Whovever has written this shite, he/she is right!

Some marketing guru must have written this article, taken from the SA frontpage today: Sailing Anarchy Frontpage and except of the thoughts about going back into motorbikes (did ride earlier in my life) I can find myself in it. Especially as I am of that "certain age" group which is being mentioned. I had the pleasure to go out already two evenings this week from about 7pm- till 9pm in a good 12-15 kn breeze and it gave me everything I needed to clear my mind and to be one with the boat in these difficult commercial times. I even managed a foiling jibe though I did not feel ten foot higher afterwards and did not celebrate as the manouver must have looked a bit rough and not as elegant as the great masters in the class are circling it into the water. It is just difficult to train an old dog a new trick but I feel, that I am getting there. And isn´t the "journey the reward"? Certainly for me. Thanks SailingAnarchy for bringing this up and spicing my day.

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Born Again

There sometimes comes a time in sailor’s life where things need to change. Where we wind up searching for something else to keep our passion flowing.

Remember when you were a kid? You were first to the newsstand to get the new sailing magazine, and you read it cover to cover? Eventually, that puppy-like enthusiasm wanes, and you drift away to other activities, where, in tackling something new, you once again experience that same excitement of childlike learning.

For most sailors, this means golf. Which is a shame, golf being possibly the only sport more boring to do than it is to watch. But if you don’t like golf, there are few other pastimes that a racetrack refugee can try. The possible exception is motorcycling, man’s greatest expression of freedom where you can look bad-ass, even if underneath your helmet you are a financial controller with thinning hair. But you can travel, experience the oneness of man and machine, and leave your troubles geographically behind as you yank open the throttle. But where to go? That dream of oiled girls flick-flacking down the bar as your bike pinks outside is just a dream, and if you do manage to find a place like that, then good luck, keep it a secret and don’t come back.

But if you don’t, what’s there to be done? Well there is something, my friends, something that combines the technical nature of golf with the desirability of gold and lets you ride out like McQueen on any Sunday.

And that’s Moth sailing. And you can do it and I can do it in the same way we can ride a motorcycle or hit a golf ball.

More and more sailors have discovered that Moth sailing is the place to go to get fired up once again. Unique enjoyment in a boat which is just as much fun to cruise around on as it is to race, a boat that only weighs 65lbs all up, where the mastering of a foiling gybe makes you feel ten foot tall and is significant enough to celebrate afterwards. Where, after many, many years, your childhood dream of flying finally comes true.

Right now there will be a sailor rigging a Moth, heart beating a little faster than usual in anticipation of that stunning acceleration and the deafening silence of flight. His polished black carbon boat is gorgeous, people comment on it and he replies with a brief explanation of how it works, but it is brief and that’s because this is his time, and the newness of sailing is back!

On the water and in the right conditions he will be doing some 12-17 knots upwind and cruising in the mid to late twenties downwind. Sure he falls off, but progress is good, the boat is a nautical gym and so he’s getting a good work out too, and all those years of sailing aren’t wasted, in fact they help.

You should be this guy (or girl)! It may seem difficult, but everyone who’s tried agrees that its not nearly as hard as it looks – it’s the class’s biggest secret. Furthermore, when you buy a Moth you are joining a very helpful club full of support and encouragement from both association and manufacturer alike.

In a short space of time, the Mach2 Moth has sold well over 200 boats, and while you may think they all go to the young guns and the rock stars on YouTube, you’d be wrong! A great deal of customers are sailors of “a certain age” who want, with the time they have available, to sail the most exciting boat on the market today. Blessed with Harley Davidson-like residual values, the boats cost a lot less than you think and a good few seasons’ sailing can be had for not very much money.

Yet we all like a holiday, so why not pack up your boat and travel? Events exist in locations to die for. Italy, anyone? Oh, the Cappuccino culture would fit in very well with a couple of afternoon races on Lake Garda, especially if you take the family. Or maybe Hawaii is a better fit for you, where the 2013 Worlds are rumored to be? And the boat can go on the plane with you!

Off the water, I’m afraid you will be online late into the night learning from the blogs and forums of the mothosphere, with that same exhuberance that you once hit the glossy magazines. So you may soon need reading glasses, but it’s a small price to pay to master an 11-foot nautical combination between a motorcycle and an airplane.

Interested in learning a little more? Check out the new Mach2 Moth USA site for all kinds of great info today, or hit up East Coast Mach 2 Dealer Anthony Kotoun here. Photo of Anfernee by the excellent Amory Ross.
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Photo: Me and my Moth. Photo credit goes to Alan Hillman at pro-vela Moth Sailing School