Orange Mountain Bikes / Neil Pryde sailing / Marlow Ropes International Moth Inland National Championship 2012

14 foiling Moths from all over the UK descended on the beautiful lake of Ullswater for the 2012 running of the Inland championships. From as far south as Hayling as far west as Bristol, east as Essex and as far North as the Isle of Arun made the event a truly national championship.

Ullswater YC organised some great event sponsors, Orange mountain bikes and Neil Pryde sailing, the Moth class brought its own sponsor Marlow ropes giving a fantastic array of prizes.

Perhaps the coldest May day weekend in recent memory coupled with light wind meant the racing got of to a slow start. One race was held on Saturday with little to no foiling which was a slow an shifty affair. Mike Lennon sailing Hyde sails took an early lead which he held to the finish without foiling at all. The next group finished en mass foiling to the finish line on a small gust all desperately trying to get a gybe in and stay up in the dying wind. Jason Russell sailing NZL 3715 took 2nd with Mike Cooke’s Aardvark Technologies taking 3rd.

Racing was abandoned and the fleet sent ashore to wait for the wind – Unfortunately according to the forecast that was not until Monday ! This of course allowed time for the fleet to talk Moth whilst sitting on the grassy knoll in the cool afternoon sun. With new boats on show from Simon Maguire and Mike Cooke (Aardvark) there was much to discuss and with a UK based world championship at Hayling in 2014 and two British builders right on the pace all bodes well for the health of the UK fleet in years to come.

A light dusting of snow and flat calm was offered up on Sunday morning so the racing was postponed until 1pm. Unfortunately this didn’t change much so with nothing forecast racing was cancelled for the day so half the fleet went mountain biking whilst the other half went sailing in the breeze which of course built soon after the cancelation.

With Monday forecast quite big the racing was brought forward to get as many races in as possible. South east is not the best direction for a lake facing south west and surrounded by mountains. Also the temperature was barely in double figures. So the day required a tough mental attitude. Youth over experience seemed to work best in this environment in the topsy turvy racing with 90 degree wind shifts and zero to twenty knot gusts.

Chris Rashley sailing the Maguire prototype which the fleet nicknamed the ME 109 ( Maguire / Ellway) (ME 109 being the German ww2 fighter plane for younger readers) was most consistent in conditions where you would have thought consistency impossible! By race 4 the fleet had been whittled down to the main protagonists and going into the last race it was still possible for Rashley, Tagg or Lennon to take overall honours. However it went to form and Chris added the UK Inland Championship to his European championship. Tagg sailing BlueTeq took 2nd after a game of cat and mouse with Lennon swapping positions several times depending on who was in the favourable gust !

Congratulations to Chris and all who stuck it out in the testing conditions.

A big thanks to all at Ullswater for such a warm welcome which made up for the cold weather.

With one event left in this years GP circuit things are looking pretty tight between Chris Rashley, Simon Payne and Jason Belben. The next event is Stokes Bay – The best place to sail on Earth says Rashley, bless he’s still so young!

Results

1st     Royal London       Chris Rashley
2nd   Hayling Island       Ricky Tagg
3rd    Hayling Island       Mike Lennon
4th    Hayling Island       Jason Russell
5th    Loch Vennachar   Paul Hignett

Day 2 started out with a gentle 10 knots and sunshine as the competitors headed to the starting area. Little did anyone know what was just around the corner.
Race 4 got underway cleanly with Chris Rashley and Dave Edwards rounding the windward mark first. The lead changed hands between the top five boats several times throughout the race before Si Payne eventually took the honours followed closely by Mike Cooke, Mike Lennon and a newly energised Doug Pybus.
Race 5 and thing started to get a little wild with gusts of up to 24 knots at the windward mark making the bear away a high octane drag down to the leeward mark. Jason Belben and Ben Paton went over early and caught the anchor line of the pin end buoy which put them out of contention for the duration of the race whilst at the front of the fleet, Si Payne once again hit Mach 2 and took off, leading comfortably in the strengthening breeze. Chris Rashley put the hammer down to drive over Jason Russell, Mike Lennon and Mike Cooke before rounding up for the next beat. By the second lap, Si Payne was still leading from James Phare who was gaining in his Aardvark Ninja and clearly enjoying the tougher conditions just ahead of Chris Rashley. However, once again Chris found another gear and overhauled James down the run and was all over the back of Si Payne. Somewhere up the final beat, Chris out maneuvered Si Payne to take the lead and extend down the final run to win the race. James Phare kept 3rd place with Jason Russell taking 4th and Mike Cooke 5th.
Race 6 and all hell broke loose with an even more ominous black cloud bringing a steady 20 – 25 knots at the start line. Si Payne had done enough to with the event and took himself off back to the safety of Parkstone Yacht Club leaving the remainder of the fleet to battle it out in the most challenging conditions of the weekend. Jason Belben got straight down to business and totally dominated the race taking the victory. Doug Pybus pulled all the stops out to deliver an incredible 2nd place result despite the strong winds. Ex National Champion Mike Cooke delivered a solid 3rd place proving that he can deliver in the big breeze as well as in the light stuff. Mike Lennon and and Jason Russell rounded out the top five places.

