - Form Guide on the Moth World's Form Guides
Rather than predicting who I think will do well at the next Moth Worlds, this year I thought it might be interesting to give you a form guide on the best and most accurate Moth World's form guides.
Amac is the Nostradamus of the Moth World. As early as 2001, I can remember him accurately forcasting almost every single result at a major championship, however none of his predictions are ever written down, so hopefully we can get his tips off him this year.
Next I don't think you can go past Simon Payne's new blog. We have never heard his pre-worlds predictions in the public before, but with someone of this experience, such consistent and top performing results, and a new love for blogging, it will be hard for him to not write one up, let alone to not see his forecast come true.
My number three pick this year will be Scott Babbage who continually picks the top bunch results, but always seems to underestimate himself. So whatever he rates himself this year, move him up a place or two, and that is where he will finish.
I am hoping for big things from the IMCA UK web site this year. After a few years of controversial pre-worlds predictions, this year I am sure they will come up with the goods using some new rating system to forecast their top 10.
Anyway this is all just a bit of fun, but if you don't have a blog but still want to put your tips in, feel free to vote online here for your top 5 picks, otherwise feel free to respond with a post with your top 5 (in order) or even top 10 if you are game! We'll then soon see who is the Master Moth Tipper.
Tuesday 8 April, 2008 - One for the Newbies
I frequently get asked from new Mothies about how do you sail downwind in rough conditions without the boat leaping from the water? Well mostly it comes down to practice and having good equipment, however if people are falling over all around you, then slow the boat down by keeping your sail super flat and just steer the boat agressively and safely around the troughs of waves.
It is certainly not the most fastest or direct route downwind, but the more comfortable you are and the less risks you take, the less mistakes you will make and the more energy you have to sail longer or when you need it most. More than likely if you can sail at 80% and keep it upright the whole race, you will be easily in the top bunch anyway. This mostly applies to the guys in the mid fleet who are working their way towards the front, but like last year at the Garda Worlds, it could apply to the guys at the front as well.
When you start to feel more comfortable in these conditions, you can ease some downhaul to help with some more pace (if necessary), but I think it is always best to let others make mistakes by playing it safe and staying in your comfort zone during racing. I can't tell you how many times this helped me to win races, but anyway here is some video that Dad took from the protected shores at Garda last year that shows some high wind/big wave action and helps illustrate my point (note how much downhaul and vang I have strapped).
NB: I also get asked this all the time, but the main reason why there is very little footage of big wind/wave action is because power boats cannot keep up with foilers in these conditions, cameras get wet, it is hard to hold a camera steady in these conditions and most power boats are needed to help rescue boats in the end!
Friday 4 April, 2008 - Thanks Guys!
It was a nice suprise to see that the guys at Sailing Anarchy chose me as the 'Best Sailor' for their 2007 Awards. I am sure won't get a fancy $20,000 watch for this award, but it probably has more value and merit in the sailing world these days.
Thursday 3 April, 2008 - NB: High Winds/Scale Changed
It was a little bit windy yesterday at Fawker Beakon and South Channel Island on Port Phillip Bay. Maybe that explains why a huge tree fell over my fence and smashed into the house next door?
Wednesday 2 April, 2008 - My Best Work (so far)
Finally I found the time (about 4 hours in the end) and movitation to edit the video footage I took from the Dubai Moth Grand Prix last month and then get it on YouTube. Couldn't resist including some clips of Glenn and I taking the 997 Carrera S for a spin tho...
Tuesday 1 April, 2008 - Good One!
Someone has spent far too long planning and writing this 'April Fools Joke' up. I smell Donosan all over it!
Friday 28 March, 2008 - Pull it on Harder!
Went out in the RIB off Black Rock with a few of the guys last night to see how they would handle the rough stuff and most did not fair too well. I still commonly see people struggling with stability when foiling because they don't have enough vang or downhaul tension. So here is some advice for anyone foiling and having difficulties when the wind and waves get up, after you have pulled on the downhaul and vang as hard as you can, pull it on some more! If you are still struggling, go to the gym or add some more purchase.
An hour or so later, Amac rocked up and went out for a blast, so I took Sam, James and Lochie out in the RIB to show them what they should be doing, however typical Amac style, he immediately pushed his boat too hard downwind, wiped out big time and broke a push rod in the process. Not the demonstration I was looking for, but a good example none the less. The 2mm push rods are made from stainless steel, however if the rod is wound out too long or they are wound too tight in the foil flap so the barrel nut cannot rotate around or they are not prefectly straight when exiting the upper hole in the centerboard, then they bend and break (as I have seen countless times now). So we fitted another rod and he went out again and only to break another push rod (at the flap) within 10 minutes thanks to another big wipe out downwind.
