Look Ma, no wires...

I had watched these interesting little sailboats in Spain during my last trip to the Mar Menor. There are no stays or wires connected. Both jib and main are on free standing poles. Amazing little crafts and I wonder why in this age of carbon fibre tubes no one else did come up with such a great idea. These boats had been sailed by two handicapped people and the regatta was intense with lot´s of wind and waves. They looked great out on the water with their colourful liveries.

Cooles Video

Thanks to Scuttlebutt and Brownie for this Moth video with several cameras mounted on the boat. Brownie´s Moth experiences. Have some great sailing days and see you in Horsens at the Moth regatta, June 9th. Your entry shall be placed with Søren at: Info@horsensvaerft.dk. Photocredit for the great startline shot goes to: Susie Tagg

Great Racing in Champagne Conditions

Moth Fest as expected. The water really warm, the friends and competitors relaxed, the food excellent. Alan has put on again a great event at www.pro-vela.com. The participants decided that we are running short races for the last three days. First one round, later in the day 2 rounds. We have 2 groups of abt. 5-6 boats each, who are fighting it out. Great fun. I found myself in the first group, fighting it out with Alan for third. June and David running the races from the Rib with early starters being identified, so no cheating.

Pablo is the star of show, leading in all races and being up on foils first, when the wind drops a bit later in the afternoon. Flawless wind spotting by him. Janne from Finland did his first excellent jibes yesterday and he will be someone to watch in the near future. His catamaran background (F18) definitely counts.  Back to the club for some boat maintenance and another day of champagne sailing here on the Mar Menor in Los Narejos.

Training, Racing and a Sauna at the Beach

What a great week we had here in the North of Germany. Sailors flocked in at 1st of May and it started with the welcoming of all participants for the training "week". The 1st of May is known as a "hoist your red flag" holiday in Germany, but we did not go for protesting (against whatever) instead we wanted to put in some serious sailing after the long Mothless winter time. For 80 % of the sailors it had been the first outing this year. With Markus, we had a very knowledgeable trainer who does not only sail fast on his Moth, but who understands so well all the physics and hydrodynamics around our little boats. He is able to give lectures about things which are important but which I had not even thought about. Time on the water had been shared with time on land discussing speed and handling issues. Everyone had made progress in his own field. During the only windless day, videos had been taken about the foils going through the water, which gave some interesting discussions later in the evening. The small hometown club, the HSVS which has it´s origin in sailing old fisherman´s prams welcomed all Moth sailors and the President, Walter Rolfs, had held an opening speech in the native North German language. The Fisherman´s society, thanks to foreman Harald Ross, had allowed the Mothies not only to rig their boats on the ground but also to park their campers and trailers on their meadow which is normally being used to repair and refit their nets and fishing equipments. This made life easy for the Mothies, as it meant boats and cars and the club as well as the launching beach, to slip the boats, had all been within a 40 m circle. Evening activities were based on a herring BBQ, cooking noodles for all and visiting the local restaurant within walking distance. All in all it is a very convenient environment with a low carbon footprint. Friday, 4th of May, the wind did not cooperate, it was light but Markus had a great "game plan" in mind. Short course racing with 3 jibes instead of tacking upwind and 3 tacks instead of jibing downwind. Great fun and you should try it out with your Moth in the light air.

