Mothing in the Lowlands

Australian nationals!, Accommodation, No more winter sleep

2012-01-02T05:31:00.000-08:00

First of all the best wishes for2012!

My Moth winter sleep will come to anend soon. As I will participate next week in the Australiannationals! If all goes well.

Currently I'm in Australia with my family-visitingfriends in Sydney. This holiday was planned some time ago and not till onlyrecently I found out that the AUS nationals were on when I would be inAustralia. Secondly I figured out that it was possible to arrange a boat. Aftersome discussion with the family it was decided that I would go for it.

Last year I only sailed one race, the Benelux championships,and that was also the last time I sailed my moth. So with some added 'winterweight' it would be interesting to see how I will fare in the very competitiveAustralian fleet and probably it will be watch, learn and learn.

The plan to join the races inMornington was made a bit last minute, currently I'm still struggling to find anreasonable priced accommodation. First of all as ignorant European I had noidea that the beginning of January is the very high season in Australia, as now found out thatalmost the whole of Australia is on holiday.

Secondly in the last minute it wasdecided that the wife and kids will stay in Sydney, so this changed the need for the sort of accommodation needed and I would be contend witha modest accommodation for myself. This proves to be difficult at themoment. So if someone has additional tips regarding accommodation (besides whatis already mentioned on the official website and besides the help of Leigh)and/or also if there were an other sailor who has the same issue and would liketo share an accommodation, this would be most appreciated.

When I will make to the races in onepiece I will try to keep you posted on the races and my experiences "downunder"

All the best,

Open dutch skiff trophy 2011

2011-10-04T02:17:00.000-07:00

Directly after the Open Dutch Skiff trophy I started to write something on the blog.Halfway my post I became distracted by all kind of daddy and other duties. Finally after some weeks now I found some time, to fulfill my own goal to write something when I sailed a Moth race. Due to the birth of our second daughter and other priorities I didn't made it to other Moth races this year, so the open dutch were my only moth race this season.

Koos http://internationalmoth.wordpress.com/ and Gio http://giovannigaleotti.blogspot.com/ already covered the event from their perspective.

It was great to see new faces in the moth class during the open dutch Skiff trophy. The weekend we had 8 enthusiastic moths at the start of the Benelux open skiff regatta. Saturday it was mostly a windy affair with showers. The latter ensured that we got some impressive gusts! The moths showed the other skiff's what real performance looks like. Arjan impressed with an complete see through knited trampoline and sheer determination during the day. As some of the 25+ knots gusts proved a bit too much for most of the mothies. The last race of day became due to breakages of the other moths a two boat race between Constantijn and myself.

Jaap Groenendijk was unlucky by damaging his main foil due to the unpredictable rocks near the breakwater, he had to miss the next day. He is a great sport and on sunday he supported the remaining mothies from shore.

Sunday the wind was moderate and apart from Jaap and Gio [Link to Gio Blog] everybody was ready to foil!

It was impressive to see Morgan in his first moth race improving every single race and that is a promise of what we can expect from him in the future! Chris showed improved skills, however his personal fight with his push rod made his flights not completely stabile. Koos enthusiasm is as always contiguous and his cheering when he nails a flying gybe is a joy. Buddy Constantijn had great straight line speed on his new black monster and became 3rd overall.

My VRX was performing well and by not capsizing on Saturday and staying (mostly) in the patchy breeze on sunday I could win the races. Although Morgan was getting closer every race, thereby becoming second on his first moth race.

For the winter period training sessions are planned and it would be great to jointly getting the level up.

I decided to start selling my loyal Bladerider VRX and decide later what his replacement will be. As it seems the Ninja is also performing very well. So pending on when I can sell the trusted NED 3454, so I will join the winter training with or without a boat :-)

It is over...

2010-08-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

It is over. The non-europeans dominated the European championship by taking all the podium places. Nathan (AUS) winning before Bora (USA) and Scott (AUS). The European title was for Simon( GBR) just in front of local hero Arnaud (SUI).

Today it took some time for the wind to build up, while for the first time it was really sunny and warm. Only two races could be sailed in a moderate gusty breeze. The wind was a bit too light for my liking as it was difficult to keep foiling. It was really important to sail in the pressure and to ensure the tacks were made in a gust.
The first start i was very sharp and to my knowledge not over. However a individual recall was called from the starting vessel and i didn't want to take any chances and went back, starting DFL. Also the start of the second race was not brilliant as I took to long to get up the foils. I sailed tactical some good beats and could overtake a big part of the fleet.
Overall I improved a lot in my sailing this week and know exactly what is needed to be again competitive next time, from material perspective and what skills to further improve.
Overall for the competition it was good that there have been different wind strenghts ensuring that everyone had conditions to his or her liking.

