I went out twice yesterday and each time the wind gusted up to a level where I was not sure if I could right the boat and make it back to the beach. I did twice with no real damage to the boat, but I want to coin a new phrase. If you wipe out you crash. If you black out you crash and have no recollection of what really happened. The boat is at some strange angle and some distance away and your shins hurt thanks to the cheese wiring they got. It all happened so fast is was like it did not really happen.
I blacked out a couple of times and once I had about 1 kg of mud stuck to the bow. At one point had the thing going downwind fast and in control. I was hiking not so that I would go faster but so that less of me would get cheese wired and was starting to enjoy it when I hit a fish and the rudder was nearly torn from my hand. I saved it but my short glimpse of self confidence was gone.
So I can not say I really learned much but at least I tried and had about 30 mins where the wind was low enough to actually sail and drive the boat rather than trying to slow it down.
I had reduced the lift on the rudder more and that made it much easier to drive the boat hard downwind, my maneuvers are getting better slowly and I am getting back in to the sailing routine but I till need a lot more time in the boat so I do not fall out of it so much.
There is no wind today so I do not want to spend 2 hours in a car to go lowriding on my own. So I will catch up on a few tasks at home. One of which is to sort out Tomahawk so that I can sell her. Hopefully this will lead to another Austrian Moth sailor as it is much better and more fun to have a group dynamic for training.
I have been playing with Goolge Calendar and it is so cool. I plan to make the IMCA events a remote ical file so that you can view them in your calendar software dynamically. This could be really cool but I am not sure if I should make this a members only service. What do you think?
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Bladerider FX and sailing on my own.
In Rohan's blog he states the X8 is selling well but he expects the FX to start out selling it...
Now I know nothing about Marketing but that is not going to stop me blogging about stuff I do not understand.
If I was going to buy a Bladerider I would buy and painted X8 hull with FX wingbars. Here you save a good deal of cash for not much penalty.
At the moment it seams that all the Olympic sailors are ordering so they have a new toy for after the games. This is going to create problems when they have to get back in their bath tubs for the next games. (poor bastards). Theses hot shots all want the best boat, so that means X8.
Not sure if we will see a shift to budget foilers but it could well happen, and the FX lowers the barrier to entry by dropping the price, so that is great. And there is no end of people fascinated by the boats and the fun they see you having in them.
I also believe that the difference in speed compared to the difference in sailors ability is negligible, and that even my old Tomahawk would be at the front of the fleet in the right hands. However if you are lowriding and others are flying then it is a sole destroying killer. I think the board windsurfers, who may be interested in the FX, will soon realize this and want the light weight boat. They all buy expensive windsurfing gear to be their first on the plane and not left floundering around while others shoot around them. I can see them buying an FX for the days when there is not enough wind for windsurfing, and then getting a lighter boat later, as they will be sailing in this marginal conditions a lot and notice the weight difference.
I hope the FX does sell and that there are more moths out there, as I have been sailing on my own for the last 2 weekends.
Managed to get my boat fixed up with a rebuilt foredeck, and even had a chance to fit an adjustable outhaul. Which is one hi tech gismo I have not have for the last 3 years...
I went out on Saturday and there was no wind at the lake when I got there, but I could see a storm coming. Going out into a storm is stupid and irresponsible but very Flashheart, so I rigged up. The storm feed me with 2 hours of force 2 to 5 winds and a great sail (or be it on my own apart from Yachts sailing back to the marina and windsurfers looking for gusts). I bailed out when the lightning got a bit too close and I was the only one left out there to get hit by it.
Now I know nothing about Marketing but that is not going to stop me blogging about stuff I do not understand.
If I was going to buy a Bladerider I would buy and painted X8 hull with FX wingbars. Here you save a good deal of cash for not much penalty.
At the moment it seams that all the Olympic sailors are ordering so they have a new toy for after the games. This is going to create problems when they have to get back in their bath tubs for the next games. (poor bastards). Theses hot shots all want the best boat, so that means X8.
Not sure if we will see a shift to budget foilers but it could well happen, and the FX lowers the barrier to entry by dropping the price, so that is great. And there is no end of people fascinated by the boats and the fun they see you having in them.
