It seem that no sooner is one event finished than preparation starts for another!

To try and keep costs to a minimum, Ricky Tagg is arranging the shipping for those wanting to go to Belmont. If you are planning on going, or thinking about it, please contact him so that he can include you in the process. Having an idea of numbers will help with negotiating better rates, pick up points, etc.

At this time the following have confirmed interest:

Mike Lennon

Graham Simmonds

Jason Russell

Ben Paton

Simon Hiscocks

If you are not on this list please contact Ricky directly an let him know. Those who went to Dubai, know that last time it was organised, all you had to do was take your boat to a location in its travel box and it was waiting for you when you arrived so if you want cheaper rates and hassle free transport get in touch!

Ricky will be posting indicative costs to help those still undecided in the next couple of weeks and will get final prices nearer the event.

Please contact Ricky directly rather than using the yahoo group. His address is:

ricktagg at yahoo dot co dot uk

Report by Mike Lennon

The August Bank Holiday weekend is the start of the week long Poole regatta. However the the first 3 days were used to score the Parkstone YC Moth open.

Parkstone having already Hosted the Moth racing circuit grand prix event in June, hosted this second more of a friendly open come training weekend. Saturday was used as a tune up day and after a long brunch with associated banter 10 boats did several short races with post race analysis. This resulted in some boats making some changes that saw marked speed improvements.

The official racing started on Sunday at 2pm which again allowed some time for a leisurely breakfast, so more ideas and banter could be shared – The Moth being quite cutting edge is renowned for its free exchange of information and advice to newcomers. This is noticeably shortcutting the learning curve of newcomers to the class. What used to take months to master some are now achieving in weeks or days ! This form of weekend is designed specifically to this end.

With a fresh to frightening forecast 15 boats tentatively slipped the dock and headed to Poole harbours “Top Triangle”. The race commenced in a perfect 12 to 15 knot north westerly. The simple windward leeward course made it easy for the visitors to find the marks and newcomer Pete Barton lead at the first windward mark. Mike Lennon got to the leeward mark ahead but approached to close to the mark and left a big gap for Pete to sail into as Lennon still had to Gybe ! Lennon tacked to clear his wind and Barton followed and the subsequent header put Lennon ahead. However Mike Cooke was already left of them both and took the lead. Another lap and nothing much had changed but of the final run to the finish Lennon closed on Cooke and squeezed past just before the line. Richard Lovering another relative newcomer was always in the chase and pushed past Barton to take 3rd.

Between the races the wind further moderated and several people commented on how the forecast was so far adrift, however soon after the start of race two the forecast came to pass! With gusts of 30 knots and some confusion over a late course change the fleet got separated. Lennon led from start to finish on those doing the “old” course and Rod Harris led those doing the new version. The courses shared the same lee mark and finish line leading to some confusion on who had done what. However what is clear with carnage all around and RS 200 / 400 and 100 littered around course upside down the Moth fleet all got ashore unaided with no breakages and some with no capsizes and what we believe to be a new UK speed record — Although Rod was set up for 5 knots with no wand gearing and so much ride hight that all flights in to Bournmouth had to be diverted, he managed 27.2 knots. Some say this was done when his whole boat and foils were airborne.

Eventually the results were resolved to give all who finished a result despite most sailing the incorrect course — Rod Harris won with Lennon second and Lovering third.

Monday was predicted to be light and fluffy and served up exactly that. The fading Northerly wind gave massive shifts and speed differences across the long course. To add to the challenge the windward mark was set just off Poole quay where cross channel ferries and gin palaces were messing about.

Race three had Rod Harris leading at the first mark with Ben Paton and Alex Adams next, Lennon was next but snagged a good wind line which took him to leeward of Adams and Paton and right up to Harris – the two duelled in the fading breeze trying to gybe and stay airborne whilst not sailing out of the narrow breeze line. The course was shortened at the lee mark giving Lennon a narrow victory from Harris. Adams took third.

The forth and final race was much the same with less foiling air time. Lennon lead at the first mark which saw some of the slower fleets beat the moths round mark 1 however as in the previous race Lennon picked up a line of wind as he rounded which took him straight to the finish. This gave him the trophy ( if there had been one) . Alex Adams picked up some air time on the final run giving him second and Harris third.

Overall

Mike Lennon GBR 8 Hyde Sail 1st

Rod Harris GBR 3754 Chalys   2nd

Alex Adams GBR 4082               3rd

Richard Lovering GBR 3629     4th

Club: Parkstone Yacht Club

Boat: ‘Mad Max’ GBR 3621

Highest speed: 21.3 knots(but forgot to take photo, too knackered) at Parkstone Open.