I competed in two earlier major moth events and the experience there was that the last night was a great get together where with some drinks the fleet mixed more beyond the usual sub groups (divided by nationality and level). However this time the last evening was a big deception. Half of the fleet was already gone before the prize giving and the next half after the free diner. Rod tried to get some more atmosphere in with the tiller of doom, but I think this scared away the remaining group :-) When we wanted to thank the big organiser of the event for his efforts he seemed more eager to get away then ensuring some social activity.
The organisers for the next Europeans already promised to improve on the social side of the event for the whole fleet.

Last but not least i would like the one who made it possible that I could sail this regatta, as i broke my repaired foil and could lent a spare one for the regatta! Luckily i could also buy one from someone else today so that I have complete boat again.

This was Silvaplana,

All the best !

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Plain sailing

2010-08-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

Today the sailing conditions were again excellent. We had 3 races in a good breeze.

Attached you see the benelux 'mint tea boys' flying over the Silvaplana lake. Thanks to Inge, a friend of Constantijn who made a lot of very nice pictures.

I had typed already a longer blog about how tight the battle is in the top of the fleet. Why i refound my joy in sailing my Bladerider today, how my Dalai Lama shirt helped with this and that I was happy with my best race coming 2nd at the topmark and doing reasonable after that with the means I had.
Unfortunatly i lost all what i typed previously due to not understand the features of the blogpost application I'm using.

So as it is already late i will leave it to this. I'm looking forward to racing tomorrow. The forecast promises plenty of sun. Sun = wind in Silvaplana !

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Location:Dorf,Bivio,Zwitserland

Sun and dealing with the cards you have

2010-08-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

Today the sun was out and it was very nice sailing weather with some good wind. From the picture you would even think we would be sailing in the Caribbean. However the water temperature was still very cold as the lake fills up with melted snow and the air temperature was also around 15 degrees.... So it was still needed to be fully suited up.

Unfortunately Koos, a Member of the dutch team could not fulfill his goal of finishing all races as his rudder broke down. When we left the boatpark in the evening he was still busy with the repairs. He was confident still to make it to the start tomorrow. I fore sure hope so !

Today I had two good starts and one bad one. However the sanding didn't fully solved the ventilation problem. So after rounding the top mark in the top ten I lost a lot places downwind. Could win some back upwind and losing more again the next downwind....
I know I shouldn't be bothering myself to much with this. As in competition you either make sure you have competitive material and be well prepared or otherwise you should not complain as you didn't prepare well enough. Still it is at the moment bit difficult to cope with the frustration for me on the race course. I think I will take a 'Zen' moment on one of the mountains here :-) And tomorrow morning I will try to enjoy the excellent competition, good atmosphere and 'handle the cards I have in positive way'

ps In the photo you see my boat as second from the group (with the Puma), I managed here to keep on foiling in lull and overtake a few boats at the top mark

The ventilator

2010-08-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

Today there was more wind and again no rain. The day started with a bit of luck. My forestay line broke and did some damage to my boom. The luck part was that this happened when the boat was still onshore. And I could get everything sorted prior to the start.

I managed to achieve my goal I set for myself yesterday and that is to improve on the starting. With the added breeze starting is always a bit easier as the line is not so crowded. However the first race was direclty a good start and i had good upwind speed and even some decent tacks. This resulted in going around the first mark in a tight group as 4th.
Then the downwind started and when i push a little bit directly my rudder ventilates. Losing a lot of places in the process as the more developed boats in the front of the fleet do not have this problem. I have to shake off a big spray at least 4 times every downwind.
The other two races i was also in the top ten at the first mark. But finished in the high teens or low 20's.
After the races i resanded the rudder.

After sailing we had sailors diner at one of the ski restaurants half way up the mountain. The view was very nice, attached a picture of the sailing area.

Tomorrow there will be no layday and 3 starts staring from13:00 onwards are planned.
So the goals for tomorrow will be do good starts and trynto lose less boats on the downwind.... At least it should make nice pictures a foiler with a big spray coming from the rudder.....

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Starting

2010-08-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

The races started today and there was no rain! So a decent breeze, not too strong and very patchy.
It was a joy to be able to sail 3 races with over 80 boats on a small lake. Where in the Netherlands there are only a few boats spread around the country here we have 80 flying sailing objects very close next to each other. Resulting in at least 3 collisions I know of. Luckily only damage to material and ego's.

