Good Bye to the "Old Faithful"

Yes, you see my wonderful Bladerider X8 being on the move to a new home in Holland. May Jaap, the new owner enjoy the boat as much as I did. What a great time we had together, the X8 and myself. And it had been reliable through all the sailing, that is the reason I was calling it "Old Faithful". Just like my old 1973 MG B GT which is being used very seldom but when it is needed it starts roaring after a few revs.

Selling the X8 was not easy at two ends. First there had been no reaction on my advertisement on the International Moth Homepage (thanks to Doug for such a great tool). Than, out of the blue I had 3 highly interested people in the boat. One from Holland, one from Germany and one from Poland. I settled with Jaap as he made a decision without much fuss and the boat was his. Michal from Poland, with whom I had good correspondence settled with MACH 2 and a distributorship. After the dust had settled there came another very interested person via my good friend Søren from Horsens, Denmark. Anyway it was a bit of an emotional departure as K´s and my idea had been to keep the boat for her. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about the logistics with spare parts for two different brands. (Spares, big or small always needed when sailing Moths) the closer I came to the conclusion to buy another MACH2. This will help with having equal parts and the possibility to vandalize one boat whilst waiting for spares. Downtime must be short as are the month of summer.

Also my Moth buddy, Andreas, being on the rise and becoming quick on the race course, wanted a M2 himself. When he was a bit undecided I pushed him into Simon´s direction and as far as I am concerned, nothing speaks against a well set up ABARTH Moth on our home waters on the Schlei Fjord. So, there had been a few good Moth deals lately in our small fleet. And we will all meet with our new toys at the Moth Fest in May at the Mar Menor. (No direct link here as I think it is already overbooked...)

As far as activities around the house are concerned, I am preparing for the DN Euros in Estonia, Latvia or Poland. The news this morning had been that even Finland is an option now. Our president and the professional race committee* are concerned about snow coming in on the "best ice since 30 years" in Saaremaa, an island near Haapsalu in the Baltic Sea. Have not sailed lately as I was not in the mood for the long trips to the south (Lake Rescia) or to the north (near Gothenburg). Family kept me away. The ones who are interested in the more technical side of the DN rig should read the German article which was written in the SR online mag at: Segelreporter.com

I hope to be able to send a small report from the DN EUROS but anyone being more interested should check in at: www.eissegeln.de. Either the Pinboard or the DN Yacht button will contain reports. The racing will start on Sunday 27th and I think I have to go through a qualifier to try to get from the "B" fleet to "A" fleet as my last ranking in the World ranking list just does not qualify me directly for the Gold fleet anymore. It will be difficult but not unmanageable. First I need boat speed on the given day. What I do not need, is a starting position outside on the left (always computer generated for first race, odd numbers on the left) as that will give me 2 more tacks other than the starters on the starboard side. Anyway the preparation of the gear already gave me some fun and I am sure I will enjoy the event. Meeting friends from around the world and sharing the same passion is always great.

* In the DN class we have a professional race committee (Stan Macur and friends from Poland) which are assisting the officials from the country which is responsible for the event. Compared to other classes, this works on a relatively small entry fee of € 150,--per participant for the whole event. Usually there are around 150 to 180 starters which are divided into 3 or even 4 fleets depending on the size of the available area. The maximum fleet size is about 54 starters and that works great. Something which I am sure will happen in Moth fleets in the very near future. I am with Simon and do not think it is possible to let 150 Moths foiling straight to the wall. Anybody knows what he meant with the broken pencil in the same post at: SP´s Blog ?

DN Racing in Denmark

What a great weekend we have had in Roskilde, Denmark, racing for the Seeland Championship or whatever it was called. Photo credit to Sejlfoto.dk And I got back into it. Got back my grin and will not compare it with the summer Mothing again, to say which is better for me, like I showed doubts about the Iceboating still being my favorite in my last post. No, you cannot compare, you should not. It is all very special and it is both rewarding to the work and time which you have to give into both sports. I am such a lucky guy to be here on Mother Earth, still being in decent shape and to discover it and to enjoy it. Sailing on hard water and foiling on the soft one.

