Great Moth Shots from the Windy Days at Kiel

You can´t get it any better. Have a look at the great shots which photographer Sommerwerck at: Sommerwerck, Maritime Photografie took during a typical race day in Kiel last week. The appetizer here at the front (Christian in typical airborne style) is one of these shots. I think we will see a couple of them in some future magazines and advertising about some „fresh products“, mens aftershave or whatever. I am glad that I have been one of the fleet. I am not so happy that I did not find myself in one of the shots. A few other guys missing also but honestly: He took the leading fleet. I have not been in that bunch of sailors. Just behind. And not flying so spectacular high.

Yesterday, on Sunday, I had a good sailing session on my home water. It was important for me to get back on to the boat. To check the setup which did not make me happy during Kieler Woche. I have 2 sets of foils and I compared them closely. Found out that the set I had used had some deviation. It was visible. And it explained some of the problems I had with ride height (actually my boat sailed very low and did not want to fly easily) and with ventilation. A pity I did not had the chance to look at them earlier on (borrowed out) but than I maybe would not have had the experience which I do have now after an extensive Kieler Woche. I will not excuse myself for not being fast enough, there is a lot to improve but if the boat sails easy, it comes easy for me. Next regatta shall be in Horsens, Denmark, at the end of July and I am looking forward to it.

Kieler Woche wasn´t finished for me after the Moth sailing. Instead I had been asked by a friend to skipper his classic 50 footer (S & S style) at the distance race last Saturday, the Schabernack Cup from Kiel to Holy Harbour (Heiligenhafen). There had been about 80 boats varying as wide as one ex Aussie racer, called “Wild Thing”, now being called “Calypso”, to a Mac Gregor65 and the smallest being a Sunbeam 22 (22ft). We had a very good start at the pin end. Closed hauled and were able to free the sheets just a little. After a while some modern IMS boats (Sydney41, X-482) tried to roll us but we could show them by luffing with all the momentum of a 13ts boat that they should pass to leeward. It worked, but not with every boat later in the race. We got rolled slowly but surely by a couple of faster boats. One particular 33ft boat impressed me. A Stern33. Looked really nice and sailed quick. Later in the race we changed to a fractional Gennaker and than later to a top spinnaker which felt good with this heavy boat. The whole race was sailed with the wind from the starboard side. No tack, no jibe. A bit boring would we not have such a nice owner, who brought food and drinks not only for the race but for a really nice crew dinner which we had on board later in the evening. We finished in the middle of the class 1 group, I think 2 or 3 places behind “Wild Thing” on corrected time, though this boat did win on sailing time. First ship home, best berth, best girls as they say. Not that Holy Harbour attracts a lot of them.
Photo: courtesy by Sommerwerck, Maritime Photografie.  See link above.

Kiel Week Video and Result List.

There is an interesting Kiel Week Video here. It shows some heavy weather action from Monday, when the wind was above 30kn, gusting up to 38n. No dinghy sailing on the various courses but a few Laser enthusiasts where practicing jibes. Also some footage from my German Moth friends, Peter and Carlo. The full Moth result list is here: Moth results, Kiel 2008

Kieler Woche in the Moth class

...or has it been "Killer Woche", with my bones and muscles feeling so tired? And for a lot of boats which had to retire from some races for repair. Kiel Week lived up to my expectations: Windy, gusty and lot´s of waves from the hundreds of RIBS, spectator crafts and other floating objects who wanted to see the Moth´s flying on course Hotel. Herrmann from the press office had "hammered the message home" way to often.

Now being back in the office there is lot´s of work to do and I will leave you fellow readers with a great link to Adam Mays blog, Adam Mays Blog. He did not only write a great report about his racing, he is also the winner in the Moth class in her first appearance within this truly international and great regatta. Well done, Adam. Congratulations! You are a worthy winner! Thanks for reporting so well. I could find myself being one of the guys being lapped by you, not only in one, but nearly in all races. Nevertheless I enjoyed my foiling but have a lot of work to do to increase the speed upwind and the handling downwind. I will write up my personnel thoughts and experiences about "things to do" later.