The official press release gives a nice impression how it went on in at the front of the fleet.
As this time I had to witness also the top guys from a distance.
My strength is normally raw upwind speed, however the Moth being a development class shows that the developments moved on beyond my current material and that this speed advantage is no more and downwind even a big disadvantage to the more developed boats. Unfortunately I cannot blame my material for everything as I did three really bad starts. With 80 boats on a small lake it is very difficult to catch up after a bad start. From a tactics point of view it was also interesting as the were a lot of puffs and lulls and big shifts. Something i also have to get used to as it was a long time ago for me that I raced on a small lake. In the afternoon the wind was dying a bit and especially with my weight the call was to only tack when there was a gust. I made some good calls also downwind, then it is nice to see that you can overtake a boat who first overtook you on boatspeed due to having a more developed boat. Thanks to the bad calls I made i hopefully remember them to not make them anymore this week.
For the next coming races my goal will be to improve on the starting getting some good first line starts. Further to enjoy the racing with so many boats and ensure my skilllevel will be much improved by the end of the week.

Repairs and sailing.....

2010-08-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had for approximatly 45 minutes wind! We showed some sign of intelligence by learning from past experience to make sure to get on the water in time. I learned a lot in this short session. First of all that the lake is small and boathandling will be key, that i have still a lot to learn in that departement and last but not least that my 'old' bladerider was ventilating (getting air around the foil which makes the boat uncontrollable) continously....
We worked late on the boat to find a remedy.
Today there was good wind for a longer period. Enough time to find out that our remedy didn't work out. So sailing was nice but also a bit dangerous as the boat was very often out of control.
We got some good advice regarding a solution from one of the most experienced moth sailors around. We worked on this and some repairs. Master of epoxy and carbon, Constantijn went to work in our room as can be seen in the picture :-) assisted by myself.

I'm eager to sailing tomorrow and to see if all works and if the boat is more controllable in the cold water.

There was also the "dash for cash" race sailed in the center of st. Moritz. It was mostly a low riding affair won by the swiss hero, Arnaud. Subsequently there was a nice little opening ceremony with food. Whereby JP held a long opening speech. JP is a sailor and the driving force behind the organisation of this event. I have to say that i have a lot of repect for him as i know it is a lot of effort to organise a european championship let alone having time to compete.
Even more difficult is ensuring good weather as it has been cold and rainy, on the way home to our hotel we even encountered some snow. However the forecast and JP promised better weather for the coming days.

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Sanding in the rain.......

2010-08-13T14:32:00.001-07:00

A whole day we spend on the waterfront without getting any sailing in. It was raining most of the time and that killed the breeze. Early afternoon there was some light breeze, however when we were finished with the rudder repair job and ready to go out the wind died completely and it stopped with raining soflty...

(see picture "the mint tea boys, Constantijn and Gio using Gio's boat as an umbrella)
We still needed to wet sand our foils, so we figured why not let nature help us with the wet part of this job...
After i finished this job it stopped off course with raining and in the very late afternoon we were treated upon a nice rainbow as can be seen in the first photo.
Tomorrow the forecast is slightly better.

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Location:Dorf,Bivio,Zwitserland

Arrived and floated around

2010-08-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

We arrived yesterday evening after a relaxing drive in zwitserland. The whole surrounding, type of villages and hotels give more the feeling of going on wintersport then to a sailing regatta. Although we got today enough of watersports but that had more to do with the rain then anything else... If there is sunshine at silvaplana there is wind, due to the thermal effect. So with rain no wind as you can see on the picture which i took around late lunch time..

In spite of this there came a little bit of wind in the late afternoon and for 45 minutes boats where foiling. Constantijn and i also made it out. Hereby we experienced the almost freezing fresh mountain water which makes launching a moth an unpleasant affaire. But sailing on this extremely clear water is a joy.
In spite of the fact that i came out too late and that the wind dropped i was happy that I have been out and enjoyed the lake.
Hopefully tomorrow brings better wind.....

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Location:Dorf,Bivio,Zwitserland

Foil repaired, CU in silvaplana

2010-08-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

Daan Schutte repaired my vertical and it looks really good. Again a learned a lot of what can be done with carbon in the hands of an expert.
This weekend Constantijn and myself sailed at the Sneekweek, "the bigest lake regatta of Europe".
The repaired foil held perfectly. Sunday there were perfect sailing conditions and we got a lot of very positive reactions on and of the water. Hopefully getting some more people interested in entering the class.
I even managed to achieve a whole 17 seconds of 'fame' as some shots of sailing and a short interview was aired on national television.

Great thanks to all the advice i got and the people inquiring for me for spare verticals. Just shows they great sportmanship of the class. Special thanks to Manfred who sent on his expenses a spare foil to me!!

For the ones who are traveling to Silvaplana, CU there.
For the ones who can't make, it might be good to know that according to the forecast it will be raining from coming wednsday onward...