I also believe that the difference in speed compared to the difference in sailors ability is negligible, and that even my old Tomahawk would be at the front of the fleet in the right hands. However if you are lowriding and others are flying then it is a sole destroying killer. I think the board windsurfers, who may be interested in the FX, will soon realize this and want the light weight boat. They all buy expensive windsurfing gear to be their first on the plane and not left floundering around while others shoot around them. I can see them buying an FX for the days when there is not enough wind for windsurfing, and then getting a lighter boat later, as they will be sailing in this marginal conditions a lot and notice the weight difference.
I hope the FX does sell and that there are more moths out there, as I have been sailing on my own for the last 2 weekends.
Managed to get my boat fixed up with a rebuilt foredeck, and even had a chance to fit an adjustable outhaul. Which is one hi tech gismo I have not have for the last 3 years...
I went out on Saturday and there was no wind at the lake when I got there, but I could see a storm coming. Going out into a storm is stupid and irresponsible but very Flashheart, so I rigged up. The storm feed me with 2 hours of force 2 to 5 winds and a great sail (or be it on my own apart from Yachts sailing back to the marina and windsurfers looking for gusts). I bailed out when the lightning got a bit too close and I was the only one left out there to get hit by it.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
The Men from the Boys
I think I have caught up with the backlog of Moth Website updating (thanks for the help Scott) so I can now blog about my worlds.
I was whining and whinging about not being prepared for the Worlds before the event and so when I got there I was keen to sail but really unsure about the boat and if she would hold together. All those guesses about how much carbon goes where where not really tested.
We arrived there on the Thursday and I managed to get a sail on the Friday before the event. It was more wind that day than I had sailed the the boat in before but it was manageable. I did however rip a jammer off the deck which lead to the tramp getting ripped... I also realized than I did not really know how to turn corners and I was capsizing all over the place. The lack of buoyancy in the wings was clearly a bit optimistic and so I think I at least need to close off the wing bar tubes to get some help. However the sun was shining and I was blasting around trying not to crash into someone and had a lot of fun.
Due to the shocking weather Kati got some Kite Surfing in. She started to make it look easy so I persuaded her to let me have a go. I of course lost control of the kite and panicked as it started to lift me. I panicked and grabbed the only thing I had for security, a bar thing. 4 meters up in the air I realized that I should let go of the bar thing unless I wanted to continue my assent...
The next opportunity for a sail was the the speed challenge where I quickly realized I had too much lift on the rudder and Mike Cooke advised me that my wand was too thin. The result was I could not push the boat hard as she would disappear underwater.
Then my tiller extension detached form the tiller. So I lashed this together and got an escort back to the beach. (Beach? More of a wing a tramp destroying concrete...)
So it was with little confidence that I went out to race one. The new wand and reduced lift rudder were working better and the boat held up well. I was having a great time, However I was exhausted after about 5 mins and we had 4 races to go. However after lunch I sailed out for start 3 and the wind had built more. I decided that I was too tired and capsizing too much to really enjoy sailing and sailed home with a bent push rod. Swimming round the races just for a finish would have been a masochistic.
However Niki was determined to get finishes (or maybe to beet me overall) and so he managed to finish all 4 races. This was an impressive display of masochistic determination that has earned him the title "Number one Austrian Moth sailor".
Friday was the same deal I cruised round 2 races and Niki and I both did not have the energy for the third.
So yet again I finished around the middle of the fleet which is respectable. It is clear that this weather sorted the men from the boys and I was in the boys class. I need more fitness and more practice so I can tack without capsizing. Basically I need more sailing time and a more aggressive attitude. The boat was up to the challenge with only small breakages but I was not.
So "go sailing" was what I took from the event. Which is good as that turns out to be a lot of fun. So last weekend Niki and I got a couple of hours racing each other around short courses in a sunny force 3. Wow was it fun. I learned lots and sailed with the right aggressive concentrated attitude. I think it was Niki constantly referring to me as number 2 that helped. The boat had no issues it was just fun fun fun...
Yesterday off I went on my own to get some sailing in. It was gusty off shore and windy. Time to get the aggression. Come on Doug get your ass out there and go sailing the boat is fine and you need to learn to sail, your boat is call Lord Flashheart for fuck sake.