It is a very hard skill to learn, but if you can control the boat better downwind in big waves and +20 knots without capsizing or launching off a wave, then it is going to be very hard break anything and very easy to stay in front of the pack. Last years Worlds at Garda was a good example of this as if anything, I intentionally slowed my boat downwind by stalling the main to get more control and consequently never capsized when it blew (and yet I capsized twice in medium winds making silly mistakes). There are also some aggressive tiller movements and mainsheet trim needed to 'peel' away downwind as well, and I will get around to putting some video examples of this on YouTube one day.
Monday 24 March, 2008 - Recovery Time
No sailing for me over Easter as it was pay back to Gin for all the time I have spent away sailing over the last few years, so we went motor bike riding with her family instead. No broken bones or torn ligaments this time, but my bike needs some work after melting the brakes!
Tuesday 18 March, 2008 - Frequent Flyer
Wasn't the easiest flight back to Melbourne from Europe as it took over 36 hours door to door, however it did help Sam and I by getting a free upgrade to Business class thanks all my recent flights on and off the water with Emirates.
Thursday 13 March, 2008 - Colder than a Penguins Arse
We had the Estonian and Russian media turning up for a 3:30pm sailing demonstration yesterday, but after spending all morning trying to get through a small portion of massive amount of emails that I am getting these days, it was only at 11:30am that I realised that the boat was brand new and still in its box! In a frantic rush, Sam, Sten, Margus, and myself put the boat together completely in under an hour (even dealing with the usual gantry fitting issues along the way), which must have been record time. Mind you, I have lost count how many times now I have said "I have lost count how many times I have put a Bladerider together", so I have the assembly pretty much mastered now.
Anyway, we just had time for a quick lunch and then head down to the club to rig and set up the boat and foils for the first time. My Estonian is not the best these days, but they were happy for me to speak English luckily and give a quick talk about the boat and then hit the near freezing 4 degree water and air temperature for a quick demo until my hands were too cold to grip the mainsheet and tiller anymore. 'Sailor Chick' Sam had a quick go, but did not last too long as it seems as though she is still trying to recover from all the alcohol she induced in Dubai. Anyway, everything went well (despite flying around in a brand new boat in a matter of hours) and woke this morning to find the photos and articles in Russian and Estonian web sites and newspapers. I don't know what it says, but Margus said it seems all good and they hope to see a boat like this in a future Olympic Games.
The venue where we launched the boat is also the proposed location for the 2009 European Moth Championships. There is a huge amount of rigging area, launching is very safe and easy, and the course area is almost completely enclosed making for flat water flying. Will be hard to choose between Tallinn and Cascais (Portugal) for the Europeans, but it will be up to the members to decide.
Tuesday 11 March, 2008 - Medium Rare Rudolf
Heading back on the two hour ferry ride to Estonia from Finland has been quite plesant in comparison to the Spirit of Tasmania. Flat seas, nice food and a quiet trip. We spent two days in Helsinki helping the first Bladerider customer (it was actually Jyrki Jarvi, the 49er Gold medalist in 2000), get his boat set up and tuned ready for racing. Of course we went out for a super expenive dinner and lots of drinks with the 49er/Moth guys and got to eat some Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer for the second time in my life. Not a bad bite that indeed!
We attempted to go foiling today in the 2 degree water temperature, but 'luckily' there was not enough wind. But it was good catching up with guys again and thought it was most funny that Sam 'Sailor Chick of the Week' England was already on their PC's background wallpaper before we even arrived and actually they had no idea that Sam was coming with me to Finland (but they obviously knew who she was after her Thierry Martinez's photo of Sam was put up for the boys on Sailing Anarchy last week)!
Sunday 9 March, 2008 - All Finished
If you want to read about what happened for the last two days of racing in Dubai, read Chris' report on Sailing Anarchy. What was not reported was that most of the prize money ended up being donated by the winners and used to pay off Glenn's bar tab for the week. Plenty of awesome photos taken by Thierry Martinez, but many more to come. Can't wait for next year when we hope to have around 30 boats, a lot more prize money, and by the looks of it, at least 10 of them will be locals, with three more Bladerider's sold this week in the Gulf!
