2006 World Championships
Horsens, Denmark
23-30 July, 2006

(As published in Seahorse Magazine - September 2006)

The entry list for the 2006 International Moth World Championships promised a super high quality regatta with many new faces joining the established font runners. However the 2005 European Champion Simon Payne (GBR), runner up Adam May (GBR) and 2005 World Champion Rohan Veal (AUS) were the serious contenders to take out the title. With all but a couple of the 32 strong fleet now using hydrofoils this was a landmark event in the sailing World.

Race one saw Sam Pascoe (GBR) lead out of the blocks to establish a huge lead at the first mark in a shifty and gusty offshore breeze. Veal caught up to Pascoe on the end of the second lap, and then passed him upwind in dying pressure. Veal was then able to cover the fleet and pick enough shifts to extend his lead on the chasing pack, which included Payne, Jason Belben (GBR), May, and Mark Robinson (SIN). Veal ended up winning comfortably by around two minutes. Payne lead the charge downwind but May was quicker to the line by ten metres. Pascoe sneaked through for fourth with Belben in fifth and Robinson in sixth.

Race two started with Veal snagging a plastic bag in the water not long after the start, dropping a massive amount of speed instantly. Meanwhile Alex Knight (GBR) sailed brilliantly on the first leg to round the windward mark so far ahead, that he made the gybe mark before the next boat rounded the windward mark. John Ilett (AUS) rounded second followed by Belben, with the all the established stars all outside the top five. The main pack bunched up at the first gybe mark with six boats only seconds apart on the tight reach. Knight ended his fifteen minutes of fame with a capsize at the bottom mark in gusty conditions, handing the baton to Belben followed Veal, May and Pascoe. The leaders headed left but May went right loosing wind and dropping off his foils. As the leaders approached the top mark now a long way ahead of the fleet, the wind dropped to around 2 knots and they watched May come in to the top mark doing 13 knots of speed with a twenty degree lift. At the windward mark, it was Belben ahead of Payne, just in front of May with Veal not far behind. Payne took the low road to hop Belben downwind who also lost out to May and Veal. Rounding the bottom mark, Payne and May went left while Belben and Veal went right looking for wind. Payne and May got the upper hand at the windward mark and went downwind to the finish line in that order. Meanwhile Belben and Veal were locked together in no wind at the top mark, but survived the attacks from the fleet for Veal to finish in third and Belben in fourth. The top speed of the day was clocked at 21.1 knots by Veal.

Veal scored a perfect start off the boat end in race three, and lead out for the first windward work, but was lost considerable ground at the top mark while May sailed clear ahead gaining a nice shift out to the left. Payne recovered from an average beat to pull up to second in hot pursuit of Adam. Veal rounded third, neck and neck with Belben. Payne closed the gap downwind, but May responded with a killer beat to lead comfortably at the windward mark. Payne and Veal gybed into more breeze and the three boats went round the gybe mark with only seconds in it. With three spectacular foil borne gybes, pausing only for the camera of internationally acclaimed sailing photographer Thierry Martinez, the three screamed downwind. Payne stole the lead on the run to the leeward mark but Veal tacked off to the favoured left side first and hooked into the new pressure. This ultimately was the winning move of the day with Payne in second, May in third and Pascoe in a very comfortable fourth.

Race four started 20 minutes or so after the last boat crossed the line of the first race. Belben, May, Robinson and Veal started off the pin and headed left to lead the fleet. However Sven Kloppenburg (GER) headed right to gain a massive wind shift and was nearly at the bottom mark by the time the fleet rounded the top mark for the first time. ISAF President Goran Petersson watched on in amazement from a spectator boat as the chasing pack charged downwind to catch Kloppenburg mid way up the next windward leg. Normal order was resumed by the end of lap two with Payne rounding the windward mark first for the final time with Belben and May not far behind, but Veal got stuck in no wind again at the top mark to round in a distant fourth. However with pressure appearing from all directions, Veal scored a great ride rounding the top mark to close in on the three leaders. By the last gybe mark there was little wind, but Payne and Veal sailed off to the right side to catch some pressure coming down that side while and Belben and May chose the middle of the course and sailed into no wind. Payne and Veal then rode the 17 knot gust down to the finish clocking a top speed of the day at 21.3 knots (average 19.9 knots). Payne had to gybe to make the line, however Veal only needed to put in a quick gybe at the pin end to get the win. After a nail biting last few meters, Payne just had enough of a lead to cross in front about a boat length in front of Veal.

