Campione, the Formula 40 and other Memories

There is all this talk about Campione, Lake Garda within the Moth enthusiasts at present. Carlo will take part in the Italian Championship coming weekend and I am envious about it. Campione is one of my favorite places though I do not know how it looks like today. But the mention of this special place brought back some incredible memories and soul searching. Many years ago I had spend time there with my Bavarian friend Konny to train on our DIV II boards. (good ´ol times) Later through the years, I had done trips with K. and our two singlehand dinghies and we had taken the Bull down there for some speed blasting with Gennaker in the Ora. It had always been very enjoyable. I remember one great summer when friends and I drove down there for a couple of practice sessions with the Formula 40 Cat "Double Trouble". See the photo. It had been owned by a windsurfer friend who started to get into sailing. He had built it from scratch himself and whilst on a windsurf holiday in the Canaries (Gran Canaria) he had asked me if I could help with materials for building the craft, with organizing a rig and to find some crew for sailing. I helped him to get a used "Fleury Michon" rig when the French F40 team had decided to up their 22m mast for a 24m and we also got their nearly new sails etc. This was really different sailing other than my IMS sailing in those years and I much enjoyed our sessions. The loads on the F40 boat were massive. Grinding the mainsail up (with flaps on the mast) took already two man, two winches. I was helming the boat as the owner had never had helmed a boat before. He was an enthusiastic windsurfer, though the waves in Pozo were a bit much for him. Due to costs and other reasons we did not manage to take part in the planned Formula 40 events at Lake Garda and Eckernförde (where later "Full Pelt", the trimaran, helmed by Joe Richards, capsized). Those were the days!

Anyway, the 1400 km trip to Campione is too long for me for this weekend trip. The weekend after we are already sailing the German Moth Class Championship. Our Swedish and Danish friends have already committed to be on the start line. What about the Dutchies and Giovanni from Belgium. I had better do some practice on my home water. Working out the best (if I would ever know) set up. In the meantime the Wednesday night races have started and I should have sailed on a M24 which would have been nice but this week there were family commitments. But besides this, there are a couple of events coming up with different boats to take part in. It is always in autumn, when I get busy with the sailing because the usual 6 month of "Wintertime", which normally only allows for two month of iceboating, is way too long to stay away from the sport. Or shall I turn back the clock some years and take the 2.55m Litewave windsurfer from it´s shelf, still in it´s flight bag, to go windsurfing in Pozo or Maspalomas as I did for many, many years with my KAFC friends until the last years when it was only me, shredding some waves. Where are you today, guys?

Pic 1 "Double Trouble" at Lake Garda with me at the helm. Photocredit: ES
Pic 2 Loaded for the trips to Campione. Same place for a tank stop but different years. Photocredit: myself

A Moth Weekend on the Schlei

Mid October in the North of Germany. Could be nice and warm or daring cold. We had planned a last weekend of racing before mothballing our boats. The week before the regatta date a High from Norway brought the first minus Celcius temperatures. Very chilly. The good thing with the wind from the North had been the high water in the Schlei Fjord, which lasted here a couple days. Very high, nearly 1,50m above normal and beautiful to look at. Friday morning it was pretty cold and I had put a big question mark into my diary. But there had been some pressure to go for it. We should be able to withstand a bit of cold. Maybe the sun would come out on Saturday. Hotels, the restaurant and most important the race committee, Michael and Johan from the HSVS, all had been booked and organized. Sven and Sören already in the starting blocks. No way back.

Sven (photo) arrived Friday evening and the rest of the Mothies on Saturday morning. Hans was a bit late and after we all helped him to rig his boat, we were able to hit the first race at 12.30h. The wind from the North was gusty, usually in the 4-5 Bft range with some gusts going for a six. We, the racers had no time to measure it, but Johan told us these facts at the price giving. The rigging area had been in the wind shadow and it was not only me who underestimated the wind and waves out on the race course around the corner. We sailed a test race, only one round which at the end counted for the total score as per decision from the race committee. For Hans and myself it was a DNF, we were fighting with the elements and not with our fellow competitors. Tough.