The excitement is building...

Kieler Woche, yes! Haven´t sailed it since a couple years. Last time in an X-382 under the famous IMS rule and we did win in a field of abt. 25 yachts not only in our group (IMS II) but also within the IMS divisions over-all. It was impressive and the load of silverware which I had collected at the price giving caught the attention of Ross Field, the New Zealander who was the skipper of one of the Grand Mistral Maxi Yachts which were supposed to go "Around the world" in one-Design 24m yachts. Anybody knows the whereabouts of these beautiful Farr designed boats?

OMG, all this name dropping. Anyway, the Kiwi asked me later in the evening, if I would like to join in their next leg of the ADECO Race to Stockholm. No way for me I decided. 36 hours on the rail of such a beast, maybe to jump at the grinder and to collapse after 3-5 minutes. No, not good for me. And my navigation skills weren´t any good either. I have been a helmsman most of my sailing life but to ask for this position was not adequate.

Now on Saturday I want to race in Kiel again. On course "HOTEL" and with my Moth. My goal: Not to become last in the fleet. Not to get too many alphabets. My heart is jumping at the thought of lining up with other boat class enthusiasts as it always did before the week was coming up. Boat prep has top priority now though the body should get in shape as well. But: too late now. Too many reasons not to go running, biking or swimming. Now, with 2 days to the first start it would not help either. Instead I will head out with my crew tonight for the Wednesday night race. Do some start line checks and all the things which I have to do alone next week. The weather report is a mixed affair for the next days. I have always thought that (weatherwise) Kieler Woche should be a week later in June but who listens to someone who has only done 25 or 26 such weeks. (Should count back, I am sure the journos will ask me one day). So to all my competing friends in the Moth class: I do hope that I am not getting into your way. My foiling jibes are non existing. But I am learning everyday and I am enjoying this thing immensely. Most of my Moth friends will stay in the carpark in Strande. Boats will be nearby at the beach.

Sailing Caps and MOB

You all know about sailing caps. Those hats which are often a treasure and which are telling you years after you got them, where you have been. The most sought after item I think are the Mount Gay caps. And you have to get them at the event. Sometimes you have to fight to get one.

Some of these caps are fitting nicely, some of them you are loosing when looking up into your windex or checking the twist in the sail. The current fashion (coming from the Volvo Ocean guys?) is to wear your sunglasses on top of the hat. Yeap. Looks cool mate. Costly when you loose both.

With the sun low in the West and beating home at the Wednesday night race it makes sense to wear your best fitting cap and I found it to be useful, when the shade is of green colour on the inside. My "company" caps do not have that at present. They are grey and yellow. Corporate colours of course. A colour which people seem to like, counted on the number of caps which we are handing out. Funny, the second batch (1000 pcs ea) did not fit as the first batch. I am sure that the manufacturer must have saved 1 cm all the way around at the bottom. This made the cap useless in strong winds, no matter how tight you were doing the Velcro. I mean, small heads would fit into it without the danger of the cap being blown away whilst controlling your sail shape, but big heads, afterguard heads... OK, hit me with a rhythm stick, this is not Americas´s Cup talk.

My best cap at present was one, which had been secured to the sailbag of my new SL13 sail from KA sails, when I recently purchased it. A Moth sail. And sailing a Moth it is useless to wear sunglasses. You need a good cap to protect yourself against the sun, to avoid dizziness from the sun. Proudly going out sailing with the new cap I lost it of course when I took a swim. It drifted away from me, whilst uprighting the boat. But I managed a good MOB maneuver, being able to reach for the cap at the first encounter after gybing and sailing into the wind. A good practise. I had another COP (cap over board), maneuver. This one took me two trials to grap it from the water. Come on, not bad with a black carbon Moth, to find a black cap in near black water...