CTM Carbon Motte: Saturday we had sailed four races in: "it is not normally like this" wind from the north-west, which meant a lot of gusts and shifting around 30°. The wind strength in the typical Markus: "it is only 3 Bft range", but some of us felt a little more pressure. A couple capsizes and the cold water let me and others go straight for the "Sauna at the beach" after the racing. The juniors (Lüttsegler) were already welcoming us with coffee and cakes and a water hose to give us a shower after coming out from the sauna. Great fun for everyone and thanks to Dirk Röhlig, Saunapointwho had sponsored the sauna event. Sunday saw light winds, shifting around half of the clock. Junior race officer, Johan made the right choice for one 2 lap race which had been raced against the easterly wind which held about 3/4 of an hour. Later in the day, the wind shifted to the west, but only a zephir breeze as already in the first race of the day. Everyone was happy to hit for the beach and to pack the boats after a 5 day Moth session in Schleswig. Coffe, cakes and a prize giving rounded up this event. The Carbon-Motte again being taken home and cared by Markus. As you can see from the results list at: Results, Markus won the regatta with 5 bullets, followed by Sven, being a little bit rusty after the long winter and our newcomer on the racing course (not new in the Moth), Andreas, who sailed some excellent races, finishing third. Hannes had boat problems, which we were able to fix over night and he finished fourth. Usually I would only mention the podium places but Hannes deserves a special mentioning, because he gave a talk in the HSVS about his way to become a sailor and his path to win the bronze medal in the 49er class, during the last Olympic games in China. The juniors and their parents and interested Mothies were deeply impressed. Look also at: HSVS Event Site Thanks again, Hannes, for this spontaneous event which will stick in the minds and hearts of the junior sailors from the HSVS. Next stop for me is the: Moth Fest at the Mar Menor, where I will haul my boat out of the monster garage, which had been mentioned in the blog entry below. Edit: Sorry, not possible to put in paragraphs in this "new" Blogger layout program, though they are showing in my text.

My Monster Garage

Moth blogging seems to get busy again and I appreciate my friend Harald to come up with his reports, which enhances me to give a short update about my own activities. My boat had been stowed in the big garage as you can see from the photo above. I rolled it out for the last ten days, finishing on Saturday, for an everyday sailing session. A nice warm-up to the season, lying ahead for us Northern European Mothies. Our Swedish friends from Stockholm had the same idea and were also sailing a couple of days on the Mar Menor.

Being back in the office today I dream about the lunch break which is illustrated by the photo below. Always a highlight of the day in the C.A.R. Christina and the easy going canteen with good and cheap food. Boat being laid down on the beach ready for the afternoon session. I have signed myself already in for the Moth Fest @ pro-vela and afterwards the boat will be shipped back home. Some good relief from the difficulties which life has thrown on me in the past months. Hope to see you guys and gals out there soon.

Gone Windsurfing...

Gotta get out of this place that is what Eric Burdon is singing here. I have just taken the "WE" for an "I". Live has not been smooth the last weeks and now, looking forward to the sun, the waves and my old Lightwave 2,55 board with the GUN sails, all will be good at once. I am sure it works, it had already been much fun to dig the stuff out of the "drawer" today and to prepare for the long flight west and down south. Might blog something if I get back into the mood for it.

It´s all in the links...

Had a fantastic weekend on the Ice in Sweden with my new boat and a new mast. It is amazing how one can have small problems with the set up of the boat when not doing a full rigging process at home in the driveway or else. Which I had not done due to various circumstances. Raising the masts on the hull first time, it looked like my old shrouds were way too short for the new higher hull, but with a set-up of the mast at 94 cm it worked and did not look too bad. Rake was OK. Shrouds at the last possible hole. Anyway it was OK for sailing and for racing within the first third of the competitive fleet. Tips from the current European Champion, Karol, P-36, to move the mast back to 104 cm for more speed did not help me as it was impossible. Now I cannot wait if it is true and I will find a bit more speed when changing the set-up, which is meant to be for strong wind and black ice. A different story in sticky conditions of course. More important would also be to get a bit stronger, to have more willpower on the downwind to fight hard for not loosing places. (Same, as in the Moth Class) It is amazing how much one can gain if purely holding on and blasting away from the weather mark. I am under the impression, that the top 5 gained half a leg on the first 1,8 km downwind flight.

Now, before writing up a more detailed report, which I had already done in German language Report (use your favorite translater) I give my fellow 3 readers, who like to know more, some links to more information and pictures:

An nice article and video link can be found about our first training session on Friday 12th in Sandviken at Segelreporter.com : Segelreporter.com
This article also contains other links, like my report for the German DN site as well as the result list. Some great shots are to be seen at: Fotos from the weekend

Next stop: Somewhere in Northern Europe in 10 days for the World Championship and the Europeans which will be sailed straight afterwards. There will be about 10-15 participants from the US this time as well as Canadian sailors and with all the independent States in Europe we might have again 18 - 20 Nations raising their flags. I hope that all the anthems, though nice to hear, are not played in full length out there on the ice because than we would be finished with the opening ceremony only in the dark.

