Please check out www.mothworlds2010.blogspot.com.
The Moth Worlds blog is not on the blog roll so updates are not pointed out.
Have a meeting on tuesday to finalise everything with the yacht club so NOR etc will be up within the next two weeks.
Other news, my boat is still not home, it was stuck in Luxumburg for some reason…… maybe because my sturdy sun kissed box has fallen apart. I am sailing on a bendytoy for the beginning of the season to give me some time away from the moth. Until it cools down at least or the breeze really blows. Sailing in the Dubai breeze is like childs play really after another windy worlds. The racing here will be a lot closer, people will be able to have a bit more time to make a decision.
I have just watched the US nationals video and it is the only video to do justice to how windy it actually was at the US nats. Mikis trying to kill the pin end boat is hilarious, he is so out on control! I am back in the gym and on the road.
Something has been bothering me since i got back but i just cannot put my finger on it. Does anyone else ever get that feeling??
Right, Moth Worlds in USA. Done. Dubai Worlds planning, underway. Boat planning, just starting.
Need a new rig to start with. Need a light airs sail, have kept my 13 nicely wrapped up since Weymouth, maybe used it once or twice.
Foils, polish again as its warm water.
Adjustable ride height.. figure that shit out and get some more made by the machine shop.
Adjustable gearing, had a brainstorm and think have figured that out, get parts made and get them tested.
Rigging, stay wire the wire!!! haha!
I caught a case of the limping crab in the USA, i feel very sorry for scotty having to endure so many people overtaking me on most of the runs. I think i was coming out of it towards the end of the regatta but i think it should not be such of a problem in home waters.
I am NOT Obsessed doctor, I am NOT! I am doing some big boat racing at the beginning of this season….. YIKES!
For anyone that knows me quite well they know i get involved with Sultan quite a lot and enjoy doing some dhow racing. Finally he has got his website up and running. Check it out here. Lots of video’s!
Also, his older brother Mohammed is the desinger or Freej. It is a local cartoon that is massively popular and becoming very very big around the Middle East. It is based at breaking down barriers between Arab and Western cultures. Childish to ignorant people as they would not understand the arabic humour that is in there, but not unlike the simpsons to the Arab world.
Mohammed was laughed at and ridiculed a lot for trying to get a cross culture message out to the Arab world. No one took him seriously for a long time. He bought his first Maserati last year, still under 30! Maybe i should try and convince him to do an episode about how close Iran is to Ras Al Khaimah?? With missiles and everything!
I am back in Dubai, very little sleep and 30 hours later. I am back in the office and back to work, although Ramadanadingdong starts on sunday so i get to do 8 am till 2 pm for a month. I had a nice long flight to reflect on the regatta and finally start to catch up on the media coverage now i have 8 spare hours today……… There are so many vide’s i would not even know where to start, so many pictures my brain cannot take it all in. I will read some reports at some point but then again i probably won’t because i was at the event.
The event was the best racing i have ever done by a mile. I was slightly nervous when i got to the states because i had not really done a whole load of sailing and everyone was turning up all set and ready. The only thing i had really done was a lot of gym and road work. Anyway, snapping my pbo and running aground on the first day out was ego brusing and i think a lot of people thought were wondering if could actually sail at all.
The US nationals were next and it was windy. I had done a bit more wind work this year and it showed, having good pace upwind and actually leading a race or two up the first work, having a few swims and a couple of missed races i was 11th in the US nationals. Most results were in the t op ten so i was pretty happy and hoping we were going to have some more of the same weather.
I started the worlds pretty fucking poorly by any mans standard. Some shit results, a DNF and an OCS in the first two days were not good. The wind was a bit lighter so i was not going that well for some reason. Anyway, i got better and then worse again and had to count a couple of big crappy scores. The end of the week was much better getting some top ten results and liking it when the wind picked up again. I was happy to finish 13th in what has been described as the most competetive single handed dinghy fleet ever. Our group of Kevin Hall, Charlie Mckee, Amac, myself, Bear, Adam May raced the entire week boat lengths apart. I have actually only just looked at the final results and everyone in front of me is Olympic, America’s cup, Multiple world champions or European champions in either the moth fleet or another. Most of them are pretty much professional sailors so i am actually more than pleased with where i ended up and was only getting better at the end.
Scott Babbage was very unlucky with his breakages as he was metronomic with his pace and should have been in the top three. Bora was just ridiculously fast and could probably have sailed most of the headers upwind and still been first or second. Nathan has a sailing brain that works on a completely different level to most humans, i have no idea how he thinks of all that stuff on the race course at the same time, along with singing moving on up in his head.
My most enjoyable part was how close the racing was, one mistake and you would loose 10 places easily, but then again most of the time you would always finish right where you were supposed to. I had a good little mind game with Kevin hall the last couple of days after he had a bad day and had to sail well on the final day to make the top ten. Charlie Mckee sailed with a broken arm on the last day, pretty hardcore if you ask me, and should probs have been 10th as he was very very consistent.
So, how to improve for the Dubai event. Cascade locks rasied the bar in terms of sailing and the competetiveness of the fleet. I think the facilities at Dubai will be the best the moth fleet has seen in a while, lets pray its windy then we are also likely to have champagne sailing. Personal aim for Dubai is definately to be inside the top ten, loose some weight and orgainse as much good sailing as i can.
It sounds as though we should have about 60 boats, lots of Europeans, lots of Brits, a few American’s are keen. I think they are keen as we made the effort to support their worlds and it would be a shame if they decided to go hermit crab. A think we will have a few Aussie’s, although it sounds like a few of them have written off the event already and are only concentrating on Belmont as Dubai does not have the desired winds. Should have come to the Gorge if it was wind you were after hey lads!
