Colac Annual Regatta
6-7 December, 2003

Nine Moths turned up to the Colac Annual Regatta. The first two races were generally very light winds and therefore nothing of interest to report. The third race we had a good 7-12 knots and meant perfect foiling conditions on the Colac Lake.

Started off at the pin end and drove hard to the left foilng the whole way. Within a few minutes I had already caught the tail enders of the catamaran fleet that started 3 minutes ahead of us. Foiling for most of the way downwind in the gusts, meant I caught a few more cats.

The windward work was were most of the damage was done, easily doing 12 knots upwind. However as there was less breeze than my boat speed, it meant I was sailing mostly on apparent wind and therefore about 20-30 degrees lower than everyone else.

Foiling fast upwind involves the following steps: bearing away after a tack, getting speed up, shifting body weight to the back of the boat to induce maximum lift on the main lifting foil, getting air, gaining more speed, shift body weight forward, heal to windward slightly, and driving the boat upwind as much as possible. Constant mainsheet trimming, tiller movements and rudder flap adjustments needs to be carried out in order to maintain a good ride height and fastest speed possible.

By the end i had caught and passed all but one of the catamarans (excluding the A Class cats) and finised some 10-15 minutes or so in front of the second placed Moth.

The final race I decided to leave the foils on, however the wind had dropped to non-foiling conditions. I concentrated on picking every shift possible and sailing as fast as I could. It paid off as the first leg I had a good minute or so lead, but that was reduced to nothing by the leeward mark as there was just too much drag for sailing fast downwind. I then had a suprisingly fast windward and return where I actually put some distance in between myself and 2nd/3rd.

The last work meant that all I had to do was to keep a slight cover on 2nd and 3rd and maintain maximum boat speed. In doing so, I detached the main lifting foil cable joint and lifted the sensor wand from the water. This was enough to win the race from Aaron Gregory, but not by much, as he sailed really well on the last work.

Go For Gold Regatta
21-23 November, 2003

Last weekend was the Go For Gold Regatta at Black Rock Yacht Club where the wind pumped in from the south every day between 18-23 knots. This created quite a chop on the water, and with the mass of both big and small boats on the water during this time, it certainly didn't make moth sailing any easier. Therefore I did not use the foils for any of the races, and instead went out there to focus on heavy weather boat handling, especially tacking and gybing.

I had numerous swims as the windward/leeward courses, gusty wind and choppy seas did not help in any way. However I did begin to find my feet and worked out how to manage the conditions better on the third day of racing. A good rest Saturday night after the rugby final and plenty of high energy food also helped my boat handling skills.

Chelsea '4 of a Kind' Regatta
8-9 November, 2003

Last weekend I raced with the foils on at the '4 of a Kind Regatta' at Chelsea Yacht Club where I managed to finish 6th overall, which included some of the best A Class cat, 14' skiff and Tasar sailors in the world.

I did happen to win the last race on handicap tho by a huge margin as the conditions were fairly good for foiling upwind and downwind (10-12 knots with 0.5m waves), whereas heats 1 and 2 were far from ideal (up to 22 knots with 1-1.5m waves). Complete race results below...

http://www.chelseayachtclub.com.au/results/4%20Of%20A%20Kind/series.htm