I can not say I sailed, I sat nervously on the boat waiting for it to throw me off randomly. So again I felt like a boy. I had no wing man, no rescue cover, and no idea what this thing was going to do to me next. I was more nervous than the boat.
I heard shouts of hilfe Hilfe HILFE HILFE HILFE coming for some kids in a blow up boat that was getting blowen out. I sat on my boat as it throw me in the direction of a Yacht that I asked to assist them, as it was going to be tricky to tow them in my Moth. I then sat on my boat as it flew, submarined and sailed past them and shouted "Yacht Commpt". They had stopped shouting and panicking and sat there with open moths trying to work out what the fuck I was sat on. They went from Panic to Shock to relief as they finally understood that they would get help. Then more relief when they realised the help was not going to be from me.
I was wondering if I should give up and go home while I still could and then I noticed that the front compression strut had pushed the V deck down about 5mm, like a 10cm diameter button had been pressed. OK at last I have a good excuse, I am going home, or rather to the workshop.
As for developing into a Man. Well I think this is going to be a slow maturing process.
I was whining and whinging about not being prepared for the Worlds before the event and so when I got there I was keen to sail but really unsure about the boat and if she would hold together. All those guesses about how much carbon goes where where not really tested.
We arrived there on the Thursday and I managed to get a sail on the Friday before the event. It was more wind that day than I had sailed the the boat in before but it was manageable. I did however rip a jammer off the deck which lead to the tramp getting ripped... I also realized than I did not really know how to turn corners and I was capsizing all over the place. The lack of buoyancy in the wings was clearly a bit optimistic and so I think I at least need to close off the wing bar tubes to get some help. However the sun was shining and I was blasting around trying not to crash into someone and had a lot of fun.
Due to the shocking weather Kati got some Kite Surfing in. She started to make it look easy so I persuaded her to let me have a go. I of course lost control of the kite and panicked as it started to lift me. I panicked and grabbed the only thing I had for security, a bar thing. 4 meters up in the air I realized that I should let go of the bar thing unless I wanted to continue my assent...
The next opportunity for a sail was the the speed challenge where I quickly realized I had too much lift on the rudder and Mike Cooke advised me that my wand was too thin. The result was I could not push the boat hard as she would disappear underwater.
Then my tiller extension detached form the tiller. So I lashed this together and got an escort back to the beach. (Beach? More of a wing a tramp destroying concrete...)
So it was with little confidence that I went out to race one. The new wand and reduced lift rudder were working better and the boat held up well. I was having a great time, However I was exhausted after about 5 mins and we had 4 races to go. However after lunch I sailed out for start 3 and the wind had built more. I decided that I was too tired and capsizing too much to really enjoy sailing and sailed home with a bent push rod. Swimming round the races just for a finish would have been a masochistic.
However Niki was determined to get finishes (or maybe to beet me overall) and so he managed to finish all 4 races. This was an impressive display of masochistic determination that has earned him the title "Number one Austrian Moth sailor".
Friday was the same deal I cruised round 2 races and Niki and I both did not have the energy for the third.
So yet again I finished around the middle of the fleet which is respectable. It is clear that this weather sorted the men from the boys and I was in the boys class. I need more fitness and more practice so I can tack without capsizing. Basically I need more sailing time and a more aggressive attitude. The boat was up to the challenge with only small breakages but I was not.
So "go sailing" was what I took from the event. Which is good as that turns out to be a lot of fun. So last weekend Niki and I got a couple of hours racing each other around short courses in a sunny force 3. Wow was it fun. I learned lots and sailed with the right aggressive concentrated attitude. I think it was Niki constantly referring to me as number 2 that helped. The boat had no issues it was just fun fun fun...
Yesterday off I went on my own to get some sailing in. It was gusty off shore and windy. Time to get the aggression. Come on Doug get your ass out there and go sailing the boat is fine and you need to learn to sail, your boat is call Lord Flashheart for fuck sake.
I can not say I sailed, I sat nervously on the boat waiting for it to throw me off randomly. So again I felt like a boy. I had no wing man, no rescue cover, and no idea what this thing was going to do to me next. I was more nervous than the boat.