Now I have kinked the cap with a chock cord to my swimming vest (PFD?). You can see me on the photo coming back ashore, centerboard up already and cap saved. Yes, and all the scratches on my rudder and centerboard due to groundings on my homewater are another story.

What a difference a day makes...

As my regular readers have noticed already there has been a unique weather pattern in the north of Germany for the past 8 weeks. Constantly winds from the east veering to NE on some days. Strong winds, mostly between the 5 Bft mark, building up to 7 Bft over the day due to thermal effects on my home water. A heaven for the windsurfers.

Friday, the day after my last post I was blowing "like stink" again and I was bored not to abel to go sailing with the Moth. Do not want to frustrate myself and do not want to break something before Kieler Woche. Therefore I took my old windsurfing gear out. Used the Litewave 2,65 slalom board, made in Cornwall some 19 years or so ago. My biggest fin (35cm) to have some grip and pointing ability and the 4.7qm Gunsail. The locals had found a nice new spot, only a couple of days ago, just 2 minutes by car from my home. Awesome. I took a while to put the gear together. Way too many options in mast steps etc. It was a good evening out though a bit short as we expected guests and I had promised some BBQ work. There was only one guy who could beat me in speed and my jibes were smooth. But when we decided to round the red buoy, marking the shipping lane, I wiped out. I decided that I would go again. It is like bicycle riding or skating, you do not forget about how to do it.

Saturday, the day which made the difference: I decided to sail the Moth early in the day, before the thermal would start to become strong. Some maintenance work was necessary before going out. A shackle, which looked strong enough for the vang had bended beyond repair and the ropes were getting tired. The morning session on the water was good though I am still miles from doing a foiling jibe. I try to steer smooth into the jibe but ones dead downwind and stepping over, the boat heels a lot to the leeward side. I am just not quick enough or organized enough with my body movements. Old bones and weak muscles are not ideal for quick reactions. But I am still sure I am getting there. It was one of the reasons to buy a Moth to learn something new everyday. The first steps were easy, straight line foiling, but what you can see now from experts like Rohan, Simon, Bora or Chris on the internet (You Tube) is difficult and takes some time for a newbie like me. I was so motivated that I did put in another session late afternoon. I had learned a little bit about to use the "elevator". The rudder which can be adjusted, like a pilot does. I also trimmed the sail harder and better than any day before and I got good speed as a result. Forgot to switch on the Velocitek on the shore and did not want to destroy it in the water by opening it for the on/off switch. It was really good to put in some hours. It showed me where to improve not only in sailing but with the clothing before Kiel. Need higher neopren boots, long arm top and should wear gloves with long fingers. Lot´s of chafing on the body parts which had not been covered.

Sunday, K. and I first took the Bull for a nice cruise until we hit the ground (softly into the mud) and than we turned back home and gave the much abused boat a good wash and cleansing. She (the boat!) should be OK for the Wednesday night race. After that K. wanted to spend some time with her brother and the little one and I took the Moth for another ride. Wasn´t a real good one. Maybe too many onlookers or sore bones. Did capsize 3 or 4 times which normally shouldn´t happen anymore. Got a glimpse of how a good tack could be but always slow out of the maneuver, which costs dearly.

Monday there was a sign of a weather change. First day with the wind from the usual West quadrant. Gusty. I rigged the Moth again to improve in the changing modes, foiling and low riding. Young Adrian showed up with his Europe Dinghy. I was able to beat him to the weathermark but he beat me big time at the leeward finish. After that we changed boats. A little bit small this Europe Dinghy for me. Adrian enjoyed a couple of capsizes and a little fight with the Bladerider. He did not give up but was not rewarded with a flight. The wind had gone down further. Next time young chap. He told me that he now understands why I did spend so much time in the water the first days on the Moth. Good guy.