The final overall scores had Si Payne (Mach 2) win convincingly followed by Jason Belben (Aardvark Ninja) and Chris Rashley (Maguire/ Ellway)
Most improved title has to be split between several notable sailors. Ex Musto Skiff sailor Alex Koukarakis showed excellent boat speed and handling in the extreme conditions and is one to watch in the future. The Queen Mary crew of James Phare, Andrew Friend and Doug Pybus have all started to get to grips with the Ninja and the Elite foils and their results here are a sure sign that they will do well at the upcoming worlds later in the year at Lake Garda.
The whole fleet would like to thank Parkstone Yacht Club for once again delivering an excellent event and some challenging conditions.
We would also like to give special thanks to Rod Harris and Why Jewellers for providing sponsorship in the shape of sapphires for the top three finishers.

Final Results here

Flickr Gallery from Mike Millard here

Flick Gallery from Phil Jackson here
Next stop on the Grand Prix Circuit is Ullswater next weekend.

This is always one of the highlights of the Traveller series with a turnout of 30 boats last year. I’m predicting a force 4 with 23 degrees for the event so don’t forget your sunblock! Rod as always will be doing his best to give us a great event. We hope to see all you mothies there bright and early on the water at 11.00.
The S,I, and N,O,R can be found at www.parkstoneyachtclub.com/pageregattas

The International Moth Class descended on Queen Mary Sailing club for the first Open event for the 2012 season. With a fickle wind forecast for both days, 16 Moths launched on Saturday in marginal foiling wind of 5 to 8 knots and completed four challenging races.

The day brought Snake and ladder racing with moments of foiling and low riding around the course. Jason Belben, Simon Payne, Chris Rashley and Ricky Tagg all had moments leading the four races. Jason Belben won race one, but at the end of day Simon Payne lead overall after an almost perfect score of 2, 1, 1, 1 followed closely by Jason Belben in second, Chris Rashley third, Jason Russell fourth and Tom Offer in fifth.

An even lighter wind forecast of 2 to 5 knots brought a reduced fleet for Sunday racing with only two races completed in low-ride mode before the breeze completely shutting down. Chris Rashley worked the shifty breeze well to win race five followed very closely by Jason Russell, Jason Belben, Ricky Tagg, Phillippe Oligario and Andrea Biagioni.

Race six saw Jason Belben and Chris Rashley over the start line in their fight for clear air at the pin. After there return for a legitimate start, the pair round the windward mark in first and second due to the remainder of the fleet sailing into a lull. Jason Belben held the lead to take first followed by Chris Rashley, Jason Russell, Ricky Tagg, Andrea Biagioni and Phillippe Oligario.

Jason Belben took the overall win, closely followed by Chris Rashley in second, Jason Russell third, Simon Payne holding fourth despite only sailing Saturday and Ricky Tagg in fifth.

Overall Results:

Once again, the winter series attracted 30 different Moth helms from many parts of the country who all braved the winter weather at some stage to take part. Last years winner Mike Cooke, featured again this year and ended up 5th overall in his new Ninja after only competing in two of the five events. It was also great to see that there were three different overall winners of the five events with Jason Belben and Ricky Tagg winning two events each.  In the top ten there were four different makes of Moths with Ninja’s, Mach 2 , Bladerider and Simon Hiscocks new moth in the top ten.

