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.

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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!