I heard shouts of hilfe Hilfe HILFE HILFE HILFE coming for some kids in a blow up boat that was getting blowen out. I sat on my boat as it throw me in the direction of a Yacht that I asked to assist them, as it was going to be tricky to tow them in my Moth. I then sat on my boat as it flew, submarined and sailed past them and shouted "Yacht Commpt". They had stopped shouting and panicking and sat there with open moths trying to work out what the fuck I was sat on. They went from Panic to Shock to relief as they finally understood that they would get help. Then more relief when they realised the help was not going to be from me.
I was wondering if I should give up and go home while I still could and then I noticed that the front compression strut had pushed the V deck down about 5mm, like a 10cm diameter button had been pressed. OK at last I have a good excuse, I am going home, or rather to the workshop.
As for developing into a Man. Well I think this is going to be a slow maturing process.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Vs are in Us are out.
V hulls are in fashion. Check this new French boat.
There is more info here .
I am not sure about the step in the hull but the front is a lot like the Flashheart which I think is the way to go.
I was chatting about V hulls with Adam at the worlds and he said the same as me. He also found the V hull of the Raptor make the transition to foiling a lot smoother. You also get a foil assisted mode of sailing where the weight of the boat is shared between foil and hull. The shedding water with the hard chines seams to work well.
So I reckon V hull are the way to go but it will take a while for the big builders to do this as retooling is quite rightly not a priority for them now, and the reals speed advantage comes from being able and fit enough to sail the boat...
So (as the Flashheart project hoped and was designed to capitalize on) home builders have great opportunity to experiment with hull forms and build boats out of flat panels.
Wooof Woooooof...
There is more info here .
I am not sure about the step in the hull but the front is a lot like the Flashheart which I think is the way to go.
I was chatting about V hulls with Adam at the worlds and he said the same as me. He also found the V hull of the Raptor make the transition to foiling a lot smoother. You also get a foil assisted mode of sailing where the weight of the boat is shared between foil and hull. The shedding water with the hard chines seams to work well.
So I reckon V hull are the way to go but it will take a while for the big builders to do this as retooling is quite rightly not a priority for them now, and the reals speed advantage comes from being able and fit enough to sail the boat...
So (as the Flashheart project hoped and was designed to capitalize on) home builders have great opportunity to experiment with hull forms and build boats out of flat panels.
Wooof Woooooof...
Monday, 14 July 2008
Back home and back on-line.
I have just finished updateing www.moth-sailing.org with all the press releases and links to stuff form the worlds etc... There is loads of stuff out there to read and if I have not got it all sorry send me a mail.
Alex did a fantastic job of the media officer and i want to thank her publicly for her work. The Moth class is a growing monster and if we want to feed it we need a full time media officer that is not a competitor at the worlds and other big events. Alex did this job perfectly.
I however did a shit job of updating the site but I warned you this would happen so if this a problem for you then get a subscription to The Daily Sail and piss off. I was on holiday.
I still have to update the results page (http://www.moth-sailing.org/worlds/2008_uk.xml) so send me your favourite picture from the event cropped to 500px wide, named with your sail number (eg. AUT 3202.jpg) and with permission to use on this page. You can also send me boat and equipment details. This will save me loads of time.
I will do an update about my worlds soon, so watch this space for the news you have really been waiting for.
Alex did a fantastic job of the media officer and i want to thank her publicly for her work. The Moth class is a growing monster and if we want to feed it we need a full time media officer that is not a competitor at the worlds and other big events. Alex did this job perfectly.
I however did a shit job of updating the site but I warned you this would happen so if this a problem for you then get a subscription to The Daily Sail and piss off. I was on holiday.
I still have to update the results page (http://www.moth-sailing.org/worlds/2008_uk.xml) so send me your favourite picture from the event cropped to 500px wide, named with your sail number (eg. AUT 3202.jpg) and with permission to use on this page. You can also send me boat and equipment details. This will save me loads of time.
I will do an update about my worlds soon, so watch this space for the news you have really been waiting for.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Tomorrow the pilgrimage starts.
The rig is loaded with the Austrian Moths. I have sorted a new spare wheel.
The ferry is booked. I have nearly packed etc....