Moth Winter Series Top Ten Results

• 1. Ricky Tagg
• 2. Mike Lennon
• 3. Jason Belben
• 4. Peter Barton
• 5. Mike Cooke
• 6. Neil Baker
• 7. Simon Hiscocks
• 8. Tom Offer
• 9. Richard Westbury
• 10. Doug Pybus

This year the UK International Moth Class Association stand at the RYA Dinghy show looks set to be as busy as ever with an exciting 2012 racing season fast approaching. As usual there will be an enthusiastic group of ‘mothies’ manning the stand ready to answer any questions you might have about the boat. These could range from questions about getting started in the class to more technical questions on setup, technique & construction – there will be a cross section of sailors more than happy to help.

This year there will be two leading designs on display in the form of the National & European Championship winning Ninja by Aardvark Technologies in Bristol and the World Championship winning Mach 2 design from Australia. As ever throughout the winter innovation has continued and some of the latest enhancements such as the latest iteration KA & fibrepath Hyde Sails will also be on display.

With a strict entry limit and fast take up only 5 Moths made it onto the entry list in time. Light shifty winds made for some interesting racing in race one,with Mike Cooke, Mike Lennon and Ricky Tagg all taking turns to lead for while. But when it counted Mike Cooke was leading with Ricky second and Mike Lennon third.

The first race had offered predominantly foiling conditions whereas Race 2 was mostly “low riding”. After a prolonged stint of foiling up off the start line Lennon took a comfortable lead with Mike Cooke constantly challenging. The lead swapped between these two once or twice before Lennon took comfortable lead in the fading wind and light.

This gave Mike Cooke the weekend with Lennon in Second overall and Tagg third.

Overall after 4 events Lennon has edged out Belben overall with Tagg now in third. However the last in the series of 5 events is Rutland’s Tiger trophy this weekend. As this is a 2 day event it is scoring an extra 50% making no one safe with only 3 event to count.

To find out more about Moth sailing go to www.moth-sailing.org and to see UK  news and events go to  www.internationalmoth.co.uk. There has never been a better time to get into Moth sailing with the 2014 World Championship at Hayling Island SC here in the UK.

UPDATE – STOKES BAY DATE CHANGED FEB 2012

Month                  Date                      Venue                                  Type
Mar                        10th-11th            Queen Mary                       GPS
April                      21st/22nd           Parkstone                           GPS
May                       5th-7th                Ullswater                             Inland Championships GPS
May                       12th 19th             Mar Menor                         Foil Fest/Iberian Championships
May                       26th-27th            Stokes Bay                          GPS
June                      21st-24th             Stone Sailing Club            National Championships
July                        21st-22nd           Weston                                GPS  (TBC)
August                  18th-26th            Campione – Lake Garda World Championships
September           22nd-23rd           Castle Cove                        GPS
October               13th-14th              Hayling Island                   GPS
November                                          Tata  (Port Talbot)            GPS (TBC)

Event 3 of the International Moth winter series proved to be another Moth fest at the multi class Bloody Mary pursuit race. This long established event is the pinnacle of the winter jamborees and this year attracted over 300 entires. The mild weather continues to bless and with a moderate to fresh forecast proved irresistible for 18 moths making the class one of the biggest groups.

Starting 80 minutes after the Toppers the Mothies had a bit on to un lap themselves before getting down to reeling them all in just over an hour.

Jason Belben made the early running followed by Mike Lennon and Ricky Tagg. This was the case until lap 2 when Belben missed a mark. He rounded the mark after his detour but by then Lennon had opened up a 50 yard lead. Belben and Tagg were now scrapping for second and trying to reel Lennon in. Tagg’s’ outhaul broke which over time made his sail deeper and deeper taking the edge off his boat speed. This released Belben to concentrate on getting back on terms with Lennon.

In the mean time the Moth leading group was slicing through the water pushers passing the leading Merlins and 14s with around 10 minutes to go. By this time Belben had cut into Lennon’s lead and heading into the last minutes the Moths passed the leading Fireball and were now battling for overall Honours. Lennon had the edge on Belben rounding the last mark but sailed to far off the rhumb line as the time was up letting Belben sneak over the moving finish ahead. Lennon had to sharply bear off so as not to miss the finish line.

Tagg held onto to get 3rd overall and Pete Barton followed to take forth – the same top four lock out as the previous Hayling event but in a different order.

The Moths took the first 4 places overall in this prestigious event and won many admiring glances – surly gaining more converts to this already fast growing class.

With the World championship at Hayling in 2014 there has never been a better time to be Moth sailor !!

Next up Northampton on the 28th Jan.