In about 10-12 knots, race five was boat end favoured and Veal lead out with May to the favoured right hand side of the course. May rounded the top mark first, followed by Veal, Belben and Payne. Veal picked off May downwind with a slightly better angle to the rounding marks and was in first by the bottom mark. The next two laps Veal cover the leading pack upwind to put a bit more distance in them, while Payne, May and Belben fought it out for the minor placings. Veal’s winning margin was about 30 seconds, with Belben in second, May third, and Payne in fourth after snagging some weed on a windward work.

Race six started with a pin end favoured, so most of the fleet headed to the left. Payne sailed well to round the top mark clear in first, with Belben second, May third, Veal fourth and Robinson in fifth, but all within 10 seconds of each other. Veal sailed lower downwind again and climbed up to second rounding the bottom mark. Robinson hit the right side of the course hard to pull back up into second just behind Payne, but Veal was able to claw Robinson back downwind and get close to Payne. Payne held off the charge by Veal to claim the win for the race. May crossed in third, Robinson sailed well to get fourth and Belben fifth.

Following a night of thunderstorms the race officer held the fleet ashore for a couple of hours before race seven until it settled in the right direction. Before leaving the beach, some sailors have the option to use their hydrofoils or not meaning that they have the speed advantage when ‘low-riding’ in light conditions, compared to the hydrofoils who have to carry around the extra drag. Sure enough, the breeze built that afternoon and Payne striked the beat just right and lead around the windward mark clear ahead of Robinson in second, followed by May, Belben and Veal. As the wind built Payne maintained his lead and the places swapped behind him. Veal eventually came through with excellent downwind speed to take second with Robinson hanging on to third place and May fourth. This meant that after seven races Payne and Veal were now effectively tied on points overall.

Race eight started in a non-foiling breeze of about 6/7 knots, but Payne managed to get foiling off the start line to lead round the windward mark by quite a margin from Kloppenburg and Robinson. Meanwhile in the lighter pressure, the fleet remained closely bunched as the foilers struggled to fly. The usual suspects soon pulled through, and with more pressure on the second lap, Payne lead comfortably from Robinson, Belben, Veal and May. On the final beat to windward, the sun was beginning to set and the pressure started to drop, but May managed to continue foiling long enough to get into third behind Robinson at the windward mark. Keeping it in the air along the reach May then moved into second before the wind died, leaving the fleet in lowriding mode for the final few legs. Payne won by a massive 17 minutes as everyone else drifted home. May finished second, from Belben, Robinson and Veal. Consequently Veal’s result meant that Payne now had a three point margin over Veal, and would come down to the last race to decide the 2006 World Championship crown.

On the final day of competition, sailors were greeted with no wind, and therefore all racing was abandoned for the day, leaving Payne as the new Moth World Champion for 2006, with Veal three points behind in second and May in a comfortable third.

Sailing Developments

Incredible debut goes to Alex Knight (GBR), central figure in 'Camp Epoxy' (the UK University student’s team tent village at the club, littered with boat building material and tools). Knight had only sailed his foiler four times before the World Championship and his boat was a work in progress Axeman 7 derived home built foiler. Knight finished an incredible tenth overall and led race two for the first lap by some distance before he was hunted down by the ‘usual suspects’. Watching him pitch-poling and kangaroo hopping his way to great results was fantastic entertainment for all.