For people being interested in more details about how DN regattas on ice come about, I would suggest reading John Casey´s last bit on his blog. A great sailor and journalist himself, he had been invited to take part in the 2011 DN World Championship in the USA, also held last weekend, whilst me and 40 other sailors from Denmark, Netherlands and Germany where sailing in Roskilde. Good and tough competitions in both events.

And as this blog entry is appearing on the IMCA site, I like to present my friends from both worlds two videos which I found to be very interesting to look at. Especially for people who are following the discussions on SA.com about Bora´s Wing. Enjoy and see you next time on the water. Hard or soft.

For the Moth Wing Video:

For the DN Video from Roskilde:

Who is behind this thing?

I had been pointed into the direction of this virtuell Moth Sailor by Magnus Wheatley, the handgranade journalist, see also link on the right side. Visiting the site, which Magnus also mentioned in his blog post which has an entry I would call: Virtuell Moth Sailor I am a little puzzled. This guy or girl must know a lot about sailing, hanggliding and such. Smells a bit like SP, hiding behind a different personality. Beside the Moth sailing on a very, very high level, I have read that he has a similar boat as described in one of the "noodleqt" posts, going cruising. Or could it be KK? She knows a thing or two about sailing. She is one of the gifted writers and story tellers like the gentleman mentioned before, as well. And does the sailing club not look a bit like the HISC? Never been there but seen photos. But it could also be someone from the Isle of Wight, who dreams about Moth sailing and who is or had been a hangglider pilot as well. The Deeg? Or one who sold me his "Magic MKIII" after teaching me the finer points of watching the clouds for thermal winds after a lot of "looking at the green barn" during the first lessons on the IoW. Feel free to guess who is behind the "noodles" personality.

Anyway, great stories to read after an evening of working on my DN runners which had an alignment problem. And one of the 440C runners had a notch which took some time to smooth on the belt sander. All this work because the Danish DN friends are calling for a regatta in Roskilde on the weekend. Haven´t done much sailing so far due to other commitments.

On the Moth side there is some planning for the Moth Fest and some training before at the Pro-Vela in April. Flights are being booked and everything else will fall into place, I am sure. It really is the first of many, many DN winters where I could live without ice sailing and instead going foiling with the Moth. Sailing on soft water has never been so exiting for me.

Spend the last two days at the "boot" in Düsseldorf. Haven´t seen a Moth there, instead I had met someone from real life in the seventieth. A gentleman who had sailed Flying Dutchman in some of the events where I also took part. Great stories to exchange about the Worlds in Weymouth ´74, about Travemünde and about Kieler Woche. Does anyone today believe that Rodney Pattison came to Kiel with a Morgan+8 towing his FD behind? John Mellow and I had witnessed it. He is now producing really nice sculptures in stainless steel. Some had been donated at the TP52 Audi Med Cup. I immediately ordered two "Moth Sculptures" to donate during two Moth events coming season. Hopefully they will help increasing participation in the planned Northern Europe Moth Circuit, where we expect sailors to participate from Sweden, Denmark and Germany at three events. one in each country. Of course Moth sailors from other countries are also invited to come. More news and maybe a flyer later on the IMCA site.

Anyone interested in composites or boatbuilding in generell should visit my companies new Facebook site at CTM Facebook and become a supporter. This will enable you to receive composite news or special offers on carbon and other materials.

Now we have a decision

Yes, it just came over the Internet. eissegeln.de German DN Championship is on. I have two afternoons of sailing just behind me and the body is a bit tired. The ice was very bumby, comparable to chop on a lake at 5 Bft. Need to work on some of my runners tonight which I had used yesterday for practice. Of course I will take my Lappie with me as it is nearly more interesting to know what happens in Belmont other than on the ice in Germany. Wishing all competitors from both mediums (the liquid in Belmont, Australia for the Moth class and the hard water DN friends in Klink, Germany) good luck and smooth sailing! See you on the Ice.

PS: Deutsche DN Segler sollten sich an der Diskussion im Forum beteiligen: Sind wir Memmen?