The picture above had been taken in Sweden on Friday. Some early arrivals are being shown.
The second picture shows me (G-99) starting to hike just before the mast will fully bend and is taking the load and acceleration.

End of the Moth Season...

This text below had been written earlier last year but I had been too busy to post. Now with the DN season -eagerly awaited- to start for me at the upcoming weekend in Sweden, I am trying to make a smooth transistion into winter mode:

Today, not even the middle of October, I had to search for the ice scraper to clean my front window before going to work. Might be the time to dismantle the Moths and stow them away into their boxes and to make room for the DN equipment. A pity, as my intentions had been to do at least one more weekend of practicing and to test my "KA/M2 rig" for height and speed. Now, that it makes sense to sail and test against K., who had beaten me the last two regattas, I should set modest goals, just trying to match her speed and height. Having been the lone Moth sailor here during my practice sessions, I must have developed backwards. Not sure if it is the set-up of the boat, if it is in the rig or if it has to do with calcification. (Good excuse by Tillerman).

Watching Psaro...

Team Aleph doing great in the Match Racing going from win to win but now this last race against Artemis was abonnded. Aleph had worked their way nicely into the front after having taken a pennalty. They were nearly qualified into the Quarter Final in San Diego but now they have to start the race again. Sofar good job by Pennec and Moth sailor Arnaud Psarofaghis (wing trimmer) and the French team with a comeback from behind. Back to the race. 5 min to the start.

Moth Racing last Weekend

Great Racing Saturday and Sunday here in Schleswig on the Schlei-Fjord.

A picture can say more than a thousand words. Have a look at: Pictures taken by Andreas

Pictures 1-20 taken in the strong breeze on Saturday.
Pictures 21-48 from the Sunday. The morning started with only 5°C. We did sail on the "inner Schlei" and the weather got better and better by the hour. These pictures are courtesy by Andreas B.

Pictures courtesy by Michael von F.: Pictures taken by Michael

My German readers will find a great report & video, contributed by Andreas at: Segelreporter

Cheaper and faster?

For the few followers of my blog, who are not regular Scuttlebutt readers, here is a direct link to an interesting Moth article which in most cases puts together the development in national fleets and how to do better. State of the Class in the USA

An interesting option for a good Euro winter training & racing -bar travelling to the Mar Menor- is the Miami proposal. 45 Moth boxes into one 40´Container. Yeah, it´s about time to make plans.

On the road...

Last weekend we took the two boats to Ratzeburg, some 140km east from our home. 7 Moths attended the races over the weekend. It was a first for the club but with Sven K, known to most international Mothies as the "fast German", it was easy for him to get an alternative in his homeclub for a cancelled regatta in Goldberg. The wind was cooperating only with the local, Sven foiled most of the time, whilst myself and others did a lot of low riding in between moments of good breeze.

The Ratzeburg fleet, namely Jens S. had prepared really nice prices for the price giving which was held on the Sunday after we had decided, due to lack of wind, to call it a day. Sven won, me second, Kerstin and Jens on equal points and count back in third place, Helmuth fourth and newcomer Merlin in fifth. Hans from Denmark with his new Mach 2 was not able to compete on Saturday, due to his cambers jumping off anytime he righted the boat. He was really frustrated. He had bought a M2 with all options from England but it looked like the previous owner and never been out on the water, just tinkering with the boat and putting on many gimmicks. The camber thing was corrected in the evening and the boat was stripped from a few unnecessary ropes to make it more easy to sail for Hans. To correct the sail setting, we used my last spacers... Felix did you order a hundred as promised???

Tomorrow we are sailing the "blue ribbon" with some kids from our youth group on the 36db. I had some divers in today to clean the bottom and took away a lot of weight. All the cruising gimmicks, Sprayhood, second anchor, chain, carpets, cushions, and all the wine. I prepared the carbon racing jib and we will see how she goes within her Yardstick group. Really looking forward to a last sunny day on the "big boat" with nice breeze. After that, she´ll be readied for winter storage.