Race eight was a nightmare for Veal as he was powerless to prevent his title from slipping away. It was the lightest breeze of the championship and many felt should not have been sailed at all. But it was precisely the lightness of the breeze that demonstrated the amazing skill of the top few to get foiling in maybe just five or six knots of wind. On the first beat to windward, Payne foiled over Veal off the start line who was struggling to foil. Veal later speculated that he did not have enough angle of attack on the rudder foil to give him the lift he needed and had geared up straight wand (as apposed to a bent wand), for high wind and high speed. However as Veal managed to lift clear of the water, he knew doing a tack to the other side of the course would dump him back down to earth. Here he pulled off a stunning upwind maneuver (now called a ‘gack’), spinning his boat 300 degrees through a very fast gybe and immediately rounding up to windward, staying airborne the whole time and not loosing much more than a few meters if he had of tacked in more pressure. He performed five gacks in a row upwind, in no more than 6 knots of wind, traveling no less than 10 knots of boat speed the whole time. In the end it didn't give him the advantage he was looking for as Payne had sailed away with better pressure and angles to the top mark, but it was quite a sight for onlookers apparently.

If you want to be at the front of the fleet, you need to foil-gybe consistently without touching the water. This means keeping the boat dead flat, maintaining a constant ride height, flipping the battens over and gybing through 90 degrees. Only the top seven competitors could do this 90% of the time, and it gave them a huge advantage downwind, as every dumped gybe would lose over 50m instantly. In many races a single well executed gybe was the difference between first and third. That's how tight the racing is getting.

Class Developments

Hull development seems to have taken a back seat to foil development over the last year, as considering the hull is rarely ever in the water (including light winds now that skill has improved), what is the point of putting too much effort into this area. However Linton Jenkins (GBR) of Full Force Boats has recently completed work on his new M3 hull that features a wand mounted in the mid-line of the boat, just off the bow. This allows for better height control, however as found during the championships, the water surface disruption that is caused by the wand in the mid line, creates turbulence on the main foil, and was known to stall at times. Jenkins had also refined his hull shape and put very hard chines into the hull, 2/3 of the way up from the transom. This was meant to allow the boat to lift clear of the water more easily instead of sticking. The claimed weight of the hull and wing frame is around 10kg which seems to be the lightest production Moth ever built. Pascoe was Full Force’s best result in 6th place overall followed by Alex Knight (GBR) in 10th.

John Ilett’s (AUS) Fastacraft ‘Prowler’ boats had now won every race of the 2005 and 2006 Worlds, even though they are slightly heavier and have more volume than the M3 hulls. Ilett has spent much of the last 12 months refining building techniques to improve quality and the number of boats he can produce a year. Although at a glance, anyone would say that the Fastacraft hulls are already of a far superior standard compared to any other class and he obviously spends a significant amount of time on the little thing that make the difference. Ilett has also produced a new mould for his foils, and this time has gone for a tapered section (similar to the new Full Force foils) but about 30% bigger in area. The Fastacraft foils also claimed the top 5 positions at the 2006 Worlds, and were obviously the choice of foils when it came to the lighter and more moderate winds.

Ilett had also redesigned his rudder outrigger using carbon fibre tubes and a Ronstan micro-loc adjustment that allowed sailors to change their angle of attack on the rudder foil on water without needing to tip over or use any tools. A simple twist of the turn buckle, pushed or pulled the bottom of the outrigger, changing the angle of attack by 1 degree with every 2-3 turns. The outrigger was also maxed out to the limit of 500mm, allowing for more separation between the main and rudder foil.

