And about time too.. Finally got the old lady back out on the water in time for the club race this afternoon. Perfect cross off conditions, flat and blue skies.. enough to don the summer suit. However, it hit 24 knots at one point which was good to test the boat but there was no way I was going to get round the course!

So the moment of truth.. the lowered wing bars… What a difference with tacking.. It is no longer a trial to cross the boat and get to the other wing bar. Oh and more importantly, they didn’t break!!! Despite the back wire coming off a couple of times and some huge stacks in the 28 mph winds.. (I need to glue a couple of stoppers on to stop it sliding back and off the bars)

The boat was behaving well when pointing in the right direction.. It was soooo cool to mow down the F18s on the first leg of the course and lead the race but when it came to the gybe it was game over and I dropped down the pan like a good un!

Now the boat is back in one piece, I can concentrate on racing as much as possible for the rest of the summer. Next time out is on wednesday evening for the club race.

The bad news is that I stacked a few times which was cool as the modifications all held together nicely however, I had my hat tied to my lifejacket pocket zip (which held the GPS) and unfortunately a couple of times the stacks were bad enough to blow the hat off and open the zip along with it.. Bye bye garmin…

I spent three days wrapping the back bars so now they SHOULD hold together! Having spoken with Mike Cooke and Graham Eeles, they both agreed that I had put nowhere near enough carbon on them first time round. Mike pointed out that a layer of 200gm cloth is the equivalent wall thickness of 0.2 mm which means that the first time out I had a wall thickness of 0.8mm which doesn’t even come close! So now I think I have walls of 2mm 5mm actual wall thickness) which should do the trick. I’ve also put in three layers of high modulus uni directional cloth which should help as well.

So once again she is all re assembled and down at the boat park. Will she go the distance this time out? Watch this space!

On a sadder note, it looks like I’ll have missed yet another event this year (weymouth) as I am moving home a few days after But what is even sadder is that I shall lose my laboratory (conservatory actually) which was just perfect for doing all the boat work and more importantly post curing as on a sunny day the temperature easily reached 90 degrees in there! I am already working out how to build an outdoor sun powered oven from perspex.

Well at least this one can’t! What a stupid ass I am… So the mistress was looking just lovely with the lowered wings and I even managed to get the gleaming carbon finish on all of the new joints except I totally underestimated the number of layers of carbon that would be needed for the rear wing bars which have 4mm thick high modulus walls… Not twenty metres into my session today on the water, the opposite bar goes bang… followed two minutes later by the bar I’m sitting on and there endeth the session.

So today I cursed the day my caribbean mother concieved me and put Jamaican blood in my veins because I tell you I can’t imagine anyone else being so dumb! I really didn’t stop and think of just how un supported the back bars are on the moth even with a wire nor how much stress they get put under. Now I know why the raptor has a square cross section on the back bars… super stiff and they sure as hell ain’t gonna break!

So tonight, the mistress is back home with 8 layers going on the back bars so that next time out, those babies are going nowhere.

The plus point is that the front wing bars and new compression struts all didn’t budge even with the back ends all messed up. I have to say, Jonnie and were laughing pretty hard afterwards so at least it was all pretty light hearted even though the boat looked completely destroyed with the wings all crumpled up and the bars everywhere. In fact that is what was so funny.. One minute I had a really nice looking beauty and the next…

I was going to entitle this thread MILF as I have grown to love my mistress even though she is an “older lady” and I’m sure many would feel that when looking at the carbon on her, they may feel the same. I know the Mach 2s and Bladeriders and Ninjas of this world are hot to trot but they are size zero, flighty young women in comparison to the demure appeal of the mistress mk1 complete with buxom curves. I always liked the larger lady…. It must be the Caribbean in me.. Anyway, I digress…

So I have finished the mods now and I’m just waiting on the tramps to be recut as I took about nine inches out of the rear ends of the wings.

All the carbon work has gone according to plan and I only hope my mentor approves! Where the compression struts joint the front bars is my proudest effort along with the rear end outer bar sockets. It’s all a far cry from the stuff I was doing last year.

The good news is that the new method of connecting the compression struts to the mast post is a massive improvement on the original system of hooking them over the metal mast pin. The wing bars now detach far more easily which is an added bonus. It meant I had to chop down the stainless steel pin and file it down which I did just after taking the pics.