I had the great idea to start on port tack (even behind the fleet) because this would lead me to a one tack only and should give me a little advantage over the other competitors. Tacking in the waves was not easy. But I messed it up a minute before the start going into a jibe to position myself and I capzised and did not manage to come back within the last minute. It took a couple of minutes instead. Autsch. It seemed that I did not recover from this bad mistake over the next races. All my starts afterwards were bad ones except the last one when I was first and fast across the line. Holding a good lane and when Sören tried to pass from behind on my windward side, I took a little bite and Sören sank in with his foils and had to tack away. I wasn´ t really fast because before the third race I had lost my rudder foil. Sven picked it up and saved it. Thank you. But I had to sail back to the shore to attach my spare rudder. Missed one race and realized that the spare rudder did not have enough AOA, thus not allowing me to fly high enough to avoid the waves under the body or tramp on the windward side. Anyway, back to this last race. I looked good on the left side, The wind had dropped on the right side first, Sören was fighting to foil and Sven was hit by a shift on the head which should catch Sören a bit later as well. Than the wind backed for me, Sven passed me, just before reaching the mark but Sören was still behind. Hans had sailed home already due to being daring cold (and a hole in his drysuit). Happy to be on foils around the mark I kept going after the mark on starboard tack without thinking about the windshift. Jibing (oh, so bad!) after a few hundred metres, I saw that Sören had jibed straight after the mark and had nearly passed me, going low. I was now going high and fast. Scaringly fast and I went into the drink before the mark.

Sören (photo) passed, I had trouble to upright the boat. I was getting cold and had a lack of energy from the exhausting day. The next beat I did not sail at my best anymore. I zig-zagged a lot on the next downwind, wanted to be lapped by Sven to be able to sail home with the last bit of energy. Sven was not sailing at his best either. It took a long while until he lapped me. Grand Prix finishes in the Moth class do allow to finish after being lapped. A bit harder for the race committee to score but it keeps waiting times short. Sven´s boat had a problem which we later saw. The rigging was slack. He nursed it around the course, he did not want to give in though he was already the winner of the regatta. What a great sportsman he is. 20 years in the Moth and if you call a good regatta, he is there. We had a great get-together with hot drinks and beverage after the race. Well prepared by Kerstin. Again a big thank you. Well appreciated.

The next day started with white car roofs, frozen windows and boat covers, but the sun was out. Blue sky but no wind at all. We decided at around 11 o´clock to call it a day and did the price giving and usual speeches. The top four competitors (truly international with competitors from Germany and Denmark) went away with shirts or carbon cloth and epoxy adhesive from www.CTMat.de, the sponsor of this event. Everyone wants to come back to sail on the Schleifjord for another regatta. This Moth blog now hopefully rolls into a DN ice sailing blog. Winter is coming soon.
Photo credit: Michael von Forstner

Will I be last in the upcoming Moth EC?

it is a rainy day today in Schleswig, Germany and I gathered through the list of the 45 participants for the Moth EURO coming up soon in Horsens DK. see also: Moth Euro Entry List. Going through this list of famous, fast and furious competitors my mind is wandering to the slower end of participants, making up a list of the "not so fast" sailors. In stark contrast to Scott B´s list about "would be" World Championship results. He starts from the top and is also able through personnel knowledge of competitors and by reading their websites, to analyze the results. I do mostly know the sailors via reports, their websites or because they have past me in nano seconds during Kiel Week last year. Some had lapped me. I was fighting for speed and height and tacking and jibing without capsizing. Some things have changed a bit. I felt comfortable on the boat with speed until last Sunday, when the bloody centerboard rod broke. I am installing a new one of course but my spare parts box got lost and some of the tiny little things, which make the difference do not fit well at present. I have a gap! At the bottom of the centerboard when in high speed mode. And the weather is not cooperating to give it a try and trying for adjustments when necessary.

Anyway the theme here is a list of finishers from the bottom up. There are a small bunch of guys whom I think I can beat. So, to become last is no option. I guess Felix will be last due to less time in the boat much time on the plane, than comes Gerold, who lives too far from the water. (sorry guys!) and the fight will be for them with maybe one or two Dutch guys. Depends on the number of break downs. Frederik and Michael might be beatable and if Burkh is not sorting his yellow raptor out, he will end up there too. If he gets good help from Adam, he is up in the top 20 and I will not see him other than on the startline. Hey, this starts to become some fun. Ole might be beatable and than I will have a good fight with Harald and Soeren as usual through our last regattas. Guess we will end up in the mid thirties if all signed competitors are showing up on the startline. What do you guys think? Hope nobody gets offended. This is all for fun and we are all sailing the Moth because we just like it. Looking forward to meet with some new Mothies. Smooth sailing!

This one, I cannot believe!

