The End of the Winter...5 days of sailing

It had been planned for a long time. To start the sailing season with a little bit of Foiler Mothing down at the Med. At first we wanted to meet with friends at the Easter week but due to a very early Easter holiday this year, we delayed this until the beginning of April and it happened that the boatbuilding of our new Moth by Felix had been progressed to a near finish of the project.

The trip took about 20 hours on the road. When we arrived in Bormes des Mimosas (le Lavandou) it was sunny with a strong offshore wind. Blue sky and a nice temperature wetted my appetite for some “flying hours” with the Bladerider. I should have known better…

On Sunday the 6th it was blowing cats and dogs and even worth it was a strong offshore wind. White caps appeared not far from the shore. Waiting for our friends was disrupted by a call from Felix being only about 2 1/2 hours away: “We have a flat tyre. Not one. It is a twin tyre in the back and we cannot get a replacement on the Sunday. We will get there on Monday”.

Some sightseeing into the local boatyard and marina did not bring much satisfaction as most of the boats moored there had been white plastic boats from the “well known sources”. Oh well, yes there were a couple of boats on the hardstand, more than 50 foot long and these boats featured double rudder blades. Boats which I hadn´t seen before. Not the typical Open50 or Open60 style boats. More cruising orientated, but with a wide stern. Thus the twin rudders.

It had offshore wind again on Monday. But there was much to do with the newly arrived boats. To look and to discuss and to assemble. Felix had 3 Moths on the roof of the Mobilhome. His old Lowrider and two newly built boats, mostly designed by himself with a modified “Schenk” hull. After much discussion and scraping parts and things we came to the conclusion to just assemble one of his new boats. The “Orange”, as it was called immediately by Kerstin and him. Due to the colourful bow section I think.

Oh yes, and I was in the water for about 45 minutes as you can see from the photo on the right. Beautiful blue sky. Offshore wind. Whitecaps in the back. Always a bit scared that something might break or that I would loose the boat. Or ending up in “Africa” due to the offshore breeze. From my windsurfing days I remembered that it was not wise to take this risk and I packed it in. Sloopy fitness also played a role due to the capsizes in the very gusty conditions. But it had been the first day on the water. Should set up my counter as Tillerman did. More about the sailing within the next days.

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.

Remembering the past and looking out to Kieler Woche

With absolutely no opportunity to go sailing (due to weather conditions) there are moments when reflecting about the past comes into my mind. This happened when I came across the picture of this beautiful ship, "Cap San Diego". She is an oldtimer, a so called banana ship. A sleek looking freighter which had been owned by the Hamburg Süd Shipping company, who had a series of those ships running mostly between South America and Hamburg. The cooling lockers full of bananas and other fruits. I worked as a shipbroker agent in those days and strolling around the harbour had been a daily routine in my job. As a waterclerk I had to be the first to enter the incoming ships, together with emigration, customs and police. Most times with a travel case full of letters for the crew and a briefcase with loads of cash for the captain to pay out to his crew for some enjoyable days on the shores of Hamburg. The Reeperbahn comes into my mind, but I leave these imaginations for your own fantasies.

This is all long gone but I know there are ship lovers here as my regular readers and this photo of the good ship "Cap San Diego" is dedicated to them. The ship had been docked for several years in Hamburg, being used as a kind of living museum but this year it will appear during Kieler Woche. Sailing down the river Elbe again. Going into the Kiel Canal through the gates will be sight to watch for shipspotters. Knowing that the ship is coming to Kiel "bridges" nicely to my fellow Mothies, who are also reading here. (no progress yet with my foiling gybes due to no sailing at all) The Moth class is an invitational class this year in the famous Kieler Woche and some really good sailors have already shown their interest. They like to sail Kiel Week as a training for the upcoming Worlds in Weymouthin July. Welcome Mothies, I´ll be there at Kiel. GER-3170.

Underwhelming - The DN World Championship

Due to a massive work load in the company and commitment to my folks I have put the blogging a bit on the side. Also my regular readers must have noticed that the DN iceboating (which actually pulled the trigger to start this blog) has not happened as in the years before. May it be global warming or just bad luck that one low after the other is running over the north of Europe from the Irish sea without giving the Siberian high a chance to settle. Anyway I had been asked by a colleague from England, who visited my company in my absent and who gave a well received lecture, to tell him about. The following is a mail which I had sent to him on Monday which should give you the story:

Thanks for our mail. Now that you are asking me about the sailing: I learned a new word yesterday: Underwhelming! Yes it was! (Sorry Scott, I ripped it from your blog)
The ice on Lake Lipno in the Czech Republic was good. The lake is on 800m altitude and big. The river Moldau is feeding this reservoir. We had perfect weather. Abt. 200 participants. 4 groups with nearly 50 sailors each. A > D group with qualifiers from D upwards. I am fixed at the gold group due to my actual ranking of 13th.

At practise day I bent my steering post due to running into a crack in the ice on the way “home”. Only pushing the boat across the crack but the boat fully loaded with 2 extra sails and 9 spare runners and toolbox had a bit of momentum. (You never know exactly which runners to use as the conditions are constantly changing from morning over midday and mostly freezing again in the afternoon) I had to change to my brand new spare boat (should have a spare steering post but did not.... repair was not possible at the time) which I have not sailed much and never during races. In the first race, I came very, very, very last. 2nd race: Very, very last. 3rd race: Very last. Frustrating. Than started to see some light after more and heavy tuning than in the races before (completely different to my old boat as I found out the new one is a very stiff hull) In the fifth race, fighting in the middle of the fleet, the sheet jammed in one of the Harken blocks, upwind at about 60km/h. I was able to avoid an accident with the first boats sailing downwind at around 100km/h, but could not finish the race. That was the WC. In hindsight I must say that a conversation with former World Champion Ron Sherry, US-44, who came to me to ask “what about me being so dramatically slow”, helped sorting out my boat and more important my “head”. Ron gave me the important tipps for better tuning the stiff boat. He actually asked, how the boat felt, how it behaved and so on. It made me think at least in a positive direction, away from frustration. The stiff boat (hull) needed everything a bit loose. And that worked.

After that we have started our European Championship. I started this new event quite good, ranking 21st after 3 races. Due to the changing weather (abt. 12°C and other circumstances, my friend and I decided to go home. With us about 1/4th of the participants. The PRO and his race committee found good ice around the corner where the river Moldau did not destroy the former good ice from the bottom up as it happened where we were staying on the camping site. So I missed a good opportunity to gain some valid ranking points and it is possible that I have to start in the Silver fleet next time to try and qualify myself for gold again. One American friend, Matt Strubble, US-183 (also an A-Cat sailor) had an outstanding season. 2008 North American Champion, World Champion and European Champion. No brake downs on his boat. Plain good sailing and preparations. Tough to do this in Europe but thanks to some German friends they have access to a complete workshop after landing in Germany and before the DN show begins somewhere in Northern Europe. 3 US boats broke their hulls from accidents and we had a really good session during the night glueing it all together with SP106 and the repair kits. They call me Mr. Epoxy cause I am always carrying SP products with me. Here are some photos taken by a friend: http://www.eissegeln.de/galerie/images/wcec2008-2/index.htm

Championship is on

We are dwn here at Lake Lipno. 182 sailors from 15 Nations. Beautiful weather but a lack of wind. Today the first qualifier for the "D" fleet had been sailed. "C" fleet hat been abonded. Tommorow we will have 7m/sec and we do hope that the Race committee will find a bigger area than today otherwise I expect a demolution derby on the small course.
I myself have not raced officially today but did a lot of sailing and on the way home I pushed the boat into a crack and have bend the steering. Our good friend Peter G-868 borrowed me his spare steering and my co-driver Henning, G-499 drilled an 8mm hole free of hand with a "not-so-good driller". Nice job.
Something my dear friends might be interested: There is no such "Koch-Duell" as our Gourmet cook, Krogo, G-749 had to stay home due to a big, I say BIG flue. He is staying in bed and calling everyday to ask for weather.
OK, Niklas and some others want to look up the weather for tommorow. Have to stop the reporting on this borrowed computer. bye for now.