Edited at Jan., 28th:
The German Championship had not been sailed due to lack of wind, lack of sight and lot´s of water on the ice. Temperature was above 6°C but ice had been 30cm thick. No worries but you need at least wind and good visibility when you are crossing with your friends at abt. 40-50km/h upwind and around 80-100km/h downwind. Yes, I was happy that the racing had been skipped by those responsible. All the friends had a great time partying in the castle of Kling without me, who was suffering from bloody nose bleeding.

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!

This aint no speedo foto. It is a shot of my weather station during the last couple of days. Taken in the morning at 09.30h we had this unusual low temperature of -16.1°C. One might think this is good for the DN season but due to massive snowfall after the first ice had appeared on most of our sailable lakes, the ice was not able to grow under the thermal snow layer. And the snow is too deep to sail through. Only one lake, called "Plöner See" froze over late at 24th of December and after 3-4 days the first sailors could be seen via the webcam installed at the local sailing club. I had been out there on the 30th and we did sail some short races around the marks which we had put up. I had not expected anything, my knee somehow injured, but my gear worked well and I had good speed and was able to be in front in all races bar one. It must be said that I took the chance about fourteen days ago, after the first cold nights, and sailed with a friend "at the bottom of our garden" on the Schlei. Not much wind but good for rigging the first time and checking the trim. All my DN stuff had been put away quite hectic in March as I was so keen to go foiling at Alan´s www.pro-vela.com. Nothing more than a bit of WD40 on the runners. Should better go into the workshop but you know what: There is still some Moth gear to be put into good shape and order.

Working on the DN stuff had also delayed more than one evening, because I had followed the Moth Wing discussions. Very interesting as a wing would also be something for me. I will not have transport or storage problems and I would really like to try one as I think it is cool. Cool in the way of interesting for me as a sailor, as someone who loves all windsports but has to make decisions about which ones to take up. I skipped the idea of kite surfing due to fancying the Foiler Moth. And to have a wing for the fun and technical interest of it would just be great. Not all that had been said in the SA forum discussions is fair and I can only appreciate that the executive committee in the Moth class kept their cool. Good job. Thank you very much. I am very keen to see results and to hear about the happenings in this great Mothosphere. Wishing you all, be it on hard water or on the liquid one Smooth Sailing and a great season!

Read this about Wing Development

Haven´t come to grips with blogging. Not even about the last great regatta in early November. Alster Glocke. Maybe later this year. Today I found a must read for most of my Moth friends. Have a look at

Bora talks about wing development. Thanks Bora!

Everyone is a Winner...

...at least on this page accept myself, as I am not one of the winners. Not a winner in terms of NOT having a picture of myself on this blog entry as there is none sailing picture available. Haven´t been able to sail one of the 8 great races which the International Moth fleet, who gathered here in Schleswig, sailed in great conditions past weekend. My bad luck had been two major breakdowns. On Saturday the MACH2 bow fitting did not allow me to participate, as breaking before the races even got started, and on Sunday the day was finished for me and my "old faithful" the BR X8, after the first race, where I might have hit something on the downwind. A log of wood slightly under water or something which knocked on my main foil which I lost later during the second start sequence. Very bad.

As I am sure you will find the complete results list and a report on the Mottenfieber site, I will not bore you with the details about the sun, the wind and the fun everybody had. You can see yourself if you follow the link to the photo book: All Photos courtesy by Andreas Borrink who did a great job on Saturday, running 4 races as PRO together with Johan and Jonie and also finding the time to take these 400 selected shots. Andreas and the young Johan and Jonie: you are always welcome in the Moth fleet. We appreciate your efforts to work with us and to understand the Grand Prix finish which made it possible to run 8 races in two days. Our thanks also goes to Philipp who worked as the PRO on the race committee on Sunday.

Edit: Not everyone might know. If you click on Diashow, the fotos appear in full screen in great quality.

Great sailing, 4 Races on the Saturday

We had four great races on the Schlei. Wind at around 20kn and 3 laps up and down. Sven is leading with 4 first and Burkh is on his heels.12 competitors who really enjoyed it. Let the pics speak for themselves

Wish I could be there...

Going to Spain to see Alan and the ProVela is always tempting but with a busy September behind me (we are talking sailing and racing here) and an upcoming Moth regatta organized by me, my family and my homeclub, does not allow for more adventures. So Alan and David, I am sorry, I will not be able to make it but comes spring, you will see me.