The important thing will be to see how the carbon joins all hold up under sailing conditions. I am still learning about the strength of carbon and it’s limitations so following Graham’s ethos, best to over engineer than have it fall apart!

I followed Adam May’s example of recycling by using the left over compression strut to form the basis of the new kick plate. Also the mast post compression strut sockets are actually Jonnies old velociraptor tiller chopped up.

I am hoping the new lowered bars will help out considerably in making the boat more modern in feel just like the new foils from Mike Cooke did. Talking of which, well done for coming 2nd at the inland championships Mike.. Maybe a set of those new foils could find their way to me?

I’m kind of itching to build a new boat from scratch now!…..

A great session was had on saturday with lovely flat water and 12 - 18 mph winds at Worthing with Rob on his RS600FF. Sadly Jonnie couldn’t make it but it meant I could have someone to keep an eye on for a change. It was the first time out for Rob in serious winds on his RS600FF and it was great to see him getting to grips with it. The only problem was he had never trapezed before so it was double challenge for him to get used to the boat and learn to trapeze. It didn’t put him off and not long in to the session he was tentatively out on the wire and going along quite nicely. I think it will be a whil before the foils come in to play though.

I managed to pull off three foiling gybes (as in got round without capsizing!) which was a joy after all the fustration. I also got my tacking looking a little sharper thanks to the hot tips from Mike Cooke.

Talking of Mike Cooke…. Whilst at Hayling, we got talking about the fact that my wing bars were so high and I asked if it was easy enough to lower them to which he replied “yeah it took me an evening to do it to Martin Fears old Axman…”

A subsequent conversation with Graham Eeles and one shiny new length of compression strut (cheers Graham, I owe you a few beers) , and I decided to finally do the deed as I was starting to notice the climb up everest after all of my tacks! A quick measurment check and I found that the velociraptor wing bars were a full five inches lower than my mistress.

The job was surprisingly easy and only a little fiddly when trying to set the joints. After two evenings, the bars are fully glassed and it just leaves the compression struts to go on which I will get to on thursday pm.

Whilst I was at it, I deided to lose a foot off the back end by angling the rear bars forward as well which looks much better and will reduce the tramps further.

The only bad bit of news is that I won’t make Queen marys this weekend as the boat won’t be ready but hopefully I can do weston afterwards.

No going back now!

Note the difference in height!

The bars at their new lowered height

New swept back end

Well this weekend was an eye opener and a moment of realisation if ever there was one.. To sail a moth at competitive level will require a whole lot more time on the water for me. There is no two ways about it..

Jonnie and I loaded up the boats on saturday and headed on over to Hayling Island with Jonnie taking part in his first moth open. I decided beforehand to turn up but not compete as I was skint (thanks to a non paying client that I am about to take to court) but thought I would soak up some valuable experience by sticking around the race course and watching..

The first mothie to greet us was Rod Harris who is probably the happiest man I have ever met! We then met Michael Airey who is also pretty damned jolly (they obviously know something about life that I don’t!)

The winds were all over the place for the day with winds ranging between 7 - 15 knots and 30 degree windshifts to add some spice to things. I got depressed quite quickly when I realised that all my foiling antics to date didn’t match up competition level and neither did my fitness although the running I’ve been doing has helped loads.

Simon Paynes Mach2 looked simply magnificent, a fine piece of carbon beauty as did Mike Cookes Ninja both of which were riding incredibly high and fast. The Bladeriders were up there and amongst the top ten was our boy Jonnie who despite packing a few more kilos than the front runners managed to get his boat around the tricky course to be in 10th overall after 4 races.

We got up this morning to 30 knot winds and I was in two minds to accompany Jonnie but I also knew the winds were due to ease so opted to go along.

The remaining warriors (Jonnie amongst them) took to the water with gusts around the 20 knot mark on the way to the race course which was a couple of miles out to sea in Hayling bay. I followed shortly afterwards with the intention of heading down to the racecourse only as I headed out of the harbour I was flat out heading deep downwind and saw a few of the guys heading back in claiming it was stronger out on the course so I played it safe and decided to continue foiling around in the harbour. Mike Cooke joined me and kindly offered to sail alongside to spot any problem areas. He quickly gave me some nice pointers with the tacking which helped no end as I don’t think I would have figured it out.