Waiting in Emirates Lounge now for a few flights to Estonia where I think it will be a bit cooler than here at the moment. Looking forward to it none the less.
Thursday 6 March, 2008 - Something Different
We had two rounds of five races today of a new style of racing. It was a reaching start with a short slalom course of three marks, then rounding the bottom mark to head back up to the finish line. With only five boats participating and around 5-8 knots of wind, the course was ideal for the competitors and exciting for all to watch, with most races only taking three minutes to complete for the race leader.
The first round was a qualifying round to work out rankings for the second round where each competitor was given a handicap to start from, with the idea that all boats would finish extremely close together. It was a little confusing to start off with as there was about 1-2 minutes seperating first to last, but by the end, we had all five boats finishing within ten seconds of each other.
Bora (USA) qualified fastest, with Sam (AUS) second, Chris (UAE) third, Glenn (UAE) fourth and Mark (UAE) fifth. The final round saw Chris come home first overall with Glenn in second, Bora third, Sam fourth and Mark fifth. With the 1000 Dirham cash prize for the two rounds of racing, both Bora and Chris walked away with 300 Dirham each while Sam and Glenn claimed 200 each and Mark 50.
There were some fairly exciting starts, finishes and mark rounds despite lack of wind and experience by all those involved (including the race management), however the end result was fantastic and can only imagine how unreal it would be to have the top 20 guys in the world racing this type of event in 15-20 knots!
I have taken quite a bit of video and will get it on You Tube as soon as possible.
Wednesday 5 March, 2008 - Around the World (Again)
So Bora and Sam went one way around the World, and Chris decided to go the other way, even after I thought we all agreed on going clockwise around. I was not planning to have another crack to beat my time, but rather follow the guys around in the RIB as so Thierry can take some photos. Once we got around the back, it was obvious that the waves were going to be a problem with everyone having a number of swims. However once around the lee-side of the World, it was a fast and flat reach all the way home, with Bora clocking the fastest time of the day with 1:40.14 and Sam with the fastest female time ever of 2:30.09. The guys looked totally spent though after their marathon effort.
Tuesday 4 March, 2008 - Waiting for Wind
After spending most of the day yesterday putting boats together, we were looking forward to getting in some sailing today. But with no wind, not much happened apart from some 'tow-ins' and photos with Thierry Martinez who has kindly made his way here to get some glam shots in front of the Mosques and the famous Burj Al Arab. Tomorrow is still forcasted for wind, and so everyone is keen to get a few timed runs in around the 'World' and hopefully break my record. The only debate is which way to sail around the world, as up in the 'Arctic Circle' it can be a bit rough and it maybe faster to take that upwind rather than downwind.
Sunday 2 March, 2008 - Off Again...
I am off to Dubai tonight to help out the gang at the first Moth regatta for the Middle East. Not many expected, but good weather is forcasted for the around the world record attempt on Wednesday.
Wednesday 27 February, 2008 - My First Moth Retirement
It seems as though my International Moth racing journey will have to be put on hold for the rest of the year considering that the Bladerider venture has virtually taken over all seven days of the week for me and that family responsibilities will soon beckon. So this means that I will not be committing to any serious Moth racing this year (including the Worlds), however I will still be around promoting whenever and wherever I can.
I have had a good run for the last eight years, and now is a good time to give something back. Maybe I might start a new trend in the Moth scene become a Moth coach for hire? I have a RIB already, I just need an employer. Any offers?
Tuesday 26 February, 2008 - Tasmania Mothing
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Caught the ferry across Bass Straight last Friday night, and sure enough there a big frontal system moving through and we ended up with 6m waves for the entire night. Needless to say, Gin and I did not get much sleep, but we did not spew thanks to a few doses of TravelCalm. Anyway we made it across and found our way to Hobart for the Crown Series Regatta where I was there to support a few Victorian and Tasmanian Bladerider owners. Apart from a very rough weekend of sailing, it all went pretty well with no major issues. Gin and I made it back safely after a long drive around the West coast of Tassie in the 911 and thankfully a calm passage back across Bass Straight.
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Also noticed that the 60' cat that I have been sailing and throwing up on recently was dismasted in the Adeliade to Port Lincoln race on the weekend. Hope the guys and the boat is alright as that was a huge main they carried on that massive wing mast. more...
