German Moth Class Championship coming soon...

German Championship is around the corner. It will be sailed in the beginning of July down south in Bavaria, on Lake Walchensee. German Championship link. They say it is a beautiful lake (which Google Earth proves) with good thermal breeze. Kind of a Mini Garda. So let´s see. At present there are only 11 participants on the entry list but I know of at least a couple more who will show up. For me the questions is: Shall I put some reports into my blog about my great training days, which went well with the boat flying nice and level after upgrading the AoA, or keep a low profile, as a regatta some 1100 km away from home always puts some strain on the pilot and maybe also on the boat from the road transport. Vibration is the nr. 1 road transport problem for a DNF. Some screws, one might not have checked carefully enough when arriving late at the racing site, might come loose. This being one of the reasons, I do not want to put my own expectations too high. Especially when there are a couple of new participants at the start line. In the Moth class a lot can happen. What sticks with me since I am racing this boat is the great anticipation. Looking forward to the event. Loading up the boat (roof or trailer) and gear. Can´t wait to start the engine.

On another note, tomorrow we are sailing our fifth Wednesday night race this season with the Bull. We managed to come first into the finish all the last races and also won on elapsed time. (Only keel boats on the starting line) It is only Rod and me sailing the boat at present and we had luck with the wind, which had been light. It is also the new mainsail with a bit more roach which gives us power and the calm sailing style which Rod and I have adapted lately.

Sunday was great!

The Sunday of last weekend was great. We had our annual club regatta over the weekend. The local sailing clubs, who are all suffering from participations in their own regattas had combined their efforts and organized one great event. About 50 boats participating from the OD classes, H-35, and X-79 to a field of 38 Yardstick boats varying from the fast Melges 24 (2) to Folkboats, H-Boats and the bigger X-34´s. It was supposed to be a family regatta, which for some racers meant that the families take part in the BBQ and dance festivities in the evening only. We participated with our little Bull 7000, shown here in the picture, during a reach on the Sunday.

Where have I been… oh yes, Sunday and "Heyitwasgreat.", the Tillerman group writing project. I will only touch Saturdays race lightly. To begin with, I had promised K. who is pregnant in her 7th month a light wind and some fun in the club. My regular crew must prepare their boat for the International14´s WC in Warnemünde and we did not want to miss the chance to sail with the local fleet and to see how we are going alone. We had decided early on that K. would take the helm and I do the crewwork. Fiddling with ropes and the gennaker is not easy with the big belly. There were a couple of events, mainly me reefing in and out as the wind had not stayed at the 10knots which I had promised but increased to abt. 20kn in periods. And always when we had to go upwind according to my feeling. I had to reef in and shake it out later. No gloves and fingers burning. I had rigged the gennaker sheet the wrong way and it was all my fault that we lost precious time. We finished the race corrected in 8th position.

The “Heyitwasgreat” Day.
Come Sunday and the Schleifjord looked very calm in the morning. We got towed out. People started to throw waterbombs during the waiting period and it looked like a great summer day. At around 12.00h the wind came up and PRO G.N. immediately laid the marks and gave the 5min signal. K. did a great start and we were holding our position between the 2 Melges up to the weather mark. She got the shifts right and seemed to be “in the zone”. Around the weather mark, the “kite up” and we were able to sail lower than the Melges with our articulating bowsprit. We did great through the narrow passage (Palörde), though the M24´s had catched a gust just in front of us which we were not able to hook in. It gave them a little advantage. The two of us now slightly overpowered in the gusts but able to hang in with the gennaker up. On the next upwind leg, I hiked like hell and K. kept the speedo permanently around the 6kn mark. It was our day. The big boats already far in the distance behind us. We had another great beat though the Melges were slowly walking away from us but not like Saturday. They had all their 4-5 crew hiking out hard. We lost about 3 min to the first M24, whilst on the Saturday it had been about 15min. Difficult to describe the smooth sailing, which we had on the day. Hopefully the little one, the unborn, got an idea of the great harmony which we had and which brought the best of sailing out of both of us. It only sunk in later that we might have won this race on corrected time as our Melges friends had reported to us after the finish. Yes, the price giving gave us the recognition. 1st place of the day and third overall. We went home tired but happy and… “heyitwasgreat”. If you want to see the results, here is the link: Result list

...why did I loose my vertical foil?

