2005 World Championships

2005 World Championships
13th January, 2005

In April 2002 I made my way over to Perth with Andrew McDougall to have a sail on Brett Burvill's 'Windrush' Moth foiler before it was sold to the Perth Maritime Museum and hung up above Australia II. From this day on I was hooked on foiling Moths!

At this stage the class was still unsure about weather this type of configuration would be legal or not (consequently it was deemed illegal due to a 'tight-tape' rule and thought it was not best for the class). However this did not stop Brett and John Ilett from each coming up with their own new bi-foiler system (Brett's boat actually had two foils on the centerboard). Garth used the 'Ilett - Fastacraft' system for a few races in the South Australian Nationals with good results but Brett struggled to get any sustained lift from his system and reverted back to his surface percing foils for the same SA Nationals on a new boat - 'Sideshow Bob'.

I was keen to have a go on John's setup seeing how this did meet the class rules, so I went back again in February 2003 for a sail on Garth's boat. I immediately ordered a boat with the first set of production hydrofoils.

I had virtually no proper training on them prior to the 2003 Worlds and ended up a dissapointing 3rd, but was still determined to give it a go and try and persuade as many mothies as I could that this was the way of the future. Slowly members came around (generally after having a sail) and the class voted to accept the development of hydrofoils as long as that were fully submerged t-foils.

A few other Mothies picked up some foils (without even trying them beforehand) and have never looked back! Every event that I attended after the 2003, the number of serious foilers doubled. In the 2004 Nationals there was two, 2004 Europeans there was five, and in the recent 2005 Worlds we had about 10 foilers!

This more than anything gets me pumped and I am probably more excited about this than my results as it shows that there are more people giving it a go an enjoying every minute of it. Photos like the one below just sum it up!

Click to enlarge

So in the National Championships everyone was asking me what happened in that race that I finished 17th? Well bascially it was a very light wind race, ie 1-5 knots and in that breeze the foilers are dragging around a lot of extra baggage under the water (as we cannot foiling in anything less than 7 knots) which works out to be about 10% slower than a fast skiff upwind and about 20% slower than fast skiff downwind. There is nothing that we could do about this as we could not change our configuration for the event, and it is not what I wanted to do anyway as I have been given enough criticism in previous events for doing so, even though the international rules do not prohibit any foil changes. So all the foilers drifted around for two hours doing one lap and we all had bad results, but who cares! We made up for it on every other day.

In the end, I was second behind Les who sailed consistently throughout every race to win the national championship, but when the results were added up for the open championships (ie including all the international competitors results), I ended up winning overall from Les on countback. I just thought it was funny that in every other year that we have had international competitors sailing in our National Championships, their results have always been included in the overall Australian Championships results, but this year they were not! Hmmmm.

I can't recall much of the action during this regatta, but I think I lead around every mark in every race except heat 3. Funny this is the race that I remember most. I got pinned by a German tacking on top of me on port at the start and then had to cross every transom to get over to the favoured right hand side. I made one tack to the top mark and by doing this and getting the shift to the right, was probably the only reason I was inside the top 10!

Downwind is a different story. I watched boat after boat sail straight past me and there was nothing I could do. It is really important in a foiler when not foiler to keep the boat dead flat. Bow down will induce negative angle of attack on the foils and create drag and suck the hull down to the water more. Sail with the bow up slightly, and the transom drags. You basically just have to grin and bear it until the wind picks up. It didn't pickup in this race at all, but it did in at least two races in the Europeans and basically the only reason I won that regatta.

So this just goes to show it can go either way for a foiler (which is what I have been saying all along) but it still sounds like there are some that prefer to point out all the negative points about sailing a foiler or a low-rider.

There was also some dissapointment from some of the +80kg mothies about not sailing on the +20 knot days, however the decision rests entirely with the race committee and I believe that the conditions on these days would have been a disaster for a majority of mothies, as there were seas of up to 2m (breaking), and even the Contender sailors were fearing the worst! I am one of the few that knows how bad mothing can get on the bay when the conditions are bad, however I must state for the record, "I have no influence over any decisions made by the race committee on whether we sailed or not even though I was on the organising committee".

I don't mind sailing in rough stuff, but what I do mind is when the majority of the Moth fleet end up destroying their boats early in the regatta and we have a major repair fest to contend with that night when there could be much fairer weather the next day. Our wind limit is clearly defined as 22 knots by Yachting Victoria, however there is an unwritten rule in the Australian Moth class that this can be stretched up to 25 knots and even more sometimes. Hell, why don't we just make it 30 knots! The fact is that the winds may have been 20-25 knots on some days, but the sea conditions were horrendous! If any more than six boats got in trouble, who know what could have happened? Is it really worth taking that risk with so many inexperienced sailors let alone expensive and some semi-fragile boats? Sure Moths tip over a lot, but in those conditions, it wouldn't take much to break something and then the rescue boats would not know which boat is in trouble and which one is just tipping over to have a rest.