Apart from some Mothing alone or with Andreas, I did take part in some Yardstick regattas with the Black Sheep to gain experience on this new style of boat. Very, very wide and hard chines. Double rudders. In short I must say it is fun to sail but the Melges 24 (who were our benchmark at the Blue Ribbon regatta) have developed themselves so far ahead that beating them in a distance race seems questionable to me.

K. and I also sailed the yearly Laser-City-Championship and whilst she finished all races in an old, worn out boat in style, I tried two starts and had to retire in both races due to stupid rigging errors. I wished I had Tillerman or other great Laseristi to help me with rigging an old boat like #84084. Maybe they would have told me what I knew afterwards: Change all the ropes and black plastic cleats or double secure behind the cleats with figure eight knots. See the amateur movie: Schleswig Laser Regatta

Anyway there had been a Moth regatta in between in Kiel. The Inshore race. I took the boat down there on the trailer, did not manage to hit the startline at first start, tried to sail the course for practice with 3 other Moths who were in the race but got so frustrated about the wind, the weather mark under the high shore line and myself about being unable to cope with the conditions. I had stayed complete dry getting on the tramp as the ASC, Kiel had provided personnel to help the boats into the water (Moth´s, I14´s, 18´s and a YS group even containing a Devoti D1 Skiff) but heading for shore I capzised badly just in front of the ponton. No wind, hazzle to get back on the boat and all. Not a good Moth show for the spectators though some came up and asked questions and wanted to help de-rigging the boat after I had put it ashore. I went straight home after that experience. Ole had also to give up due to a broken boom vang shackle (and you really need a Ronstan reserve in your tool box for this job on the Bladerider). Hannes and Sven seemed to have sailed all races, even the long-distance on Sunday and I am looking forward to meet with them as well as a couple other Mothies for a great weekend of racing the Moth on the Schlei. My X8 Bladerider is well prepared and test-sailed by me last Wednesday and it will be used by Philipp and before we will have some newbies who are interested to sail a Moth. I will use my MACH 2 with the new parts from Graham S. New Parts mounted and hope for a less wobbling wand. May the wind and Sun come as expected Weather Forecast for the weekend in all available weather-reports.

Sailing the "Black Sheep"

Should have sailed it earlier but had some Moth duties and than got sick for a whole week, but last Sunday was the day. A local regatta with a mixed YS fleet. You find more information about this incredible Sportsboat under: Sportsboat 5,50m

Anyway my expectations were high as I had seen the boat, nearly winning it´s way (elapsed time only) in a bunch of 50 other boats at a regatta a week before. We took the photos from aboard our spectator boat. "Black Sheep" came second after leading about 80% of the race. Their last beat was poor (hmm, hmm from the outside....). The fast X-34 found better lanes and the 5,50m boat was outpaced by this very sharp competitor. I started to believe and was able to see first hand that the old saying: "Länge läuft" (only length is counting) does not relate to modern Sportsboats if designed right.

Rod, the builder of the "Black Sheep" had his friend and designer of the boat, JP to visit and to test sail the hard chined, super wide (2,40 is wide related to only 5,50m length) boat. The wind on Sunday morning was very light and I offered to give a lift with the Bull driven by the Outboard. Walked over to get the Bull ready for the tow but when I saw the 5,50m boat sliding through the marina, faster than I could walk in nearly no wind we skipped the idea and I jumped onboard to take the tiller. We made it in time down the Schlei-Fjord to the "big-wide" and did not have to wait much for the start. Despite the light wind we got in front quite quickly but on the last long downwind we got passed by the DB1 (old 3/4 tonner, built by Dehler). Should have rolled the boat over to windward as suggested by JP and pressed hard down to leeward but with a straight pole and a flat gennaker this is not easy to achieve in the light air. Anyway upwind we were fast. You can see the upwind performance of the boat on the photos which are running through this entry. The small boat in the lee of the X-34 is the "Black Sheep".

