Yesterday conditions were perfect, 15 mph cross onshore, blue skies and warm, an hour past high tide so I rang Johnnie and suggested it was a good time to head out.. Johnnie couldn’t make it so I would be on my own.. Acting like a wet fart I figured I wasn’t going to head out on my own so canned the idea. But then I realised I was being a right nancy and fast becoming an internet mothie and promptly shook off my trepidation and set off down the yacht club to go for it…

This was the chance for me to try out the new rudder from Mike Cooke at Ardvaark and also a chance to see the effect of the fitness training so I rigged up and went for it..

After a long hike carrying the boat out (worthing has a long shallow shelving beach) I finally got the boat in deep enough water to launch, and set off relatively smoothly. I couldn’t get foiling in the building breeze so I figured the rudder needed adjusting via the new tiller. Still no foiling and afterwards I realised that I was trying to get foiling sailing upwind without first bearing off. Doh!

Anyway I went for my first tack and capsized (of course!) and noticed when I was swimming round the boat that the shrouds had come away from the spreader/ prodder so everytime I tried to get going, the boat would corkscrew and nosedive downwind and capsize again. After about five capsizes I was starting to get knackered so thought I should head in.. I tentatively got the boat upright and started by just getting the boat moving with the windward wing dipped until I could sort myself out. On the way back I had to broad reach back to the yacht club and it was then that the phoenix rose and just exploded into action.. The accelleration was outrageous (afterwards I checked the local stats the wind had gotten up to 20mph.

Not bad for only the third session in the boat..

Dead chuffed with the new rudder and today I fixed the shouds back in place so ready for another session hopefully a little longer and more time on the foils.

Here is the new rudder..

I’ve read a couple of blogs re. the onslaught of Bladeriders causing concern for the homebuilders.. I’m new to the class but I plan to build my own boats eventually. The way I see it is that it’s all good news as companies like Bladerider do a lot of R&D and get stuff right a lot quicker than any of the home builders would be able to and hence home builders can quickly adapt the stuff that works on their own boats.

The downside of owning a ‘factory’ boat is that when you break stuff you have to hope the customer service and support is prompt and can respond quickly whereas a homebuilder will just go and fix whatever needs fixing over night in time for the next day’s racing. I suppose we have to see past the moment and realise that the production boats are ’snapshots’ and just round the corner, the next greatest invention that will boost performance is waiting to come out of some home builder’s workshop.

For me, I like the whole thing as it means that I am starting on the right foot making sure that I learn to do stuff right and take the time to develop quality stuff and maybe all homebuilders will see it the same? Talking of which… I finished the spray job on the new canting rudder from Ardvaark and I must say, it looks devlishly beautiful.. pics to follow..

I just read an interesting blog on Doug Culnane’s blog about the Bladerider FX that got me thinking… if Bladerider’s purpose is purely to maximise sales by mass producing moths, does this mean that the moth fleet could be inundated with chavs wanting to add another toy to their collection of jet skis, quad bikes and hot tubs? Maybe there really is room for a “budget” moth with a bit of “bling” factor to tempt the masses into the fleet.

I’m going to design the first Burberry moth with alloy trolley wheels and D&G gold (sprayed) wing bars and make a million by advertising it in ZOO, NUTS and Max Power. Bladerider watch this space….

(a chav yesterday)

I noted with interest the other day that a couple of the seasoned moth flyers have mentioned having days where they are pretty nervous sailing their boats which has made me breathe a sigh of relief! I thought I was the only one! I’ve been in mine a couple of times now and have to say in all my years sailing/ windsurfing and kitesurfing, I’ve not ever been as cautious as I am with these boats. Is it old age creeping in? I hope not!

So add to the list of things to achieve.. overcome fear of flying!

Today I took delivery of a shiny new air compressor and spray gun so begins the long road to cosmetics perfection. I’ve got a good friend of the family helping out with setting it up etc. as he used to spray cars for a living. My brand new canting rudder (not painted) from Master Mike Cooke should be arriving at the weekend so at least I have a piece I can start practicing on.

The air lines and bagging materials are coming tomorrow so my vacuum bagging can start as well. It’s just as well as I’ve not done anything for a little while now.

Well after a nice week in Menorca just relaxing and not staring at a computer screen has made a whole wold of difference. I realise that my heart lies in designing and building moths in the future!

Building the web development company over the last few years has sucked the life out of me and contributed to the extra “padding” I am carrying around. Having said that, My mate Tim has helped me discover the joys of running and already the pounds are falling away! Don’t believe the hype re. weight loss.. At the end of the day, we were built to run so don’t think you’ll get fit and lose weight playing Wii fitness (I was tempted!)

Off on holiday for a week now so no blogging and no moth sailing. however there is good news on the horizon… I have ordered a new canting rudder from Mike Cooke (Aardvark) which should be here for when I get back ready to fit to the boat!

I also assume that Jonnie’s raptor will have arrived as well so hopefully there should be an increase in moth activity in a couple of weeks!

I have also started the fitness regime to lose a few pounds and get in shape which will be furthered by a daily swim in the mediterranean.

So the worlds have come and gone and it appears the Aussies gave us Brits a strong wind beating! Two things came to me out of seeing the results.. Perhaps there is hope for me afterall being 81kg (I do plan on losing some of that!) and if we play our cards right we should whip em next time round!

So the question is, were their boats more reliable? Where they heavier? Did they have bigger kahunas? Or was it a complete coincidence that the top 5 boats were all bladeriders and they had a certain team coach with them?

As a newcomer to the class I’m seeing that perhaps there is a call for us to have our very own coach and who better to fill that slot than Simon Payne who is apparently talking of taking a break from mothing? So how about it Simon, do you fancy coaching us into shape?

I’ve spent the last eight years kitesurfing and every year of those eight years when summer comes round, as akitesurfer you just accept that here in the UK we’ll get maybe one or two days af 20 mph + winds.. ther rest of the summer is usually spent in fustration when the wind hovers at a teasing 12 knots and only really good for a cruise at best or…. a foiling moth… so why is it that as soon as I get one near the water, the weather goes nuts and blows 30 knots for the last week?????

I’m feeling for the men and women at the worlds in Weymouth down the road some of whom have travelled half way across the world to compete. I used to hate it when I did the national windsurfing championships and you’d travel across Britain to get to the competition only to find no wind or way too much and back home everyone was enjoy the perfect session.

The forecast for tomorrow and friday look much better so fingers crossed for you all and I hope you haven’t gone stir crazy and started killing each other in a moth bloodbath!