Information Minister Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf says everything is just fine.

Talking of evil world leaders...



one of these democratically elected evil pieces of shit can find enough money to set up war games where gamers sit at home and machine gun the crap out of wedding parties in lands the other side of the world, but he can not find enough money to provide basic health care for his own tax paying citizens. You get what you deserve in a democracy which means you have to take responsibility for the source and the information that you base your decision on. Otherwise you get blindly dragged into supporting a war by one evil dictator to remove another one, or you end up executing 20 million people because they write blog messages like this one.

I believe in freedom of speech which means that I have to listen to a lot to of stuff that really makes me pissed off. I am totally against censorship on any medium but in the real world the owners of that medium always have vested interests and have to look to the bigger picture. So a decision was made on behalf of IMCA members not to publicize automatic links to a private dispute that was potentially damaging to the positive work of many. I think this is a responsible decision and clearly made with the best interests of the class as a whole in mind. Both parties have been dropped from the blog list and will be welcomed back once they have sorted out their problems. This was not my decision but I recognise that it was made by a higher ranking democratically elected leader who has for many years shown excellent leadership in the interests of IMCA members.

I can live with the above state of play but I personally hope we as a class do not all get totally politically correct and spend all our free time doing things for the benefit of the corporations we represent. Frankly I would rather sail a 3 year old boat that I built than a new one that came with a required code of behaviour. I have no problem with being a corporate whore but I just would like to be able to keep it 9 to 5. So if you have a problem with this information officer



then please complain, because then the IMCA rule of volunteering will be enforced: "He who complains the loudest gets the job", (and at the moment it is our old friend!)

A Result!

The Italian Moth Open at Champoine was a fantastic 4 day holiday for me and Kati (who was kite surfing). Lord Flashheart performed and I got my best result ever in a Moth Open. I even won a race because I was the only one to go through the gate on lap one. I ended up third overall and am bloody happy about that.



Here are the results. It was a mixed fleet of 17 boats training and racing over 4 days. 15 entered the regatta but Lucas hit a submerged tree on the way to the start and Giovanni had to retire with back problems.

The rest battled out in force 2-4 conditions. Matthias showed nearly untouchable pace and I had a good battle for 2nd with Francesco. He was definitely faster but I went the right way in race 4 and had a great result in race 3 when the wind dropped.



I learned lots and I still have loads to work on. (fitness, concentration, maneuvers, tactics, starts, small mods to my boat, foil finish...) but I am very happy to be racing again and not boat repairing or going significantly slower than everyone. The last time a raced was in Walchensee and that is where things started to finally click in to place.



I was worried that Lord Flashheart would be outdated already but this is totally the wrong attitude for Flashheat.

A presto in paradiso!

I am trying to think up a good concept for running fun training races. Here is how far I got

Requirements:

• FUN
• No need to have a race officer or boat, minimum equipment.
  
• 1 - 10 boats
  
• Option to sit the odd race out for a rest then jump in.
• No fixed start time.
• Tactical close racing.
• Safe racing.
  
• Lots of short races.
• No waiting around (you skip a race if you want a rest).
  

This mean things can get very confusing so this concept is aimed at setting a set of rules that will not be confusing, and mean lots of fun races can be run without the endless communication coordinating it (or a traditional race officer).



Start
The Gate boat is the last finisher from the race before. They must sail from the green zone behind the leeward mark then upwind on port for at least 20 seconds. Starters cross behind the Gate boat and race to windward mark rounding to port. (Note the Gate clears the fleet and hits the lay line for a good change of getting a good first rounding position. Since they were the last finisher this will hopefully mix stuff up.) The other boats have 2 tacks so there are tactics on the first beat.

• Leeward mark is to starboard, means there are 2 gibes brining in tactics again.
• At least 2 tacks on the next beat...
• At least 2 gibes on the run through the finish.

