On Route to Kiel

Got to leave for the ferry in half an hour so I'll keep this brief.

While Rohan is training in Garda, I'm still finishing the new boat.... Not quite ideal champiosnhip preparation, but then I knew it would be a push once I'd signed up to be involved with the AC, and I couldn't really turn that down.

The new boat GBR 4098, 'The Weapon' is just about there, I've just got to get the last fittings on, and I'll do sea trials in Kiel, Germany. So far the boat has done miles. The shell was built in Weymouth at Full Force, then I took it to Exmouth to start my mods, then it went to Valencia, where the wingbars were made, and the deck put on, then it was back to the UK, and my new house in Weymouth for the final push. I'm now coaching in Kiel for a week, so I'll try and do the finishing touches to it in the evenings there. I'm getting pretty used to the late nights and early mornings on it. That is certainly a lesson from the AC - I seem to be able to survive on a lot less sleep!

In summary 'The Weapon' is a modified Mistress 3, slightly less freeboard, smaller foredeck, aerofoil wingbars, new style gantry, and a fair bit lighter than my last boat. Nothing to radical, just lessons learnt from the last boat. Don't have time to implement too many of the new ideas on this one, but lots of interesting scribbles in the notebook! Full description soon.

Paint job was very last minute. Looks okay from a distance, not so flash up close. Needs to be booked in for a proper sprayjob after the Nationals I think.

Garda should be fun though, and I'm just going there for a bit of a laugh and will just see what happens in the racing.

Cheerio.

Worlds Preview....

Scott Babbage has posted his thoughts on what he thinks will be the form going into the Moth Worlds. Check it out on: http://scott.projectsomewhere.com/

He's pretty accurate with most things, and has clearly given some thought to it.

I guess the big question is the relative performance of the Bladerider to the rest of the fleet. If Rohan is correct in that sanding his foils will make him 20% faster and they've found another 10-15% of speed recently he should be winning races by considerable margins.... I somehow think it will be a little closer than that!

Holt Support

Holt have confirmed their support of my Moth again this year. My new Moth will be fitted out with the latest Holt fittings. Can't have that Rstn brand getting all the Moth exposure!

Stokes Bay Open Meeting

Stokes Bay Moth open at the weekend was a good return to Moth racing for me. I finished third behind Simon Payne and Jason Belben, and while I wasn't completely back on the pace it was a perfect weekend to figure out areas to work on. Marginal foiling on Saturday, and windy with tricky waves on the Sunday are two difficult areas of Moth foiling so it was good to get racing in them.

Event report features on www.thedailysail.com and www.yachtsandyachting.com

Must push on with the new boat now!

DailySail Feature

Those photos of me sailing the Moth in Valencia made it onto www.thedailysail.com with a little article by James Boyd.

Flying in Austria

Doh!

After lots of windless weekends Doug Culnane finally got foiling in Austria recently. Sadly it all finished rather spectacularly with this rear wingbar failure!

(Feeling a little guilty as I'd had to chop the bars in order to fit the boat on the trailer to get it to Garda for him. It survived the week there, but the loads going down whilst foiling are pretty high, and it obviously the dinghy park fix wasn't a long term fix back together.)

Check out Doug's blog at: http://dougculnane.blogspot.com/ for the full story and more photos.

International C Class Catamaran Championship

With my involvement in the big AC over, my attention is firmly on Moth sailing and developments, but I'm drawn to the "Little America's Cup". The naming of the event is a little complex, so I think this event is to be the International C-class Catamaran Challenge (ICCC) allowing the tradition of the "Little Americas Cup" competition to continue after the the trustees of the former C class event, the ICCT, decided to abandon the event in favor of racing with one-design boats.

Racing is in C Class catamarans, 25ft long, 14ft wide, twin trapeze, and with wingsail rigs. They are incredible efficient, and one of the coolest classes of boat on the planet.

Which is why I'm going to be there! It is being held at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club on Lake Ontario. I'm coaching at the 2.4m Worlds the week before on the US side of the lake so thought I'd pop on over afterwards to watch the action. A friend of mine from Tornado days is crewing one of the boats so I'll try and help them out.

Provisional dates are: September 18, 2007 - September 23, 2007

Looks like there will be 4 boats. Cogito the current Cup holder, and class of the field, Alpha the new Canadian boat, Patient Lady VI, and Invictus from the UK with a new wing.

Port AC Mothing

Here are some more photos of my brief sail around Port America's Cup just before leaving Valencia. Officially you are not allowed to sail within the Port, and the speed limit is 3 knots...But in about 5-9 knots of breeze I got one good reach in at 16.3knots!

I did a quick flyby past most of the bases, and a lot of people came out onto their docks to watch.

Congrats to the observant few who spotted the few things I was testing on this boat for the new one. Namely a gantry mod, and a 'cranked boom'. The gantry is just trying to reduce the drag of the gantry in the marginal foiling conditions where the tube style gantry can drag a lot. The boom mod to try and make it easier to control the outhaul without leach tension making it difficult. The gantry advances to version 2, not sure about the boom yet.