Tuesday, K. is running the Opti course at one of the local clubs but again today there is too much wind for the beginners. White caps all over the place. Wanted to meet a friend out on the water who has just finished work on his used Contender. Doubt that we are both able to show up with our dinghies.

Time is flying...

Time is flying by and so did I. Look at the pics, me having done an extended 18kn ride (Uuuh, just short of becoming a member of the 20kn club) but honestly, there are just not enough good days to put in some necessary practise on the Foilermoth. The North of Germany is a great place for windsurfing at present. Strong winds (mostly 18-22kn) from the east or north-east nearly everyday since abt. 8 weeks. Sun is shinning almost every day. Wind from the left (at the bottom of my garden...), which had been my favourite side but somehow I am not very keen of going windsurfing these days. Here is an update on the very limited sailing days recently.

Last week I only had one late afternoons of "Mothing" and an hour on early Sunday morning but no chance to take part in the beer-can-race on Wednesday night with the Bull. Nor did I take part yesterday evening. Small health problems again and very strong wind prevented me from rigging the Bull. I think we would have slipped more sideways than sailing against the strong 22-25kn wind. If it keeps blowing like this I should consider a second reef in the mainsail. Must talk to the sailmaker. Watching the X-99 yesterday evening, leading the pack with a second reef in, but still the mainsail flocking hard did look like shredding a lot of money through the leech.

Today looks promising and maybe this is another day when it makes sense to clip the Velocitek on to the boat. And yes, my spare foils which I wanted to save for the "big point" regattas are in need of filling and fairing as well as the ones which I have lent to Felix. I hope he puts them into good use to have a benchmark against the ones which he developed himself.

Lost count of the sailing days...

Need a sail counter like Tillerman, Propercourse otherwise how shall I ever cope with the days out on the water. There are others who are counting their days and reporting and I think it is motivating oneself. Bora wetandreckless.blogspot.com/ is doing it as well as Chris Dubaimoth.blogspot.com Maybe the two are playing psycho games as some others in the Moth class are doing. Psyching themselves up for the Worlds in Weymouth. All meant to be fun of course and though I will not get up to their level soon (or never), I like the way the communication in this class is working. Anyway K. and I had a nice evening cruise with our Bull the day after the horizon job. Communications on board gets better every day we go sailing together. I am taking up the crew job more or less and have to get into the groove, whilst she gets the hang of sailing the demanding Sportsboat.

On Friday evening I was fully dressed in my new Zhik gear, the Moth fully rigged as I had seen some wind out there but when I was ready to go, it faded away and never came back. I was so keen to sail on the Friday evening as the weekend had been blocked by family affairs. Actually I want to sail the Moth every possible day now to get ready for Kieler Woche. So, yesterday there was a window of opportunity. I knew before that wind from the North gives me problems starting out and coming home but I did not expect myself spending a good 30 minutes on the bank, (Wasenberg) trying to avoid damage to my foils. Thought that I would fly over it but the wind dropped and so did I. Jumped off the boat immediately, but still got a few bad scratches on my racing foils. Some filling and fairing with SPABOND 340 needs to be done. I prefer this Epoxy Adhesive instead of filler or putty as it is much stronger. Had some good times flying by my regular Bull crew Jan, (sailing on a Pirat dinghy) who told me to look up the International 14 website as they had just won the German 14 teamracing Championship event. ger.international14.org They had started as Team CTM. Thank you boys!

Will try to do the "days of sailing" count later. Tonight we have another round the cans Wednesday evening race. Looking at the flagpole (see photo) in front of the office window right now, there is not much sign of wind. When it is light wind we are in for another top finish if I do not mess up the start. Got to go to the boat early and do some fixing of the running rigging.