Once Finished.
You stay in the green zone meaning you sit out a race. Or you go immediately to the yellow zone and wait for the next start. The last boat to finish can start the next race ASAP.

Feedback Please:

• What do you think (problems suggestions..) ?
• How do I make 2 portable marks ? 2lt Coke bottle and sea anchor..? How?
• How far apart should the marks be?
  

Sailing around a lake looking for wind is not very focused and I learn so much each flight hour I want to focus the learning hence the thoughts above.

What I really need is a training partner (or 10). Niki is still waiting for his Assassin and it will be 1 year at the end of this month since he sold his Bladerider. It really pisses me off to have spent the last year without my wing man. He is on constant high alert and ready to scramble at any moment but supply lines are in bad shape.

The good news is that this weekend I will do the Moth Open at Campione, Garda, Italy. This place is paradise in my view since I did the Euros there in 2005. I am working for the man near Salzburg this week so as soon as I can I am off tomorrow. I should arrive Wed at about 10pm (so hopefully someone will be around to let me into the Sailing Club...). This gives me 4 days where I hope to increase my flight hours from <2 this year so far. So if you are going to Garda "A presto in paradiso!"

Working for the Man means I am spending a few evenings in hotel rooms catching up on Internet Mothing. Just published am iCal event calendar grabber. So each National Association can have a iCal file on the web and the IMCA site will go and get event data from it and update the data every few hours. Gerold Pauler gave me the idea but unfortunately it does not work with the DE iCal File (UTC TimeZone problems..) but it does work for the UK. So hope it will be stable and mean there is more accurate up to date event info in the IMCA site. Let me know if your National IMCA has a Internet calendar with an iCal file or if you spot bugs.

Only 24 hours to contact... ;-)

Apparently Twisted

Ever since I blogged

"My new control lines allowed me to adjust the sail while sailing! I can now tune the sail to the course and conditions during a race! This development I am sure will catch on as it makes a big big difference."

It has of course caught on and everyone is copying me. Si Paynes post and the chat about it got me thinking about apparent wind. So I thought I would take time to work it out in the hi level professional way that is my trade mark.

ASSUMING (I always start hi level professional analysis with he word assuming because then when everyone tells me I am totally wrong you can say I was not wrong it was my initial assumptions that were inaccurate)...that wind at boom is 6 knots wind ant mast head is 7 knots. Then for 3 conditions of sailing lets assume (there it is again...):

Downwind at 45 degs away from wind traveling ~14 knots.
Upwind at 45 degs to wind traveling ~10 knots.
Take off 90 degs to wind and traveling at 7 Knots.




The red dot is the boat and the 2 lines on one side of the triangle are the apparent wind it sees.

With the use of GPS data and wind sheer measurement data this could get more accurate but I conclude that downwind and at take off you should have a bit of twist in the sail so that it is at it's optimum angle of attack at the top and bottom. Upwind requires less twist and due to pointing we tend to try to eliminate it and use it as a de-powering mechanism. Also you get a lot more wind upwind (longer double lines) than you do downwind. So the sail is operating in totally different conditions therefore adjusting the sail (as I first discovered) is the way to go.

The stuff or Si's Blog makes a sense and fits with my conclusions without the rigorous mathematical analysis of course. However he has developed my ideas further and has an adjustable outhaul!

Code name "Moin Moin."

My secret network of spies in the Moth Sphere have managed to uncover a new Moth building project going on in North Germany. I would like to tell you more but I would have to kill you afterwards, so here is the information the has been cleared for level orange release.

This is a Project from Jens Krüger who by the quality of the work in the pictures looks like he knows what he is doing.

















His website does not reveal much but hopefully there will be a quite a few more Moths being built in Europe this year.

This computer will self destruct in 1 minute.

