Two More Succesful Days for the DN G-99

We have had fantastic wheather over the weekend with temperatures on the Sunday of abt. -9°C. Sailing close to home and 2 race series. On Saturday we had 6 races in Bft 3-4 and I got tired and lost concentration at the end but just managed a one point lead to win the "Stadtmeisterschaft"

The wind had increased to 5 Bft and shifted to the east on Sunday morning, which allowed a very long course. The left side was favoured due to less snow patches. With my first places only I always had a tricky first part of the race, normally being 2nd or 3rd on the weather mark but than was able to run down Sven and Mike with a lot of Chock to Chock sailing with Sven. Both upwind and downwind. He is a very experienced land yacht sailor and did not give an inch. I think it did not happen often to me in racing that a first place was to be dropped from my result sheet. LiveSailDie thanks for the sticker! Wish I could skip work tomorrow and go sailing.

Another Weekend, another DN Regatta

Second weekend in a row, where we are sailing a DN regatta very close to home. This time the Stadtmeisterschaft Schleswig. As it is a very cold winter in Germany this year, it is possible to sail on various lakes from the North to the South. I am not very much in the mood to travel much and prefer to sail here on the Schlei. The same stretch of water where we are doing our Wednesday night beer can races during the liquid season. Same location as we did our Moth regatta in the cold October last year. And we will have 3 Moth meetings here this year.

In total I had already 6 great days practising or racing on the ice in 2010. 2 days with Henning, G-499 and other friends in Denmark with no report written and the other days sailing at home.

I am part of the organizing committee, doing the notice of race (NOR), participants list and trying to find a scoring team for tomorrow. Also responsible for the beverage, eehm, made myself responsible and just did the shopping. I really hope that K. will be able again to help with the food as she did great last weekend. This weekend she will try her new DN iceboat for the first time. We will see.

Last weekend our former class president, Rainer H. came to help with the racing and he decided that we should sail the much admired "Jungfrau von der Schlei" price. I started badly, as I had no time to sort out the runners for the conditions before the first start. In the second start my parking break came into the bobstay and I had to fully stop the boat and to fix it. Was able to claw back into 6th place after that. From that moment on it went well with a couple first places and in the last race, being second on the last leg, Henning, G-499 made a big mistake overstanding the finish mark in the very strong breeze (it had built up to 20kn/h in the gusts) and than he was not able to luv up, instead he did one or two 360 degree full spins. I finished first. On countback this helped me to win the series and the beautiful price, which a former winner still keeps on his cupboard. Have to back off now, doing some packing up of our boats G-99 and G-990 and organizing things for tomorrow.

Note for myself: 64/2008, 68/2009

A few days on the Moth

PRO-Vela in Murcia, Spain. A great place. Boats in pristine conditions. Very nice people. You better hurry up and find out yourself. The only drawback had been a nasty cold which stayed with me all week long. Nevertheless the sailing was great and I am planning to come back. To find out more just take the Internet address from the boat or sail on which I am flying on (look Ma!) Click the photo to enlarge it.

Group Writing Project: "Less is more"

What a coincident. On Sunday night I thought about the positives sides of having only few competitors in a regatta. On Monday I read about Tillermans latest group writing project theme, which was matching with my thoughts. Here it goes:

Less is more struck me this past weekend. No, not less strings on a Moth, not that. I did organize a Moth regatta on my homewaters and at first there were 8 participants who committed to take part. One could say this is less than the regular Laser frost biting fleet but it came even better. At the end only 4 sailors attended. We had sailed 5 great races and what was the positive side of the event: Only 4 participants plus the race committee, the wife, the baby and a dog and all having a nice evening together with various themes to discuss, new friendships being born and all in all a good atmosphere. You do not have this with "more than less" participants.

At least thats what I found out over the years in sailing. With too many people everybody is going their own way. Nobody cares about you trying to organize something, other than if it is free beer or free food or pole dancers, paid by a generous sponsor.