Horizon Job

A Horizon Job - I love those words and the meaning of it. Difficult to translate into German though a straight one would read: "Horizont Job". I doubt that anyone in Germany, bar a couple of experienced sailors would get the message.
Anyway our second outing in the Wednesday night race (this week) with the Bull was a success. A big one. The conditions were just right. Wind from the east, 2-3 Bft. A shame that K. had dates out of town on this lovely evening, therefore Jan and myself decided not to take some inexperienced sailor on board. Instead the two of us sailed the boat alone. We took the old mainsail with an efficient reef, just in case.

Before the start we had the usual problems. Tackline over sheet or under? We messed a little bit around and at the end of the pre-hoist we even put the gennaker in the drink... Anyone who has done this knows that it is building immediately some kind of a sealed net. Full of water. Heavy. We got it sorted, both pulling hard on the halyard and the mast not breaking.

The starting line not well biased as usual, I put the boat between a bigger one (H-35) to windward and an X-79 and got trapped. Slowed down, backed the jib. Tacked and got off on port tack which was favoured. Had to grind down the leading X-79 after a while, which worked, than falling into another one. Two more tacks on lifts and we were the first boat in the narrow "channel" between the markers, where the water goes shallow to about 1,20m on the outside. Didn´t hit the ground and first to the weather mark. Gennaker up and we pulled away. Our maneuvers were so smooth that I even thought about the pleasure of this evening sail later in bed. It does not happen often. At the end we had a lead of 3min 4 sec. against the 2nd boat, a X-79. The list.pdf. The four seconds saved us 1st place on corrected time. Later at the bar the usual talk like: "next time we have to recalculate your YS". But that seems common everywhere and is not meant to be harsh. Friendly rivalry. Hopefully with some more competitors next Wednesday.

Days out on the Water

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

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

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

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

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

Shifting Gears - The Group Writing Project

Tillerman from the "Propercourse" blogsite called for a group project and I felt obliged to contribute. A good day last week as I was homebound with a cold. Otherwise, I think I would have liked to go out for more learning experiences and finding out about them in my latest love for speed sailing. The Foiler Moth. The Bladerider. OK, now you are already informed that this is not about cars and shifting into sixth gear on the German Autobahn. No, it is about sailing and the importance about "shifting gears". Many of you might have read about it in the "thousand books" about sailing. It is the importance of getting your boat going. No matter what kind of boat. If you stuck your boat into a big wave, if you bring her to a halt during a tack, you need to start in the lowest gear possible. Otherwise she won´t go where you want her. This is the experience which I made through my keel boat days. And there are mainly 4 ropes responsible other than the all important sheets. On my keelboats the OUTHAUL together with the CUNNINGHAM always played an important role and than the BOOMVANG. And the BACKSTAY. OK, if you forgot about the VANG, to ease before a windward mark rounding, it is possible to break your boom. All this I seem to have inhaled well and it sticks in my memory.

Last weekend, going racing with the Foiler Moth I made the experience with myself that I did not even think about the above. The basics in sailing. There was real light wind at the start of the series, lot´s of wrinkles in the luff and the sail as deep as possible to get me going. OK, I played a little with the downhaul (CUNNINGhAM) which has an 8:1 purchase. But not really enough as I should have done. When the wind picked up later and I got up on the foils, more than doubling the speed, I kept going with the same profile, I was up in the air, so exited that I did not have a disadvantage against the top sailors in the class due to weight or other issues... I was inhaling the thrill holding my breath and trying to keep her going on the foils. Racing in a new class. New mates. Than the other boats kept moving away from me. Going faster and faster. At the end one or two guys lapped me. I was puzzled. Could not get to grips with it. Asked around in the evening how about them doubling their speed again when already foiling. Carlo said to me more or less: You must shift gear! "Du musst Dein Segel anpassen..." it struck me only than. Yes, I had forgotten the basics. If I go racing, there is no excuse not to built on your experience. All you have learnt is counting on whatever boat you are sailing with. You have to use it. I will make a note on my boom. Next to the LiveSailDie sticker. livesaildie.com/

A Must See for Sailracing Enthusiasts

This should not be all about Moths. There is other racing going on at the level I am interested in. Farah Hall pointed me into the direction of Racing in Hyeres through her blog, which you find at Windsurfing towards Beijing on my first link list on the right.