All my DN friends are sitting in the starting blocks

You might wonder why this sailing blog is so empty. Yes, there is nothing to report. My dear Bavarian DN friends are sailing nearly every weekend on small lakes but they are not having any regattas as the lakes are too small for fleets of abt 30 participants upwards. Whilst in the south of Germany they having freezing temperatures all the time, we in the north have the opposite. Temperatures around 5°C. Still the water being too cold for me to go Mothing. To help you to understand our iceboating and the difficulty to find a location for abt. 200 (!) participants from all the world (The US boys are flying in to Frankfurt today) others are sitting with their equipment stacked up on cars or in trailers. I had started to pack up the Van last night. Unfortunately my partner has some sad family responsibilities and I am looking for a co-driver. Might have to talk again with K. who is so occupied with some interesting projects. Anyway, please read the following if you are interested. Our Pres has currently made a round trip from Vienna, via Sweden to Finland and now back to Lake Lipno, Czech Republic, close to home. I just got a phone call from my spies that the lake down there has got 20cm of black ice (kernel) with a light snow slush cover. M best guess is that we are seeing al our iceboat friends from abt. 17 nations for the World Championship 2008 at Lake Lipno. Stay tuned.

edited: Thanks Niklas, of course 200 participants. A logistical nightmare.

Message from Niklas, the President, written last night.

Dear friends,
now I'm sitting on a ferry again.
Some people ask if I became a "Fähroholic"

Today I have been in Finland and had a look on Lappalan Järvi. Ice conditions there are not that what I would love to have for WC 2008 or EC 2008.

Before starting to that lake I had several phone calls to Stan Macur, Chris Williams, and other reliable informing persons and we realised that 12cm on lake Siemianowka won't be thick enough. Especially if you see weatherforecast with cold and snow together. Snow will bring some isolation and will avoid the growing of the ice.

Anyhow, I have been following (in secret) the last days Lipno. Before I started from Vienna I got information that ice there is too bad and unsafe. But after having seen that there has been every night about -6°C to -9°C I asked Sebastian Obermaier and Friedl Liese to go there and to check the ice. (Thanks for doing that so fast !)

After having got some informations I decided to leave Helsinki and to go with Superfast to Rostock. I plan to be on Lipno on Thursday morning and I hope that I can make a final decision on Thursday noon - early afternoon.

The decision will be (from the point of view now !) Sandviken (Sweden) or Lipno (Czech Republic).

THIS IS NOT A FINAL DECISION !!!!!!!!!!!

THINK ICE

Water, water but not everywhere....

Having been quiet over the last weeks, no weekend reports means that there has not been any DN sailing for me. The main reason is the warm weather. January here in the north of Germany had an average of 7°C. Much too warm to freeze over the lakes and way too cold to go out in the Moth.

I do not remember such a bad January of iceboat activities. In former years I had always been driven to Sweden, one year for two to three weekends to Hungary and in another year to the Czech Republic where we had been invited to race and when the conditions at home were not any good. And it had always been a pleasure to go, to be on the move. Something must hold me back which I have not yet deeply analysed. The prospects for this weekend are also not looking good, though my DN friends and I are programmed to go somewhere. 3 man in a Van.

Anyway the weekends at home gave me lot´s of opportunity to check my gear. Runner alignment is all important and I have not done this for 3 years. Now everything looked a bit worn and rightly I spend some time in the workshop. One thing is for sure: The world championship 2008 will happen in Europe. In the middle of February it is supposed to be sailed in Poland. If not possible in Sweden or Estonia. Our Estonian friends have not been sailing this season for lack of ice. The Polish iceboaters have been out every weekend since Christmas, only now the ice is fading a bit and this upcoming weekend they will sail their national DN Championship right at the Russian border, deep in Poland. (way too far for me for a weekend trip) The Swedish friends are a bit laid back. The weekend fleets decreased from about 60 to 16 boats on the starting line lately. They have to travel far north at present.

The two pictures attached are telling a little story. The first one with the bit of ice on the reed had been taken in the first week of January. It gave us hope! The picture below is from the same vantage point taken last weekend. Most of the water is gone. A heavy storm from the south-west blew out the water from the Schlei Fjord. Amazing. I had not seen this before though I live here since ten years. I was not able to read at the monitoring station due to dirt but I guess it had been 2,5m lower than normal. It was possible to walk to the birds island.

The Devil´s Playground?
Before I forget, our American iceboat friends: are thinking about a crazy event with DN iceboats. Look at: http://www.iceboating.net/node/2328. I do not want to discuss this in depth as it is mainly against my philosophy about this sport. We do not want spectators as it is dangerous for them. We do not need to party on the ice as we can and we are doing it afterwards. You cannot predict the place nor the conditions for such an ambitious project due to the weather. It ain´t no beach volleyball. But maybe I am getting old.

Time is flying

Back in the office again since 2nd of January I barely find the time to reflect on the Christmas holiday which brought some excellent iceboating with it. But let´s start from the beginning.

The questions to any avid DN iceboater here in Germany for the X-mas holidays is always: To move North or South. Very seldom we have frozen lakes around in Germany but the winter has arrived in the North, in Sweden, Norway and Finland and funny enough, in the South, in Austria and Italy. Yes, the north of Italy of course. To collect weather information is your first goal Than messaging with friends. This year, our friends Anja and Holger had already travelled at Dec 21st and were already sailing in Sweden, north of Stockholm. I checked weather at Dec., 23rd and after the last day of work in 2007 reflected about the possibilities and necessities. This happened around 22.00h in the bathtub. I was tired of the grey sky and short daylight, which in Sweden lasts only 6 hours at this time of the year. The decision was easy this year for Lake Rescia in Italy. The big reservoir was frozen all over and there had been no snow reports for the next couple days.

Packing up the Van on 24th, doing the family commitments in the evening and on the 25th (the duck was excellent, thanks Carmen!) we moved on in the evening and arrived at the destination around noon on the 26th. What a sight! There was black ice and wind and the sun was out above the mountains.

This had been the settings for the next 5 days. OK, there was only light wind on 2 days but the other days we had about 5-8 m/sec. Very little snow on the last two days on the ice. Everyday we did lot´s and lot´s of practise races on a long course. I tried to figure out which of my masts are going well this year. We did sail the Bavarian Championship and I was happy to hand over the price to my friend the "Candyman" who now has the burden to bring it (a very big and heavy Harken block) to the ice everytime we are sailing, otherwise he has to pay a round. I came fourth in this regatta. Not a brilliant result but seeing it in the light of "no preparations" before leaving, it was OK for me. I will start working on my gear now and hope to find more speed in the upcoming season.

