Footage from the slalom run - Sail Melbourne

Richard has done a great job piecing together some footage from his Go Pro.  This video shows about 15 knots and bumpy seas.  This was our practice run of the slalom course mentioned in the previous post and after this and particularly the following race it filled in to twenty and the seas became much less manageable.

Nice work Richie!

Exhibition Racing - Sail Melbourne (bit on!)

The Victorian Moth fleet was asked to sail a short course series at Sandringham as part of the Olympic classes Sail Melbourne series.

The fleet included Richard Jackson, Paul Fleming, Andrew McDougall, James Owen-Smith, Kohei, Leigh Dunstan (me) and a guest appearance from New Zealand 49er sailor and moth champ Peter Burling, borrowing Martin boat.  Rohan Veal ran the racing and did a fantastic job.

It's hard to paint a picture of how challenging the conditions were, with 18-20 knots blowing across the short slalom course with typical Port Phillip waves of close to 1m.  The challenging part was the second and fourth buoys of the course were set 20-30m off a rock wall, to enhance the spectator appeal, with people looking down on the course from a balcony just above the bottom marks.  What made things really interesting though was as you came closer to the rock wall the water became much shallower so the waves stood up out of no where and chaos followed at almost all of these mark roundings.  These mark rounding also saw some serious near misses, with only inches in it.  The course was also set to maximise speed with most downwind legs having to be sailed at much higher angles than Moth are normally expected to sail.  I know my top speed was 24 knots, which isn't massive, but you park a rock wall in front of you when your doing that speed and the experience is certainly much more intense than it would normally be.

I can't actually remember how many races we had, as it's pretty much a blur of constant crashes and carnage, I think it was four or five.  The day belonged to Andrew McDougall who won all but the first race that I won.

A special mention has to go out to James who went out thinking it was a good idea to wear wetty shorts on Port Phillip Bay.  Unfortunately he did what I did a couple of years ago and ripped the back of his leg open on the chain plate.  

Thanks again to Rohan and Sandgringham YC for putting on some of the most intense racing any of us have ever been a part of.

KA Sails Vic Grand Prix - Round One

Saturday the 22nd October saw round one of the KA Sails Victorian Moth Grand Prix, included as part of the McRae Yacht Club's Open Day.  It wasn't the greatest weather, with rain and winds being light and variable, but most importantly there was good racing and a free lunch, except of course for Amac who always gets there at the last minute when all the food is gone.

Sammy carving it up!

The Moth fleet had a turn out of eight Moths which wasn't too bad for the first round of the season, although for the next round we hope to see well over ten.  It was one of those days where you could be drifting along at 1-2 knots and someone is smoking along behind you on the foils.

If you look at the guys on the B14 you can almost see them saying 'I'll have what he's having'

Off the start Leigh (me) was the only boat to get up on the foils and managed about a 100m lead, only to tack straight out of the pressure and hand the lead to Amac, where he consolidated as the race went on.  He sailed his brand new Mach 2 to a convincing win.  Richard Jackson did well to take second, just ahead of Leigh (me) and Sam England close behind in fourth.

Richard thinks sitting down on a Moth is highly over rated!

Round two of the KA Sails Victorian Grand Prix will be held on the 19th November at Mornington Yacht Club, the location for the upcoming Nationals Titles. 

Amac leading the way on his shiny new boat

Thanks again to KA Sails and Racer X Marine for supporting the event and a big shout out to Kylie for taking some great happy snaps!

Victorian Moth Grand Prix Series

The dates for the Victorian Moth Grand Prix Series have been confirmed.  Spread across the season at various clubs and incorporating some major regattas we are looking forward to some fantastic racing.  


The first round is the Mcrae Open Day where they are expecting in excess of 90-100 boats, so we should see some fantastic exposure for the class.  With the National Titles in January also at Mornington we are set for a huge season!


A massive thanks to KA Sails for donating a sail for the series.  To help promote regular participation each competitor will receive a ticket for every round entered and the winner of the sail will be drawn after the final round at Black Rock.  


If your an interstate mothie and looking for some action Round 4, which is also our State Titles will be run as part of the Geelong Festival Of Sail.  The event promoters are putting us right in the action just off the end of the pier.  With an estimated 150,000 people along the forshaw that week it will be a great regatta.  If your keen for some action late in the season Round 6, as part of the Black Rock Skiff Regatta is always great regatta.  


Round 1: 22nd Oct - McRae YC Open Day
Round 2: 19th Nov - Mornington YC
Round 3: 3rd Dec - Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club
Round 4: 28th & 29th Jan - Geelong YC, as part of the Geelong Festival of Sail (2012 Victorian State Titles)
Round 5: 3rd Mar - Blairgowire YS
Round 6: 21st & 22nd Apr - Black Rock YC, as part of the BYC Skiff Regatta


Stay tuned for event updates..................................

AUS 3685 vs Dolphin vs Insurance Company

A couple of weeks ago we went for a sail off Mornington, flat water, offshore breeze, great sailing.  I sailed out for about a kilometre, tacked, beared away reached 21.5 knots (according to the velocitek) andall I heard was BANG!!! Followed by one hell of a crash! I have cartwheeled as much as the next bloke, but this one was different, I spent so much time flying through the air I had time to think what I was going to have for dinner.  I have hit fish, plastic bags, jellyfish, a penguin, even managed to sail the bulb on my rudder directly through the eye of a submerged mooring (anchoring me to the bottom), but whatever I hit was big and is also likely to be pretty sore.

I looked back and my rudder was gone.  My rudder pin had literally ripped through the back of the carbon tube that held it in.  After an hour and a half of getting a hire boat to bring us back in the process started to try and claim a new rudder, foil, gantry, tiller, etc. on insurance.

After spending a couple of days being sent back and forth within the company I finally spoke to the assessor, who said "If it is wear and tear that caused the breakage your not covered, you have to prove to us that you hit something".  I'm thinking you beauty how do you prove that you hit something when the rudder is now at the bottom of the ocean?

That particular day I was wearing Richie's Go Pro, but I was shattered when I came in to find out it was not turned on properly and not filming.  That night Richie said he had realised that it was however taking still photos every 4-5 seconds.  I shot around to his place to go through the 500-600 photos, because there where dolphins out there that day, and you guessed it we found a photo of one.  I sent the photo to the assessor and he said they will process the claim, for the only reason that they can't prove that I didn't hit that dolphin.

Below is a pic without my rudder and a pic with the dolphin.  I think the moral to the story is NEVER leave shore without a Go Pro stuck firmly on your head, it could save you thousands!!!!!

Winter training session off Mornington (very, very cold!)

A little bit of online moth marketing!

We had an article published in Sailworld.com not long ago.  We already have one new local 'mothie' about to come online as a result

http://www.sail-world.com/Australia/Victorian-Moth-Fleet-looking-for-new-pilots/85926