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Bladerider vertical main foil needed

2010-08-01T03:33:00.000-07:00

It has been quiet for sometime on the sailing front. Spend time with the family in france and the few days i could sail there was no wind.
Only until recently i could start some preparations for the Europeans. Although most sessions had to aborted early due to relatively minor breakages. Until yesteday.... As i had major breakage.

It was excellent sailing weather and the wind was increasing from 15 knots to a nice 20 knots. I was happily trucking along full speed downwind. The boat felt good due to the recent modifictions we made to rudder. As this made the bladerider more stable at speed. Suddenly i heard a big bang. Next thing I knew I was in the water. While swimming back i saw the main foil attached in a unnatural way to the boat... The main foil was cleanly broken direct at the hull. Managed to take the foil out and had a long sail back to the harbour.

As I still would like to compete at the Europeans in two weeks time, i'm looking for a replacement vertical. My experiences with getting spare parts from proust sailing are not good to say the least. I ordered and paid two maststump caps in october last year and never received them despite many promises on the phone that they were going to send it.

If anyone knows how i could get hold of a vertical main foil on the short term, i would be most obliged!

Best regards, Eelco

Ps if someone has spare maststump caps for sale I'm also interested

Location:Straatweg,Maarssen,Nederland

Dutch "Muiderzand" Foil Fest !

2010-05-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

Reading all the great stories of the Foil Fest in Spain we decided to rename our Benelux Championship event to the "Muiderzand foil fest"*. This will be held from 12-13 June and competitors from outside of the benelux are more then welcome.
We in this case are the Benelux moth association, with Hans Wust and myself as committee members and chaired by Koos Winnips.

Firstly it was planned at 'hellevoetsluis', however we managed an excellent other location. As we will be sailing from Muiderzand which is situated at IJsselmeer, (http://tinyurl.com/24gwdu7) Here we will have a great place to launch. This place is a commercial Marina and normally one has to pay to for using the facilities, also during regattas. However due to the efforts of Roeland of Sail-today.nl we do not have to pay for this.

Saturday we plan to start with a training and end the day with a slalom race. Sunday will be filled with a lot of short races for the "Muiderzand Foil Fest" Tropy. If the weather gods will provide us with a decent breeze it will become a great event. Hopefully we can share technique, methods and laughters and ensure that the Benelux fleet will improve again.

Here is a link to a webcam and a live weather station for the ones who cannot make it to the "Muiderzand Foil Fest" or for the ones who are coming to get into the mood... http://sail-today.nl/weer.php

ps *We hope there are no trademarks etc. set on the name. We are most happy to credit the ones who are to credit for the foil fest trademark :-)

Slowly upgrading my Bladerider and Spakenburg

2010-05-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

After a long dutch winter the season finally started a couple of weeks ago. The winter was, next to working and family life, mostly spend watching the America's cup unfold and the live action of the Dubai worlds while gaining weight. Regarding the Worlds I would still like to congratulate Simon on a great win in what seemed very demanding circumstances.

Last couple of weeks i managed a few days of training with Constantijn. On many occasions the training sessions where shortened by different little bits breaking, like the bolt on the goosenneck, some shackle's I thought were unbreakable and a flap which was coming off as the sika needed replacement.

Last weekend we had the first race of the season in Spakenburg together with the dutch skiff association. The only moths present where the mint tea boys (Gio, Constantijn and yours truly). The first day there was no wind and on the sunday there were only very marginal foiling conditions. Gio managed the best in these circumstances. He was the first to foil and when foiling kept the boat well in the breeze. I had a few brilliant legs reading the puffs and keeping the boat foiling and too much not so brilliant legs, lowriding the whole way. An excuse could be the weed I collected, however I can not imagine I was the only one finding the weed.

Until recently I always raced, not un-success full, with an unmodified Bladerider. I like foiling very much and have a healthy distaste for working on the boat.

However matter the fact is that my boat, which is just one year old seems ancient compared to the boats which were being raced in Dubai and developed further. That are the joys of being part of a development class.... When I started out in the class i couldn't foresee that things would develop so quickly. I think this is what makes the moth very interesting but could be a potential turn-off for the class to really grow in the Netherlands. As to have a competitive boat substantial time and/or money has to be put in.

My aim of the season is to compete at the Europeans this summer. I started to upgrade the 'old' Bladerider step by step. I replaced my stock Bladerider sail with a North V8 and I am slowly to learn how the sail works. It is more versatile then my old sail.

Secondly with the help of Constantijn I finally made a paddle on my wand and Constantijn designed a ride height adjuster. Actually I got my hands dirty and slowly becoming more and more a 'real' mothie.

With a bit of luck I can test the ride height adjuster and the paddle coming sunday.