Superman, Batman & Mothman

I won't go into much detail just yet, but it was a fun day at the base yesterday!

Post Racing Entertainment!

So what are people up to now we are out of the Cup? Aside from the various meetings, wrap up and pack up of stuff, a few personal projects have ventured into the workshop area! While I've pushed on with the build of my new Moth, a few guys have been building model cats! This one had a few capsizes today, but we had the Cup boat tender out on rescue duty!

4073 is being rigged in the compound now and I plan to go sailing around the Port America's Cup tomorrow evening during the team barbecue. Then it is a dash for home! My new workshop (& house) is waiting for me in Weymouth, and I can't wait to get the new boat in there to finish it off!

Out of the Cup

The final cruise down the AC Port canal, with a 'Thank You Valencia' sign.

Well the 33rd America's Cup is over for Victory Challenge. I survived the Cup experience, and have come out with many lessons learnt. I've met some awesome people, and I think that has been the highlight of this experience for me. I'll back date a load of posts soon with various photos and highlights, but I'll keep this short, the Red Bull bar is in full swing upstairs!

AC over - next mission - Garda Moth Worlds - 48 days away!

Still in there.....

The Red Bull got its nose in front today and kept it there. A seven second win against the Spanish was close but we achieved the first win in our must win three in a row streak! So we live to fight another day.....

It nearly went very wrong though when the drop line was knotted at the leeward gate, requiring a chase boat drop!

"The Moth Guy"

In random Moth news, I was cycling home the other night, and an Italian guy who works for +39 cycled up next to me and just said - "are you the Moth guy?"

He was really interested in the class, and very keen to see me sail it in Valencia. With so many requests to have a go, it doesn't look like I'll be able to get out of here very quick to finish off the new boat!

3 Races to go - 3 Wins required!

We've now got only 3 races to go in round robin 2 and we are sat 5 points behind the Spanish who currently hold the remaining semi final slot. So in order for Victory to make the semis we need all of the six points available in the next three races.... oh and keep our fingers crossed that Spain don't win any more races!

We go head to head tomorrow. If we beat them, we then have to beat the Kiwi's and Mascalzone, and hope that BMW and Luna Rossa both beat the Spanish.

If they beat us tomorrow, there will be lots of people planning a rapid exit out of Valencia!

Meeting the McKee's

Just met up with Jonathan and Charlie McKee for a drink after sailing today (no racing because of too much wind today!). They've been toying with the idea of getting Moths, but just wanted to hear about it first hand. After giving them the basic low-down, they are up for it. Top blokes who are another welcome addition to the class!

(For reference the McKee brothers are the bronze medallists from the 49er in the Sydney Olympics, and currently sail with Luna Rossa down here in Valencia.)

Flasheart Update

I've been feeling bad about the lack of Moth news. Unfortunately I've just been too busy to push on much with mine, but it does vaguely look like a Moth now.

Doug Culnane is moving fwd with the Flasheart project (http://dougculnane.blogspot.com/) with the foam panels all attached now (see above). We were keen to try and design and build an easily home built boat that most people could build. While the Flasheart mk1 has some tricky curvatures, I think the flat panel approach has great potential, and we'll develop it further.

LV Day 10

Wind again in Valencia and another race for us today. Scoring another 2 points with a win over +39. We then had a bye in the second flight of the day so took the opportunity to test some new sails, and then get in early to get on with some maintenance before the forecast breeze kicks in for the rest of the round robin. We are currently 6th on the ranking list, but with some tough matches to come.....

Our fishing team continue to excel!

LV Day 9

With a shocking forecast racing was postponed this morning to wait for the breeze. Fortunately a seabreeze filled in and we got two races in. Beaten by BMW Oracle in the first, and then beating Team Germany in the second.

The highlight of the day for the team though was the lingerie fashion show put on in the Spanish base next door mid morning! The stairway outside the base was soon packed as word quickly spread!

Perhaps this is the glamour part of the America's Cup that gets talked about. I've only seen the long days on the water and long nights in the office part of it so far.

LV Day 8 - Guess What - No Wind!

Another day sat around on the water in Valencia..... With 4-8knots forecast tomorrow, it could be more of the same.

Hyeres Regatta 2007

With America's Cup commitments in Valencia I've got Dave Cockrill standing in for me helping out the 2.4 squad in Hyeres this year. I like Hyeres, and it is a shame to miss that regatta, but having sailed or coached at 7 events there, to miss one for the AC is okay I guess. The girls started well, with Helena posting a 3,4 to be equal 3rd, and Megan a 6,5 to be 6th.

The British stars of the regatta so far are the Yngling Team of Victoria, and Emma Rawlinson & Sue Monson who are leading the Yngling fleet with two bullets. I'll be coaching these girls at the ISAF Worlds in Cascais this July so it was great to see them doing so well after the first day.

Full results can be found on: http://sof.ffvoile.net/