Moth wise I had only 2 outings lately. Both together with Andreas on his BR and it was great to be back on the homewater for some practice. Still lacking good jibes but going nicely upwind. Have I told you that I am sailing a MACH2 by now? Not that I think I can improve my results much with this boat at present but it came along my way as a very positive surprise or should I say, a chance I could not dismiss. Should anyone out there be keen to buy a good solid Bladerider X8, I would negotiate if it finds a good home. Otherwise I might take it to the Mar Menor for the upcoming October Fest organized by: ProVelaComing weekend is another Moth regatta in Kiel ASV Kielorganized by the Academics who always throw in good racing and good partying. The races are open for 18th, Int. 14th, and Moths. The usual suspects will be on the startline.

See the boat right in front there. that is the "Black Sheep" not long after the start. Should anyone out there like to have more information about this new boat, contact me and I put you through to Rod and JP.

Impressions from the Startline at Silvaplana

Still on the road to do some business whilst down in the south, I can recommend to those who want to know more about the happenings at the Moth EC (with some outstanding top sailors from abroad) to read the blogs of other Mothies. (see link on the right) For my part I can only say, I have never done an event with 14 races in total. Mostly 3 races a day in the demanding Moth. With a few capsizes, usually on the downwind the body felt sore and tired already after day 2. I had given up 2 races when the wind blew over 25 knots and for the first time I stuck the tiller through the sail in one race. Getting back to shore and changing sail for the next race was not a problem.

The one thing that sticks to my mind had been the great sportsmanship and cooperativeness to help everyone who had a breakage. Parts had been lend out, laminates had been done overnight for others who had not done this before so that everyone was able to get back on the startline for the next day. Something that reminds me a lot about the spirit in the DN class. It was also motivating that some of the top sailors cared a lot about us, the rest of the fleet. For example they pushed the race organisers to extend the "open period" of the finish line from 10 to 15 minutes. Which meant that a lot more sailors were able to finish after saling the full 4 lap course instead of being timed after 2 or 3 rounds. (Grand Prix Finish)

As there are only a few sailors with more points on the scoresheet than myself, I have a lot of motivation to improve. I like the class and I just love the foiling. Markus, the top German sailor (placed 13th) analysed his result as being 2000 practice tacks short to break into the top five. For me this could mean that I need to add 2000 jibes to get a result mid fleet. We will see if this is possible.

Silvaplana - a lousy Internet Connection tonight

Trying to send a report and photo off to a friend on www.Segelreporter.com did not work but maybe this one will do it. A shot of the first start from the far distance. I am sure that those with a good internet connection will have all the reports and results which we, the sailors here at Lake Silvaplana will only see tomorrow. The sailing was great. Even with the cold water. I would not have started a fourth race as already in the third one I could feel a loss of power and concentration. The boom struck my back several times and it took away the cap from my head two times. Tacks were awfully slow and despite a very good start in the third race (who tried to squeeze in at the boat end with no right of way? Could have let you bump into the starting vessel) lost sight of most of "my friends" with and against whom I am racing in this big fleet. But fun it was. I came off the water with a big smile and I am thankful to Carlo who helped me to drag the boat out of the water. Without him it might have stayed there overnight. The Aussies are doing very well despite a finish line deep in the upper bay of the lake with a lot of non-foiling. Easy to win or loose 10 places here. Maybe this will be changed tomorrow.

Edit: Photos do not work today.

Moth EC - it´s real, the snow has arrived

Waking up this morning, there was some blue sky shining through the shades. Got up early and it was cold but the sun came up over the mountains. And there had been snow. Not just a little bit but as you see from the shot a bit more down to abt. 2200m. And we are at abt. 1800 m altitude. Lots of waterfalls and small rivers and all spend their ice cold water into the Lake Silvaplana. No wonder the Dutch Moths ventilated. Mine did not fly but that could have been another reason. Sweet-water kelp. Anyway during the day it started raining again, which made wet sanding easy for some participants with mud and garbage on the rigging area now taking over.