Anyway, apart from that 17th, I won all other races in both the Worlds and Nationals from anywhere between 2 to 17 minutes (usually from GBR foiler Simon Payne). The 17 minute win was a light to moderate wind race where it was crucial to say in the pressure and on the foils as long as possible. I was able to do this downwind all the time as my gybing on the foils was a lot more refined than the other guys, hence the boat never touched the water and slowed down. Upwind it was just a matter of tacking only in pressure and sticking in shore where the wind was more concentrated. I ended up lapping the leading non-foiler in both races after three laps.

During the championships I also began to refine tacking on the foils. This doesn't mean you can stay completely airborne the whole time like when gybing, but more so keep airborne all the way head to wind and just letting the transom touch slightly before getting the new wind on the new tack and getting airbourne again. The boat touches the water barely for a second or so. The trick is to keep the boat flat and tack in flat water. I am still working on this, and hope to have it sorted by mid year for the Europeans in Italy.

Race starting was interesting as early on I was getting all excellent to perfect starts, that means on the line with speed and air. Towards the end I was getting more hungry for the perfect start on the line at the favoured end and forgot about boat speed and clear air. Sometimes it paid off, but it is not worth the risk as I later found out after the last race when I was accused of barging. It was impossible for me to prove that I wasn't barging apart from repeating telling this person that I was holding a close hauled course before the start went and I had enough room to clear both the mark the person below. Anyway there was no incident and it all just seemed like a bit of a witch hunt to me seeing how this was the only time I was within yelling distance to any low-rider.

The best bit is tho, once I cleared the start boat (on my close hauled course and in the third row back), I tacked off onto port while all the foilers where screaming off on starboard to get the lift of the shore and some distance ahead now. I hit the right/sea side of the course sailing on a knock the whole time and tacking on the layline. Comments were passed to me after the race saying that I looked a long way back out there.

However the shifts were holding for more than 10 minutes at a time, and I knew if I got out to that side fast enough, I would be tacking back on a huge lift. Sure enough it did and I rounded the top mark a good 200 meters in front of the second place foiler. I ended up winning that last race from Simon by some 3 minutes.

I have been asked repeatably ' what were the main reasons I won the Worlds', so I thought I would list them in order:

Good boat, foils, mast, and sail (note that 2nd, 3rd and 4th were all using exactly the same gear as me, apart from Adam who used a Mistress hull).
Two years of foiling and non-foiling, sailing in all winds and sea conditions.
Sailing at the Europeans against the GBR foilers, as well racing against 14' skiffs and A class cats as often as possible leading up to the event.

More specifically, here are my top five most important factors when foil racing and in order of importance:

Foiling as often as possible around the course.
Avoid pitch-polling at all costs (it is better to go slower than to risk cavitation at speed and height).
Having a well set up KA MSAL9 sail, using good leech tension and downhaul upwind and backing them both off downwind enough in the light/moderate airs to sail as low as possible.
Gybing on the foils as often and quick as possible.
Good start on the line with boat speed and getting air as soon as possible (favoured end does not matter and nor does tacking to the favoured side of the course).

So the second most asked question is 'what next?'

Firstly Virginia and I are getting married on the 19th March, so priority at this stage is to organise the wedding and honeymoon.
Next is to finish the bathroom off at my place (this should be mostly done over the next week or so - I hope).
Sail in Skandia Geelong Week on the Australia Day weekend, 22-25 January.
Spend time away from the house and yacht club's on the weekend with Gin and Beki.
Organise a major sponsor for me for the next 2-3 years of Moth racing.
Organise and sail in the Victorian State Titles in late February, early March.
Organise a new boat due for delivery in March.
Organise travel plans to Italy for the 2005 Europeans in early August.
Assistant any current Mothie getting onto some foils.
Get as many newbies into a Moth as possible.

I certainly am not looking to sail any other class at this stage, and why would I when the only classes that are faster than a modern foiler are anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 (ie Tornado and 18' skiff). I would still like to race against an 18' skiff or a Tornado on a good flat, 15-20 knot day, as I know I would be close to them. I also want to be the first to crack 25 knots!

Keep your eye on all the usual sailing mag's in Australia and the UK over the next few months as I am sure they will be doing a good cover story of the Worlds in Melbourne. Failing that, I will try and put them up on my web site if I get sent a copy.

There should also be a 2005 Moth Worlds DVD available soon. Keep your eye on the IMCA site for more details.

Worlds Media Coverage from Di Pearson

Various World Moth Championships Photos