After this there is still a lot to do, like upgrading the foils. However i first have to start to see how I can work with the added complexity of the ride height adjuster. And secondly still have to make time to improve on the boathandling.....

I-shares cup Amsterdam

2009-09-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I sailed the bladerider for the Ishares cup organisation during the Extreme 40 event in Amsterdam. The race area of the extreme 40 cats is in an enclosed area within the city of Amsterdam. It is amazing how this 40 foot cats race there with a fleet of 10 boats. All very close to the shore and the public.
Unfortunatly there wasn't too much wind and only on sunday there was occasionaly ample wind to get the Bladerider RX foiling. But the moments I was foiling I got great response of the crowds. Whereby Wouter Samama, the moth friendly dutch Ishares cup speaker was helping to stir up the audience!
Everyone reacted very enthousiastic and from the shore people asked and shouted all kinds of questions, mostly related to the boat and sailing....

In the wrap-up video of day 3 of the ishares cup there is approximatly 5 seconds of foiling action, around the 1:30 minute mark of the video.

Crossing in front of these big cats while the wind is twirling around the buildings nearby gives an extra dimension to moth sailing....
Next to sailing the moth I enjoyed watching the extreme 40's racing and enjoyed meeting some old sailing friends who where attracted to this event in Amsterdam and/or where actively involved with the circuit.

For me the next event will be to join in october the f18 catamaran races in muiderzand and to see if the moths (Constantijn, myself and any other mothie who likes to join) can beat the best dutch catamaran racers with the bladerider.
Due to family commitments the first sunday that I will be able to join these october races will be on the 18th.

Open dutch skiff trophy, Benelux alive and kicking

2009-09-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

Nine moths where at the start line last saturday for the Open dutch skiff trophy! It was a great turn-out whereby 100% of the members of the belgium dutch moth association were racing. I guess there are not to many sailing classes who can say that :-)

It was a great event with a great bunch of sailors. Koos wrote a very nice piece about his experience.

When I think about it I guess the benelux fleet must be one of the most international ones as almost 50% has an international background. Chris who is actually a brit flown in to strengthen the sailing skills in the 'deep' south of the Netherlands. We have Juryk who is a german living more to the east and has amazing logistic skills. As he manages to come to the events without owning a car or a trailer for his boat. And probably one of the few people known to be hitchhiking with a moth and we have Giovanni who is an Italian American living in Belgium......

It was also great that Sven Kloppenburg from Germany joined the fleet for this race.

It was perfect sailing weather as in the morning it started with light winds and during the day the wind increased, with the occasional very gusty period, even up to appr 24 knots. In the lighter stuff Sven and Gio showed good skill and speed and overall Sven was sailing solid and very consistent. Constantijn started every time very well and with the right conditions was fast in the first beat. Juryk was handicapped as his foils where already broken for the races. Koos enjoyed himself, although found out that moving house does not train all the muscles necessary for sailing a moth. Young gun Rob has an old foiler with incredible bow-up attitude and had some material failures. Hans Wust impressed with the enormous progress he made within the short while that he sails a foiler, as he started foiling this summer.

As for my own performance I was happy with the progress I made with the boathandling. Gybes where solid, also when I had to do two quick gybes to dodge 6 capsized skiffs in front of me in one of the more gusty periods. The tacks are also getting better. After the Europeans I have been able to sail only a few days however in those days I focused on tacking and gybing and this focussed approach helped. Although especially on the tacking there is still room for improvement before they are near foiling everytime (with this i mean, the back of the hull touching the water and then quickly going up again). It was also great fun to sail the rounds while overtaking 49ers and 29ers. As the moth is so silent and so much faster it is great fun to overtake them while being close and to see the amazed expressions. Hopefully it inspires some of them to try a moth.

It further amazed me that overtaking on the leeward side is not a big issue. As when foiling the moth is sailing mostly on apparent wind, it is not too much bothered by the disturbed air.

During the AGM of the benelux association I was stitching my trampoline back together as this was the only way I could ensure that I could sail on sunday and join the AGM. This was the only less brilliant thing of the weekend, all the rest was well organised and it was great to be with nine moths on the water showing the other skiff sailors what moth sailing is about.

Results can be found here

After the weekend I read the blog of Rohan and I think it is too bad that he leaves the class as he is the one who inspired a lot of people to go foiling including myself. I wish him all the best and hope that after taking some distance he will be back in due time.

Holiday

2009-08-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

I have had two very good sailing trips this year. Sailing with the Team Puma in Galway and the Europeans.