There had been a practice race today. And we had to collect our transponders to carry on the boat. Who in the world wlll know about the tracks of the sailors behind place 10? I was actually thinking about putting mine under the table in the tent (with tape) It would have looked like I am stationary at work here in Silvaplana and not drifting around on a cold, rainy day on some mountain lake. I am not sure who won that 4 lapper practice race. I was told that Nathan was circling around Simon but have no eye witness as I was in the way of Scot some times. Had a good lowriding race with Harald who beat me to the mark. We both had sailed 2 laps after having been lapped. But it seemed that nobody sailed up to the finish line and cared about a result. The official site (see Linklist) will have more information.

Tomorrow the weather will improve. I just heart from Markus that we will have 20kn of wind. Alright for me as I am still flying low. Have to work out better settings on the new boat.

Not Monster, but Moth Garage...

Packing up for the Moth EC at syzmotheuro2010.ch Lake Silvaplana, Switzerland caused some small headache. What goes where, what does fit and how much dismantling is necessary to load the boat on the camper. Decision time. The cat is not yet out of the bag but will be soon.

Looking forward to the road trip with family. "Sind wir bald da???" and other spectacles. I am looking forward to meet with friends and other sailors Entry List from around the World and my personnel goal is to have as few alphabets as possible and to get some scoring on the sheet. Of course fighting hard but not to bumb into anyone. Sailing fair. There is some internal competition between me and my fellow Moth friends Harald and Gerold. Two others from the German fleet have practiced for two full month and we will see how they are doing. Exciting days, I can tell you. Feels a bit like going for your first date.

Talk about Wings, I couldn´t resist

Admiring guys like Adam May, who are not only able to put to paper a great idea but also being able to follow it through and to handle it on the water, I could not refuse myself to put this into a blog entry. There have been drawings of wings before, there have been wing rigs long ago on Russian & German iceboats, but the three most amazing wings for me have been the ones pictured here and designed and built lately. Great times and I look forward to see Adam´s Wing at Silvaplana, CH. The Moth EC 2010 entry list reads like the who is who in Mothing and more like a WC instead of an EC. How comes? More developments to be shown?

I had to nick one or the other photo for this entry and if I have harmed anyones business, I am willing to pay. It is just that I could not discover the origin.

Some foiling and some tinkering on the boat

Oh, this always feels good and brings back memories from winter work on the DN. Going into the workshop early morning before breakfast to have a look if the epoxy cured properly and if the job done is a good one or needs some more tinkering. Found out lately that I had a very sticky connection from the wand to the push rod. Maybe it was the wrong lubricant together with my home made carbon swivel which did not turn around smoothly. Gone back to the original nylon (had a spare one) swivel and had to do some alterations. New, longer wand with paddle to see if the ride height could be improved. With my weight (no way to get it under 83 kg) on the boat this should help to gain some time during the manoeuvres before sinking in and spoiling the jibe.

It already looked good last Saturday when I had two short sessions. The first one just to realise that the hiking straps were too loose and I had rigged the wrong mainsheet. (way too long) This made sailing uncomfortable and after a while I sailed back to the shore to change things. And than it felt good. Really good. I saw Rod (my regular crew on Wednesday night races) with his family out there in the blue Bull going for a holiday trip and I did two "fly by´s". Wow, showtime. Up high, crossing his wake, nearly above his stern deck, nailing, (ok, nearly) a smooth jibe and hiking my ass out as it was windy. His girlies with camera in hand. Rod was sailing with jib only, me with all controls pulled to the max. A great afternoon out on the water after re-assembling the boat.

Yes, this foiling jibe thing. I am glad for Koos and anyone else out there who are managing it after some hard times going for it. I still have to practice more to be able to nail more than 30%. During the German Championship I had the will to do it. Concentration was all right and I nailed the first one on the downwind to set an example...for me and my fellow competitors Harald and Gerold who have played in my league. But it was only one nice jibe I did. Missing the lay-line did not help me and with some frustrations working their way up into my mind I did more mistakes, like not realising that I had been lapped and going for another round before noticing that the 3 boats behind me were already finishing. Does this turn me away from going to the Europeans? No, not at all. Everyone seems so excited. Moth sailors are coming in from the USA and Australia and what else. To sail in the European Championship on a swiss lake, high in the mountains with a thermal breeze called the Maloja. The Silvaplana had been on my agenda already many, many years ago when I was sailing my FD. But is was always the skiing part which turned me off from those great ski/yachting events held in St. Moritz. Still cannot and will not go skiing. Lot´s of other things to do in winter time.

