Its that time of year again when you are not allowed to eat ouside, or smoke or generally do anything. Ramadan is fast approaching the UAE and Dubai Moth fleet. Thankfully I am going to be away at the Euro’s for ten days of it…… which is a bloody good thing. 80 odd entries is a very good turn out and will make the start line pretty interesting if its windy.
I have not sailed for three weeks now, its just too hot and there is no point going sailing in 50 degree’s to get sunstroke and learn nothing. Its not even worth it to try and keep sharp, so I am flying into the Euro’s on the Thursday and will hopefully be sailing late friday night. Spend most of saturday on the water too. I am not sure I am going to get involved in the dash for cash… I have never been very excited by it to be honest and I do not think its a particularly fun experience worrying about crashing into other people is not what I’m into. I only took part in the US dash for cash half heartedly and didn’t do the one in Dubai as I had the flu. I’d rather go crusing with my friends and just go sailing, funny what money does in the world.
I got my first speeding ticket in my new car last night.. that didn’t take long. Woopsie, I was in a bad mood and driving pretty quickly, as you can in Dubai without fear of the PO PO pulling you up. Good thing here is I won’t loose my license. Its more of a wallet bashing.
I am moving house next week as well… again… all in all, I am so farking broke at the moment I could do without the trip to Switzerland, but I am committed I suppose.
Anyways people.. Peace.
So i just bought a new car. I got a Subaru Impreza WRX, which I am looking forward to getting tomorrow. Not sure its gonna fit any of my sailing kit in there but whatever. I’m very jealous of everyone in Europe doin so much sailing as we are on our off season, I really cannot be bothered to go on the water.
Having said that, not long till I jump on a plane for the Euro’s. I’ve been listening to a lot of Hill Top Hoods’ album of late and I recommend to anyone that likes hip hop to get it on the go.
Now, what upgrades can I do to the new ride… undercar neon lights perhaps…. or new air filter… or new engine tune…. oh dear, another can of worms opened.
I have just about got used to be being heavier. I have been trying to work out the main difference’s that it has cause me.
Firstly I am a lot stronger, which makes life so so so much easier with vang and downhaul. I have had to shorten my bridle a bit to make the adjustments.
I am also now actually able to put the bow down through gusts intead of just dying and not taking full advantage to get across them. Being heavier means that I cannot sail my boat as heeled to windward as I used to, when the rudder tips come out there is a much more pronounced effect for some reason. before I could float the rudder through waves and not really have it affect my sailing but now I need to make sure its in all the time. I think it stems from when the rudder tip comes out you need to bear away slightly to keep your power on and keep the flow attached. with being heavier I need to pull away further to keep the power, especially if all this happens in a lull. Sailing the boat flatter negates this problem but I need to sail lower upwind in general now, not a major as I have never had a problem with height upwind, maybe I am actually sailing closer to where I should be now instead of sacrifcing speed for height. Its taken a while to figure out new modes with the sail, especially downwind where I have been struggling a little really, but it seems to be coming together. From going from blistering downwind at the Dubai Worlds to not really knowing whats what has been frustrating.
The boat seems to make much more creaking noises now, which is a touch unerving but whateva rite!? If it breaks I’ll pay someone to fix it 
. None if this up to my elbows in carbon in 50 degrees. So its the UK nationals this weekend in Torquay. I think Simon or Arnaud will win it, one of those two is going to turn up in Australia with a lot of titles under their belt I think.
Righto, I know there will be others that enter but whateva, I’m doin a form guide because I need a healthy dose of tinternet mothage as it was 53 degree’s the other day and I have had a rubbish week. Do you ever have one of those weeks where nothing seems to go as you would like… I just had one… It was topped by me going to see Karate kid, which one of my mates said Jackie Chan should get a oscar for….. what was he smoking when he watched that piece of garbage. Anyway, the film started and they forgot to turn the lights off in the cinema and we were sat next to some moron who was talking on the phone to his mate in the same cinema…. why pretend to be mates if you can’t even go to the cinema together eh?? Its not what I would call a kung fu movie… there was only one bit of kung fu in it from the old master…. plus…. he did not even do his wall run!! Vintage Jackie would have scaled a 70 foot wall to kick some other bad ass in the head in the good old days. Wow, that turned into a bit of a rant. So to the form guide from the current entry listage.