So now i have a fair bit of work to be doing, including the NOR, online rego and a few other things. Stay tuned on the Dubai moth worlds Blog!
I have no idea what day it is, i think its wednesday but my blog is telling me its thursday. Oh well. Three races today and it was back to the windy weather in which i am going a LOT better than the lighter stuff for some reason. Anyway, was looking ace in the first race rounding in the top ten but then it went tits up as the wind died and i got a horror of some shifts on the second beat. Was mid teens i think.
This fleet is so competetive, i am in a race with Kevin Hall in 8th all the way down to Bear who is in 16th, our group is always together on the race course. IT consists of Kevin, Charlie, Me, Adam May, Bear, Amac. Sometimes we get hooked onto the top 7 and get away and other times we fall off the back of our group and get nailed. Any of our group could be inside the top ten and any one of us could end up 16th to be honest.
Second race i was way better in the windiest race of the worlds so far. I was 6th and had complete daylight behind me, think you can see on the sailgroove video somewhere. Last race was looking good but screwed up my first tack off the start and got slammed. Never mind. I am praying it is blowing massive guns tomrrow and i can get three big time keepers in, we shall see i suppose. The good thing is i was 40 points behind bear and adam before today, now i am level. So, if i can chip away and get some boats between myself, amac, kevin and Charlie i could still realistically get into the top ten. Its a bit of a big ask now but i will try now.
Anyway, this fleet is really really good and you can tell that just by where glenny is coming. He was 9th last year in weymouth but is getting hammered here and is sitting down in 18th. I think the Belmont fleet will be on another planet in terms of pace and boat handling.
Started like a mother fucking train today in heat one, although Bora was giving me shit saying i was over and trying to get me off his air. Anyway, i was so worried i was OCS i missed the first shift by absolutley miles and was burried. Came back throughout the race and came tenth. Second race was in about 8th until broke my boat and got a DNF. Hopefully a drop.
Third race i was leading up the first work for a bit but had to double tack the top mark. arrrrse. Think i was 10th again, pretty consistent. Last race i was in 8th or 9th until i underlayed the top mark AGAIN and capsized on the double tack. What a TIT i am. Lost 4 or 5 places.
Anyway, should have had an 8 9 10 instead of a 10 10 14. So a few lost points but my aim is to be just inside the top ten i think. Fleet is super competetive and one tiny mistake costs you LARGE.
Lots of sailing anarchy on the water anarchy going down, they are so pro American. Time to eat.
Today was good, pretty breezy this morning and it was cold. Had my superwarm on so was still toasty but got cold as the wind built. First race was cool, cannot remember the first beat but i rounded the windward mark in second behind Rohan. Scotty was right on my ass and knew he had downwind pace on me. Rohan capsized so i was leading for a few seconds before i stuck it in the piss on the mark rounding. Couple that with going the wrong way up the beat i lost the top bunch and was about 7th or so at the second windward. Lost a couple more downwind on the way home to come 9th.
Second race was much more of the same, i cannot remember what happenned at all in this race but i finished 7th. We had a Z course and that was well out of control. The bottom reach was the Weymouthesque in death zone and 20 plus knots. Think Nathan just got scotty on the line to get that one.
Third race was my best. the breeze went left hard off the start line and i tacked mid line and got out on port. Was leading up the first beat for a while before scotty came through at the windward mark. Went round in second but had borat and nathan behind me. They smoked me, which is standard really. Anyway, had daylight behind me so just kept it together and sailed round in fourth not really trying too hard and trying to rest in case we had another race. We didn’t and i had to carry a DNS, bit crap and dropped me a bunch of places, would probably have been 6th or 7th if that was not in there.
Happy as with the pace, lets hope i can carry it over to the worlds…………. We shall see.
It is WINDY as over here. Jesus! Broke a bunch of stuff the other day. Today was the first day of the US nationals. It was blowing this morning about 20 ish for the first race. Missed the start as i was a bit upside down due to my wand getting stuck in lift. Took off on port and hit the right and got a big righty for my efforts. Came backto the fleet but was still in deep. Took a good lane into the windward mark and took some more boats, took some wimmers downwind so picked up a few more. Second beat much fo the same before staying out of trouble in the last downwind to come just inside the top ten i think???!!
Second race was balistic windy. gust up to 30 mph and steady mid twenties at least. ONly Scott B, Bora and I were actually on the start line at the gun so i was quite happy. The late starters all got a 40 degree right shift to come straight back into it. I capsized on my first tack which was a bit shit so a lot of the fleet over took me again. First down wind was fast and scary. Coming into the bottom mark with 5 boats really close and a camera boat that was way to close. Anyway, went right and only wanted to tack twice as it was too windy to guarantee getting through. The last down wind was nutz and out of control. Apparently i was 5th or 6th but i have no idea really. Lots of people came in and lots of people broke things. I did not but did not go out for the afternoon as i wanted to fix my main foil and reglue some stuff in. All in all a good day, not too sore but more wind forecast tomorrow. Nice.
I am in the states now with Rohan and Scott. We all rigged up yesterday and it took us most of the day to get out boats together. My PBO has obviously not travelled well as i snapped it going on the harbour. Lost my rig, put a hole in my sail and generally did a lot of damage. Today will be repair day and then will go sailing tomorrow.
Cant be arsed to type anything other than American’s are more American than i ever imagined they would be. Off to find the sail maker this morning to get the hole in my sail repaird.
Cest la VIE!