In my morning mail today I got a letter from Roland Gäbler, German Tornado Sailor, (see picture) who has an Olympic Campaign underway for China 2008. Will it be his 4th Olympic participation if he manages it? He has got a Bronze, lucky him. What puzzled me in his letter is the criteria set by the German Sailing Association (DSV) for the Tornado Class to qualify for the one berth available. Actually we have three hot shots in Germany and the Tornado class had always been a hotly contested class. What I find strange this year in the elimination trial is the following:

Our German sailors have to participate in a regatta in New Zealand in February, have to sail one in March in Spain (Mallorca) and another one in April in France, Hyeres. All in the year 2008 of course. Just think about the logistics involved. The travelling. The Money needed up front. Than you easily catch a flu in the aeroplane. The jet-leg, which sometimes last longer in the body than you might believe. (Mmh, I heavily suggest the use of salt-water-spray for the nose to help avoid any such illness or bad feelings). Personally I think that this is not a good plan by DSV but my days are over and things have changed dramatic over the last years. We used to sail on the River Elbe. More hours in the boat, less travelling. Not that I got close to a berth in the ´76 Olympic in the FD class. Just a runner up. There were some better sailors like me. The Diesch brothers, the König brothers, the Batzill cousins. Silver and Bronze medal Winner winner Ulli Libor tried it again. Jörg and Eckard Diesch won Gold in Kingston. Rodney Pattison came second. I will never forget this as I had sailed together with Jörg and with Rodney. With Rodney on his Endurance 35, but that is another story. Nevertheless, I am wishing Roland fair wind and smooth sailing. May the best Team win the elimination trials.

Taking Off...

Just wanted to check the weather via the homepage of my local sailing club, Schlei-Segel-Club, who have a good link to the local weather station. Uhhps, I came across some nice shots of myself on the Bladerider. Someone must have taken these during my last Bladerider practice session. They named it: " Abgehoben" which could be translated into "taking off". Hompepage Schlei Segel Club And YEAH! that´s what I want to do today after doing some homework around the house. Sun is shinning, Bft. 4 at present, gusting from the north, but later shifting into the west. See you out there!

Moth Adventures

Blogging had been quiet at the Moth front with our Bladerider, though it seems that at present I am the only one to put energy into getting some hours on the boat, GER-3170, lately. Let me sum up the last adventures. The picture shows me on my first day out. Style has improved a lot since than... ;-))

Last week on Wednesday evening there appeared a good chance for sailing though it was already around 18.00h but the breeze was cooperating. Nice 8-10kn of wind on my homewater (if there is such). I blasted around on foils, "impressing" my sailing friends who were doing the "beer can race". Lot´s of fun. Big grin. Of course I tried to sail the race as well but did not want to get into their way as capsizing the Moth is still happening in the worst moments with me. There had been a Europe dinghy and a Formula Board in the fleet of normally X-99s, X-79s, H-boats, Folkboats and others. Going to windward, not as high as the bigger boats and falling into their wind shadows did hurt. Capsizing of course. I avoided the crowded mark rounding and tried to set myself up for a nice downwind run. Got flying but could not make good VMG to leeward. Lowrider jibing still critical and afterwards nearly going into the wind to get flying did not help either. The Formula Board was long gone as well as the fleet under spinnaker. Some lulls cost me more distance and I was neck to neck with the Europe. The wind had dropped and I could not even sail as low and fast as young Adrian did. My lowriding ability not being good enough to match him. I stayed off the race course got back were there was more wind due to the impacting effect on the narrow and blasted around on foils. 16-18kn on the Velocitek not being a problem. Practising my downwind skills.

I went out again on the Thursday full of energy from the day before but it was windy and shifty, wind from the North over the narrow and the fun factor was nearly down to zero. I am not yet able to handle the gusts. I limped home, my ego was broken for the evening due to the many capsizes.

Wednesday evening this week I gave it another try. Fully motivated it was a nice evening out there with some tacks and jibes but all maneuvers need much, much more improvement. I am very grateful for the tips from Koos ( http://internationalmoth.wordpress.com/) as usual. He writes it up in such a nice way. I wasn´t ready to cope with the downwind speed of the beer can racers again as I did not get the BR flying in the dying evening breeze. With maybe 20kg less weight it could have been possible but than, being 190cm tall, I already have to watch to keep a certain weight instead of loosing more. Nevertheless in the narrow I met with my regular Bull crew, Jan, who was sailing his 14 (footer dinghy) and there were times when I could cope with his upwind speed, just about. But it got late already, the breeze died and I had to sail home. Downwind it was another slow go. I undid the wand to increase speed a bit. Being alone at the club and wanting to take the daggerboard out of the boat it was impossible. Really impossible. Some sand must have got in between the very narrow and fitting box. I had to strip the rig from the boat in the water and had to carry the boat with centerboard/foil ashore, where I laid it upside down on the cover into the club. It was getting dark and I had promised to do some household work before going out sailing. Bloody me. Lot´s of water and wash lotion helped me to get the board out next day and I can only recommend to wash or splash water into the slot before attaching the boards. As with any dinghy...I know! Stupid me.