Anybody who wants to read my race report in German language, please go to: www.eissegeln.de and look in the menu under DN Yacht.

Agenda to the photos:
1st one shows the Lake on our arrival from the village down.
2nd one shows the early morning view from the Van on the last day.
3rd one shows part of the startline set up.

Look Mama, it starts freezing

It is the iceboating which started me blogging nearly two years ago. And I started my blog with a beautiful picture from Lake Rescia. (see December 2005) Much has happened in the meantime but nothing gets me as excited, as black ice in the beginning of the season.

Yesterday I got a message from one of my DN buddies from the South of Germany. He had been looking up some Webcams and found the first frozen lake. Beautiful black ice on the Haidersee in the North of Italy. Man, had I been nervous. My DN gear is not prepared yet and the Bavarians want to go practicing on the small lake over the weekend. They want the(ir) title back. I am the current Bavarian Champion and I should at least defend the title which hasen´t been possible the last two season due to lack of ice or wind. To come and defend is only fair and sportsmanlike. A pity that I did not know about blogging when I won the Championship on Lake Rescia (Reschensee). It had been a memorable series with strong wind and black ice. I think I wetted my pants on the downwind during the first race but after that, I had been really fast and unbeatable. Lake Rescia is a beautiful lake in the triangle of Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Skiing is also an option as the lake is at 1400m above sea level and it is not far to reach the glacier or snow covered ski areas by lift.

The lake has normally some thermal wind around 14-18kn but it seems that the wind does not have as much pressure as it would have on sea level. Some people talk about less molecule in the air up high. Anyone out there who can share some light on this?

Not a good month for sailing but busy on the boatshows.

Everyone in the northern hemisphere will know that the last two month of the year are no good for sailing. Instead they are good for business issues and as I had two boatshows to attend, I have not missed a beat on the water.

hanseboat show in Hamburg at the end of October had been pretty busy for us and there was not much time to look around on the new, super sized fairground. There are many sailmakers as well as all the dealers for the equipment you want to have. It seems to me that the time for metal shackles is gone on the raceboats and one must have the rope shackles. So, instead of strolling around I went straight for the Dimension/Polyant booth to try and discuss my 4D mainsail for the Bull which is way too heavy in my opinion. Ordered last year and supplied via my local sailmaker, who did the finishing work, like clew eyes, reef and battens the sail is so strong and heavy that I think it will suit well a 5-6.000kg IMS class 2 boat instead of a 1.000kg light weight Sportsboat. It looks like they will try for a lighter membrane sail for me. At least their boss was talking to me.

Two boats had been of interest to me. Not that I could afford to purchase one of them but the standard of quality and the idea behind them had me have a proper look at them. The smaller one, the Club Swan42 is a nice and well sorted out boat with a neat interieur. Just what you need for a cruise in the Baltic Sea or around the Long Island Sound and nothing else. Tidy looks. The whole lot is coming for 411K (Euros of course). And I forgot to ask if the sails are included in this shocking sum.

The other boat had been the Marten 49. What a nice piece of carbon boat that is. I had the pleasure that Steve Marten himself was proudly showing me the anchor locker and the accessible compartment behind that. All finished in varnished carbon and one could see the expert workmanship and the tidy engineering which went into this all composite boat. Very friendly people on the stand let everyone in to look around and I heart many stupid comments inside the boat from the folks who do not know much about this sort of yacht. This of course is usual on boatshows and I could never work as a salesman for boats on show. Interestingly on the boatshow opening party I heart a nice story on my table from one of the guys who had just delivered a German owned Marten 49 from Kiel to the Med. He said that they were 6 men, no one under 70 years old and the boys enjoyed it very much. Good seamen these guys and they must have had a blast. Something to look forward to.

There had been a good dinghy display from Opti´s, Lasers to the RS range and the Bladerider Moth and also the nice looking national dinghies from the local yards. Varnished Gabun decks are always getting my attention and this year I admired the PIRAT, the KORSAR and FINN Dinghy. Of course the STAR had also been presented. It has a strong following in Germany like the DRAGON class. OK, no I do not want to drag myself into a discussion about the latest ISAF decisions. Many others are doing this. And I only hope that all the will and power of the folks will be heart next year and that the Olympic fleet will be of more modern and different equipment from various yards around the world. I like to quote Paul Henderson here:
quote
The final vote is next year in November and done by 39 Council Members. Council is the only committee of ISAF where alternates are allowed. Ask your National delegates why they voted the way they did and make them accountable for their actions. The ISAF process is open and transparent and allows a reassessment of the selections to be finalized next year when the classes will be set in concrete.
unquote

Getting into Wintermode, but elsewhere they are sailing...

Drei Tage Eis kratzen am Morgen. Wird das ein guter DN Winter?

Ich habe selbst keine seglerischen Aktivitäten geplant in den nächsten Wochen. Um mich "fit" zu halten, lese ich natürlich einiges über das Regattasegeln. Stolpere heute morgen über bemerkenswerte Ergebnisse in der 505er Klasse. Nordamerikanische Meisterschaften. Immer sehr stark besetzt und darum freue ich mich über folgende Platzierungen: Boris Hermann/Kleiner segelten auf Platz 2. Tom Gosch/Mc Keige auf Platz 6 und Hasso Plattner/Alarie auf Platz 13. Glückwunsch! Die "Jungs" müssen Spaß gehabt haben in Annapolis.

Motten Meisterschaft, Report

Mit Spannung erwartet wurde die Mottenmeisterschaft in Bad Zwischenahn. Einige Neuzugänge, wie Peter und ich auf Bladerider (GER-3170), dazu ex Spitzensegler Carlo aus der 470er Klasse und natürlich auch alte Hasen hatten sich für die Bestenermittlung 2007 im ZSK angemeldet. 27 Teilnehmer in der Motten Klasse. Foiler und Lowrider hielten sich in etwa die Waage. Einige gewagte Umbauten waren zu sehen. Was noch nicht ganz fertig war wurde fachmännisch von den Kollegen diskutiert und entsprechende Hilfe wurde angeboten. Für einen Neu-Einsteiger eine tolle Gemeinschaft. Hat schon was, ne Motte zu segeln.

Ich hatte kurzfristig auf einen freien Bootstrailer verladen, bin nicht sicher, ob mir das Ding vom Dach des Womos fliegen würde. Ist ja schon ein Bladerider von der Golden Gate Bridge geflogen... Der Aufbau am Samstag klappte problemlos, leider war die Slipanlage ein wenig eng. 420er und Motties gleichzeitig, das konnte nicht gut gehen. Die umsichtige Wettfahrtleitung hatte die Starts zwar zeitlich entzerrt aber wer die Szene kennt, die ungeduldige Jugend, dazu bei den 420ern zum Teil die ehrgeizigen Eltern im Hintergrund, der kann sich denken, was beim slippen los war.