1) Arnaud Phs…..his: The Euro master and its kind of on his home patch. Is running some new funky looking sail that he says is a weapon. The only question mark over his mental state is if he runs the nets or not, which he should be demoted for just for spending 30 hours making each one.
2) Simon Payne: Current World Champ. Reminds me a little Rodger Federer or Tiger Woods. Not interested in the small events but has the killer instinct in the big ones. If its light he will win it, if its windy (which is apparentley the forecast) then I think Arnaud has the advantage.
3) Rob Gough: Mr 30 knots. Mr I like big air. Mr I go sailing when its almost freezing. Maybe he is Swiss in disguise?!
4) Mike Cooke : British National Champ, has not done a lot of sailing but the sounds of it but is very confident in his own boat and design. British Nationals will be a good marker. I have only ever seen one Ninja so no idea on reliability and speed. Can’t see them matching the top mach two boys though.
5) Chris Rast : He blogs fast. He went to the Olympics. He’s gotta be pretty fast right? Brad Funk gives him big ups so thats enough for me. Unless Brad put his boat together….
6) Adam May: Always there or there abouts regardless of how much sailing he says he has done. Suffers from lack of sailing against others on a regular basis. Is now main stream after his stint on CNN.
7) Tomaz Copi : The quiet achiever in Dubai, alwasys seemed to get to the first mark in a good spot no matter where he started. Pretty good talent to have in a big fleet sailing race I think.
JPZ : Cracking pace in practice, just needs to send that into the racing. Will be a bit more at home on the flatter water of a lake. Will have some wicked gizmo going on that looks like it came from outer space.
9) Eelco Boers : Famously went past Si Payne like he was anchored in Weymouth. I think he will be the first BR. Sailing on the BR will hold him back downwind in any sort of breeze.
10) Olivier Vidal : Don’t know a lot about Olivier, but I sailed against him in 29er’s a couple of times when I was younger, he was good then and for lack of knowing anyone else thats going I thought I’d chuck him in here. Some peeps say he sails balls to the wall, good way to sail a moth!
I cannot see the Assassin’s being on the pace no matter how much gusto they have been given from NZ. I will be pleasantly suprised if one is on the pace for an entire race. I just cannot see one getting through 16 races without a major breakage. Im turning up with my boat on my back as I cannot afford the airfreight, hve not done a lot of sailing and have been boozing way too much. I’m gonna enjoy it and use it for some big fleet experience. Would like to do well obviously, but want a holiday from the heat more than anything else.
Went for a spin in the most breeze I have been in for a while, about 17 maybe 18 knots! Even Glenny was coming for a play but he had some probs and didn’t make it off the beach. In any other class people would read that and go ‘wow he must have had a major’. In the moth fleet its normal for your sail to be over in 20 seconds sometimes, its just the luck of the draw. I think thats why there are not too many uptight dicks in the fleet.
Anyway, he took my boat for a bit of a sail, as he was keen to get out and do some sailing….. Rob turned up on the Assassin and rigged up. Had a good little sail with him and by the looks of it he has finally got it sorted to sail downwind without being killed and sent to heaven three or four times each run.
I had the thing absolutely wound up and was really motoring without having to spill, which is a first and it feels so good, more pies please. I cracked tacking again so thats an improvement. So all in all i learnt a lot, had a sweet as sail, saw a turtle, raced a kite surfing chick.. well actually, perved at her first then sailed past her! I was cruising upwind on 16 knots, amazing really comapred to two years ago when we thought 15 upwind was quick hey boys…. time flies!
Peace!
Its got to that stage of the year where you just canot get a tan. The only thing you can do is rig your boat, then go inside for half an hour to cool down before you go sailing. Sailing is measured in bottles of water, not what you want to achieve.
Anyway, i was sailing for all of about 25 second when the head pulled through on my raptor, this is because i am a dickhead and forgot that it has to plug into my mast…. oh well.total de rig and re rig in 45 degrees, Ive learnt my lesson quickly.
I think Ive sorted my teething problems with the sail and it felt so good upwind. I am still struggling a little with a new sail and being heavier. In breeze that i would power though before hiking flat out I am having to almost sit in… Weird feeling and takes a little to get used to it. The raptor really does seem to be very sensitive to over sheeting and you can feel your boat die as soon as its wrong. On the whole though, it feels better each time I sail, so moving in the correct direction.
