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).