Tja, und leider lies der Wind zu wünschen übrig. Es fächerten kleinere Böen um die 1-2 Bft über den wunderschön gelegenen See. Für Motties nicht gerade ideal. Luvkenterungen eingeschlossen. Natürlich gibt es Segler, die das Thema Leichtwind beherrschen. Leute wie Philipp Meurer oder Harald Steiner. Nur erste und zweite Plätze. Sehr gekonnt. Alle Achtung! Ich selbst habe wenig von ihnen gesehen. Bohrte in der ersten Wettfahrt, die zum Glück abgekürzt wurde, auf Platz 18 herum. Die Bladerider Kollegen Peter (8ter) und Carlo (6ter) zeigten, daß es besser geht. Vielleicht hatten Sie keinen Rückwärts-Ausflug dabei wie ich und schätzten die Anlegelinien besser ein. Am Speed hat es sicherlich nicht gelegen. Der war am Start und kurz danach recht gut. Bis zur ersten Wende. Ab da ging es nur noch abwärts bei mir. Nach der ersten Wettfahrt ging vom Wind her nichts mehr. Einige Stunden mehr sind auf dem Boot notwendig um sich zu verbessern.

Abends fand die Jahreshauptversammlung in sehr lockerer Atmosphäre statt. Wahlen, Kassensturz und das ganze bürokratische Zeugs wurden schnell und professionell von Christian abgearbeitet und man widmete sich netteren und aktuellen Themen und löste die Versammlung dann auch kurz nach Mitternacht auf. Es sollte ja mehr Wind geben am nächsten Tag.

Sonntag kam zunächst auch ein Lüftchen zustande, was einigen Foilern schon mal raumschots ein Fluggefühl ermöglichte und den Lowridern vermutlich ein flaues Gefühl bescherte. Es wurde auch kurz am Start gefoilert, dann brach der Wind ein um dann nochmal in der Böe des Tages kurz aufzuflackern. Ich hatte einen Bombenstart, niemand über mir, die in Lee weit genug weg. Es lief. Dann brach ich ein, verhedderte mich ein wenig aber konnte mich schnell fangen und hielt mit den vorderen Seglern mit. Dann die vorher schon erwähnte Böe. Es ging ab. Ich wollte noch mehr rausholen und verlor die Schot als ich voll im Flug war. Sofort tauchte der Luvflügel ein, ich ging fast unter, konnte mich aber im letzten Moment noch auf die Plattform retten. Nur stand ich fast im Wind und bis es weiter ging, war das Gros des Feldes an mir vorbei. Mit dem Wind war es auch vorbei und man bewegte sich nur noch schaukelnder Weise. Rhythmische Gleichgewichtsstörungen helfen. Nach einer Runde, ich hatte mich gerade an einige Erzrivalen, die wie ich auf den letzten Plätzen kämpften, dank nicht erkannter Winddreher herangearbeitet, gaben die Kollegen auf. Was bei mir auch so einen Impuls auslöste und ich driftete ebenfalls Richtung Club. Das war vielleicht nicht optimal denn es gab noch einen Drifter. Eine dritte Wettfahrt. Nur kurz aber effektiv für die Wertung. Ich reiste ab, bevor die Veranstaltung durch war. Hatte noch genug zu Hause zu tun. Die Messe wartet. Wer Ergebnisse schauen möchte, hier der Link: http://www.seglerinfo.de/cgi-bin/ergebnis07.cgi?97007101. Mit Sicherheit werde ich im nächsten Jahr bei der einen oder anderen Regatta dabei sein. Mit den Motten-Jungs hat es richtig Spass gemacht. Und das segeln mit dem Teil macht so einen ungeheuren Spass, bei Wind sogar süchtig. Was will man mehr vom Segelsport.

Motten Meisterschaft

27 Motten in Bad Zwischenahn. Wenig bis kein Wind. Nette Leute getroffen. Bericht folgt.

Koos(Dutch Mothie) will write a report in English language on his website. My report will be in German language and follow later.

Counting down...

Counting down the hours like Koos,(Dutch Mothie, Koos)who said it all in a nice piece of text. Wanted to hit the road now for the 4-5 hours drive. Trouble is there are big traffic jams in front of the River Elbe tube at present. Just got a call that the queue is abt. 15km long. Better surfing the web for speed tips (on the Moth) instead of queuing up with all those holiday makers. Autumn school holiday is what causes this problem. Check in again next week for the regatta report from Koos and the one from myself. Koos, who wants to achieve a good result due to his long time Mothing (and recently jumping on to the Foiler Moth) and I will try not to come last due to only Foiler Mothing a couple of days sofar.

And by the way: Found interesting Moth news from Dubai. (Dubai Mothie, Chris) Chris hasen´t got his Bladerider Moth yet, he is anxiously waiting. Read about the Dubai sailing, which during our European winter is one of the best venues to go. If only there would not be such high shipping costs and waiting lists for shipping space due to the massive developments going on in the UAE.

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.

Laser Regatta, Schleswiger Stadtmeisterschaft

Well, it´s already been a week ago since we have sailed our yearly LASERV „Stadtmeisterschaft“. A regatta privately organised by the local sailmakers, Ger and Roger. HOLM Segelmacher. It happens once a year, always on the Sunday after the Blue Ribbon race from the local Club. The Blue Ribbon had to be cancelled due to the flood on Friday. The whole club and downstairs facilities had been flooded and were full of mud. You might have seen the pictures on my last blog entry. Anyway on Sunday the water had lowered enough to rig the boats and to get on with the business of sailing. PRO Henning had called for a minimum of four races with three upwind and downwind legs. 22 competitors, mostly from the region of North Germany, and some are only bringing their boats out for this regatta as I do with a chartered boat. As usual I had promised myself last year, when not feeling really comfortable in the boat (the fridge door) to give practise a priority this year before the regatta. But as usual there were too many other things on the agenda and the plan did not materialise.

Kerstin had chartered a boat at the local sailing school, which we had to rescue from in the “flood”. It had split from it´s trolley and was floating around with other “debris”. We pulled and pushed it on dry land, drained the water from inside and outside and Kerstin was giving it a thorough wash and wax on Saturday late afternoon.

I also managed to look after my boat on Saturday afternoon but Hartmut, the owner had already saved it from floating around in the shed. Lasers and Optis had piled up but the damage was very small. I checked for parts but not for water in the hull as the drainage was closed pretty tight. Next day through the inspection hole I found a lot of water and drained the boat before rigging. It is an old boat with an old sail and without the latest boomvang and things which make a Laser more trimmable. I pulled the sheet to max, fastened the vang and stretched the outhaul to the max. This will make for a decent trim once under way and these old ropes are always easing a bit when getting wet. The mainsheet seemed to be very, very long and I tangled with my feet in it during the racing. Maybe it had been the safety rope. You cannot just a cut a rope on a borrowed boat, can you?