PS: Only for my windsurf & sailing buddies and KAFC friends:
Das Tillermeister Projekt hat mich auf den Gedanken gebracht, unsere Vergangenheit ein bißchen auf Vordermann zu bringen. Mit einem Gruppen-Schreib-Projekt. Ich würde es gerne beginnen mit einem kleinen Artikel mit folgender Überschrift: "Der Tag, als Eugen Dunkerbeck uns bat, seinen Steppke, Björn, von Pozo aus sicher nach Hause zu bringen". Das macht vielleicht mehr Sinn, als im Winter diese unglaublich umfangreichen und amüsanten Rundschreiben abzutippen... See you at the hanseboot!

A Moth Weekend on the Schlei

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

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

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

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

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

Moth Regatta "Hoch im Norden" coming soon

Boatshow season and wintertime is around the corner. The first nights with a minus in front of the celcius temperatur are supposed to happen over the next 2 nights here in the North of Germany. After that it is getting warmer. Before going to mothball our Moths we are going to have a regatta on my hometurf. We will get some help from our small Sailing Club and I do hope for some more attendees other than the usual suspects. I had given the turf another good look the other day. Sailing from West to East and from North to South. We will be able to lay a good course. Not many rescue boats on hand but one from the DGZRs (German Cost Guard) is stationed here in Schleswig and the next shore is never far for those lazy maintained boats with major break downs. The Danes are coming as well as the German top Foilerman, Sven. My money would be on Burkh, if he has got his Mach 2 by now and had the time to put in some hours of practising with the new boat ...errg, the well developed boat, coming in directly from the World Championship two months ago. A clever purchase one must say.

Anyway before speculating too much into our event, let´s speculate about the weather. Nice and sunny and wind around 14kn for the Saturday. On Sunday a little foggy (only onshore of course) with the wind around the 10kn mark. Good foiling conditions. Hope to see you on my home turf at OCt. 17th and 18th. Send me a mail if you want to know the address of the HSVS in Schleswig and how to get your boat on to the Netzetrockenplatz, from where we will launch. See ya!

More Racing in September

The last weekend in September we are always racing for the Blue Ribbon on our homewater. I had a quick thought about taking the Moth but with K. and Rod keen to sail on the Bull it was easy to make the right choice. K. kind of begged us to helm the boat and Rod and I agreed. She placed the boat very well on the starting line but it was me who had not put the sheet on the clew of the gennaker thus messing up the start. The two Melges 24 and the J-100, as well as a Banner Sports were up and away. When we actually got the breeze into our 60 msq gennaker we started the hunt. We were able to grind down the Banner but could not pass the the J -100 sailed by our local hero and sailmaker Ger. The Schlei Fjord is meandering through the country side and at the first real corner the crew decided against K. that we should try and carry the g-sail. We were right on the heels of the J who carried a large top spinnaker. We both got hit by a strong gust, which also headed us. Scrambling down the big headsails, both boats struggled. They did better as we did, rounding up one time during the maneuver. We lost more ground through the narrow pass, maybe because of the shorter rig and some inability to handle to "sailing low for better vmg" with the g-sail but the Melges in front were flying through. Nothing spectacular happened on the run, we caught up a bit on the X-34 which before had passed us in the narrow and a H-Jolle (national dinghy like an FD) also passed us. Upwind we lost some ground on the Comfortina 39 and the H-Jolle who both had a battle of titans. Always crossing tacks. The little dinghy taking their right of way and trying to throw their bad air into the towering C-39 rig.

Two thirds up the beat the J-100 grounded badly and we passed them. After that, both the Melges grounded but could free themselves within minutes ("Rattie" did not strap the keel down and therefore freed themselves quicker when the keel came up a little bit) It did not help us as we got caught a couple times on the wrong side of the shifts. I could not help but my mood was a bit down and I could not get us out there. I tangled the sheet once around my ankle, could not execute a good tack and one time I grabbed the spinnaker sheet instead of the jib and messed up another important tack. This shit happens when you put a "natural born helmsman" on the foredeck. Our finish was not too bad though. Sixth on corrected time with a Yardstick of 96 and sixth over the line. There is room for improvement. Number one: Clean the hull before such an "important" race, than the boat would be more slippery and the mood would be better. We hauled the boat after the regatta to put it away and there were some barnacles. My bad.

