2004 European Championships
30th July, 2004

The first race of the regatta (Sunday 18th July) was a constant 18 knots with 9 laps scheduled as the race committee thought the hydrofoiled Moths were going to be completing one lap in about 5 minutes. I know we are fast, but not that bloody fast!

I started well and rounded the top mark in first place but it wasn't until half way down wind that I actually turned around and noticed that no one was there. My lead only extended for the next three laps until I was at least five minutes in front, and thought there is no need to go crazy on the first day, so I backed off on the last lap to finish in cruise mode and around six minutes ahead of Ian Forsdike who was in second place. Robo was catching Ian after a few swims, but Ian had enough to hold him off. The GBR foilers were not used to the wind and finished back in the fleet.

The next four races were all light winds and I was not confident at all at doing well when the boat can't get airbourne. However I never gave an inch to anyone, even though I knew we would be much slower than the non-foilers upwind and downwind.

But in heat two (Monday), I was leading the foiler pack but back in about 20th, and got a nice gust of wind at the top mark which got me airbourne. The other guys got them too, and we had to sail ridiculous angles on the square run. It looked like we could have sailed out one of the harbour entrances and sailed back in on the other.

I can imagine the looks on the non-foiler faces, saying 'what the hell are these guys doing?' However we were going four times faster (about 12 knots) in the 8 knots of wind, and ended up getting downwind quite fast, even though we were covering three times as much ground as the others. I ended up winning that race.

The next race was very similar, but only managed sixth place.

Heat four (Tuesday) was 5-10 knots and I lead out from the start with Robo, Simon and Adam. I pulled away from the others downwind on the tight reaches and the gybes, as we were doing 'M' shaped courses and it seemed as though I had a bit more experience at getting maximum speed and minimising errors on the gybes. However at the top mark for the last time, I snagged some weed on my rudder and centreboard. I only realised this after Simon literally flew straight passed me, so I tipped the boat and cleared the weed (or so I thought). However I still could not foil and Graham was fast approaching with his big underwater wings.

By the bottom mark, I realised there was still weed dragging, so I tipped over again and cleared it all of this time. This cost me big time as I did not foil the entire downwind leg. I managed to scrape in for 2nd place, about a 1/4 of boat length in front of Graham who sailed a top race, with Simon in first. All the foilers finished in the top 5 in both races today.

The next two races (Wednesday) were sailed a moderate - fading to light breeze. All foilers started really well and I had to work extremely hard to stay up front at the top mark each time. Then it is just crazy downwind and at the gybe marks, very exciting to watch for the spectators on the water.

In heat five, Simon, Adam and I (in that order) rounded the bottom mark together about 2 seconds apart. I made a a few too many tacks upwind each time to get through the mid-course gate, and it cost me enough to cross the line in 3rd place. Simon sailed extremely well to take first place with Adam in second.

In the next race I was pumped up after a long first race and all foilers literally flew off the line on starboard tack to scream up to the top mark together. I ended up sailing fast enough downwind to pull away from the others. The wind began to die and we all stopped flying. However we hoped we had enough of a lead in front of the non-foilers to stay ahead until the finish. I managed to pull away from Simon and Adam during this stage to take first place.

There was no wind on the Thursday, so the two races that were planned for the day were moved to Friday, however due to my results over the first 7 races, I could not lose first place and therefore I did not need to race. So Robo, Graham and I headed out to get some KFC and then got stuck into some drinks at Graham's house in Portland.

After a big night on Thursday night and a bright and warm day in the UK (for once), I decided not to race the first race on the last day (Friday) but got bored quickly onshore and went out for the second race. The wind had picked up a bit by then and managed a second place behind Adam who sailed brilliantly. Simon was third over the line and announced European Champion that night, while I claimed the European Open Championship and British Open National Championship.

The highlights of the event:

• Racing against 4 other foilers.
• In one race three foilers lapped the first non-foiler.
• The extremely close and fast racing between all 5 foilers.
• Not too bad weather.
• Heat one which was the only race over 12 knots.
• Everyone finally accepting the foiler Moths and having an awesome sail when we lent them our boats.
• Gaining a lot of new friends and experience from the event.

Got an upgrade to business class on the way home, so now I don't think I can fly 'cattle class' again after being exposed to that sort of luxury on such a long flight.

Here are the reports, photos and results from the championships on the IMCA web site.