copyright Tom Gruitt / Yachts and Yachting

So I find out that my boat was shortlisted for a trophy at the London Dinghy show! Crazy stuff and I’m stoked that a homebuild can cut it. Ironically the winning boat (Cherub E6) had teh same paint job I had intended for my boat.. delicious silver under a crisp clear lacquer finish…

However what was even more of an achievement was that both my boat and the winning boat (a Cherub E6 design, built by Aardvark) were designed by the same guy and that guy is Kevin Ellway. Not a lot of people in the moth class have heard of him but I would think you will hear a lot more over the coming years.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Kevin and he’s 100% down to earth and incredibly modest. He designed the Ninja (his first moth design) that went on to win the 2009 UK national championships. In the UK, the Ninja is currently being piloted by Jason Belben, Ben Paton, Chris Rashley, Mike Cooke amongst others. In fact Ben posted a 7th in one race at the worlds and having caught up with him at the boat show was telling me he was actually in 2nd up until the very last leg! Jason finished inside the top 10 at the Euros on his Ninja with 2nd generation Ninja foils.

So on behalf of all the Ninja sailors out there, Top respect to you Mr. Ellway!