On Sunday we sailed our annual Laser Championship. I sailed again with Laser 84084 and somehow I asked myself sometimes during the regatta: "Where is Tillerman when you need him most". OK, you can see that this leads to a story with a result which could have been improved but that is another story. Maybe after I get some pictures from this event. The pictures above are showing our Bull with the blue g-sail. Shot at the Blue Ribbon. First photo courtesy to Achim. Thank you. Also Courtesy to Elke Kiupel who did hundreds of good shots from the regatta. Thanks Elke.

Pictures are worth a thousand words

Great sailing at Goldberger See. And what a nice video on youTube: Goldberg Cup. Me thinks that this was the last summer weekend with 25°C and a nice breeze. Excellent foiling conditions in the first two races and marginal foiling, but nevertheless fun to fight the IC`s in the third race. Very sunny on the Sunday and no sailing. Video: Courtesy, Henrik Rath

Caption Contest...

The above headline is borrowed from SA, whom I like to thank for the idea. Another thanks to Simon Payne who directed me as well as other readers of his excellent blog to an entry from "a" Simon Propper, who wrote about putting the "mojo back into Mothing" at: http://www.int-moth.org.uk/NewPages/Editorial.htm (does not open as per this morning).

Anyway coming back from that "not so nice" experience at the Moth German Championship with more swimming and less speed foiling than expected, the boat broken and the ego bruised, I was greeted by my little one and of course as a father coming home I immediately had to do my duties of taking care to give the best of all wives a bit of free time. Now I am not the guy crawling on the floor and speaking terrible bababa sentences, I took her, placed her on the tramp of my Moth and started to pull the broken parts apart. When I looked at my daughter I realized that she had some fun. I took the mobile camera and at the next day I realized after running the 4 pictures one after the other that she had a great story to tell. That she was in the middle of a race, going for the downwind mark where she was fighting for room.




1. Looking back for an overlap and adjusting her course.









2. Looking upfront and hey, there is this guy trying to squeeze in. No way.











3. Adjusting course, bearing away hard to avoid a collision












4. Stay out, told you so!"


This little story brought back the mojo into my Moth sailing and I am sure I will enjoy the upcoming weekend where K. and I go sailing with two dinghies, the Moth and she goes on her much loved Seggerling (after two years of absence) at Goldberger See. There will not be much wind (due to windfinder) but the idea is to meet DN friends in soft water mode and to bring whatever boat you might get hold of. We will see who brings what this year. The event takes place for the sixth time and it is mostly a self organized regatta. Of course with the help from Dietmar, owner of the camping site.

Update

Being a bit unable to cope with updates I thought the quickest thing to do is to put a new picture into my "....days of sailing". Searched for fifty six + sailing and look what came up. I do not know how one should come to the conclusion of fifty six through this picture. Google must know something about "sailing on the Cogh" (wherever that is) and how to find the 56 boats or trees or such. Anyway, I thought this is a nice one and the explanation helps. The foto on the left only shows 2 boats. The Bull and the A-Cat on their way to the startline. I should receive more pictures with a lot of spray later.

What happened between the last blog entry and now. Six more racing days are laying behind me. And the best to come. September being a busy month and the newly found sailracing Team did some great jobs sailing the Bull. The last two Wednesday night races we were able to do horizon jobs on the competition. Rod S. my crew who had sailed 12 foot dinghies at home in NZ and came to Germany for some I14 regattas and stayed since than in Germany (you guessed it, the women) likes to be on a boat built at his motherland, likes the ideas which Greg Young had put into the boat some 14 years ago and is an expert gennaker-man. Though the deep running in the light wind, with the pole squared, needs some optimisation. Also more assistance from my other crew, Lea. A young girl from the locals sailing clubs youth squad. Communication on the boat is kiwi-english, like e.g." ged_de_koit_up". Gotit? Hoist the gennaker sounds more familiar.