The starting line was heavily biased on the boat (Henning´s X-79) which nobody wanted to hit of course and there was a pile up of boats. It seemed that guys who are sailing this area a lot wanted the right side. Maybe due to the high apartment tower which is sittingon the left side in the West of the course which had to be laid with a windward leg to 270°. I started mid line to get free air but could not use it as best due to one or two boats under me gaining. I tacked…uuuhps way too many boats still on starboard and I had to tack back. Got entangled in the sheet and lost big time. I promised myself not doing so many tacks, especially not after the start. Why falling back into mistakes which I thought, I would not do anymore. Bearing away at the windward mark in a gust had also been a problem for me. But there were others who did worse. And I immediately jibed to the inside which in the short legs gave me a nice mark rounding position. If only the boathandling had been better. I still happened to be in the top ten but Roger, one of the sailmakers had a nice lead. Last years winner Ger, the Boss at HOLM, was in the near distance but after half way around the course he was in the leading group of 7 boats and I was in the middle of nowhere. Between the top group and the backmarkers. Around 10 to 12.

I did two acceptable races afterwards with some placings around 7th – 8th (still no scoring sheet available) but in the fourth race, I did a very bad start, nearly fouling the anchor line of the starting boat, now placed at the pin end and nearly came last at the first windward mark. Gained some places downwind but finished around 15th. Beer and pizza after the races and applause for every participant from last to first at the price giving, held by PRO Henning. This year Roger won and Ger came second. The first five boats were equipped with Laser sails made by HOLM, which is not within the class rules and my gut feeling is, that the cloth which these guys are using, is a bit tougher and stronger than the standard Laser sail. No excuse for my 10th place which I must say, I am happy with. Having beaten two guys with a new boat, new sails and spending many hours in the boat practising together with hotshot Roger.

I do hope that I can get a photo or two from the event to post a little later. Today I used the nice autumn sun and some gusts around 3 Bft for some practise with my Bladerider Moth. Did some bad tacks, still not being able to foil through a jibe and having problems downwind. Foiling no problem but the VMG just does not look right. I will see next weekend at the class championship in Bad Zwischenahn how it is going within the class. Still so much to learn for me in the hot little boat. Really looking forward to the weekend with only onegoal: Not to become last of the Foiler Moths. Stay tuned.

Tillermeister, where are you?

Did I beat you on the line today putting again a zero behind my age. Leaving the "roaring" fifties? And the plan is to take part in a Laser-regatta on the weekend, to please you and my other readers. No, not thinking that I would be able to beat you in that department. Anyway, I have borrowed an older boat and prepped it yesterday. Will donate the "charter-fee" to the youth group in my club. Hope to be able to write about it.

The pity is that at present we have "land under". A storm from the north-east is sweeping through the north of Germany and our homewater has raised already 1.50m above zero. (NN = normal null in German) That means that most of the dinghies in the club started to drift away on their trailers or without. The trailers and boats which were not fastened to the ground. Two 29ers were catched, whilst drifting away. Lots of wood is on drift as well. Cars which were parked in the boatshed had water already on the cabinfloor. A rescue group from the club is underway and they do not want me to participate as it is my birthday. WTF, I will go out and look after the boats. This is my duty. Duty from the heart.

PS: This had been written on September 28th but due to the many activities on the day, I was unable to publish onto my blog. I have therefore altered the date. And I can tell you now, that I got more than my feet wet by doing some rescue work. More photos of the high water at: Hochwasser at Schlei Segel Club

Meine erste Motten Regatta. Racing with the Moth.

Regatta am Goldberger See.
Die Regatta war noch nicht beendet, da bestimmte Klassenkassi Burkhard bereits: "Du schreibst den Bericht". Keine Widerrede, ich kenne mich ja mit den Gepflogenheiten in der Motten Klasse nicht aus. Hatte noch Hoffnung, dass, wie in anderen Bootsklassen üblich, der zweite oder der dritte den Bericht schreibt. Hier nun fiel das Los bei vier Startern auf den vierten. Womit bereits die Katze aus dem Sack ist: 4 Starter in der Moth Klasse am Goldberger See. 4 Foiler. Sven, Burkhard, Leo und ich. Für mich war es die erste Regatta in der Klasse überhaupt und ein Test, ob ich überhaupt reif bin für die Bestenermittlung in Bad Zwischenahn. Den Test habe ich nicht bestanden, soviel vorweg aber es bleiben eventuell noch ein oder zwei Nachmittage zum üben. Und um die vielen guten Tipps von den anderen, erfahrenen Mothies zumindest im Versuch umzusetzen.

Wer es noch nicht weiß, der Goldberger See liegt in der Nähe von Plau oder auch Lübz. Entsprechend gut schmeckt dort das Bier, welches im niedrigen Meldegeld inkludiert ist. Natürlich auch ne Suppe und Bratkartoffeln und Fleisch nach der Regatta. Nach dem anstrengenden Flaute segeln. Und ein Haufen Sachpreise von Sponsoren wie CTM und International.

Start am Samstag pünktlich um 13.00h von Wettfahrtleiter Karsten "Vossi" und Jörg. 35 Boote in 3 Starts. Die Motten auf Wunsch im ersten Jollenstart. Dort trafen wir auf Scharpies, ne Z-Jolle (ellenlang), Seggerlinge, ne SZ Jolle, Conger und was weiß ich. Startschiff überaus begünstigt. Die erfahrenen Mothies drängeln mit SZ und Seggerlingen, ich versuche es mehr zur Mitte um dort möglichst sauber über die Linie zu kommen. Gelingt auch. Wenn ich das Gleichgewicht halte bei den Wackelbedingungen, fahre ich sogar mit. Mache einen langen Schlag auf BbBug, die erste Wende des Tages einigermaßen und habe 2 Motten im Fenster. Will noch kein Heck nehmen und wende bald danach wieder in einen vermeintlichen Dreher. Bleibe stehen, segel rückwärts, verheddere mich und bringe das Boot erst wieder in Fahrt, als auch alle Boote an mir vorbei sind. Dreieck, Schenkel, Dreieck. Der alte Kieler Woche Kurs ist abzusegeln. Ich versuche auf einem Schenkel eine Stehsegler Technik und kann zumindest den Abstand zu Leo, dem Drittplatzierten, halten. Sven und Burkhard versuchen es mit anspitzen, was bei dem flauen Wind auch nicht gut aussieht. Viel Weg und auch nicht schneller. Die Motten geraten vom Mittelfeld in´s hintere Drittel der Jollenfraktion. Hätte ich bloß mal mehr geübt bei Flaute. Diese Wackelei ist anstrengend. Immer wieder taucht der Leebalkon in´s Wasser. Das bremst. Auf dem letzten Dreieck schaffe ich es irgendwie mich an Leo ranzukämpfen. Wohl weil ich ne kleine Bö abbekomme. Lege an der letzten Marke clever um und bin jetzt innen und leicht vor ihm auf dem Weg zum Ziel. Könnte ein Anlieger werden. Hoffnung keimt auf, nicht letzter zu werden. Dann kippt das Boot über mir weg nach Luv. Ich kann mich irgendwie auf den Rumpf retten. Leo wendet weg, ich würde sonst wohl auf ihn drauf fallen. Bis ich das Boot aufgerichtet (schnell) und in Fahrt (langsam) habe, ist Leo über alle Berge und die Conger Jolle, letzte im Feld, pirscht sich an mich ran. Ich höre schon die Rufe und das Unken der "Segelfreunde": "jetzt holt ihn auch noch der Conger" (Nein, nicht von Mothies, die sind richtig nett gewesen und haben überhaupt nicht gelästert). Ich kämpfe mit dem Boot, mit dem nicht vorhandenen Wind und mit mir und schaffe gerade noch den Zieleinlauf vor dem Conger. Erste Wettfahrt überstanden. In der Pause werde ich von Kerstin, vom Seggerling aus, mit Käse und
Drink versorgt. Das baut mich wieder auf.