Yesterday I went out again for an hour of nice foiling. I met the youngsters in their 29ers and could match their speed up-and downwind, as long as I was able to foil. Nice! My shoulder gave me problems after some tough hiking (why the shoulder?) and Veel-heel but it was another "happy" evening. The youngsters wanted to give the BR a try but due to the maintenance work which has to be done afterwards, especially when newbies are sailing the boat and maybe hitting some underwater object in the area, I am not fond of this idea at present. It might change with time. Thinking back, nobody had ever let me have a go e.g. on his DN iceboat or his FD and I had to work hard to buy myself into it in my mid twenties. Times have changed and these 17 years old, sailing a club 29er, are just used to ask for (and get?) everything and I hope that they are also used to accept a NO.

25. Schifffahrtsregatta - what an event!

The Schifffahrtsregatta had been sailed for the 25th time this year and the organisers promised a unique event to celebrate not only the anniversary but also Peter Gast, the founder and organiser of this private event. Yes a private event, not organized by a sailing club or other organisation but by Peter Gast and his employees in his shipping company. It is supposed to be a friendly event between people working in shipping and banking. The entry list reads like the international "who is who" in shipping and ship financing. People from 15 nations took part as far away as from China. The regatta is held annually at the first weekend in September and the waiting list for participants is long. This year the promoters allowed 140 yachts to take part. Famous German Racing Yachts like "Outsider", UCA and others came to sail and celebrate. In the evening abt 1450 people, all dressed up in dark jackets, many with the odd Cowes trousers took part in the traditional walk through the village of Aeroskøbing on the beautiful island of Åro in the south of Denmark.

The evening before the start usually sees big parties in various locations along the banks of the Schlei. Kappeln and Maasholm are in the center of action and the marinas are fully packed with all the beautiful yachts, ranging from many Swans to X-Yachts, Dehler, HANSE, Baltic and other manufacturers who have cruiser/racers in their program. This time there was also a "classic division" as some ship owners keep beautiful classics on the water.

Nevertheless all the partying and get together for people from the same trade usually finds an end on the Friday night around midnight as the regatta, which usually is around 30sm, can be strenuous. And the first start takes place exactly at 09.00h out on the Baltic Sea with a short windward leg and than around some buoys or markers. I wanted to track the course to show you here (and to learn how to do it in Google Earth) but forgot at home to change the "road" chip into the "sea" chip in my Garmin GPS. It was our turn in the IMS group B to have the third start. With four guests on board we were a bit overloaded on the 36 footer with eight people and Kerstin had a handful to organize them. We managed the start quite well but I lost track about my strategic plan. Wanted to tack early as the course was not laid even but got sucked behind a bigger Swan who sailed us out to the left, overstanding the mark by "miles". A tight reach with a 110 percent Jib is not the best course, though we do a lot of barberhauling (out) but boats with big headsails have a clear advantage. Our goal was set on beating a friend on his much modified Swan 48, usually the winner in this IMS class. Whilst he and others sailed a leebow, (?) we tried to catch more breeze with a windward curve and managed to stay not too far away from the leaders in our group. A 6sm upwind put us back into contact and than a long reach with some dying breeze. We hoisted our Code Zero sail which works nice from 45° to 90° apparent wind and were able to pass the Swan and came very close to a nice 40 footer were an old rival of mine from the H-Boat times did sail on.

The wind shifted to the right, we had to hoist the Jib and by barberhauling it we broke the Frederiksen car off from the track. I haven´t seen this before on any boat but two strong guys winching the ropes in managed it. Oh dear, I should have given better and more precise instructions. The provisional repair involved three people on the foredeck with different meanings about how to do it and at the end our 40 footer friends had done a horizon job on us. The repair could not be made on board and we rigged some lines to just pull in the sheet a bit. At the next turning point we could hoist the spinnaker and tried to get some meters back which was rather difficult. We were only able to etch away from the Swan due to finding better pressure closer to the shore. at the end we only managed an 11th out of 14 boats. Results can be found on: http://www.svaoe.de/Archiv2007/schifffahrtsregatta.html. My boat is still "Samantha" the Dehler 36db though my charter had put his name in as skipper. He is the one who brings in the invitation to this much admired regatta.

The party in the evening was outstanding. Illuminated tents, fine dishes and Food, Drinks, Speeches, the various Video clips from past and present, the Music, the Fireworks and the atmosphere. Can you imagine that the organisers had to bring 28 trucksloads to the Danish island where the reguar ferry can only carry three 35ts trucks at a time. All this let you forget that you said to yourself in the moments of trouble and braking parts on your own boat: never again on my boat.

The next day the wind had increased to Bft 6-7 right in the eye and it was a long way home against the wind. Starting with full main we ended up in second reef, all people on board a bit wet and tired but happy from a great weekend. See you again at Schifffahrtsregatta 2008.

Picture 1 shows us leaving the harbour of Åroskøbing. Pic 2 the procession of boats out of the Schlei--Fjord and Pic 3 the tugboat changed into regatta duties.