Day fiftyone and fiftytwo had been the much awaited Moth German Championship. But the sailing did not match my expectations., so to speak. It seemed that most everyone got a jump on me, sailing again faster, higher, downwind lower with perfect jibes. I was stuck in middle field or back after getting totally exhausted in the shifty and strong wind conditions. The boat did not fly easy on the Saturday and I was as unhappy, about my own abilities and understanding of the mechanics to make it working and flying high, as can be. Also in the first race I did sail the wrong course. Bloody me. On the Sunday the race course had been moved down the Kiel City Fjord into an area with more stable wind direction and strength. A long way to the race area allowed me to play with settings and at the end I got it about right. Arrived just 5 minutes to the start. Got flying, had a good upwind leg, second at the mark behind Leo and we reached to the most outer mark, which appeared to be the wrong one. NO, not again. My jibing definitely not on top of the game let me fall back behind the top 6 boats. Upwind I had good battles with Hans from Holland but the other guys whom I thought I could match were way ahead. After the first race my mast got stuck and destroyed the mast stump. A self inflicted problem due to bad preparation. I had to hit the shore. Two other Mothies joined me later. Both had broken gear due to contact with other boats. Fremdverschulden. Not their own fault. Everything is repaired by now and I look forward to this weekends Moth racing on the Lake Goldberg.

The other days had been spend sailing local races with the Bull and the crew as mentioned above. Great fun for everyone. The last weekend it had been very windy. 1. Reef and still overpowered but blasting down the runs and reaches. There had been abt. 40 competitors and we tried to be fastest boat around the course but with an A-Cat and a Fanatic Raceboard in the fleet it was not possible. On calculated time (Yardstick) we finished 3rd. First had been a H-35 (Design Hans Groop) and second an H-Boat from the same Designer. These boats with their long waterlines are being sailed very well here and have enough competition to work themselves up due to the OD mode of their respective fleets.

This year I was only participating in the Wednesday night races in September. We did the last three "beer cans" starting with a second and putting in two firsts. Yesterday evening it went like clockwork and after rounding the weather mark in second position behind an H-Boat, we never looked back and did a horizon job on the fleet. Sailing into the September sunset was an extra bonus. A pity that the days are already getting shorter. There will be more racing in the Bull after the next Moth weekend. The Blue ribbon race starts on September 27th and on the Sunday after we have our Laser City Championship. Must get organized with the Laser 84084 which is owned by an old gentleman from the club. Father of the ever winning H-35 champion Roger. The only guy who could ever beat him was his father. More to come soon.

Fifty days and more to come...

Yeah, I managed fifty days of sailing despite the trouble which life sometimes throws at you. The weekend before last we had a great Moth regatta at Kuehlungsborn at the Baltic Sea. Very near were Mr. George Bush kissed our Chancelorette, Angela Merkel at a G8 meeting. I mean, I do not want to go political here. Enuf said. The regatta was suffereing a bit under the light wind. We had marginal foiling conditions in the first race and after that only small bubbles of enough wind to get up and going for a minute or so. It paid when one was looking out for the breeze and going into the right direction. I managed this sometimes and at the end was able to score a second overall like in the light wind regatta at Bad Zwischenahn before. A pity that not more Moth sailors, other than the usual five were attending. Thanks again to Alex from Dubai who managed to spend the summer in Germany and to sail two series with us. Hope you get your boat repaired and organized before your season in Dubai starts. Young Alex has style but sometimes a lack of direction. He is not short of enthusiasm for the Moth as myself and next time we will meet, I am sure he will beat me. I figured out that I am abt. 3,6 times older. Something which will pay in the long term for the young guy. Anyway, last Wednesday I took the Bull out for the Wednesday-night-race. And night it was, when we arrived back at the club. A drifter. Barely managing 3.9kn. The boat felt so slow that I thought it must have grown a beard. Leaning over the side it did not feel like there was something. And the speed compared to the other boats had been good. The Kiwi, Rod Simpson, pulling the strings, managed to fly the gennaker even in the lightest of air and we came second behind the X-34. Actually the X-34 was in sight but we did a horizon job on the fleet. (Also on the X-332 which nearly rolled us as you can see in the picture). The results (Yardstick) are not out yet. I guess it will be first or second, but with only one race sofar this season we will end up last overall.

Coming weekend we will have a great Moth regatta in Kiel. Kind á German Championship. The fleet, which had 2 years ago been about thirty boats has shrinked to 15 participants this year. My guess is that only the Foilers will attend in the races. Promising are the many orders for new Foilers which for example Felix (Assasin) and Christian (Bladerider) have in their books. And their might be a third one going for the Mach 2. Rumors are there, but I will not spread it before the news being put out officially. There will be a good breeze on Saturday and I promised myself to hang the butt out hard over the carbon tube (stole that from Bora). At least the first two races before the muscles get sore.