Die zweite Wettfahrt beginnt für mich ähnlich wie die erste. Nur das ich als dritte Motte an der Luvtonne ankomme. Leo hat sich beim Start fürchterlich am Startschiff verhaspelt. Ich kann ihn die ganze Zeit hinter mir halten, bis ich wieder an die letzte Bahnmarke komme. Mir gelingt noch ne ganz passable Rundung und die wohl letzte Wende des Tages und ich freue mich schon auf die Dusche, da passiert es wieder: Kenterung nach Luv. Dieses mal schaffe ich es nicht auf den Rumpf, muß in´s Wasser und bin danach nicht in der Lage, das Boot wieder sauber aufzurichten. Es fällt immer wieder über mich rüber. Es kommt auch keine Bö, die mir einen Wasserstart erlauben würde. So panisch werde ich, das ich nicht auf die Idee komme, das Segel unter Wasser zu drücken, um ein Gegengewicht zu haben, während ich auf´s Schwert klettere. Direkt auf den Rumpf zu klettern habe ich noch nicht versucht (Tipp von Burkhard), eventuell haben meine Wings zuviel Auftrieb und ich komme da gar nicht hoch. Jede Menge Übungsbedarf sehe ich hier. Und ich dachte immer, ich muß noch ca. 400 Wenden absolvieren, bin ich einigermaßen klarkomme. Jetzt auch noch zig Kenterungen und aufrichten üben. Dachte schon, diese Phase ist überstanden. Jedenfalls hatte ich Glück, es passierte in der Nähe des Ziels und mein Ruf wurde erhört und ich abgeborgen und mit einem Wing, fest auf dem Schlauchboot sitzend, zum Takelplatz zurück gefahren. So wurde ich wieder letzter und Leo konnte seinen dritten
Platz halten. Sven gewann die Regatta, Burkhard wurde zweiter. In der Yardstick Wertung konnten die Motten nichts reißen. Mit Foils bei Flaute scheint irgendwie langsam zu sein. Und mir wurde noch erzählt, daß ohne Foils bei Flaute das Boot noch viel ranker ist. Kann ich mir ehrlich gesagt gar nicht vorstellen. Ist schon so bei Flaute schlimm und ne Luvkenterung wohl mit das schlimmste überhaupt. Es kann mich aber nicht abschrecken. Die Technik, soviel neues zu lernen, die Jungs, alles richtig nett und anspruchsvoll. Ich komme wieder.

Abspann: Abends ein nettes Essen, Lagerfeuerromantik und Feuerwerk. Sonntag herrlicher Sonnenschein aber noch weniger Wind und keine Wettfahrt mehr. Launige Preisverteilung vom Veranstalter Eckard Pagel und seiner Crew und auf jeden Fall findet der 5. Goldberger See Cup wieder im September statt. Vielleicht mit Wind und etwas mehr Motten. Ideal ist der Platz zum takeln und slippen und ganz kurz gefoilt wurde auch. Von Leo vor den Wettfahrten und von Sven nach den Wettfahrten. So konnten die anderen Jollen zumindest das Potential ahnen, was in diesen kleinen Jollen steckt. Es gibt ja immer noch viele, die das nie gesehen haben und gar nicht glauben können.

Again the wind a bit strong...

Tried to practise again on the Wedenesday afternoon with the Bladerider. The beer-can-racers where out with mostly a first reef and their number 3 jibs. It was OK on the upwind but going downwind it was tough. Fast and scary. I had to bail out. Undid the wand mechanism and sailed home. Downwind in Lowrider mode. Did not want to break anything on the boat or myself before the weekends regatta at Goldberg. Started packing up, checked that I should also bring the Segger Dinghy for a friend to participate and race with Kerstin. Looking forward to a dinghy-race weekend and meeting with friends.

Stormy Weather - one for the Windsurfers...

Yesterday night in bed, when I read the latest issue of the German Yacht Magazine, I came across an article about classic yachts and how they should be transformed into practicale boats today. Restoration projects like the classic "J" boats, new building projects from the same rule and smaller yachts of course. One particular boat got my interest. "Stormy Weather". Haven´I seen this one in the Med last December when participating in the regatta in Antibes? Are there two examples of "Stormies" now, this well known cruiser/racer from the famous S & S design board? I will try to find out.

Anyway, "Stormy Weather" is what we had last weekend. Instead of practising with the Bladerider, where I have a clear goal of not becoming last boat at their class championship mid of October, I skipped the idea of breaking gear within 20sec after launching the boat. Not going out on the water was also not a good idea and I unpacked my good old slalom gear ("no whips and chains, buy slalom gear" - as Ken Winner once said in the early eighties) which was stowed away for two consecutive summers. The board being a 2,65 slalom from Litewave, Cornwall and the sails are Simmer Style. I took the 4,7 which was a handful in the strong gusts channeling down the Schlei at the "narrow" in front of my lawn. But is was all fun. The power jibes went smooth and smoother even with wind from the right side, which normally and in the old days at our favourite spots came from the left. I thought myself that this is like riding a bike. Once you are able to manage it, you do not forget it. But you loose power, stamina and physical strength for this sport if you are not practising it. 2 sessions went very well, in the second one: "I did not even got my hair wet". After another pause, I met a neighbor whom´s son is into windsurfing and whom had gone to a different spot in the morning. We discussed a little bit and he wanted to see me doing it. At least this is what I felt during our discussion. The wind had dropped a bit and there were holes. Still above 4 Bft but my board being a non volume board (sinker) and even sinking deeper in fresh water other than salt water and my sail was fully battened and "small". But I did the mistake of not trusting my gut feeling. I went out. Did well on the first leg, jibed well, catched a wave, lot´s of speed and than in the middle of the playing field the wind dropped and I sank. Had to swim in all the way with my gear. Not once getting back up on the board. Had to carry the gear a long way home. Felt the tired muscles and bones all through Sunday. A good day out but tiresome.

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.

Der Durchbruch - Foilen statt heulen

The breakthrough:
I had my best foiling evening yesterday from 18.30h - 20.30h. Than the wind dropped and with Koos (Flying a Moth for starters ) tipp of releasing the wand I got home nicely. It was kind of a breakthrough for me yesterday. Undisturbed airtime, less capzising, a lot of fun. Going downwind: BIG fun. upwind: Lot´s to learn. Trying the "Veal-heel": I am splashing into the water on the windward site but get back into the boat better than before.

Conclusion:
Due to the damaged swivel which might not have hold the wand into place (angle wise) the boat felt sticky and did not want to fly the days before. Thus not much learning. Now with my new (self made, see photo) carbon swivel the boat feels like new. A pity, I did not measure wind, nor GPS speed yesterday.
Never swim around the bow, you might damage the wand mechanism.

Elbows and knees need better protection. Hurts a lot today. Maybe I should sand the deck a little bit.