High Quality sailing on film, which has taken place in Hyeres mostly with strong Mistral winds. The reason I had to abandon most of my Moth training in Le Levando, the place being close to Hyeres and staying there during the same time. Watch the day 2 of the RS men or women. Great Sailing!
On the home front today: Getting the boat trailers through the MOT with the help of my brother. Rigging up the Bull for the wednesday night races which are starting this week. New EasyRigging to put on the mast. Hope we can make the first race.

Racing brought lots of fun

Not much time for a big report as I have to travel a bit. But for the ones who are eagerly waiting here are some more short cuts and photos:

OK, Sven won the regatta at the end after 2 very interesting races on the Sunday (6 races in total) with lot´s of foiling possible due to some nice gusts. Carlo had it in his hand to win but there was a moment when he tried to pass Sven, he got caught in the wash (turbulence) of Svens sail and capsized to windward. Sven won the regatta in typical style. He does the best Veal heel, he has control nearly all the times but with Carlo we have another real good sailor coming. I came 7th out of nine regulars, 10 participants all together which was totally OK for me. Tons of fun and learning from the top guys who are giving tips and encouragement to keep improving. Going to races is important as in every game but some small tricks I have to practise at home.

Something I reflected on the long journey home: Being really into trimming sails and set up of boats I totally forgot about the most important things when getting into foiling mode: To change the sail shape from full to flatter. Being exited about doubling (and more) the speed and passing other boats I forgot the basics of sailing. To shift gear! Like a beginner. Something I have to work on immediately. Full result sheet and a German report will be on the German Moth homepage. German Moth site

Agenda for the photos: My sailnumber on the Moth is not the usual "99" but GER-3170
Top picture is showing the Moth mess at the start line in very light wind.

The second picture is taken after last races start: Not the usual scene, me in front and the winners battling it out in the back. Sven in typical Veal heel style (white boat) and Carlo (1058) tried to block him out unsuccessfully. They had already caught me at the windward mark. Next time guys....

Third picture and rare scene: Me getting a gust and up to foiling and passing a competitor.

Today we have sailed 4 races. Carlo is leading and Sven is 2nd. Wind in tne first three races good for the lowriders. Some gusts which have the "Lightweights"some airtime. The 4th race had wind hp to 4 Bft. All the Foilers had good tun but there are some who have more.

Not a good Day...on the Moth

Favourable wind on the Wednesday afternoon let me leave work an hour earlier. The Moth needed some attendance with the new boomvang and some minor adjustments on other parts. At around 18.00h I was ready to go out and the wind had increased. White caps all over the place (should take the anemometer, I know) Had a good start with wind from the left, which is my favourite. Upwind, hiking hard and sailing from the flat water to the more choppy zone. Suddenly I realized that the vang came loose. I pulled more until there was nothing to pull. The blocks were blocked. Now with a lot of power on the sheet and the mainsail twisting a lot the fun of sailing the Moth faded away. I tried some downwind but had spectacular capzises over the bow. The boat digged the bow deep into the water which made me slipping to the front of the tramp which made the digging worth. Lots of swimming and I was fed up for the day. Has it been my bad knots or what caused the problem? For sure one of the ropes had slipped.

I fiddled with the ropes again today but despite there had been some good conditions out there my bones are feeling tired and I want to do the regatta at Stienitzsee on the weekend. Therefore I packed it in, put the Moth on the trailer, everything ready to go and will leave tomorrow. First we will drive to Hamburg. We have an invitation for a boat launch ceremony. A old beauty has been restored (with lots of epoxy of course) and there is a christening tomorrow in the old port of Hamburg, The ship is called “Artemis” You can find information here: Kreuzeryacht ARTEMIS

For the regatta I have lowered my goal after the disappointing last sailing. Have to do a reality check and want to see how the other Mothies are doing. Will report after the weekend.