Zhik Moth German Open

A great championship with participants from Denmark, Holland, Sweden and of course all the German Top Guns had been sailed between 26th of Aug until Sunday 28th. 10 races in three days at a mostly very windy venue. The PRO was not shy to lay a long course over the lake and mixed the program up with a number of different rounds to be sailed. Anja, of Mottenfieber Sailing TV fame, has again taken great shots and survived 3 windy days on a pram to bring some of the action straight into our homes. In the name of all participants, Anja: Thank you very much.

Look for the Friday and Saturday races no further than here:
Zhik Moth German Open at Lake Wittensee, Friday/Saturday

Look for the very windy (gusts up to 25kn) Sunday fotos here:
Wittensee, the windy Sunday

And look for the attending persons during the price giving here:
German Open, Price Giving

Again, my sincere thanks to Anja. She is a real class act.

Foto courtesy: Anja R.

Sailracing or not?

Last weekend had been full on with racing though I thought. And I tried to be mentally prepared. One of the local clubs held their annual regatta and there had been a start for the dinghies. I was going to start in the Moth and my YS was set on the A-Cat Class number of YS 76. Not that I cared about it. I was happy to have a race to compete without packing and traveling far. Went out to practice on Friday but it had been a bit breezy and after a capsize fest together with a 29er and some Lasers, who all went into the "drink" at certain times, when strong gusts from the East came through, I skipped sailing and left the energy for the next day.

Next morning the wind had not eased much but it all looked good. Somehow the race committee had their own way of giving signals and as they never took "P" down, I missed the start by 30 seconds. Climbed back and lead at the weather mark right in the middle of the keel yachts, which had started 5 minutes earlier. Made a mistake (capsized) in front of the mark due to giving right of way and than bore off to a great downwind run. Tried to figure out how to best attack the "narrow path" as the water was very low and the sandbanks nearly looked through. Therefore no way of foiling over them. All of a sudden I hit, or better, something hit me underwater. Turned the boat over to inspect the foils but all looked OK.

Righting the boat was OK but starting it, was difficult. A lot of times I buried the bow and kind of cartwheeled whilst bearing away. Not funny. In hindsight I think, it had ben the eased vang and the outhaul. Note to myself: pull tight after capsizing in a breeze. The swimming and all took much of my energy and I still feared some damage. Next Moth race is ahead next weekend and I want my boat to be in the best possible condition. I sailed the boat home without making it around the course. Fastest boat on the course had been the Melges 24 followed by a windsurfer. Claus, who is more than 70 years of age and spending every wintertime windsurfing at the Mar Menor from Camping La Manga. A great role model. He used a modern raceboard and I think 9 qm of sail. The participating cats ended up in the back with a lot of capsizing. The only Laser who finished, came back "home" late in the evening. The party was on in the Fahrdorfer Segel Club vis á vis from were we live. We took our 36db to cross the water and take part in the festivities. During the trip back in the pitch black night (not really, the town was lighted) K. and I decided that we take "Samantha" and do the Sunday race doublehanded.

So we did. But first we had to wash the boat and to get rid of all the spiders and dirt which had aggregated due to the long time being without moving from the berth. We had a good start, being more familiar with the signals in very, very light air. Code Zero or jib had been the question before the start but the small wind shift two minutes into the start left no option and upwind we tacked with jib. Only the Melges pulled slowly away from us and extended after rounding the weather mark for a long reach. We hoisted our 0.5oz "Whomper" which I had purchased as a used sail from a Mumm 36 about 15 years ago. What a great sail this spinnaker still is. Two reaches and we had sailed away from the X-79´s an Luffe´s and other keelyachts. Just the Melges in front. I was surprised as with the boat only being used occasionally this summer it still was slippery throught the water. No underwater species to see. Anchor and chain in the front locker and some water in the tank. Normally on race day this would not have been our style. But this was a sunny Sunday. And it was a real pleasure to sail the boat. On the second round we were nearly passed by Andreas and his X-79 team but with a good mark rounding an a beat in the light wind (no ripples on the water) saw us in front at the last weather mark. Due to the very light, drifter like conditions, we did not hoist a different headsail, instead kept our cool and sailed away again from the fleet, which had caught up on the last leg and desperately tried spinnakers and other combinations to catch up with us. To much tumult on their foredecks and just not enough breeze to fill a 0,75oz spinnaker.