Deutschland Cup X-79

The first real regatta this year. Kind of a German Championship for this "old" class of boats. The first one from the now famous X-Yachts of Denmark. A very sportive boat at it´s time, now sailed by a lot of racing enthusiasts both in North Germany and Denmark. The yearly championship regatta is being sailed (I am writing this on the 2nd days evening) on the Schlei this year. Not far away from home. Our boatowner, Chris, is working in Munich and he had planned his holiday around this regatta. We are sailing the boat with five people. Just under the max crew-weight. Kerstin is doing the bow and I am helming the boat. Chris is doing the pit and Sönke and Kristin are working the ropes. Not easy to coordinate when you have not done it together before. This boat is equipped with working backstays and lots of ropes. Counting in our favor are the new sails and the short introduction into the special settings (Check stays to be pulled hard on the leeward side) from class president Bernd, but it did not help much in the beginning. My first two starts where not at the front row and we managed a 9th and a 6th. We got to grips with things and put in another 6th place and a 4th. I fouled two times (starboard ./. port) at the weather mark and did my turns and everything was programmed for a better next day. No port-tack lane into the weather mark again. The boats are too close together and the other guys are sailing smart. On Saturday we did better on the course, no incidents but got black flagged in the third race. We also had some technical problems, like slipping halyards and problems with the rigging but tomorrow is another day with a better prepared boat. We are sitting in 7th place right now. The party is on and I will finish this report tomorrow or Monday. One thing for sure: This is sailracing at it´s best.

Final Report from the Sunday racing written Monday night.
It was blowing cats and dogs as we used to say here in Germany. 23kn and gusting. Every owner choose to take the No.3 jib (Blade jib) The start was perfect for us and we had good speed to windward. Maybe the tweaking of the rig and other parts last night helped with this. Coming into the weather mark very close as second boat with lots of room to the third placed X-79 we saw another OCS on the RIB. We could not believe this as we were low on the line and in middle were you have some line sag. Anyway it is a decision by the race committee and no reason for us to complain. This ought to be fun but me and the crew felt a bit depressed about it. The spinnaker hoist had to be called off though we were keen to try it out in the very strong breeze. But as we had to give room to all other boats and we had to get to grips with the situation we stowed the spinnaker away and sailed forth an back for an hour and a half to wait for the next start. Definitely no fun. The wind howling, the mainsail making noise and the mood down. I tried to cheer my crew up for the last race of the day. An even more conservative start at the leeward end saw us coming into the weather mark as close second again. During the hoist we lost 2 boats and on the run another one. Fourth boat around the leeward gate with a very good and tight manouver we tried to work into a better position but the competition showed us the way around on our homewater. A fourth place left us with no way of improving from our first days result. We left the championship with a seventh place which, with two OCS was OK for the morale. We promised ourselves to put in some practice for next years championship, have the boat a little better prepared and to start with fun and enthusiasm. Maybe in Warnemünde next year. The boat will be put back into the shed until than. Chris has to go back to work in Munich and he will sail an UFO22 in Italy over the winter. The picture is showing us on the X-79 "Intermezzo" with the CTM logo in the spinnaker during race 3. Thanks to Flix for this shot.

Breathless in Australia, but "King of the Schlei"...

Last week we had set up a little Moth training on the Schlei, the "Fjord" which is connected to the Baltic Sea where I live. A friend, Peter, came along with his pregnant wife Mellie and three sons (10,12,14 years old), and they brought with them: a Laser, a 29er, a RIB and a Bladerider Moth. You guess it, the Bladerider belongs to the father and the two of us wanted to practice a little bit together. For the followers of the Bladerider story and namely the one who regularly read Rohan Veals Blog you might remember Peter as the German guy who forgot to breath when he was out for the first time on the "flying machine" at Black Rock, Australia. Peter is distributor for RONSTAN and other Marine Hardware. He had been out on the boat for only 2 sessions before and I had 5 whilst the last one (I haven´t reported about it....) had been less exiting. To say the least. It was blowing 12-15 kn, I thought I could handle it but the boat showed me the "middle finger". OK, there was no other one out there that evening, no one to rescue me, just in case and I realized pretty soon that the boat would drift away from me after a capsize, drifting away quicker than I was able to swim. Therefore I might have been a little bit too "ängstlich". Also I had the feeling that the boat was sticky. Did not really want to fly.

OK, came last week with two Bladeriders out in a nice breeze, Peter has shown lots of talent. His airtime was only to be stopped by the shoreline and necessary maneuvers whilst my airtime was limited and my day out shortcut by a broken swivel. No spare part available gave me such frustration in the early afternoon that I was not able to do something about it and I only watched Peter flying past, than Kerstin on Peters boat and the absolute shocker: The 12 and the 14 years old just did it. No fuzzing around. Getting on the boat, taking off and doing some nice runs. Amazing and a prove that the product is a good one. Absolute beginners just doing it! In hindsight I think that the swivel on my boat broke, because some of us, mabye me, might have catched the wand under water whilst swimming around the bow. The wand is fixed in a Teflon swivel and after a while this part broke and the wand could not "get me up". Later that afternoon I took the part into my workshop, found a nice little solid carbon block, flexed it into shape, drilled the necessary holes and back to the boat and fixed it. There was still the Thursday left for two boat sailing. Bladerider also confirmed immediate despatch of a spare part. Thursday there was only very light wind but we were so keen to sail that we got both boats out and did a bit of light air practice. It was fun. It seemed that we both had read Koos Blog: Flying a Moth for starters who gave the tip to free the daggerboard foil and take the wand out of the water. Lowriding the Moth in these conditions needs concentration and is some kind á fun. Some pumping action, some OK and some bad tacks and than we got stuck on the downwind home. We called for the RIB and each of us put a wing up on one side of the powerboat, set on it and drove home to the club. De-rigging, packing up and a promise to do it again. It is fun with one Moth but it doubles the fun with two! By the way: the picture above shows Peter at his third day out! Click on the picture and look at the GPS speed.

Uneventful days in sailing but a great Concert

Day five and six went quite uneventful with the Moth. There was a lack of wind and we do not take much fun out of lowriding in light air and spoiling our mood with "no-move" tacks. On day six, Bjoern hit an underwater object, some stones or an old bridge, and we have to repair (mostly filling and fairing) the horizontal daggerboard foil. It speaks for the quality of the product that not more has happened.

Some readers here might be interested to hear that I visited the "Rolling Stones" concert last night in Hamburg. The show was performed in the big Hamburg Arena. What a great stage they had build. The sound was fantastic and Mick Jagger and his "boys", all above 60, as dynamic as ever. At the end of a nearly 2 hours show with great background musicians (Liza Fisher) Mick ran from the left side of the stage to the most right side. A sprint of abt. 200m and he kept on singing. Great. OK, it was not the usual bra and slip throwing from the girls, just one bra, but everyone was kept in good mood and the show ended with a real BIGGER BANG. Coming to your town or near to you, you should visit it.

More Airtime...

Sharing the Bladerider with three people and only having time in the evening is not helping personnel progress as "time in the boat" is limited. On the other side: What can you do or are you able to improve, when you are totally exhausted both from the exiting experience and the powerful work-out which the boat gives to you. Remember the story on Rohan´s website about our German friend Peter, who forgot to breathe during his first outing on the Foiler-Moth. They had to bring him to the shore.

