It's a couple of days since the last heat of the 2014 Moth Worlds - Nathan Outteridge was in another class and totally smashed the last day to win the title by a long way. Awesome sailing.
I didn't win anything. I think I was last in every race I sailed in fact... But for me, the event was a great success - I would have liked to have figured more in the racing and been a bit further up the fleet of course, but I am a realist (sometimes) and just getting the boat to the start line was a massive achievement and one I am pretty proud of. Every objective was reached.
In an ideal world the boat would have been launched in February and I'd have had all spring and early summer to get it up to speed, and equally importantly, my own sailing up to some sort of standard... But changing jobs, moving house twice, and life generally got in the way.... C'est la vie eh? I'm not even slightly bitter...
If anyone has built their own boat and sailed it in a World Championships then they will know how it feels to cross the finish line and get a result. The Hayling Worlds were made especially difficult as there was a time limit to contend with too and I must admit my first race I didn't make it... But Just getting around the track felt amazing.
My goal was to get fit, build a moth, and get to the Worlds and sail. Even sailing one race would have equalled what I did last time. This time I sailed and completed three races. I'm a stone lighter and a LOT fitter (thanks to a much improved diet as much as anything), I met up with a lot of old mates and made a load of new ones and yup, outside my house is the Blackbird.
The boat is low volume and that is the biggest issue with sailing it - but then in waves I watched Mach 2s and Rockets going down the mine on take off at times too. After a few swims I figured out that I just had to sit a bit further back and move forward as the boat lifted off. Then I looked around me and saw just about everyone was doing that anyway! Difference? Not a lot really.
The great great thing about the moth class is the sailors. I had a long chat with Adam May and another with Andrew McDougall (Amac) about the boat and there are some strong features which if not perfect, are at least really quite good. Talking to these guys and others that sail the boats a lot gives you a lot of ideas, but Adam and Amac are particularly well experienced in design and construction of moths - Amac's boats have won the last 7 World titles in a row... Yup... That good. We chatted before I left Hayling on saturday morning and his design approach is fundamentally different to mine. I don't mean in the physics of the boats, but in his overall concept - and just in that one conversation I figured something out and it has changed the way I will develop the Blackbird... Adam is always great to talk to and we went through the boat from stern to bow, picking out stuff that need to change and stuff that can be developed in the same direction. Note books full!
So what's next?
Well like I said, the boat's out front. I've just stripped it down and double checked everything after a tough week or two of being crashed and rigged in sand and sailed hard. Nothing critical to fix - apart from the gantry mounts after the pin failure on the last day I sailed, and I need to build a new wand mech. I'm really pleased as there is very little to do to get back on the water. A splice here, a new way to rig a system there. That sort of thing. But as for the future....? Well the plan has always been to develop the boat and straight off the bat I have a list things that I think will improve the boat in key areas to prioritise and work on...
And finally... On the day the picture above was taken (Monday 21st July - Day 3 of the worlds) I sailed all day, foiling around and nothing broke, nothing went wrong and I realised that I bloody LOVE sailing moths!! I'm going to sail this thing whenever I can... I have new targets and they are not just about finishing races, they're about RACING in races!!
So stick with me - the build up to the 2014 Worlds was the intro. Here's comes the adventure and you never know - I might be looking at flights!
D
