2003 Moth Worlds Diary - Update #2
27 August, 2003

hi all,

well, so far it has been very interesting series. After winning the practise race, there was a lot of talk and media about my foils, boat and sail. some saying that it was unfair, too fast, etc, etc. the reality is that is it not that easy to sail a moth let alone win a world championships on a new hydrofoil configuration that i had hardly used beforehand.

in the first race, there was no wind in the morning and i had my normal foils on, but didn't have time to switch to the h/foils for the afternoon race. however i ended up with a second and third, which was still okay i was just as faster if not faster than mark thorpe around the course.

however the race committee decided to protest me as they said i hit the start mark in the first race, and i was positive that i didn't. however it seemed as though the jury didn't even want to hear my case so i got disqualified from that race (which was a second).

yesterday we had some big swelll (up to 2m) and about 15 knots. even though they foils had never been used in these conditions, i thought i would give it a go as i had nothing to loose now.

the first race was okay, but i capsized 4 times around the course due to flying too high over a wave and came crashing back to the sea level. some of these stacks hurt me, but not the boat. so i ended up 4th in that race, only
a metre behind 3rd place. mark and les were not far ahead either.

the second race i thought stuff it, just go for clear air and keep the boat flying as long as possible in right direction. i took a lap to figure out how to sail the boat in those conditions, but i eventually had the boat completely air bourne (about 50cms above the water or more) upwind and on he reaches the whole time. downwind i just played it safe and keep the boat just above the water.

i was concentrating on sailing the boat so much and so fast that i didn't realise how far in front i was. i think i won by about 5 minutes in the end from mark and les who were very close together, but a long way in front of the others.

today the weather is much nicer, with flat water and about 10 knots. wind should come up a bit later today i hope. will be foiling regardless tho, as i need some more wins.

stay tuned.

rohan