I will spend the next 2 days driving to the UK and hope to get there in time to meet Kati and Max who fly in on Thursday evening. My sister is getting married on Friday so there will be a big family party for 2 days after that. Then it is down to London to show Max where he was born and try to impress Kati with my cockney charm (wot I got wen I woz livin in Gwenich, init).
After being a tour guide and making up lots of stories about London. It is back up to Cambridge to pick up Niki and Ozren from the Airport. Then we all travel down to Weymouth on Thursday Morning. Kati will be there for a week before she goes off to play in the touch European Chanpionships in Paris, and Max will stay with Granny and Grandpa for an English holiday. If the logistics of this all work out it will be a bloody miracle.
So that gives me about 9 days of training, boat testing, repairing and tuning in Weymouth so I should be ready to start competing when it is time to pack up 3 boats and drive home at the end of the worlds. So I am not expecting to win the worlds but I am expecting to have a lot of fun.
So this is me going off-line as the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a laptop when I am on holiday. I will however try to keep the IMCA site up to date, but as I understand it there is free beer at the wedding and at the worlds...
The ferry is booked. I have nearly packed etc....
I will spend the next 2 days driving to the UK and hope to get there in time to meet Kati and Max who fly in on Thursday evening. My sister is getting married on Friday so there will be a big family party for 2 days after that. Then it is down to London to show Max where he was born and try to impress Kati with my cockney charm (wot I got wen I woz livin in Gwenich, init).
After being a tour guide and making up lots of stories about London. It is back up to Cambridge to pick up Niki and Ozren from the Airport. Then we all travel down to Weymouth on Thursday Morning. Kati will be there for a week before she goes off to play in the touch European Chanpionships in Paris, and Max will stay with Granny and Grandpa for an English holiday. If the logistics of this all work out it will be a bloody miracle.
So that gives me about 9 days of training, boat testing, repairing and tuning in Weymouth so I should be ready to start competing when it is time to pack up 3 boats and drive home at the end of the worlds. So I am not expecting to win the worlds but I am expecting to have a lot of fun.
So this is me going off-line as the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a laptop when I am on holiday. I will however try to keep the IMCA site up to date, but as I understand it there is free beer at the wedding and at the worlds...
Thursday, 19 June 2008
The new rig,
Team Austria were packing our new rig till midnight last night.
The trailer that we got on ebay has been rebuilt for Moths and is really cool but does not fit Moths with wings on....! The guy that made it is a brilliant trailer builder but the result, although beautiful, is impractical when the boats have wings on. So the frame needs a re-think and the back cross bar needs to be removable or something. So we have a trailer redesign project for the light wind days at Weymouth, if you have any cute ideas....?
On the way back from the UK we will bring 3 boats so again we may need some cute ideas about how the 3rd boat and it's bits can be lashed on the frame or it will have to go on the car roof rack.
So finally we got 2 boats on the trailer and its box full of foils, toolboxes, epoxy, carbon, prodders, spare prodders, trolley wheels, covers, kite surfer, Bladerrider rigging mallet, wingbars, tramps.... This was a great relief, but not for the tyres, one of which relieved itself or air.
I wanted to take a picture for the blog but is was dark and very late so I will have to do this on Saturday, when I run around trying to get a flat tyre fixed.
The trailer that we got on ebay has been rebuilt for Moths and is really cool but does not fit Moths with wings on....! The guy that made it is a brilliant trailer builder but the result, although beautiful, is impractical when the boats have wings on. So the frame needs a re-think and the back cross bar needs to be removable or something. So we have a trailer redesign project for the light wind days at Weymouth, if you have any cute ideas....?
On the way back from the UK we will bring 3 boats so again we may need some cute ideas about how the 3rd boat and it's bits can be lashed on the frame or it will have to go on the car roof rack.
So finally we got 2 boats on the trailer and its box full of foils, toolboxes, epoxy, carbon, prodders, spare prodders, trolley wheels, covers, kite surfer, Bladerrider rigging mallet, wingbars, tramps.... This was a great relief, but not for the tyres, one of which relieved itself or air.
I wanted to take a picture for the blog but is was dark and very late so I will have to do this on Saturday, when I run around trying to get a flat tyre fixed.
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