First results from Cascade Locks

The first race has been finished. Follow the action here on the events twitter page: Twitter

Less Moth blogging, more Moth sailing

Two days of practicing with the Moth against my friends in their Fourteen (14)last week might have helped me to nail a second at our Moth weekend regatta in Bad Zwischenahn past weekend. The practice on the Schlei provided me with marginal foiling conditions on the first day and with conditions, which saw both of us being overpowered in the strong easterly gusts. On the first day the Fourteen had a clear upperhand on me when I sank into non-foiling mode. The speed dramatically going down to 3-4kn (I used the Velocitek on both days) and the two boys were still able to hang low on their trapezes and to glide away from me upwind. (see photo) I had "learned" at our training session in Horsens with the Danish friends, that the boat (s) behind should take a shortcut and not go round the mark. This brings the boats back together and the energy and fighting spirit rises immediately instead of dropping when much behind after the mark rounding. This was not build in my mind and at first a bit difficult to adapt. As a racing sailor I am so used to go around the marks that a short cut is a no-go at all means. Flying downwind it was´nt too bad on the Moth whilst foiling but during the maneuvers the Fourtenn gained. Must say: Jan and Sönke sailed like experts. Always on the better side of the course. Gybing on the gusts and beating me regularly. They will be a team to be recognized in their class regattas. A pity that Jan is so busy, working as a sailmaker that he cannot manage to make his own new mainsail for his boat.

Thursday was a different day out on the water. Whitecaps all over the place. Starting with 4 Bft, later 5 Bft gusting a bit higher. Time to pull out the stops on my Moth. And so I did. I could beat them big time upwind, though their speed showed an impressive 12 -12.5kn and same height as myself. My speed clocked upwind between 13.5 and 14.2kn, of course also showing some lower speeds. The weather mark (cardinal mark) which we choose had been in a difficult spot. Traffic and shallow water close by. I did not want to ruin my foils, therefore mostly approached the weather mark in low riding, pointing high mode. Thus we did round this mark not far apart most of the times. Downwind I had a speed burst of course when pulling hard on the rudder and bearing away but once the 14 had set their gennaker they were often able to go lower with the same speed. Thus the results depended on the gusts. Who jibed first and who handled the jibe best. The 14 went into the brink one time, I stuck the mast into the mud once, doing a hectic leeward mark rounding. But it had been the best evening sailing this year. Smiles all over our faces and still smiling when we had a chat about our session the next day at the sailmakers loft. We will do it again for sure.

The regatta in Bad Zwischenahn is not worse much mentioning as all eyes are glued to the Moth worlds. Anyone interested can read about our regatta at Felix Blog entry (english). For the folks who are interested in the Moth Worlds, there are some useful links here on the right side. Read Scott´s blog, Rohan´s or Simon Payne´s or go to the official site. All just a mouseclick away as they say. Sailing Anarchy in their Dinghy Forum section also puts up all the latest info and has some interesting discussions running. Next racing here for the North German Moth fleet (maybe some Danes are also coming???) will be in a fortnight (22/23.8.) in Kühlungsborn Anmeldeformular on the Baltic Sea.

Wish I had more time (like most everyone else...)

Though sailing does not have high priority in these stressful days, I was able to do some Mothing and a week of cruising with my family and the little Bull7000. This brought my sailing days counter up from 33 to 44 days within one and a half month. In my head, during this time, there were a few posts taking shape but at the end other things became more important. Thus, before rambling about the OCS and DNF point system at an international regatta, I thought that I have to have a deeper look into the current ISAF rules and subsequent SI´s from the event organizers. The funny thing is the head game. Driving to a regatta e.g. there are always a couple of headlines coming into my mind. Difficult to stop them when you are cruising along on the motorway, cruise control set and just looking ahead to a sailing event. Same on the way home. Even when it was frustrating like in the Moth EC in Horsens, DK, with too much wind and waves to handle for me. OK, I did sail two days but was only able to put in one result. In hindsight, I should have been able to let myself get lapped two times and then sail through the finish but those are thoughts which only come in hindsight. Once you are out there, mental and physical strength "broken" from tumbling with the boat on the downwind and unable to sail (fly) for longer than a few hundred meters, all I wanted to do, was to bring the boat save home without major damage. And that is what I did. Only more practice and a better fitness regime can help me to better my results in those conditions.