He also got me foiling off the wind on apparent wind which helped immensely in the foil gybing and I managed to get round on one gybe so hopefully I can carry that forward.

Enough about me.. Jonnie revelled in the strong winds and completed all four races. He finished with a brilliant 7th overall which is a great result to move forward with.

After a chat with Mike Cooke, I’ve opted to lower the wing bars on the mistress to help in manouvers. Of course I’ll document the mods as I do them.

Nothing to report for the last couple of weeks.. I brought the boat home to do some quick pre season mods which should help improve the handling. In particular I’ve implemented the adjustable wand a la Mike Lennon in a bid to gain more control downwind by lowering the ride height on the fly courtesy of Danny (thanks Danny!).

I also refitted the daggerboard casing as the replacement foil I got from Aardvark just didn’t quite fit and it was a pain to insert every time I launched. So Now it fits really nice and snug both on the underside of the hull and on the deck. Hopefully should be out sailing at the weekend (weather permitting)

Then I get a phone call today to say that Jonnie and I will no longer be foiling alone at Worthing… Our kitesurfing instructor friend Rob Hallett saw us out foiling in the moths and it captured his imagination however, he is 6ft 4 and about 15 stone so the moth was probably not an option? So we mentioned the RS600FF and it would appear it is being delivered on friday! Welcome aboard Rob…

Here is Rob doing what he does best…

And here is the boat with it’s original owner foiling in foiltown?

Today was a struggle as I felt pretty battered from yesterday but mr. “energiser bunny” jonnie convinced me to do two days in a row. When we got to the yacht club, the wind was a nice 9 knots but slightly onshore and a killer shoredump. Jonnie went straight out but I waited for the tide to drop a bit before heading out.

Once out, I was struggling to sail the boat off wind again as the boat was flying too high and then nosediving. After yet another capsize, jonnie buzzed me to see if I was ok.. I told him I was remaining on my side whilst I reflected and figured out what I was doing wrong… then it hit me… get back to basics…

When sailing off the wind, even though you are riding on foils, you still need to sit back and keep the nose clear and then upwind, sheet in hard, and then move forward… basic fundamental sailing but sometimes, one can forget the simplest rules of engagement!

As soon as I started moving my lazy arse around the boat, it came alive and consequently I was able to go a bit harder downwind and push the boat more. I am pleased to say that my tacking is getting there as I am getting the hang of getting over early. Bad news is my gybing (or non gybing) still needs to make the psychological shift to not only get to the middle but to get onto the opposite wing before gybing.

Jonnie on the other hand… he is nailing them regularly now and if he doesn’t stay on the foils he still gets through everytime without capsizing. His moth skills have now moved to another level and I am hoping some it will rub off.

I’ve got a month to sort out the gybes before hayling island in April.

After a season of being just outside, I’ve finally pushed the mistress past the 20knot barrier and clocked 22.9 knots today. I’m feeling pretty happy as I’ve been working on getting the setup right and it seems it has finally got there. After the gantry break, I set it so the rudder gave a little more lift than before. The winds were pretty gusty here coming through in fits and starts. Even though it was cross off shore, the sea was still a little choppy which didn’t help but I went for it anyway and when I was on the run, I knew it was fast.

As for Jonnie, he is now way ahead of me in terms of boathandling. I still can’t gybe for toffee but Jonnie is now pulling a few full foiling gybes each session. My tacking is improving but Watching Jonnie sail now reminds me that he is a pro sailor and I am a mere amateur. He will have been pulling a lot more than my 22.9 knots in his raptor today.

We want to thank Danny Clark from Essex who sent over a stack of pics on how to set up an adjustable wand that can be changed from the wing with a continuous rope system.. Jonnie fitted it to his boat and the difference today was astounding.. He went up another gear and as soon as he bore off, he dropped the ride height and just sent the boat hard. He also went really deep as well. I hope he gets a GPS soon as I think the data would be interesting. Definately a huge leap forward in development terms of controllability on the moth at high speeds and especially in open seas with rough chop and swell. I think I may fit the system to my boat as well.