An evening out on the Moth

Yesterday, after getting ready with work and everything else like playing a round of football with the little one (got drubbed 4:5 and 2:5) I managed an hour af Mothing. Had to play against the wind (strong) and therefore got the idea of going sailing afterwards. A little more tweaking on the boat and a new, tighter tramp rig and it was already 19.00h. The wind from the east had calmed down to small white caps and about 4 Bft. I managed some good upwind legs though my upper legs hurted badly. Had good speed and a better boathandling than the other days on the reach/run but never a good jibe. Maybe I tried too hard. Ended up with the boom sticking into the air which than costs a lot of energy to get the boat into position for a re-start. Maybe I should try a more conservative approach to jibing first. Getting the boat low and safe around onto a tight reach to get it on foils and than bear away. But as a former slalom windsurfer I know what it costs dearly when you blow the jibe and have to go nearly upwind first when actually you want to head downwind.

Anyway it was a good session and I had seen some progress. Less time in the water and good solid flights. And as I used to say to my buddies: "It is the hours which you have spend on the rail that counts at the end. Talent is only 10-20 percent involved". Looking for more hours on the Moth as the temperature is raising now.

Edited: I ripped the above Foto from the Bladerider site to give my motivation a kick. I am a Regatta man and I should be able to do this...

Wind, Wind and not much progress...

Just got the photos from my Finn session which happened already on the Sunday a week ago. I have added these photos to my recent post to shut down the remarks which are about like the Sailing Anarchy phrase: "Pics or it didn´t happen".

Have been busy with the Moth over the weekend, renewing the ropes for the tramp which had chafed through as well as the very thin shockcords. Not being very fuzzy with the weight, I upgraded to a little thicker quality. There are always small jobs to do with this boat, with any boat to my experience, but the Moth is critical to the smallest of changes or wear. If you go out by yourself there is nothing you can do if you have a breakdown on the gear and all you can do is to drift ashore somewhere. That is why I hate offshore winds. Anyway Saturday there was too much wind for me and when it had calmed down in the evening to a handy 4-5m/sec (3,5Bft) we had to leave home to a BBQ party. A good alternative to put on even more weight than just the thicker shockcords.

Sunday the boat had been in good conditions and it was already impatiently shaking on it´s trolley. Sun was out and I put the boat in the water in the afternoon. White caps and abt. 10m/sec did not make life easy for me. I could manage a straight line to windward but I did not reach my goal of 3 miles upwind and than down as I gave the downwind a try after three or four bad tacks, ending in the water. It was scary. More boomvang, more outhaul (need to change that stiff rope) but in earnest I did not do very well. Not deep enough and watering myself way too much. And oh, these capsizes, when you end up with the boom sticking into the air downwind and you try so hard to get the mast out of the water, turn a bit into the wind and help the boom to go down. You push it and it won´t. You have to lean out hard otherwise you stick the masttop into the mud. Righting the boat than means a handful of dirt on your head. Dinghy sailors on lakes know about this special experience. I gave up fighting the boat and went ashore. For a drink, warming up in the evening sun and to think about my manoeuvres. Took the boat for another spin and it was so much better. Enjoyed the upwind and managed decent depth downwind. Past some boat with speed, got the passengers from the round trip boat looking. Cameras clicking. Well this motivates, makes you a better sailor for the moment. At least that is what I thought.

Update: This weeks sailing.