After the Moths EC we decided to cruise with our little one on the Schlei Fjord and that was a very nice experience. So close with the family on this 7,50m boat, going to nice, cozy places with the ability to lift the keel, we certainly will do more... when there is no racing in the way. I should mention here that we even did 3 days of sailing with the jib alone. Downwind of course. There is so much more to see when only going 4-5kn instead of the fast and often two digit 3 sail runs we would normally do with our sportsboat.

On the last July weekend I had committed myself to go to Horsens, DK again, to practice with Søren and friends with our Moths. This time the wind was offshore with less waves, still white caps but nice sailable conditions. Only the water felt much colder than 3 weeks before and I had do give in after 3 hours because I was freezing and feeling uncomfortable. On Sunday morning Sven did some dry training for the foiling jibe with me, more or less asking, how I am approaching the maneuver and one of my biggest mistakes during the jibe had been discovered. Thanks to Sven there is an improvement now and I only hope for more practice time. The past weekend had light wind and only some foiling time on Saturday. Having learned much about the set-up´s and subsequently having done some work on my foils the boat flew early and high. If it was fast and high only the next racing with tell. Therefore I do hope for some wind on the coming weekend at Zwahn. And of course competition. Do not let me sail alone with Sven. He will take revanche for last years regatta, I am sure. Oh, and I am trying to read those blogs about the Moth Worlds at Hood River, Cascade Locks, USA taking place in 8 days. This will be one exciting event with all those ex-Olympian sailors, with the much trained Swiss squad as well as Rohan Veal and Aussie friends coming to the event and some people who think they may have a technology advantage. Many Moth links on my page here. Stay tuned.

Battered and Bruised...

The Moth racing in Denmark had finished last Saturday with a four race day which only saw me finishing one race and starting the second one, but not finishing. It had been a tough week for this competitor and though I tried to give my all, I ended up with mostly "Alphabets" but not numbers.(DNC by the way does not mean that you have not started ((DNF)) these days) It has not been the strong wind which teared me down, it had been the waves and my inexperience in such conditions, as well as the frugal stage of the body condition. Maybe I will write a more personnel note about the event later. The following report has been written on request for an online sailing publication. Here it goes and I did have avoided to write about any of the new Moth brands which are trying to conquer the world.

The Moth World has changed
Horsens, Denmark had been the venue for the European Moth Championship held between 24th and 28th of June. The week had been dominated by strong easterly winds which never dropped below 15kn/h usually blowing in the higher wind range, gusting up to 25kn on the race course and even more. As the local Horsens Sejlklub had been the organisers for Euro and World Championships for the Moth Class before, they were prepared with all the necessities required by such a sportive and challenging class like the Moth. This year the event saw only Foiler Moths racing and it had been very exciting to see around 40 Moths flying across the startline nearly at once and going uphill in a battle for height and speed. Not all competitors managed the very challenging downwind leg (3 laps around) in the steep waves and only abt. 20 - 26 boats finished the races. But the once surviving, finished most of the races in style. Flying very high, going dramatically fast with a downwind speed clocked at more than 25kn, recorded for over 10 sec. The early races had been dominated by no lesser than the Brit, Simon Payne, a former Champion in the class. He came well prepared and looked unbeatable through the first races. We had witnessed the second race of the first day with a timer and found Arnaud Psarofaghis from Switzerland leading at the weather mark with 10sec which were wiped out to a 17sec lead by Payne at the downwind mark. The racing was tense between these two competitors and it must have been the last day where the race committee opted for four races on the day instead of the three which were written in the sailing instructions. This would allow two drop outs for the competitors. Arnaud Psarofaghis was already able to drop his 43 points from the first race when he did not finish and thus both competitors where on equal points going into the last day. Though everyone had his own fight within the strong competiton and the tough conditions on the Horsens Fjord, all eyes were on the two competitors fighting for the 2009 title. Arnaud P. started the day with a first which Simon Payne answered with two firsts in the next two races. The finish in the third race was reported to be 1 feet apart. The fourth and most tiring race of the day should be the decider and all eyes of many of the shorebound competitors were glued on this epic battle. Everyone hoped for the Master sailor Simon Payne, who did not have the luxury all week of a fully equipped service team like the Swiss brought to Denmark but at the end of the battle, it was the young Swiss sailor Arnaud Psarofaghis who had the nose in front and won the 2009 European Championship. The newcomer from the Netherlands, Eelco Boers came third with 3 more Brits filling up the ranks.

