January Sails

Andrea Ralph sailing my boat last weekend. I think more girls should be sailing Moths.

We had a female World Champion in 1968 (Marie Claude Fauroux of France) and we still have a very nice womans trophy.

Will we ever have another? Well imagine if we ever get a sub six knots week...



With sailors of Andrea's ability you don't need to spend much time telling them how to do it, they soon figure it out..

Just send 'em out and go and have lunch..






Meanwhile it was cold and dark training this week, about as far removed from Miami as anything I can imagine.

How the other half live..






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Amaculate Conception!

Andrew McDougall out sailing today at Black Rock. Eagle eyed viewers will notice that the sail doesn't look like an MSL10, or a 13 for that matter.

Wanna see more? Come to Dubai.

Chillin' on the block

I wanted Amac's opinion of last weekend so we went over the pictures I received from our maître d' Pete Barton and I made some changes to the foil set up and stuff. I went out sailing today to see if the boat felt better. It did. Alot.

But I didnt, largely due to the intense cold. With 3.5 degrees air and 5 degree water temperature I was at my limit and I bow to Graham and Mike who have regularly gone out in even colder conditions this winter.

The wind was North Westerly and about 15 knots so I had a bit of fun and actually it was kinda nice to be the only Moth out. That's probaby because for years.. I was. And now with some 15(?) foilers at Hayling (which is fantastic) I still find it a little, well, new...

But I wasn't out long.. and I'm getting there with my new boat and with a new rig to try and some carbon rigging on the way the boat will be ready for the worlds, even if I won't.

Best bit of today? The wonderful heated floors of Hayling Island Sailing Club!

Weekend Breaks in England

My boat arrived on Tuesday and went together really well. I spent a couple of evenings working on it which was fun actually.

Then on Thursday McConaghy auctioned the ebay "Silver Edition" Mach 2 which quite frankly is a bloody sterling gesture with all proceeds going to the childrens charity "Variety". Thank you to everyone I asked to publicise it, including IMCA World and especially to Simon Propper who gatecrashed the UK site to do the same in lieu of any response from a committee who's most important line of communication seems to have gone into receivership.

Anyway today I went down to sail my boat for the second time only to find a Moth training camp at HISC with 12 good boats and Pete Barton calling the tune.

Thanks to all for some good 3,2,1 go racing in light winds. Ricky Tagg looked fast, Jason Belben, back in the class and great to see again was up early in the light stuff, so to was Alex Adams, but the man of the weekend in my opinion was Ian Gotts, who after breaking his foil by twatting the bottom rebuilt it overnight and was out and foiling today, thus exhibiting a bit of self sufficiency and grit that we would all do well to take note of.



For me it was a nice weekend. By the time I'd got this many hours in last time I'd been rescued twice, but it was a still a bit of a shock to hike again in this my first Moth race since the Worlds. Today I did OK remembering my laylines and having some good speed with the KA MSL13 but I was confused by my swiss made (and now rusty..) ride height adjuster which I was fascinated with and couldnt help using in the same way I used to use a Yo-Yo.. It was clear I needed some practice and I'll be out in the week.

And yes it was cold! Yesterday I was sailing along looking at the rig and pleased with the way things had gone I thought lazily "that field looks closer than I remember, I should probably tack.." Next thing I know I was sitting on my arse in 18 inches of water, the bow of the boat covered in mud, the May stick bent and a long ten minute walk back to the deep water, I swear I nearly died of cold...

Photos: Peter Barton

Snow Patrol

Still a white Britain but my new Mach 2 arrives very soon. Possibly it's in the air already, but in any event it soon will be.

I have just 4 weeks to sort a boat out, do some serious miles and make my knee bend to the require angle. Then the boat's back on a plane to Dubai.



On my wall I have the Mach 2 poster. I'm on it just about to gybe, kneeling on the starboard tramp and about to step across. Currently I can't repliciate that on the floor next to it.

So I've got a bit on.

But I have missed my a Moth. I sailed Ricky's in December just to prove to myself that I still could. When you've done so many miles up in the air, on your own and in a place where you get to make sense of your yesterdays, its difficult to forget how powerful these small boats are. Even if you try to.

In the worlds of Snow Patrol, "I need your grace to remind me to find my own"

So who's going to win? Bora has spent most of our winter in Miami training, Arnaud has spent a number of weekends in the South of France doing the same, and by rights they should be the favorites, but the entry list isn't complete yet.

Who's turn is it to do the form guide?

M2OC

We've started a new Blog for Mach 2 owners. We've created this because its a better platform than the corporate site to put up chat and stuff. Click here to see how Andrew McDougall got to the Australian Nationals that start to tomorrow..