We have not forgotten to breathe but two or three 30 - 45 minute sessions where enough to get us a large grin in the face and to be exhausted and happy from the new experience on and in the water. In the meantime we had recovered in the standby motorboat, took drinks and photos and enjoyed the sight of the fellow colleague, (flying) who always tried to put in a show. Very often we were shouting and cheering full of appreciation and enjoyment.

Somewhere I read that you will need 4 days to overcome the first hard part to enter the boat and to get going well. To have some real fun. It was our goal to overcome the first 4 days and than start to go up-and downwind and that is what we did yesterday. By the way, Kerstin only needed one day, Bjoern abt. 2 days and I needed the full three days. Due to the weight and only 6-8kn of wind, Bjoern and myself did not have as much airtime as Kerstin but we started to enjoy the up-wind sailing in the low rider mode. It is pretty fast and so much fun to be in control. Why haven´t I started Mothing more early. The 60kg lightweight singlehander-skiff "Seggerling", which I owe, is a dog against the Bladerider. OK, I am not spending time _in the water_ with it, but it feels heavy. Will everything feel heavy now?

Day four: Back to yesterday. You can see from the three shots (from top to bottom) that we much enjoyed our airtime. Bjoern does some good reaching on the foils. Kerstin does some fast apparent down-wind-sailing and I tried the Veal-heel and capzised to windward. I always capsize to windward, trying, what seems to be common in the class. Healing over to windward. A good day for all of us. Oh, and again I forgot to mount the Velocitek. Nothing broke, the water nice and warm, sun shining, just a little lack of wind for the boys.

Instead of going cruising the upcoming weekend, we will put in more hours in the Bladerider and we do hope the weather cooperates. The next racing (hasn´t this been the intention of this blog??) will be in the X-79 class at the end of August. We will sail the German Championship close to home. An opportunity we could not miss.

Flying the Moth...or not...

Intro: Regular readers might have noticed that besides my dinghy and keelboat activities, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Bladerider Moth. This very interesting boat had been ordered by me and my CTM team during hanseboot show at exact 10.01h. One minute after the official opening of the show did we place an order with Rohan. I must say, the waiting was long but worth it. It arrived last week and the Bladrider looks the business! All these shining carbon parts are fitting beautifully into our workshop. But that is not the intention of the boat. We want to go sailing.

First Day: Friday 3rd. Late afternoon.
We have assembled it with ease and taken to the water on Friday evening last week. We were three and had a powerboat standby for rescuing if necessary. Being the boss it was my turn at first and I think, it threw me off at least ten times until I managed to sit and sheet in. We were in a wind shadow but my movements had not been coordinated. Lowriding was not easy for me and a couple capsizes later Bjoern jumped into the water. Being an avid A-Cat sailor he managed it better than me, to get on board. Weighting abt. 100kg he did a couple capsizes with easy righting and than he "flew". Wow! A spectacular capzise and some exhausting swimming he handed the "Brute Machine" over to me again. With wind in the sail I managed decent waterstarts, pull your body on to the boat whilst sheeting in and keep the balance whilst the boat starts sailing. Grab the tiller, bear away and get on the wing. I was slipping off the wing with my Musto Wetsuit. No way of sitting there. Had to organize my legs, tiller and sheet. Got sailing the thing. Got it into the air. Flying for about a minute...no not true, for 10 seconds. The wand came out of the water and than the bow first into the pond. Autsch. I remember I managed a slow, slow tack and a decent lowrider mode jibe. That was OK for me for the day. I handed over to Bjoern and after some: "I start flying" and capzising, the boom broke. De-rigging on the water was not easy with all the screws on the shackles. No screwdriver on hand. We got the boat home and the boom into our composite workshop.

Second Day:
The boom being repaired overnight and some hooks installed instead of screwed on shackles, we also limited the amount of rudderway with elastic. The rudder should hold itself in the middle which makes starting more easy. And it was. Wearing shorts over the wetsuit helped me getting organized on the trampoline. Getting on to the boat being no problem on the second day. Sailing in lowrider mode not a problem. We did not measure the wind, we did not mount the Velocitec but Bjoern and myself had some good success with 30-60sec airtime. Dropping off mostly to windward with the bow too high. Time to think about the adjustments maybe. Body movements forward etc.
After our go and being exhausted from swimming and righting we handed the boat to the girl. Kerstin climbed the Moth and moved like a cat. Lowriding looked easy, she did not capsize and got it on a "flight" with ease. So excited she was that she steered into the wind and capsized after a flight half across our homewater. Unbelievable. Than the righting became a little problem for her, she got exhausted and handed the boat over to us. Impressive how we improved by the hour. More time on the boat, less time swimming. We also had our computer guru with us. Arne, a cat sailor also had a go. First he just climbed the boat without problems, sailed well in lowrider mode and later when he had some airtime he dropped off the boat and the Bladerider kept on sailing. We had to catch it with our little powerboat. We would not recommend the elastic on the rudder for people sailing alone without assistance. We will demount it later when we have more experience but at present it is a hit. Nothing broken on the day, some very happy faces, smiles all over and we put the boat back in the shed. Lot´s of bruises and blue patches on legs and arms but fun it was.

Third Day:
Sunday there was no wind and besides ourselves really wanting to have another go we kept our cool and did not even try it. It would have been frustrating in drifter conditions. Monday evening after work we had another go. The Bladerider hard core Team: Kerstin, Bjoern and myself. Everybody showed good improvement, airtime and quick righting maneuvers. Not that we sailed like the team riders in the many promotion videos, no no. But everyone had decent airtime. I could handle it quite well on starboard tack but always dropped of to windward on the port tack. Worth mentioning is our ability to sail upwind and downwind and Kerstin showed a really good stunt flying the machine high and dry and capsizing it in front of the boatshed. That was the best and longest controlled foiling of all the sessions so far. Today we are healing our wounds, the sore muscles need to relax and some minor boatwork has to be done. We will try again mid of the week. I have to re-read the manual and start thinking about the adjustments. The decision to buy a company Bladerider is a good one. Some like to fly, some like to assemble and to repair the beautiful carbon parts. I know it is too early to go racing for me but we will catch up on our foiling skills pretty soon.

Vote for Andrew McDougall

You must have heart of him: He is being called Amac by his Aussie friends. The man, the brain behind the Bladerider, a series-production-boat which placed first, second and other top placings in the recent World Championship at Lake Garda. The man on the photo in my last post. I have heart that Andrew spent many nights preparing, upgrading or just repairing boats and he still managed a 6th place in a hotly contested WC. And no, I am not bringing up the age issue. Having a decade more on my back and trying to go out with the brand new Bladerider for the first time today, I will know later today how it feels. I´ll keep you guys out there updated. In the meantime please go to: Seahorse Mag and vote for this great sportsman. A man who brought a vision into production.

For more International Moth newbie information go to: Flying a Moth for starters Fun to read and lot´s of valuable information to the newcomer of flying-this-thing.

The long absence from this blog was due to my sailing holiday in the Baltic Sea. Lot´s of trouble to get away, to get started but in the end we left our homewaters a week after the ETS had been set. Nevertheless some awesome experience, lots of wind and two days of rain from early morning till midnight. Some stories might be told later.