Not a good Tuesday for sailing the Moth. Weather wise it was OK. The wind had shifted to the East. Nice and warm in the evening at around 19.00h when I hit the water. 10 - 13 kn. Everything went smooth with the set up and I felt ready to try again some foiling jibes. Not that I am managing this maneuver by now but after a bit of foiling high and dry the boat did not want to come up on the foils after a tack. Strange feeling. The bow deep in the pond. Me crawling to the back of the tramp but no change. The boat did not come up. Checking the ball joint, which connects the wand to the centerboard, it was OK. Back to shore. My worst thoughts had happened. The foil had disappeared. It took the thread of the stainless steel rod with it and pulled the M6 screw out of the carbon thread. Even today I have no idea how that could happen. There was no grounding and no feeling of hooking in to a net from the local fishermen. Just strange.

What made it really disappointing is the fact that on Sunday I had a really pleasant sail with this set of foils (the first ones, delivered with the boat. The ones which I had leant out till last week) and I thought that I should make notes about the set up, the angles etc. OK, I took a photo and marked the two sets. Now there is some work to do. Hope that our friends at Bladerider are able to supply spares soon. Another breakdown and I can skip the planned regatta activities.

Wednesday night race with the Bull (the little blue one on the pic.) was an interesting one. The thermal wind from the east made the windsurfers happy. In the "channel" we had about 5 Bft gusting a bit higher. With the "boys", Jan and Söhnke it felt OK. A little bit light on crew weight, therefore a reef and the small jib. A decent start because an early starter gave us some problems first. Lot´s of flogging mainsail around us. Most boats did not put a reef in. Even we got some big hits and nearly laid flat on the water but after a while got the hang of it. Got the boat going against the longer waterline boats. The X-34´s and the X-99 were gone when we came into the narrow navigable water. We had to fight more than usual as we nearly got stuck in the "crowd". With a draft of 1,70m against the 1,30m-1,40m going H-Boats and Folkboats we had to get it right. And we came out this narrow path as second boat from the tight bunch. We were than able to sail longer stretches, only two tacks on the laylines and got around the weather mark in fourth position. Henning with his X-79 had sailed clever and fast and was in front of us. We had a good ride with the gennaker and came close to the X-79 looking out for the wing mark. What we saw was ugly. No mark but the 99´and the 34´had entangled with each other and the buoy. They dragged it downwind. Henning and I decided, enough is enough and rounded an imaginary buoy and on to a tight reach. After that another beat into the wind and than the long downwind. Gennaker up and we made 11kn easy. In the gusts the speedo climbed up to 13kn. Should shake the reef out but we did not know what to expect in the "channel". Windsurfers were blasting forth and back. We came close to the X-34 and the crew hoisted their kite. Only to broach after it was set. We flew to the downwind mark, had a good round with our typical windward drop and were able to hold the first position into the finish. Abt. 2.45min in front of the X-79, our toughest competitor. It gave us a first place on corrected time and some confidence that we can do it with the Bull also in the heavy stuff. Thanks to my crew. The "boys" have learned a lot since we first sailed the Bull together ten years ago. Wishing them all the luck they need in the upcoming Int. 14 Skiff World Championship in Warnemünde next week.

3 days of sailing for my (not installed) sailing counter.

Days out on the Water

As I have promised myself to spend more days out on the water this year I should write the log (err...blog) about my activities to be able to recap later in the year or maybe in life.

It had been a hectic day to get the Bull ready for the first Wednesday night race on May 7th. Lucky me that my brother was able to help me and to organise some welding on the pulpit, to do some epoxying and to work away other jobs from the to-do-list. He also got two boat trailers through the MOT in that same week. The racing went well, we were leading the mixed keel boat fleet until 200m from the finish, (after the long upwind leg) when our friends in their brand new X-34 passed us. On handicap (Yardstick 96 for the Bull) we scored a 2nd. Worth to mention is that my brother (who crewed us this evening) has not made as many tacks as we did this evening during his Atlantic nor his Pacific crossings. Actually he told us that he did sail from Hawaii to NZ on one bow.