It was visible during the week that the Moth class is attracting many top sailors from other classes and that the days of the DIY low rider Moths are gone. At least when it comes to European Championships held in open water. During the price giving ceremony the competitors were full of praise for the Horsens Sejlklub organisers and their race committee which was well prepared not only ashore but also for rescuing many of the fragile Moths which were not able to limp home alone after some damage, mostly caused by user errors due to over exhausted riders. Full result list to be found under: http://www.horsens-sejlklub.dk/app/doc/doc_17510622.pdf

PS: A very good day by day report you can find on Eelco´s blog: http://ejbmoth.blogspot.com/
PPS: The picture shows Simon (in the foreground) and Arnaud after the second day of racing on the Horsens SK´s slipway. As usual you can extend it by clicking on it.

Moth Euro - Practise Race Opening Ceremony

Horsens, DK welcomed abt 40 Moth sailors with beautiful sunshine and a seebreeze for the practice race. 3 laps around. Up-and down. The Swiss brothers are bloody fast as is Simon Payne. Things have moved on in the Moth class ans the top guys are not only flying very high but they are also fast. Faster than even the fastest German had expected. I am meeting most of the friendly bunch for the first time and got the feeling that many sailors are taking the Moth sailing quite serious. Most people went to bed at around 22.20h. The foto shows part of the "Pit" (Fahrerlager) here in Horsens. Everyone is excited about the first races to happen tomorrow. Catch up with you later.

Low Water and some Damage

On Wednesday my Sportsboat Crew Jan and I decided again that we will not take the Bull out. Instead, Jan will do some work at his job in the sailmaker loft and I decided to take the Moth out for more training. It was windy, abt. 17-20kn on my anemometer and chilly but I had to go. Had to try the small changes and maintenance work which I had done to the boat recently. But I seemed to start the "day" on the wrong foot. We had very low water, see the photo of my usual boat launch. I walked the boat far out but maybe not far enough or there is another bank behind the deeper water, where I righted the Moth. I touched the ground, jumped off the boat, pushed it out on it´s side some more and climbed on to the site again for another go. Time was slipping by and the mixed keel boat fleet had already started. This time with a 29er as the only dinghy in the fleet. I thought to have fun sailing against them. 2 - 3 capsizes on my way out in the strong gusts and I did not even make the startline. within 5 minutes the fleet had sailed away to windward. When I had passed the last boat, which was already on the downwind leg, I pulled the tiller for a bear-away and blasted downwind. Fast and a bit out of control. The 29er was already far ahead but did not manage deep angles. I thought that with the long downwind leg I might be in for a chance to catch them. Coming close to the narrow channel, I realized that I would have struggled in the middle of the fleet. All the wind shadows of the bigger boats, pointing straight downwind without foiling was no option for me. I turned around and sailed some shorter up-and downwind. Looking out for the 29er to come back for the last bit of windward leg to see how we would match together. Always good to have a benchmark. Just when I was setting up to meet them I was pushed over by a heavy gust and when climbing the centerboard I recognized that the centerboard foil held on at a 70° angle instead of the 90°, which it should. I unclipped the ball crank and limped home. Getting the boat out of the water, I realized that the rudderfoil had broken in the top. Middle of the left side. As it is hollow, it was possible to shockbend it upwards to abt 40°. Arrgh, and did I report that I had broken off the last 20cm of the tiller extension? And lost it out there? Not a good day indeed. And so close already to the EURO in Denmark.

Next outing came on Sunday with my spare foils, using all small parts including screws from the "broken ones" as somehow my spareparts toolbox got lost, the ride was not really as it should be. Sitting far back was the only way to sail the boat. I took it out to the wider waters of the Schlei to avoid hidden banks. Than the boomvang broke. A metal part was flying through the boat. Good luck, as it had only been the shackle fitted to the permanent "padeye" on the bulkhead. But the shackle had broken, not loosened. Back to the workshop again. Today we have repaired the old foils (carbonized and epoxied) and the vang shall work with a loop shackle. I could go sailing again and have already been asked to take up the A-Cat as a competitor. Trouble is, I have tickets for "Simple Minds", who are having a gig in Hamburg. Open Air. I am sure they will also present some of my favorite songs like "Belfast Child", "Mandela Day", "Dont you", besides their new album which I must say, I have not heart any of the songs yet.