Profile: I have spent the last 2 years designing and building my ‘Spitfire’ moth which is the first of three that have been built. I have got some Ninja foils. Slowly tweaking it to make it more manageable. My moth is proving to be a lot faster and wetter than the RS200, which I sail with my wife.

Photo © Katherine Knight

Adam May is keeping Foiltown in its rightful place leading innovation in the moth class. Check out his beautiful new wing: http://foilborne.blogspot.com/2010/08/eagle-has-landed.html

Wonderfully crafted by The Boatyard at Beer – a beautiful peace of British Engineering. Well done Adam for making it happen!

Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting Aug 2010 _2_

We are just over two weeks away from the European Championships and it seems more like a World Championships with nearly 80 boats registered.

It also seems like a record for team GB with 17 boats making an appearance. This promises to be the biggest International Moth Europeans to date with pretty much all of the worlds top sailors attending.

Team GB consists of:

Interestingly, there are 5 Mach 2’s, 6 Ninjas, 2 Bladeriders, 1 Fastacraft,  1 Velociraptor and 2 homebuilds so despite recent thoughts it seems there is a nice mix of designs in the team.

In terms of any kind of form guide, I’m not knowledgeable enough to know the subtle intricacies of what will make a winner in this class so I’ll leave that to the experts. Suffice to say that by sheer numbers alone, team GB should do ok. Whatever happens it looks to be an unprecedented European event and racing should be pretty tight across the fleet. The start line will be interesting with so many foilers which is possibly a sign of things to come.

Notable absentees from the team are Mike Lennon our new UK class president, Ricky Tagg, Jason Russell, Graham Simmonds, Tom Offer and Sam Tozer (who is currently lying 3rd in the RS200 European Championships) amongst others.

Best of luck to everyone and I’m sure with Twitter and the TracTrac system they are planning on using throughout the event, everyone will be kept up to date on progress as it unfolds.

Phillippe Oligario

Club: Worthing Sailing Club

Boat Sailed: Ninjario (Hybrid MK1 & MK2 Ninja) GBR 3764

Previous boat: Supermistress GBR 4061

Results: 12th Hayling Island Tide Ride 2009, 14th Parkstone Open 2010, 30th Overall UK Nationals 2010

Personal Blog: http://www.mothflyers.co.uk

Profile: Having spent the winter building Ninjario in the garage, his sailing skills were out the window for the UK nationals! However, now the boat is built, it’s all about time on the water for him so hopefully the results will start to show next year.

Previous sailing included Cadets, Lasers (best result 7th at the youth nationals and winner of the “rope trophy” at Queen Marys back in 1987), 420s, Fireflys and 470s. Then took up windsurfing and competed on the BWA for a few years before getting in to kitesurfing in the pioneering days when there was just two of them at worthing.

About the moth class: “This boat has given me a new lease of aquatic life. Just when I was getting bored of kiting.. and the people are brilliant… no chavs in this neck of the woods..”

Photo © Sarah Rollinson

A mill pond like Torbay greeted the fleet for the final day of the 2010 UK Moth nationals. The prospect of a dying breeze however did not deter race officer Bob Penfold and his team from setting a course in the light southerly breeze.  After a short postponement ashore and a drift out to the start line the fleet were able to commence race 9 of the championship in a building 7 knot breeze.

Ben Paton - Photo © Sarah Rollinson

Foiling off the line whilst many low rode Phare, Cooke and Tagg made good progress up the left hand side of the beat whilst the majority of the fleet opted for the right.  Dave Edwards was one of the few able to make the right pay, perfectly laying the mark just behind a local passenger ferry that had decided the best way to view the racing was to be part of it. Approaching the new ‘entrant’ Phare hailed starboard but to no avail as the ferry narrowly avoided running him over causing an early capsize.  On the following downwind run a pack consisting of Payne, Cooke, Belben, Tagg and Arnaud Psarofaghis emerged at the front of the fleet.  Payne was able to hold this lead for another lap before Arnaud was able to slip past into first.  This lasted until the final leg when Arnaud slipped to 3^rd allowing Payne and Cooke through to 1^st and 2^nd respectively.  Ben Paton and Tom Offer in their first nationals sailing Ninjas also had a good race bringing their steeds home in 7^th and 10^th respectively.

