ZHIK regatta at Sunshine

A great weekend at Sunshine, South Lake Macquarie. Lovely warm weather and a nice 12-15kt wind both days.

This was a mixed class yardstick regatta for single handed dinghies. The moths were in div 3 with Hayden's IC sailing three laps, while divs 1 and 2 included Spirals, Sabres, Contenders, Impulses and OKs and they all sailed 2 laps. Latest VYC posted yardsticks were used with the lap count included in the calculation.

The slow boats started first so it got pretty crowded at the first top mark. Then once past we sailed by ourselves for a lap and then caught them again on our third lap. At least it kept the fleet in the same wind as much as possible and sailing over a similar time span, things that matter in yardstick calculations. But the wind was so consistant it probably did not matter much.

We had 11 moths from St George, Balmoral plus Ben from Woollahra and Rod Ray down from Qld. The other classes were well represented by champions and top sailors. Total fleet was about 55.

In perfect foiling conditions the Moths went very well. Dave Lister was fastest and was I think first to finish in 3 races (having a gear failure in the 4th), meaning he passed all the other classes twice. In the last race he lapped Hayden Virture sailing the fastest IC in the country. Hayden commented that even sailing his older slower boat last year at McCrae against top ACats he had never been lapped before.

When Saturday's results were posted it was obvious that this fleet of moths were sailing a lot faster than the VYC rating. Moths filled the top 8 places by big margins. The other discrepancy was that the three Bladeriders were given the lower rating of 79 instead of the foiler moth rating of 83. This shuffled Rod and Alister down the list a little and it seems illogical to split the class this way.

Regardless the top guys were sailing about 10 minutes faster than the rating in a race well shorter than an hour. (Sorry I do not have the numbers in front of me). Dave beat me by 10 minutes and I beat all the other classes on VYC.

The VYC yardsticks are developed from mixed class racing results around Aust. There is very little of this racing in NSW, especially in summer, so I suspect that the ratings come from the days when Rohan was sailing in Melbourne club and regatta races. The 83 Moth rating would be how fast he was going when he had his last Prowler, and the 79 BR rating would be from when he began racing and promoting BR.

It looks like in these conditions a number more like 70-72 would be appropriate.

Back to the racing: Rod was closest to Dave with Ben and, in the races he sailed, Luka on his brand new Prowler not far back. There was some good racing in the bunch with places changing due to bad tacks or gybes. There is not much variation in actual boat speed.

I had some good bouts with Lea and Alister and ended up 5th overall.

Well done SLMASC.

Just an update

Lots happening in the mothoshere, Bladerider's bid for the Olympics, new Mach2 announced and as well as all the politics I have been sailing.

I have posted previously and elswhere that I disagree with an Olympic Moth. I see too much money and energy being diverted from the present development direction of the class into ISAF and class politics and then into selection, full time sailors, funding and such all with serious potential to disrupt or even redirect the tremendous steps forward and growth in both amateur and professional interest in moth.
I can not see the bid being sucessful anyway against the Finn and Laser lobbyists, but damage could be done anyway, just over a shorter period than if a Moth is selected.

The Mach 2 got a mention prevously and there has been quite a frenzy, Simon's Blog, press releases and lots of computer graphics. Nothing substantial yet, but I guess that if they do actually ever build anything, two of the worlds bess Mothies behind it will at least make it perform well.

Rohan is not pleased though, and bagged the builders of the early Bladeriders (now signed up to Mach2) for building crap boats. He admitted that he masked the fact three years ago that the boat was below expectation and won the Aust Nationals with it. Good sailors often make bad boats look good. The first title to BR. Maybe AMAC and Simon will do the same with the first batch of Mach2 in January even if they are below expectations? Development time is fast running out with no Mach2s sailing yet.

Enough moth politics.

I have been sailing.

Had a weekend away on the IC but back on the Tiger this week. The repaired Prowler foil is great, a big step up in speed compared with my old main foil. Still not completely finished and painted but solid and fast by my standards. Had a good race with Lea yesterday until he snuck away on the second downwind. We are both looking forward to the return of Clive, Grant and Chris from excursions and the improvement of Andrew now he has bought Scott's second broken foil. (Repairs to be completed yet.) There should be a close bunch in the mid fleet all with either Prowlers or Ilett foils under Hungry Tigers.

We all still have about 10 minutes to improve to get near Dave though. But he is being helpful and some improvements are coming hopefully. Luka gets his new prowler this week and should at least be closer to Dave than the older boats are. Steve can get up the front too.

St George now has 7 Prowlers, 2 Tigers, 2 Gilmore Alphas and and 3 scows. Not a bad Moth fleet when everyone comes to play.

Progress on Karma is slow, Removal of the flairs and freeboard (which included all the damaged bits) lost 7kg. The hull and two deck panels which will be recylcled weigh only 5kg. I could not build these as light as Thorpey so not point replacing them. I have filled in the old big fincase holes and built a new tube (foam sandwich) to take the unstayed mast, there is a new tiny fincase to build and a supporting bulkhead, then some hardpoints for wing and gantry mounts. It should still end up very light.
But there's more to come. Time and money permitting.
To Be Continued.