After the europeans I have sailed a day at the 'Kaagweek'. Which is a dutch lake race with a lot of traditional and modern dinghies competing. It was great to show the speed of the Moth against the backdrop of the 'holland-friesland' regatta. This is a regional team race event sailed in an historic dutch class, the 'regenboog'. The plan was also to show the bladerider during the 'sneekweek', which is the biggest lake sailing event in Europe, with over 1.000 boats participating. However during the transport to the north of the Netherlands the socket head came off. I was ready to launch when I noticed that this small, however crucial part was missing. I didn't had as spare so no sailing, however together with friends and family I could enjoy the famous 'sneekweek' parties. This helped to overcome the pain off not being able to sail while there was a very good breeze.

Now it is off for a family holiday for a week. I could not fit the worlds in my schedule for this year and as said I was happy being able to do the Europeans. While on the family holiday next week I will try to follow the worlds.

It is great to read the many updates on the moth blogosphere and I'm exited to follow how the events will unfold.

It will be interesting to see how the form guides of Scott and Simon will play-out. To see if these are lists of doom or that the pressure of being on the top of these guides will make Arnaud & Nathan only stronger.....

Secondly it would be great if the hard work of Giovanni on his self engineered wand system will pay off and that he finally can show his warp speed!

Good luck to all at the Gorge!

Europeans, happy with a podium place, 3rd overall

2009-06-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

Just came home after a drive from Denmark. Whereby a few times the highway seemed more a giant parking spot as we encountered a few lengthy traffic jams. Happy to be home after enjoying a great week in Horsens as the weather was very good. Sunny and during the races enough wind! After the last race also the wind was directly gone, which must have been a sore sight for the more light wind oriented sailors.

I'm happy with my overall 3rd place, which I could manage thanks to the breeze and the help of a number of other sailors. As the swiss team helped me out with some necessary spare parts and the fellow members of the dutch-belgium team helped with technical expertise on preparing my boat. Respect and congratulations to Arnaud and Simon. They performed a perfect show of how close you can battle in a moth while doing speeds in excess of 24 knots. I was lucky enough to see their battle up close and some moments being in it. Compared with them my upwind speed was good, but I have lot to improve in boathandling and downwind speed. So enough todo when I have time to sail again.

The last day I had some great battles with Jean-pierre of Switserland, whereby in one race it was very close upto the finishing line. Racing in such a way, while literally flying over the water, is everything what i hoped for moth sailing could be.

Overall my standard bladerider VRX performed very well. Some people asked me what the difference between the VRX and my former X8 is. My experience is that the bigest difference I notice is that my standard VRX feels more solid and controllable in the windy conditions we had.

After the races there was a nice party, whereby the inevitable "tiller of death" beer drinking competition started. In Weymouth i managed as anonymous new comer to the class to avoid this "tiller". However this time I could not. My performance in the field of beer drinking contest was lousy, of which also my now beer stained last clean shirt is a silent testament.....

Day 2 Europeans, One windy race...

2009-06-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

This morning when we came out of our cabin on the beautiful family camping site of the Husodde Strand camping we already noticed it was a bit more windy then the previous day. Arriving at the yacht club we could see already the white on top of the waves.

The forecast was that the wind would drop in the afternoon. So scheduled start of 10 in the morning was postponed. So we had to wait. For me it is still interesting to see how people can get in to intense debate regarding the technicalities of wand, mast and other systems. As I have a big passion for the thrill of foiling but I lack a bit of the deep engineering interest. Although it is nice to listen to all the ideas and think about it.

At 13:00 the committee decided that discussing and thinking time is over and that the race was going to start at 14:00. It was still very windy, however doable for people with experience with sailing a moth in wind.

Finally appr. 30 boats arrived at the start and appr. 14:30 the gun went off for the start.

After the first mark it was Arnaud, leading, then Simon, then myself closely followed by Jean-pierre and Mike Lennon.

Second upwind mark the order was the same, although I managed to gain a bit upwind. Second downwind Simon capsized and we rounded the bottom mark together. Which was interesting as we where close and doing appr. 24 knots (thanks to my velocitek). Last upwind went not so well and I rounded in 3rd, Arnaud still leading Simon. Towards the finish I overstood the downwind mark and while a reached towards the finish the boat abruptly stopped and I was flying. First I thought i must have broken something on the boat. The boat was OK when I reached it. So probably i hit a lump of seaweed. The capsize cost me one place and I finished 4th. All other races where postponed as the breeze was measured to be in the mid twenties and some time above. Tomorrow the last day and it is possible that 4 races will be sailed. So still anything is possible for everyone. Although Simon looks solid with 1,1,2,2 and Arnaud is matching him if counting a discard DNC, 2,1,1. Looking forward to great day, forecast is a little bit less wind. Hopefully for myself not too much less.....