Rig development had progressed marginally since the last major International event. The KA sails dominated the 2006 Worlds with more than 80% of sailors using their brand. In late 2005, KA had produced a new sail (MSL11) that conformed to the new sail area rules of 8m2, but was proving to be just as fast and as popular as the larger MSL9’s of 2004. All Moth sails, including the MSL9’s were measured under the old rules and some were able to gain free sail area in the top roach of the sail. Any new sails made after 1 January 2005, had to measure true area and hence slightly smaller than the older sails. However as the KA sails were made of monofilm, they tend to shrink over time, but still the MSL9’s were slightly bigger than the MLS11’s and consequently those that had a MSL9 opted to use it, including Payne, Veal, May and Robinson, to gain any advantage they could.

The majority of masts used these days with the big luff round KA sails, are a more bendy 100% carbon mast, made mostly by Brett Burvill (AUS) of Windrush in Perth. There are a few home built masts and booms being made still, but the class has had minimal (if any) mast breaks in the last 12 months due to using a more forgiving mast compared to the more stiffer masts used in the late 1990’s.

One boat that turned a lot of heads at the 2006 Worlds, but did not actually race was the KA Bladerider designed by Andrew McDougall (AUS) from KA Sail and built in China out of the JinLi Factory. Like the M3, the hull has significantly less volume than the Prowler in order to reduce materials, windage and air freight costs (consider that this is proving to be a popular way to transport the 3.3 metre Moths around the world these days). The hull is also made from pre-preg carbon creating a light weight hull of around 9.5 kgs and maximum beam of 30cms. The all carbon wing frame is put together like Lego, but the big difference over any other Moth seen before, is the swept back and rounded front wing frame. Constructed using a bladder mould, the finish and design achieved is rather unique and should prove to be popular with new comers to the class.
In addition a number of subtle innovations have been developed aimed at cleaning up the deck, simplifying the foil controls and allowing the complete boat including foils to be packed in a box no bigger than the hull itself. McDougall says he spent a lot of time on the whole foil/hull package to reduce the lift-off speed and improve the lift/drag ratios. The foils certainly look quite radical and it will be interesting to see how it proves itself in racing.

However the potential impact of the Bladerider on the International Moth Class Association was discussed at the AGM during the World Championships, and in a Q&A session with McDougall later in the week. Members of IMCA were concerned that while KA were sponsoring the 2006 Worlds, they were using that as leverage to launch their new boat with the intention of creating a new class later on, and therefore potentially stealing members of IMCA. McDougall assured the class that the Bladerider’s will be sold as International Moth boats and does not intend to detract from the future growth of the Moth. McDougall also stressed his long association with Moths and his loyalty to the class.

On the other hand, there has been some interest from ISAF recently about the Bladerider as a potential Olympic class for 2012 or 2016. This therefore would mean that the Bladerider would have to become its own one-design class and consequently break away from the Moth Class. Not so says McDougall as the boat will still measure as a Moth, and therefore if the Bladerider does go Olympic, there is no reason why the more professional Bladerider sailors would like to test their skills against the more creative Moth sailors sporting the latest development and ideas, much in the same way that the Hobie Tiger one design class (and International Class in it’s own right) compete against the popular F18 catamaran class. However saying that, the Europe class would also still measure as an International Moth, but there are no such dated designs still sailing in International Moth’s regattas these days. McDougall’s comment on this is that he sees no reason why the potential Olympic Bladerider could not revise its rules every four years to fit either a new sail design or new bottom section foils, as these two items would be regularly replaced on the boat anyway, but could represent a dramatic increase in speed to bring it more in line with the future developments of the innovative International Moth class.

If the Bladerider class does not go Olympic, then McDougall sees no need to break away from the Moth class, and has stated clearly that this is not KA's plan. Either way, everybody wins, as KA will not only create a larger number of International Moth's for the increasing market demand (especially in North America, Europe and Australia) but also has the potential to put sailing more frequently on television during the Olympics. The boat however is not the only card that KA has to play to ISAF in November 2006 at their annual conference for a potential Olympic spot. KA is going to propose a dramatic change to the racing format, making some races no longer than a few minutes, reaching starts and courses not seen anywhere before.