Foiling R Class

Billy the Fish

Far be it for me to make a big fuss over something small but on Sunday I had my second Moth sail of the year and nearly last ever. The internet said force 3 blowing from Weiden down the 16KM long lake to Hungry. The air temp was just about 11 degrees. Not the best conditions but I had a day on my own for with nothing planned other than sailing. So off I went to that lake thinking nervously about the lack of rescue cover and wing man on the way.

When I arrived at the lake it was suitably empty due the the less than spring weather. The wind was very off shore and gusty. Do I pussy out and fear that I will need rescued or do I get out there and double my training for the year?

I went out since the wind was not very strong and I sorted a 4 o'clock safety call. "If I do not call by 4pm I am either dead, drifting to Hungry, or my phone battery is flat." There were people in the sailing school and their rib was on the jetty. Since I helped 2 of their capsized Laser 16s that where in trouble last summer (one badly) I thought they will keep an eye out in return. There where 2 buoys off the school one 50 meters out and another 250. Ok I will sail around there in front of the main beach where everyone could see me if there was anyone.

So I had a frustrating but good learning curve training sail trying to constantly change mode for the wind speed and strength. Not very easy and I was making a mess of it most of the time but it was good training. I was temped to sail off out into the lake for more constant wind but the pussy in me said no. Then as I go a nice gust into the further out buoy BANG, nose in air, very light tiller, Shit where has the rudder gone? CRASH.

Shit I need to act fast not panic and most importantly do not do something stupid. I had spend a lot of time in the car here thinking about what to do if this happened and not really come up with a good answer so I was a bit nervous at this point to say the least.

Quick Appraisal of the situation: 800 Euro rudder in water 30 meters back along the broad reach. Bouy 20 meters in front along same course. Tiller and its extension in hand. Bits of gantry hanging out the back of the boat. Cold water. 250 meter swim to beach upwind.

I decided to grab the forestry of the boat and swim like Fuck for the rudder without dropping the tiler (again). Nearly got it but boat is now gong downwind faster than the ruder which has turned into breaking position. OK swim for rudder and then get back the the boat I hope. Got the bits together and so it was time to lashed up the tiller and rudder to deck of boat with spare rope in life jacket. OK swim to buoy and tie boat to Bouy. Shit. No chance it is now upwind and too far away. I can risk the swim to land leaving the boat but not 100% sure if I would make it with cold water and deceptive "does not look too far to swim" distances. I probably would but leaving the boat felt like one of those tempting stupid things to not do. Shall I wave good bye to potential onlookers and what will they do other than wave back? Do I wait for the worried 4 o'clock phone call system to kick in in an hour and hope that someone would come looking? Do I de rig and try to make a paddleable raft? Taking the mast down also seamed like potentially a stupid action. Could I sail without a rudder in a very gusty upwind course? Would one of the very few boats out come close enough to hear a call for assistance or understand a wave.

I decided to try to sail the boat as I remember trying something like that 20 years ago. It was not easy and did not look possible but with a bit of experimentation (loosening kicker and sitting far back with the windward wing in the water I could kind of sail upwind. After a while I realised it would work and I just needed to concentrate hard and I will be able to self rescue will all my bits. I was Fucking relived I would not spend a night on the lake.

I remember an expression that: "It is not the fittest that survive it is the ones that adapt to changing situations". This makes me feel quite smug until I started to wonder what broke the rudder? Maybe the fish are adapting as they are fed up with getting hit so they get their biggest one to take be out? This is a worrying thought as Billy the Big fish did a lot of damage.





So back to the workshop again.

What have I learnt from this? Well I think it is OK to be a bit of a Pussy. You do need some kind of backup and the best I think is a wing man and someone on shore who expects you to come back. Spare rope is a must and all the toys like radio, flares, GPS, helicopters (standard Moth gear I hear these days).. are nice to haves.

I told my story to Niki and he said "That is nothing you pussy. I have walked for 6 hours in the lake with my broken kite. I got to a beach on the opposite side at midnight." So I have also learnt that Niki is maybe not he best wing man to have, but with Billy about what should I do.