Day 1 Europeans, Mixed emotions

2009-06-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of the Moth Europeans. it was nice and windy today in denmark. So perfect sailing weather, especially for one who likes to sail in the breeze. It was an early day as the scheduled start was at 10 O'clock. Although the harbour with a small canal and almost non existent slipway is not the perfect place to launch appr 40 moths in onshore breeze of 20 knots. It took some time before we were all on the water. And after some delay the first was started. I was pleased with my upwind speed. Downwind I lost a bit and boathandling can still be better. But the result was a 2nd place and that made feel good and ready for the next race. The 2nd race same story and I was trailing Arnaud and Simon when half way I heard some crack. Firstly I couldn't see that there was something wrong and continued sailing. later I saw that my mast stump cracked and my mast was few centimeters down. I could continue sailing and my goal was to finish the race in one piece. So trying to do everything gently.... on the last run the mast sinked 5-10 cm further in the mast stump, luckily it stayed upright although all the tension on the rig was gone. I finished 3rd and went straight in to avoid any further damage. So the day started with an up and finished with a down... almost literally. Now we just finished all repairs. Lets see what kind of surprises the next days of the Europeans will bring.

Galway wrap-up, Rotterdam

2009-06-09T00:07:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately the trip to Galway has come to an end. It was a great experience to be part of the Volvo festival. We had a great week practice sailing, while being able to enjoy the view of the volvo boats. Most of the week there where light winds. Last friday was a great sailing day. Saturday there was plenty of wind sometimes too much with guts well over 25 knots. This was great wind for the start of the volvo leg to marsstrand. However thanks to the waves of the huge spector fleet and the gusts It wasn't easy for a moth. We could give a show to the spectators of how fast a moth can be. My topspeed clocked during this day was 26 knots. We also showed how you can make spectacular crashes. One time I hit the water with such a speed that I bounced two times on the water before sinking in it. A spectator boat nearby was applauding and yelling "we want more...". Great people the irish :-)

Hereby also a picture of the start day whereby I was sailing close to the beach, lined with hundreds

of spectators. The water was pretty cold and it was sometimes very difficult to shake of the ventilation of the rudder. (as can be seen of the spray from the back).

Today it is up to Rotterdam to sail the same course the Volvo boats are going to do for the coast of Rotterdam. This time with my own boat and Puma sail. This is a race to see which boat can beat the time of the Volvo 70's. It will be for the first time to sail a moth on the open water of the North Sea, for sure it will be a new experience!

Galway stopover, puma sailing

2009-06-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

It is already some days that we (Constantijn) and myself are in Galway. We are sailing the Puma Bladeriders here till the start of leg 8 Galway to Marstrand.

We drove down to Galway from the Netherlands. On the ferry from holyhead (UK) to Dublin we got a comedy of errors show from the captain and his crew. We first got the message that we could not leave on time as the engine needed some maintenance. After appr 45 minutes we got the message that the engine was ready however we could not leave as there was something with a winch and that they couldn't untie the mooring rope. After again appr 45 minutes came the message that they managed to untie the aft mooring rope, however the rope was now caught-up in of the ship screws. So we had to wait till divers could get this sorted out......... It took another appr 45 minutes before we left...

We managed to get in Galway although a few hours later than planned on thursday late afternoon. Galway really embraced the Volvo completely very impressive to see people so proud about their Green Dragon.

When we arrived by the boats we met Michael from Bladerider UK. He was over for the weekend and already started with assembling the boats. However the boats needed also some maintenance as they were used for sailing with school kids in Boston. The kids apparently liked it very much, the boats a little bit less... Luckily almost all the necessary parts where available for the repairs and the Puma shore crew helped us out perfectly with tools and repairs.

On friday afternoon after we could get sailing with a good breeze. We sailed around the starting area of the practice race. It is impressive to seen how the Volvo guys manoeuvre their boats like dinghies on the startline. On saturday during the in-port race there was far less wind. And only occasionally we could get foiling. When we were foiling we got cheers and applaus from the spectator 'Armada'. Never experienced anything like that....

After Saturday the wind became lighter and lighter and the temperature higher and higher. It is here more like cote d' azur. Something extraordinary as normal irish weather would be rain and 12-15 degrees. Apparently the Irish are not used to this heat as I never have seen so many people with sun burns.

Today the wind was almost non-existent. Hopefully we get some more wind in the rest of the week and get some foiling in....

20% = painfull

2009-05-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

Not much moth news from the past weekend. Last thursday I cycled the 160 km "Steven Rooks" classic. It was a successful effort of finishing this tour. More important I could complete all the climbs cycling and didn't had to resort to walking.

When I started cycling 2,5 months ago and someone told me that a climb of 15% is pretty of though I thought can't be that difficult as it seems like it that it can be 85 % more difficult. Little did I knew...