Already 2 evenings on the water due to the daylight saving time. I love it.
Got the boat in the water on Tuesday after we came back home from France. We did it without a sleeping stop this time.I took the Moth out just for an hour to see how I can manage it alone from the green in front of the house. There is a stone wall which I have to climb down a meter. Of course first priority is not to damage the carbon shell. Used the new foils. Got going upwind easy but downwind it felt a bit like a rodeo ride. Not very funny and it puzzled me. The boat always behaved great without fiddling or special tuning. This Bladerider worked straight out the box and it had been sailed now by 5 different people without causing any problems or major breakdowns. A very nice product. So I put the boat back into the garage and had to think about the problem. Yesterday evening I read Bora´s blog http://wetandreckless.blogspot.com/ who described some problems which made me think about mine again. Maybe the new foil has a different rod length?

Today, I looked into the BR Trouble Shooting Guide, rigged the boat, took some measurements (for the first time) and found the problem. Somehow the wand could not give enough AOA. I had to cut 7,5mm off the thread and than screw the ball/socket joint head fully on. This gave me the right reference data. The wind came from the east today which means less gusts, more stable and I had a good time on the water. The Bladerider behaved nice again on the downwind, but my jibes were shit. Even some of my tacks ended up in the water. I had to quit today because some of the ropes holding the trampoline broke. Have to purchase new ropes first thing in the morning. Looking forward to more sailing tomorrow and should start mentally tacking and jibing tonight.

Scuttlebutt Europe today! Moth Alert

Moth Alert!
Only flying must be more thrilling than sailing a Moth (International Moth Class) in a good breeze and riding with a Bladerider over the waves, .... a feeling very similar to flying over the water.

Even in moderate breeze the hull of this single-hander lifts onto the water and kisses the top of the waves. The sailor flies over the surface of the waves while fin-keel and rudder foil keep in contact with the wet element.

For the first time this spectacular 3,35 m Loa production built single-hander will be represented in the International Part of Kieler Woche 2008 (June 21 to June 24, 2008), and the International Moth Class Association expects more than 30 entries.

The Moth is a high-tech, fast Cat-rigged single-handed dinghy which was invented some 80 years ago. The Class Rules allow the designers to draw exciting one-off designs or to develop a production foiler Moth. Quite early Carbon Fibre was used for the hull production, thus optimising the lift-off speed of the hull.

Since 2000 the development and addition of foils contributed to the hull's weight which is mainly borne by the foils. Consequently, the hull lifts onto the water even at moderate breeze, but at the same time causes exceeding boat speed. The rather small Moth dinghy at high speed reaches easily 25 knots, - a boat speed which normally reach twice as big Cat hulls with an 8-times bigger sail area than the 8 square meter Moth sail. The width of the Moth hull is no more than 35 cm, and to balance and trim the dinghy the skipper sits on a 2,25 meter wide outrigger-frame. The Moth dinghy, ready to be sailed, has a weight of less than 30 kilos.

The Class was founded in 1928 and seems to stay forever young. -- Herman Hell

Edited: Due to my training status I am not sure if I shall sign in to the Kieler Woche with my Bladerider GER-3170. Actually it is a dream for me after taking part 27 times already in various classes.

The Finn Dinghy Experience

A beautiful Sunday in Cannes, our last holiday and my friend invited me to sail one of his Finn´s. I mean a real one. A Devoti with a Wilke Carbonstick and a very nice North Sail. The boat was a delight to sail. We went out with four Finn Dinghys and it was easy for me to stay right with them. To beat them to the weathermark. OK, only 2-3 Bft. Just hiking and trimming. Lot´s of chances to look for pressure. I easily got the hang of it. I spent 4-5 hours on the water instead of the usual 1 hour I do with the Moth. And I had not been exhausted as being after the Moth events. It was fun and it helped me to gain back a little confidence which I must have lost at all the capsizes with my Bladerider. My friend tried o convince me to go to the Finn Masters in Medemblik, Holland this year, but really the sailing in the nice conditions in the Bay of Cannes did not prove at all if I would be able to sail this big singlehander in a breeze. No, no, I took the day as it was: A nice day out on the water. A photo will follow.