Saturday 23 February, 2008 - Daily Planet
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Did some filming with the Daily Planet science show from Discovery Channel who were out here from Canada on Friday. Amac and Martin were on the water while I got to stay dry in the RIB and drive their camera man around. Amac went out again later and got caught out in 40 knots aparantly. He eventually got back in but broke his mast in the surf on the way in. I know what that is like!
Friday 22 February, 2008 - An Apology
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After what was supposed to be a jokingly dig about other foilers not being as fast as ours on my blog, I then proposed an option to other foilers in Australia if they want to bring the Foiler - Moth yardstick down by four minutes to match (even though it should have been the same from the start of the season, but thought I was doing the others a favour to give them a better chance at any yardstick regattas in the future). However it seems as though it was taken as offence by some, and therefore I apologise.
Consequently there will be a new Foiler Moth yardstick coming out soon in Australia, and will probably be another two minutes lower again, making it the only single handed dinghy in Australia under 80 minutes (and 6 mintues slower than an A Class). You can thank Amac for that one this time! ;-)
Regarding the thoughts from our UK Moth friends about having different Moth handicaps for different divisions of Moth, well I don't think you can stop this, as it was going to happen eventually. I still think there is more to come too as the fleets get bigger, the top foilers get even faster and the distance from first to last gets further apart. Welcome to a new type of hydrofoil Moth racing where anyone can win. I am sure a few Mothies would welcome this idea as it is no fun being out the back and loosing sight of the leader after 5 minutes.
Wednesday 20 February, 2008 - All Worked Up!
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After my posting on Monday, I knew that it would get a few people worked up about it (mostly from the UK as usual), and sure enough I was right. I probably should have kept my mouth shut as no one else in Australia would even know about the error (let alone cared) if I didn't report about it. But forgive me for seeing the marketing and humerous side of it my blog (I do work for the company and this is my blog, and if you don't like what I write, you don't have to read it).
So it seems that in the UK, they do not want to create any divisions within the Moth class (bearing in mind that the Moth Class in Australia has had three divisions now for over three years, ie scow, skiff and foiler) as apparantly this will somehow create some confusion??? The RYA have enough trouble managing just one handicap for the Moth fleet let alone three, so I can see their concerns. However our handicapping system is a bit more organised and segmented in Victoria considering most of our racing uses these yardsticks.
The reality is that since the Worlds, all the top BR sailors have been using developmental KA sails. So really the Moth - Foiler yardstick should have been updated first and if Yachting Victoria want a Bladerider yardstick in there, then why not leave it in there as well? So I have now sent them Amac's recent 'Moth - Foiler' wins at Black Rock in the Commodore's Cup and some racing with the 14's, and so the 'Moth - Foiler' yardstick will probably be updated to around the 77 mark for the next season (which is converted to around 730 in the UK system Amac tells me).
I am not sure why some Mothies have such a hard time grasping this pretty basic concept that it is okay to have divisions or one-design classes within International development classes. The Hobie Tiger Association doesn't seem to have any problems being its own International Class and competiting in the International F18 Class racing at the same time. The F18 Worlds will always be a bigger event than the Hobie Tiger Worlds, and yet I still think some Mothies believe Bladerider is going to secretly change the X8 so it is not Moth legal anymore (ie don't put a Moth logo on the sail and don't have an ISAF plaque on the hull). Why would we not want to sell it as Moth legal boat? It probably costs us 10 cents to paint a Moth logo on the sail and the customer pays for the ISAF Moth plaque anyway (and this is not optional). Go figure?
Amac has just informed me that Yachting Victoria have posted the 2007/8 Yardsticks up last year, and they have now include a Bladerider yardstick as well as the Moth Foiler yardstick they have had for the last few years. As the results to work out this handicap are more than likely supplied from mixed fleet races that Amac and I have done over the first 6 six months for 2007, they have given a rating lower the Foiler Moth (even though the foiler Moth should be lower considering it is an open class). However until a non-Bladerider can start consistenly beating one of ours boats in Victoria or Australia (and provide timed results to back this up), it will probably stay like this ;-), much to the dislike of Amac who is flogging the 14's at Black Rock every week, but unless he is about 2 legs in front, he won't win it on handicap. Sorry about that Amac, but you will have to sail faster now!
Monday 11 February, 2008 - Spewin'
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Just got back from Portland where I was dropped off due to extreme sea sickness whilst sailing Raw Nerve on the way to Adeliade. The Musto guys kindly supplied me with a super dry MPX smock and overalls for the trip, however it was short lived after throwing up constantly for about 6 hours in the middle of the night. Apparantly I was in a pretty bad state, and luckily the boys made a stop in Portland (far Western Victoria) to get me some treatment at the local hospital. It was a terrible experience and one I that hope never happens again.