From experience I can tell now that a hill with a climbing percentage of 20% is painfull. There were two of those on this tour and these are climbs I will not easily forget. Although the muscle ache the day after was less then after a day hiking in the moth..

The rest of the weekend was very enjoyable as I spent it with my family.

Next stop will be Galway. Together with Constantijn I will manage the Team Puma bladeriders there. Looking forward to that.

Hellecat action

2009-05-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Small movie of the action at Hellecat last weekend (1oth of may).

Sailing & preparation for "the steven rooks classic"

2009-05-18T03:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had a good weekend sailing. There was good breeze wind and the location, greveling, was very good. Although I can feel now all those muscles I wasn't conscious about before starting moth sailing. My new bladerider performed well and didn't budge under the abuse I gave it.

It was a good plan to meet up with Giovanni and to do some sparring. Although the sparring worked out differently as planned. As Gio got his new Mach 2 the day before. When we met on saturday I could help him rig the boat, as some things are very similar to the bladerider. In the afternoon we could go sailing. Only Gio had to go back after 20 minutes to fix a few things. Sunday was more or less the same. Although Gio could stay out a bit longer than saturday before before he had to return. A new boat is always nice unfortunately it takes some time to get it right. For some boats it takes a bit more than some time....

The picture shows the Mach2 and the bladerider next to each other.

Two and half months ago I entered in a kind of bet to do a cycling tour. The "Steven Rooks" classic I didn't had a boat at the time and seemed like fun to do with a friend. The only other thing I was missing was a Bike. So I bought a second hand bike and had to do some training... Coming thursday is the start of the "classic tour. It is 160 KM through The Netherlands and Belgium in which there are 7 climbs. The latter are the most worrying for me. As I noticed during some training that cycling in the flat is OK, going down is exiting and good for the adreline levels, however climbing is painfull. I will probably know by thursday late afternoon how painfull.

We have got him.... :-)

2009-05-11T04:50:00.000-07:00

The boat was released by customs on friday. After a long wait I have got finally a sailboat again!

This weekend there was the first race of the revived Dutch Belgian moth association in Hellevoetsluis. It was a bit of a race against time to get everything ready for this, however i managed. This in spite of having two left hans and breaking a crucial part when assembling the boat

The event was a great succes. We got a great welcome from the catclub hellecat and everything was well organised. For me it was the first time to attend a moth event and special to see some people with whom I only communicated by e-mail before. It was great experience to meet a great bunch of people who all share the passion for moths and sailing this strange spieces of boats in particular.

In total the where 7 boats. Foilers and so called low riders. I managed to get the boat ready in time and the set-up as set from the factory was very goo

d. We gave a good show to the spectators on the beach and the cats who were also racing. Especially on sunday afternoon when there was a good breeze to get foiling. The last race I managed to overtake all the catamarans who started 5 minutes before us. This was a great experience.

Looking forward to the next dutch moth event! Attached a picture of how the boat arrived and how it looks when it was assembled. Results of the race can be found here

Hope II Customs hassle

2009-05-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

Good News! The boat arrived at schiphol airport. The chances are becoming more likely that i can sail this weekend the first dutch moth regatta. However first the boat has to be cleared by the dutch customs office. And as there was some misunderstanding in the Air bill it is taking longer then expected. Next to hope, some time is spent on e-mails and phone calls...

Hope

2009-05-01T06:53:00.001-07:00

Good news today from the bladerider factory. The boat is now complete, including the missing mast and boom. Apparently CST hadn't delivered them in time.

If all is well it is dropped off at the airport in Australia.

If all goes well it should be delivered at Schiphol airport next week. Hopefully then also the converted to moth trailer old trailer tent (vouwwagen) is then ready. As I'm then able to transport the boat.

If this all works out I will be able to participate in the first Dutch moth event of the year of the new revived dutch moth class.

So I hope all the if's work out positively, If so then see you all the 9 and 10th of May in Hellevoetsluis! :-)

ps attached a picture of the new boat in the factory

Waiting

2009-04-27T04:34:00.000-07:00

My boat went all pear shaped in october last year. Thanks to the warranty and the support of Bladerider I could order a new VRX. This one was supposed to be delivered on january the 15th in the Netherlands. However I'm still waiting for it to be shipped out.

It is very difficult to sit at home while there are perfect sailing conditions the last couple of weekends.

To stop annoying my girlfriend to much in the weekend, I took up cycling. Last sunday I had a perfect ride in the south of the Netherlands. Together with a friend we did a tour of 120 KM and climbed 5 different (dutch) hills. Nature was really nice.

Now back in the office and going to ask again what the ETA for my new boat will be. Still hoping that coming weekend it would be possible have it......