Close Encounters of the VX40 Kind.

We were fortunate enough to be able to squeeze in a spot of VX40 sailing yesterday in between sessions of training before Hyeres regatta starts tomorrow.

Shirley Robertson was down in Hyeres training with her iShares crew, and along with her mainsheet man Hugh Styles who was my Tornado helm in the Sydney Games, kindly offered us a quick ride.

Helena and Megan didn't stop grinning all day! They both had a spin on the helm, with Helena mentioning she'd never sailed a multihull before whilst flying a hull downwind at over 20 knots.

They finished their session with a fly-by of the 2.4 fleet.

The Weapon gets a new home

The Weapon has a new owner, Olivier Vidal, and many people will be sick to hear that during his test sail of the Weapon he was managing a few foiling gybes!

I got to sail Carbon Footprint for a bit and with a few (magic) wand tweaks she is flying well. Katherine was really quick with her the other day in sub foiling conditions, even with the mini rig up.

With both Katherine and Olivier out trying gybes, and the last few visitors to Portland doing the same I really should update the foiling guide notes I'd started to write, as there are a few key points to figure out in the gybes that make a big difference.

I'm now out in Hyeres with the 2.4's, so unable to make the Haylng open. I hope they get luckier with the weather this weekend. I think we had the best of it in Weymouth!

Moth Sailors/Designers - A Special Breed!

1993 - drawing freaky Moth designs, then fast forward to 2009!

Sorting through my file of all Moth related info the other day I found a little cutting from a 1993 Yachts and Yachting magazine. It featured a wacky design for a Moth, designed by a young Richard Jenkins, who I mentioned the other day set the new Wind Powered Land Speed record.

Yes he was a Moth sailor! Richard the class salutes you!

So where are our next freaky designs?