My SK90 arrived this week to so its time to build my rig and adjustable forestay, that is one gasmo that I do like. Not sure my system will be quite as refined as others but it will do what i want it to do.
Lots of shit flying around the old web at the moment, how very exciting and controversial. Never happy to see things go to court in our industry, its just no good for anyone involved, lets hope they all sort out their stuff.
No, not really at all. I got out for a sail on Friday with my new sail. It looks good on my mast, possibly the only person to be using a mach two mast after I heard on the webpodcastthingy that all the peeps buying raptors are buying CST as well. I like my softer Mach two rig and I dont have any more cashola to be buying a CST. I have put another purchase on my downhaul though as the Raptor seems to really like to be completely cranked till its balls upwind.
No chance to line up with the white hope, we were both at the yacht club on sat afternoon but there was FARK all wind and it was 46 degrees during the day……. and I was a touch hung over…. There looks to be some good late evening breeze coming in this week and weekend so I will go out again and try some different battens. I just signed in for the Euro Champs, looks like there are some slippery sailors signing up to race. I am excited to get onto some flat water and see what the new sail mast combo can do with me tipping the scales at 80.1 Kgs the other day. I think thats a bit heavy so I might loose some, I dont like feeling like a square human. Safe to say, I am now absolutely crap as crap can be at tacking my boat.
And how Rubbish are the UK at football, are we really kidding ourselves that we will get much better…. its always the same. I left the pub at half time the other night. Congrats to Scott B for winning the 18 footers and to Mike Lennon for winning the open meeting on the weekend.
Just catching up on some net mothing and read that lots of peeps are going for the adjustable wand for waves. I am not sure I understand how it works….
As I understand it, the only time you are in serious trouble is if the waves are bigger than your main foil.. At this stage if does not matter what length your wand is at, you are swimming as soon as you make a mistake.
Also, by winding down the ride height you ride lower and therefore neutral is further back too. Personally I do not like sailing with my wand out the water at any time, I feel very outta control and stop concentrating on sailing and start worrying about my good looks. With a shorter wand, doesn’t that mean you spend more time with the wand out the water??
In my thinking, by the time you need to shorten your wand to go downwind, its going to be a question of who capsizes less is going to do better so isn’t it better to practice technique instead of hoping the boat is going to save you?
It was 50 degrees in the sun the other day up at the boat building yard on their eltronic thermometer. Its only the beginning of June as well so this looks like its going to one long long summer. However, there is 30 knots forecast on friday night and 23 to 24 forecast on saturday.
I was talking to glenny last week and he reckons he needs to go for a sail as he has only sailed once since the worlds and I am on about 4 or 5 sails since then. Probs a good day to get the velocitek out and see how fast we can go on saturday i think. Friday is taken up by a stag do and tonight the ministry of sound are playing their first set in the Middle East so going to check that out. I suppose saturday will also be a good test of if all this effort to put weight on was worth it or not.
Beriut was awesome, I recommend to anyone. Its basically a mix between Greece, Southern Italy and Cyprus. If there were not bullet holes and Arabic writing on walls you would think you were in Europe. Also, somewhat suprisingly, all the people are extremly friendly. Its a shame they are so close to all the trouble and its probably not the best time to go right now, I cannot imagine they are very happy about the flotilla getting nailed just off their border. I have ruled it out as somewhere to live though, as there is not a lot of wind at all.
The richest sailing race in the world was last weekend, and we were out there to watch it. Sultan got away to a flyer, but lacked boat speed for numerous reasons. The boat just seemed sluggish for some reason, i really wanted to get them to put a tweaker on the leech of their big sail, just to see if it would make a difference in the breeze. There was a little chat of them opening the rule so others could race. If that happens I will get one like a shot and do some of the big races. Something I did find very amusing was the start of the race. There were 100, 60 foot shows lined up and anchored. One of them put their sail up and then so did the rest….. in my book, all were OCS as the starting flare had not gone…. but not here, restarts are bit of a problem when you have two anchors for your support boat to pick up and then re tow your boat into position.
Looking like I will be on the IOW for Cowes this year, if any mothies are over lets have rum. My plans might change drastically within the next month though, fingers crossed.