The foto above shows a group gathering of Moth sailors at the beautiful Lake Walchensee during the German Championship.

Sailing Holiday and no Mothing

Changed the 36´C/R into a cruiser with sprayhood and else and have gone on a holiday with the family. It did not go smoothly though. Lot´s of trouble with the boat which had not been used for the last two years. All the small problems here and there to tackle with and nearly having a big one with an electric shortcut which could have ended in a "cable fire". Something really nasty. Now after 4 days and only a few miles it looks like everything is sorted and tomorrow we can head out into the Baltic. At present we are berthed nicely in Schleimünde and are looking into a beautiful sunset. Not very keen to take the computer out during holidays but with the build-in camera I had to give it a try. Smooth sailing everyone!

Moth Class Championship Report

After some great foiling session with good ride height a weekend before the German Championship, I started to dismantle my BR for the trip and taking the wings off. The boat should go on the roof of the Passat to enable me to drive a little faster other than with a trailer behind the car. 1150 km should be done in one step. Alone. And it was´nt a problem. I arrived at the beautiful lake on the Thursday afternoon, assembled the boat and went sailing on Friday after the thermal breeze kicked in. It did not look too bad for me comparing speed and height with 3 other earlier arrivals though the MACH 2 sailors looked like playing it easy whilst I tried to give it all. My concentration was gone after an hour and so was the foiling jibe ability. Some swims later I called it a day.

Come race day one and after the skippers meeting I was out early (which was one of my goals for this event), as I do not find it "charming", coming late to the startline. And there had been no mercy, I mean three Moth sailors were´nt ready but the class, including me, did not go for an early start. Before us we had a good fleet of Finn´s and Star´s doing their starts and the race committee was right on time. I had an OK first upwind leg and my dearest competitors behind me (the back end of the midfleet) and nailed my first jibe and off to the downwind mark. I did not hit the layline and had to put in two more jibes and arrived at a crowed mark. Walls of sails flogging. Starboat sails. A wide rounding, good speed, less height and than my boat began some funny movements. Hobby horsing. It started slowly but got worse on the downwind course. And it got worse during the next races and I got lapped in race two and three by 4 sailors. Did not realize this in the last race of the day and had to turn back to the finish line after being a couple hundred meters upwind already. Have to keep a better look out. Sven being fast as usual and he was followed by the talented Swiss, Martin, followed by Frederik and newcomer Markus. I heart a few girlie squeaks out on the course and both Tanja and Nina had their moments of foiling. At the end of the day I had Harald behind me on the list and we watched the Football game and a great German team beating Argentine. Later on we came together for the annual meeting and the usual discussions about how to attract more sailors into our class ended late at night.

Come Sunday and one more race. A pity that the program was written in stone as the day was just great, the water clear and green and the thermal breeze had kicked in though all reports said it should not and we should have thunderstorms. I had a bad race, the amplitude of up (flying) and down (touching the water with the hull) nearly made me seasick and I was happy to finish the race and did not enjoy the long ride home on foils very much. My boat and I can do better but I have to find out first what made her sailing like that. Something within the system must have come sticky. From the road transport? Dirt in the rod tubing? I had played with adjustments of about 8 turns (not at once) on the ball socket joint but it made no difference. Harald beat me and revanche will be sweet.

For the next fourteen days I will be cruising with the family in the Baltic Sea. No foiling, no boat work. In the meantime I hope that my boatbuilder will be able to do some maintenance jobs on the carbon frame tubing which all looks a bit tired and thinned out at the joints. After coming back I might attend the Moth racing in Horsens to meet with the Danish Bandits. A report in German language is available under: mottenfieber.de. Photo courtesy to Toni Mangold. Me and my boat do not look like "porpoising", don´t we? Just flying a little low.

Great Sailing at Lake Walchensee

We had some fun in the sun! Finn´s, Star´s and Moth´s sailed four great races on this beautiful lake. A report will follow later. Enjoy the Foto from Toni Mangold. Click it to enlarge it.

German Moth Class Championship coming soon...

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

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