Will I be last in the upcoming Moth EC?

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

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

A bad sailing day

SA called for a report about a bad sailing day. Mine had been on Saturday past weekend: First a nice back roll after the footstraps lashing broke (than swimming after the boat!) and after repairing it ashore and out again, the centerboard push rod broke at the bottom. The wind was very strong (5-6 Bft) and gusty but I think I might have hit something. Now awaiting some spares to arrive. Nothing left in my BR spareparts toolbox. As I had only been out for a couple of runs between repair and another trouble it will not effect my sailing meter. The only good thing had been that I went out late, almost at 19.30h and it felt totally OK, though there had only been one lonesome windsurfer on the water. And Yes, I wanted to do a speed test against him but the back loop did not allow me to catch up with him. After finishing my repair and being out again he had left. The sailor on the photo is me on the lake Stienitzsee in Berlin. Very tricky this lake, surrounded by hills or woods. Felix will not find much difference to his usual water reservoir sailing.

First Ship Home

After fighting some back pain during the last days it was a relief to be out sailing past weekend with the little Bull. K. and I had put a reef in, the small jib hanked on and off we went for a pleasurable sailing afternoon. There were moments when the wind got a bit light for the reef but as this had been our first sunday sail together since we have the little one, I was able to resist. A long beat up the Schlei until we turned the boat around to sail back home with the wind from behind. Shook out the reef, kite up and a couple jibes with the gennaker brought some smiles. We even managed 12kn for a long moment and came right back home for a marvelous asparagus dinner, prepared by the grand parents who had taken care of little E.

Last Monday had been a holiday in Germany (Pfingsten) and what a weather we had. Great summer sunshine and a warm breeze from the north/east. In the afternoon I rigged the Moth and both K. and I had some good rides. It was her first ride again after the initial 3 days two years ago. And yes, it looked good, just one capsize, good airtime, holding a straight course and downwind some course alignment to the gusts. One day she will start racing the Moth, I am sure. Her Seggerling Skiff Dinghy is still up for sale.

Now coming to the headline of this post. Yesterday I started in the Wednesday night race with the Moth together with the "big" boats from a Minitonner to X-79 and up to the fast X-34. A crowded startline and I decided to start behind the fleet which was fighting for slot on the right side. It was very gusty, wind from the north west, which is not the best direction in a narrow water running east/west. The guys on the keelyachts measured abt 5 Bft gusting stronger. I started from behind and besides capsizing two times during bad tacks I managed to round together with the first boat. Me on the outside. Immediately I pulled away whilst the keel yachts were putting up spinnakers and running straight down. All was good until after a few jibes I ended up too far on the north side of the course. Low riding through the narrow pass opposite Fahrdorf did not help my position, some yachts passed me. When the water was again deep enough I put the nose more into the wind, accelerated onto the foils, bearing away and trying to run deeper this time I managed speeds above 20kn most of the time. My Velocitek showed me 21.9 after the race as best 10sec. score. I passed all the boats and the front runner just before the downwind mark. I did not get all the shifts right and at the weather mark we rounded nearly together, me again on the outside. Now a fast reach which took me away from the fleet in no time. Next jibe ended in a good swim but the last downwind was a real blast. I even managed to round the mark on foils easy, put the nose upwind and hiked hard. A long beat home with two or three bad tacks which saw me swimming, but I managed to be first ship home by a couple of minutes. A very good feeling as I was sailing the full course, had to turn at marks and not at the best possible moments, as I normally do in training. This had been my best evening sail so far. A good practice for the EC in Horsens where we already have more than 40 entries and from the participants names mostly really good Mothies. Former champions, etc. I just do not want to become last. The photo, taken with a mobile, is a view from the north shore (no wind) taken on Wednesday. The fleet is just coming together and the little sail in the middle is me. Don´t know where the white dots are coming from. The Bladerider Moth is mostly black.