Looking forward to the upcoming weekend, when we will be sailing our "Zhik Moth German Open 2011". K. will take part in her first Moth regatta with her M2 "Goldfisch". Three Moth women have signed in. Participants from Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands will come to sail 3 days at Lake Wittensee. Weather forecast looks good. Again our president Carlo has found great sponsorship and the food and party will be as good as at the Europeans this year. If you can manage a last minute entry, you are welcome. Look for details at the German Moth Homepage: mottenfieber.de/

Great Live Pictures from Cartagena

The first Audi Med Cup race in Cartagena Spain will start soon. The boats are leaving the dock. All live on at:: audimedcuptv

During Moth Fest we took the chance to go sightseeing in Cartagena and it was worth the trip. An interesting town with some roman history. Great to see again (on my screen) the port, the cruise ship at the dock and hopefully in abt. 30 - 45 minutes some great racing from the TP52´s. The camera was just featuring CONTAINER when she left the dock. Wishing them and also the other "German" boat, AUDI ALL FOR ONE with Jochen Schümann as skipper/helm all the best. Good luck and Smooth Sailing!

Campione, the Formula 40 and other Memories

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

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

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

What is coming next after the great MOTH Euro?

It had been a great week in Travemünde though not sailing wise for me. In hindsight one always thinks that he could have done better but having been on the water on Tuesday, with 4 races being scheduled, the wind howling and the waves getting bigger the more outside of the harbor I sailed, I had to rethink my DNF and DNC´s a couple times. Actually i did not even start the first race as I had capsized my boat on purpose before the race in order not to run against a big police boat which was lying square in my course on a first downwind trial run. I needed about 30° left and right to stay upright, to steer the waves and all was fine and I had been motivated until the moment when I decided to better capzise instead of running into this blue/grey police boat not knowing if it was moving forth or back. Something must have gone mentally wrong, I still do not know what. The result: I decided to skip it for the day and not doing the races. My inner will had been broken somehow. Sailing back to the shore was not a problem at all. I shortened the wand and I was sailing around 18-20kn downwind home without problems. Due to strong gusts I had a bad entry into the steep shoreline and had to swim and to push the boat until I had ground under my feet. That gave me the rest and I did not want to go out again.

On the last day with a good breeze around 5 Bft and waves, I felt comfortable and started to gain places in the group around me. All of a sudden, I lost height. Could not sail as close to the wind as my fellow Moth friends, Harald and Carlo. I discovered that the rig had come loose. The pin on the mastfoot had grounded itself inside the plastic by 6 cm. No way to keep on sailing as it could have done more damage to my boat. I sailed back to the shore and started packing up and washing down the boat before everybody else arrived. Not good moments these two afternoons spend on the shore when most everybody was outside having a great time foiling. Anyway this is past me now and after Travemünde, I think we only had rainy days here in the North of Germany and except one afternoon sailing it only got better yesterday afternoon and I went out for an hour. Have to practice for the upcoming German Moth Championship on the lake Wittensee. Promised K. some hours to train with her or to give advise from the RIB. Will see how that goes. We are both looking forward to take part in the regatta, alone packing up the two MACH2´s on the trailer and towing them with our van to the site will be enjoyable. If I manage to get them on the trailer without dismantling them, I will publish a photo right here.

Improve your German language...

The latest German Moth Newsletter, called "Der Falter" is out for easy download. Many thanks to Nina for all the work she has done and the incredible improvement to have it in color. Der Falter

Hope to see all you Scandinavians and Dutch friends on the annual German Moth Championship on Lake Wittensee, near Kiel. A great location usually prefered by Int 14s and the 505 class. Look out for the Invitation and program, coming out soon, on the German Moth Site

It could not be said much better...

Due to family commitments, I am just not able to put together a report about the last great day on the water and the festivities put on by the German fleet for the price giving and the final diner in the Moth Hangar. Maybe I get something together later but for now, lets speak Mike C. who must be a happy man with the final results of the Team Ninja. Follow this link: Cookies report about day 4 & 5

No races during the Day, but...

Dash for cash: 1st Philipp Käsermann SUI, 2nd Matthias Renker SUI, 3rd Markus Steeg GER
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