I always thought that after sailing all these years, that I had my sea legs, but then again, Bass Straight can be pretty rough at times and also all the sailing that I have been doing over the last five years is not actually on the water any more. So maybe that is why I have no probably with air sickness these days, which explains why I am prone to sea sickness. Needless to say I will be taking more preventitive measures next time I go out on the big seas.
Tuesday 29 January, 2008 - Arab Mothing
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So I am now booked in for the Dubai Moth Regatta in Dubai in early March. Australian Women's Moth Champion Sam England is also coming along, and we might even see Simon Payne there too with his new Prowler. The boys from Detroit (Bora and George) are also keen to go, not to mention some interest from Sweden, making it quite an International affair. If anyone is keen to get away and experience a different type of Moth Regatta in a completely new environoment, book a ticket to Dubai and put your boat on a plane. BTW - they have even secured quite a bit of prize money as well, as well as a bonus if anyone can beat my 'Around the World Record'.
Sunday 27 January, 2008 - Something Different
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The last two days I have been racing on Raw Nerve, a 50' cat owned by Martin Riley (who also happened to be my orthodontist when I was a kid). We just behind Skandia Wild Thing half way through the Passage Race down to Geelong, but once the wind backed off, we got passed by a few TP52's and ended up 6th over the line I think, from about +300 boats. I quite enjoyed the sail and will probably do some more with the guys when time permits. Martin also has another 30' cat that is apparantly a lot faster and more fun to sail. I will look forward to that one!
Thursday 24 January, 2008 - Magic Wands
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So the last couple of weeks have been spent playing around with new wand mechanisms, different wands, push rods and bell cranks. I did all the go fast mod's to the guy's boats here in Melbourne and apparantly the difference is incredible compared to what they used to have. So I tried doing something completely different this time and used an ultra fast gearing and an extremely bending wand and it sucked! There were other issues associated with it, but I think all the stuff that I have put in the updated Troubleshooting Guide is about it for now in terms of optimising the control systems, however we still need to add some info about the wand axle, as we have that the position of this is critical when introducing faster gearing into the wand mechanism. Now to get back to work on the foils and rig with Amac, as he should be back from his family holiday by now.
Thursday 10 January, 2008 - A New King is Crowned
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So after eight years, I have missed my first Moth Nationals and a new Australian Champion has been crowned. Not only was this Mat Belcher's first Moth Championships, but he has only been sailing the boat for three months. This just goes to show how much talent Mat has got, beating Amac comfortably who finished 6th at the last Worlds in Italy (but probably should have been 3rd or 4th if he did not have to carry a 26th).
So as predicted, Mat was lethal in the light airs when no one else could foil. Sure he is only 63kgs, but most interestingly he used a standard Bladerider X8 out of the box with no modifications. However what was not predicted was the eight out of ten races sailed in light and shifty conditions. I was telling our guys to prepare for the worst, and they got it on two days, but they only got two races in on those days. The rest of the time was 'head out of the boat' stuff by the sounds of it and Mat's 470 experience showed through. Despite that I thought Amac would fade towards the end of the regatta, he held on in the end to get a couple more good results giving him a 0.25 advantage over Bora who got third overall (also in his first Moth Championships).
So based on my experiences from sailing at Weymouth, I think Mat should do pretty well there at the Worlds in July 2008 (pending we are sailing in the harbour), and will make a call now to say he will be in the top 3. I still don't know when or if I will be racing at the top level again, as looking after the Bladerider Team, getting newbies in boats and supporting all the other X8 owners is far more important than me doing well at the Worlds. I have proven myself and the boat already, and at the moment don't really feel the need to do it again considering there are far more talented people than me getting into our boats now and will probably be better suited to the conditions in Portland Harbour.
Anyway, I might have a play around over the next few months and see how I feel, at the worst I will be two boat tuning and coaching the Team leading up to and during the Worlds. Right now, I am still happy to take it easy and get more 'bums on wings'. But if I get the bug again, it will be hard to stop me going for a third title.