The Whitsun (Pfingsten) holidays were coming next. Tradition in this area is to do the launching ceremony for all new boats at Schleimünde. A little natural harbour on the mouth of the Schleifjord. A place which you can only reach by boat. No street up there to protect the nature. 3 boats where on the list this year. A big party and BBQ had been organized. Date: Sunday 11th. This gave us some time on Saturday to take out our wooden canoe (for the very first time) and the rowing dinghy. The canoe is definitely not for me. K and I used it on the way to the planned picnic place abt. two miles across the Schlei, through a bridge into a beautiful bay where there is a Viking museum. (It is all about Vikings in this area). On the way home I changed boat with my brother and his spouse and felt much more at home in the classic style rowing dinghy (carbon/sandwich DIY many years ago).

Sunday 11th, the four of us sailed (cruised) for 7 hrs to Schleimünde with the Bull now changed into full cruiser mode with upholstery, outboard engine, water etc. We came a bit late due to the light wind and me underestimating the distance and the time to spend in front of the bridges when missing the opening. There are 2 bridges, two miles apart which open once every hour. The party was great. Two X-34 and a Drabant 38 had been christened. My bro had a tent with him so it was just the two of us in the comfortable front cabin of the Bull.

Monday 12th we cruised home or better to say, we had a schlepp home most of the way due to very, very light wind. It was also time for my brother to pack up and drive home to Hamburg. The above picture, showing the Bull7000, had not been taken during this weekend.

Some Thoughts due to NO sailing activities here...

Recently I had a letter submitted to Scuttlebutt Europe (see below) with regards to the debate about canting Keel Boats to take part in the Cowes Week regatta. I got a bit of feed back to this and one particular guy asked me if I had a clue about what I had written in my statement. It could have been that this was a "quick diagonal reader" who did not got the message from my limited English or it could have been a "canter". One of these guys who are laughing at you, when you are wobbling in their wake.

OK, I have not sailed against a canter yet, though I wish I would be able to see one live and maybe these guys are not laughing at the ones, leaving behind in their wke... We do not have any of these boats in my home waters around Kiel or Flensburg or in Denmark. Not yet. My doubts about the compatibility on the starting line between canters and non-canters are based on my experience in the Sportsboat class as well as in IMS sailing. In the beginning of the Sportsboat movement around 1998 we were looking for participants to get the numbers up. To bring some value to the club, hosting our annual regatta in Travemünde. Therefore the German ISRA (Association) also invited the Asso99, a 6 person keelboat, 3 of them are on the wire. Sportsboats do not have trapezes. They are the likes of the Hunter707, Beneteau25, Bull7000, Melges24, U20, Humphreys22. A righting moment of 3 persons on the wire makes for better pointing and speed on the start line. It did not match and everyone tried to work out how to avoid the Asso. There had also been two 11m OD´s which due to their waterline length and high stability caused headache for the sailors on the light displacement Sportsboats. The silverware had gone to those "non-Sportsboats" and as they were not coming back to race due to a stricter rule, the silver also disappeared. None of them gave the challenge trophies back. The pic shows us fighting upwind with the low displacement Bull 7000.

* From Manfred Schreiber: Reading with interest the debate. Why do they exchange rough letters and arguments and do not put on the table the most interfering thing which happens to non-canters when starting together with canters. A much bigger problem other than when starting with 35 footers against 39 footers within a certain IMS rating band. You really do not want to have a canter on your leeward side. It brings you to a halt and steals from you the minutes and seconds which you need to score well. Same of course with a windward canter which leaves you in the wake of his dirty air. Other boats start rolling you. A good finish is already out of sight 5 minutes after the start.

Do not put these very different machines into the same starting sequence. The Cowes Week organisers are doing the right thing. The fun is only for the crews sitting low on their canters and leaving their "competitors" in their wake. Not good sportsmanship I would say.