Ben Paton - Photo © Sarah Rollinson

Following a general recall Race 10 got underway in slightly more breeze with more of the fleet foiling off the startline with Payne heading in for an early ice cream.  Following a solid first beat and being chased closely by Mike Cooke Arnaud Psarofaghis showed good pace to lead the fleet.  Mike Lennon however making up for a disappointing race 9 showed a bout of speed to take the lead from Arnaud in the hope that the Swiss sailor would fall sufficiently for the Hayling sailor to claim 2^nd overall.  This however was not to be as Mike Cooke had another fast race to achieve 2^nd, followed by Tagg, Belben and Arnaud in 5^th.  Lovering, Edwards, Paton and Penfold rounded out the top 10.

Photo © Sarah Rollinson

Commenting on the week ashore Payne noted “the UK fleet is in really good shape” with many using the Nationals as key preparation for the Europeans in Switzerland next month. However with a consistent set of results Payne was able to claim a convincing victory over Arnaud Psarofaghis in 2^nd and Mike Lennon in 3^rd. Race 2 winner Jason Belben was 4^thoverall followed by Hayling sailors Ricky Tagg and Jason Russell in 5^th and 6^th. Congratulations must go to Bob Penfold and his team on the Committee boat for running a smooth series and for also running two races against all the odds on the final day.  The class’ thanks also go to Bill Butcher and the team for getting the fleet underway in ‘challenging’ launching conditions for an excellent week of racing.

Jason Belben - Photo © Sarah Rollinson

Photo Courtesy of Emma Cooke

What a great National championship we have just enjoyed hosted by Royal Torbay, friendly welcome ( except the from the Harbour officials) and great help with launching etc. I reckon it took less than 40 mins to launch 43 boats and escort them out of the entrance.

A big thanks to James Phare for making this happen and getting reports out to the media.

Congratulations to Simon Payne who has a habit of making the most difficult conditions look easy. No pressure Si but a Euros win gives you the box set ! Also thanks to our non UK participants, Arnuad, Mikas and Giovanni.

Since the AGM we have several new committee members and several who have stepped down, a huge thanks to those who served the class so well. Katherine Knight, Tim Ollerenshaw and Alex Adams. Stepping up to take on the vacant roles are Ben Paton as Fixtures, and Graham Simmonds as Sec. We have created a new role for Simon Reynolds who is in charge of finding sponsors and publicity attached to that. Note that all three have been in the class less than a year and are willing to offer their time to the association, Moth sailing is like a drug, you just can’t get enough!!

So the committee members are as follows –

President:  Mike Lennon

Secretary / Treasurer and Membership secretary:  Graham Simmonds

Fixtures: Ben Paton

Sponsorship: Simon Reynolds

Publicity: Mike Cooke

UK Web: Helen Rollinson / Phillippe Oligario

General member: Ricky Tagg

We are in a very fortunate position thanks to the work of those who went before us, of having a growing class both numerically and in stature with the larger sailing community. Our aim must be to capitalise on this position, to push Moth sailing into new areas of the country and help in the establishment of new and bigger fleets. We are currently working out ideas to try and achieve this end. Currently the class finances are very limited and don’t allow much room for any creative moves to help thing move along or promote the class effectively. The move at the AGM to raise the subs will help a little in this respect, and we will be working in other areas to try to raise funds to enable us to promote the class, and offer some value to paid up class members.

We will be setting ourselves some ambitious targets and no doubt will be hoping to co-opt members who have particular skill to help with the work load. We may fail to deliver some of what we hope to achieve but that shouldn’t stop us trying.

I will attempt to keep the class informed of what is going on and I hope to publish a set of goals after our first committee meeting scheduled for next week.

Many UK boats are off to the Europeans next Month which judging by the entry list looks more like a worlds. Good luck to all who attend and I hope we have a UK based European champ !

Ricky Tagg has very kindly volunteered to look into shipping for the Belmont Worlds, anyone interested should contact him so he can go to the shipping companies in good time. There are some quite strict criteria regarding box sizes and timing. So best let Ricky know ASAP if you want in. It will make your life so much easier if you do !

Ben and Ricky are currently looking into likely venues for Nationals and open meetings for the next couple of years and suggestions for kick ass locations especially for Nationals would be welcome. We are a difficult class in many respects requiring easy launching and space to turn over, plus sheltered waters to ensure it doesn’t all get a bit epic.

I hate to say it but the best place for Moth sailing I can think of is Portland harbour — It ticks all the boxes. Can you think of better ? If so let us know. Ben is is working on some great ideas’ for a revamped race circuit and I really think we can hit the 50 plus club at next years Nationals.

The venue will be key but also encourage your club mates to come along, we will try and work on some ideas to encourage those who don’t normally travel to join in. Fifty plus puts us back on the map as a serious class numerically speaking and may prompt those who see us as a side show to look again.

More to follow soon.

Good sailing,

Mike Lennon.