Wednesday 9 January, 2008 - Demo Days
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My demo boat has been out and about over the last few days. On Monday Scott and I took it for a spin at Sorrento after the 49ers and 29ers were called off because of too much wind. Then I dropped the boat off at McCrae and the Canoe guys had it out on the water for about 8 hours playing around. Apparantly there were guys over 110kg sailing it, and nothing broke suprisingly. Then yesterday I went doen to Somers to provide some entertainment for the Tornados in between races. After their second start, I went out into the middle of Westernport Bay where there is some big sand banks and played around in the huge 2-3m breaking ocean swell. It was slightly scary on the Moth, but after a while I was getting a bit cocky easily out running the waves, so I slowed up for a big set and got dumped hard! Consequently, I bent one of the push rods due to the big nose dive, so I had to limp the long way home. Didn't take long to replace the part and then let Brett Burvill take the boat for a spin.
It is interesting to note that all those that tried the boat said how smooth and stable it was, however I thought it was pretty average compared to what a well set up boat should be like (as this boat was made up of bits and pieces over the last few months of warranties and abused gear). Anyway, I made some changes to the gearing of the bell crank today as well as making a longer centerboard push rod, so it should be goind much better tomorrow for the planned photo shoot with the Ronstan Team. Will make good use of the day as well and take out a few newbies, including dual Contender World Champion Arthur Brett and Yachting Australia CEO, Phil Jones.
Saturday 5 January, 2008 - From the Comfort of Home
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Got some results in by phone over the last two days at the Moth Nationals and have posted them on Sailing Anarchy. The usual baiting is on there as well before racing started, but I will try and keep my posts as factual as possible.
So it looks like Luka has done the work since the Worlds and found some upwind pace to match the top Bladerider guys there in the light/medium stuff. Amac said that his lead in the first heat was 'demoralising', however in the second heat he handled the difficult conditions well, but Bora was much better than both of them when the wind and seas got up. I suppose the only real suprise in there is that I have probably underestimated George 'Bear' Peet from Michigan quite a bit. I spent a small amount of time with him while in Melbourne trying to make his hiking and trim more efficient, so it must have either been enough otherwise he must be a very fast learner.
Bora, Bear, Brownie and Belcher (three of which happen to be in the Bladerider 'B' Team) are all new to Moth racing, so they should all improve towards the end of the regatta, but I fear that Amac may taper off a bit as usual. Luka on the other hand should be fairly consistent placing in the top three in most races. This should therefore create a fairly close regatta for the top three and will probably come down to the last race to decide a winner and maybe even an Australian Champion.
Friday 4 January, 2008 - Twisters at Somers
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Filled in yesterday as crew for Brett Burvill on his brand new Tornado in the practice race of the Asia Pacfic Championships at Somers today. Wasn't a bad ride at all despite fairly mild weather, but it certainly did not give rush that a foiler would in similar conditions. We learnt a lot on the three laps and only wished we could have raced again after we had sorted the boat speed out.
Thursday 3 January, 2008 - Gearing up
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Went away for New Years with Gin down to Mallacoota, plus spent a fair bit of time getting the Bladerider owners getting sorted for the Nationals, hence why I have been offline for a week.
Anyway, it was a relief to see them head off with confidence in their boats and themselves. So today I went down with Robo to Sorrento where the 49er and 29er Worlds are going on, to do for a spin in the demo boat to make sure it was running okay after Bora was messing with it before his boat arrived. After a few minutes of sailing, there was definately room for improvement.
Recently we have been removing the hump and cutting up the bottom/back edge of the centerboard about 2mm so the flap can come up more (hence have more negative lift when the boat gets too high), but the problem with that is that the wand can travel a lot further forward now and consequently the boat bounces up and down a lot when the wand gets pulled past vertical at full height and then gets gets pushed back 90 degrees when the boat comes back down.
So I have been working with Bora to try and increase the gearing speed to stop this problem. Bora spent about eight hours working on a new wand mechanism, however I think I have found a much easier solution, in that you can easily remove the bell crank and cut about 4mm off the top (with a grinder), but you will need a 5mm tap to clean up the thread after it is done. This should increase the speed of travel of the push rid running down the centerboard and move the flap faster, and not make the wand flick forward so much. Once we can test this, I will put up some more details on how to do this on the Bladerider site for those that want to push a bit harder in the big waves.
In addition, for those that are also sick of replacing the black plastic upper control rod connector, you can make your own from some chopping board in about 5 minutes as well. Highly recommended for those that want an extra 5% from their boats. The only thing is that you will need a 2mm tap to get the threads spot on. You will note also in this photo above, that the ball joint head is sitting about 4mm lower than normal too (as this is after we have cut down the bell crank).
