Moth Worlds – Looping the loop

by John Curnow on 23 Dec 2014 It is one of the other lines from the theme song of our little time with Terry Thomas and the gang, which you can revisit here http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=129738!here!.

However, the real thing is that not only are the Moths quick, over the time since they began to get up on foils, the fleet has compacted up. Another crucial element to add, is that all craft also get a result, even if they do not complete all the laps. The latter is a hell of a lot better than a DNF. So, with increased speed and the sheer volume of items required to be firstly spotted, and then subsequently recorded accurately over a very limited timeframe, you can appreciate that there will be plenty of stress out on the water, and it won’t be solely from the competitors.

To get an accurate idea, we have to speak with the Principal Race Officer for the 2015 McDougall+McConaghy Moth World Championship, the exceedingly well credentialed, Peter Moor. This will be his sixth appearance at the Moth Worlds. There were four as a competitor back in the day, and then he was the PRO in 2011 when 109 Moths congregated at Lake Macquarie in New South Wales. 'With entries approaching 160 craft, boats capable of an average 14 knots VMG around the usually three-lap course, and a 30 minute race target time, it is fair to say I have a couple of concerns.'

Line Length and Boat Speed
Starting with the start, as it were, the whole gathering will be split into two fleets of 75 boats. Even so, the start lines will be long. Moor explains, 'The Moths’ width to length ratio, fragility, difficulty in sailing them, overall speed and the necessity/importance to be up on foils for the start (so as not to be left behind), means we’ve gone for a factor of 1.8 to 2 times, not the typical 1.5xLOA (which for a Moth is 3.7m with the rudder gantry), then you have to multiply that by the number of craft. So that equates to two start lines of 400-450m. Note too, that this in turn means that the start line is virtually half the length of the range to the top mark!'

'It is my experience that with any large fleet and a long start line, the probability of general recalls, OCS boats and black flags is greatly increased. This will be higher still with the Moths. The main element is speed, for a Moth on foils will do 1 to 1.5 boat lengths per second', said Moor.

How and why is all this so crucial? Consider this. Boats not foiling when the start signal goes will be left behind very quickly, which is not a good way to be amongst the leaders. Therefore, everybody is going to be trying to get up on the foils in the last few seconds before the gun, which usually means reaching down the line with precious little time left. Upwind foiling speeds for the top boats are now around 16knots, with a VMG of about 12kts, so a fully wound up foiling Moth will be crossing the start line on the start signal at approximately 6m per second.

Starting Instructions
'Get the timing of your run to the line even a fraction wrong and you are in trouble to the tune of easily half a length or more! It will be very easy for several boats to be OCS in the last one to two seconds, perhaps even too many to identify and thus requiring a general recall of the entire fleet. So yes, there will be a fair amount of anxiety around for the starts, both in the fleet and on the Committee Boat!'

Moor added, 'All ROs like to get a fleet started first go and on a P flag, but my guess is that this will be the exception at Sorrento! With up to four races to run each day, and that’s on both courses, it is inevitable that we will have to resort to the black flag at times. I am not a great fan of the black flag and believe it should only be used as originally intended by ISAF, which was as a ‘flag of last resort’.'

'It’s no great drama, if it is effective in getting a clean start, but for me the black flag is a disaster if it is followed by a general recall and some boats are eliminated from the next attempts at starting, whilst other unidentified OCS boats get away without penalty. For this reason we have included a provision for a U flag start in the Sailing Instructions. This is effectively a sort of soft black flag, where OCS boats, identified or not, are not excluded from a re-start of the same race, following on from a general recall.'

Moor added, 'Now with its exclusion zone to windward of the start line in the last minute, the U flag also effectively prevents ‘dip starts’. This is a technique that may have some appeal to foiling Moth sailors with both courage and skill in a big fleet. Note that there is no individual recall for a start conducted under a U flag. Accordingly, an OCS boat will have no indication of their plight, perhaps until they see the results. Hopefully this will keep general recalls to a minimum!'

Course Data
Nowadays, and by way of moving on to the next item, we see that the Moth fleet’s speed is far more uniform and that compacts everyone up a lot. Moor details, 'In the early days of foiling and due to the significant spread of boats over the race track when there were a lot of low-riders, the Moths introduced an innovative system of lap counting. This meant that the slower, non-foiling boats had a way of achieving a result, other than DNF, if they ran out of time to complete the full course. Equally, the lead foiling boats did not have to endure long periods waiting for the tail enders before the start of the next race.'

Lap counting allows for any boat that can complete at least the one lap to get a result, which is especially important given the race closes 15 minutes after the first boat is home. Boats that complete less laps are scored behind those that complete more laps, but that means the Race Committee must keep track of how many laps each boats completes. That’s easy enough when the fleet is small, but not so easy with 75+ boats doing up to three laps!

'This system of lap counting, which I think is quite brilliant, also proves that the Moths are not only innovative in terms of boat design. It does however, place enormous pressure on the Race Committee. They have to treat every bottom mark rounding as a potential finish, for even lead boats can break down on subsequent laps, and as a result, their last bottom mark rounding could be their finish place. Equally, slower boats, who may only be able to complete one lap within the time limit or elect to complete only the one lap, are therefore scored on their position at that bottom mark rounding', said Moor.

Looping the loop
So two race tracks, each with 75+ boats, all doing up to three laps, it is potentially over 200 mark roundings per race, and they need to be captured accurately for each and every race of the series. So that’s up to four races on each track, and accordingly, there is a potential for over 1600 mark roundings to be recorded and then requiring computer entry each day. In total, that is up to 18 races for the World Championship, which is potentially 8000 mark roundings. And yes, that’s not counting the Australian Championships the week before. Moor simply said, 'So please spare a thought for the hard working recorders and data entry people, for they will not be seeing much of the action!'

Leaders will be able to do 14knots course VMG, so recording of the roundings will commence just eight minutes after setting them off in the first place!!! Naturally, this will be a non-stop process until the closing of that all-important finish window. It also means that it will be a little like peak hour congestion in the CBD and that means getting the sail number and order of every vessel correct for every bottom mark rounding, even when there are several boats rounding almost simultaneously, will be a significant challenge for the Race Committee.

Moor commented, 'Recording incorrect sail numbers or missing boats that are sandwiched between other boats will play havoc with the accurate and timely production of race results, and the Moths don’t make the job any easier by mostly having black sail numbers on clear sails, which are particularly difficult to read when the back drop consists of darkish hills!'
Ok, so that proves that it will be a real challenge out on the water, but then think about it all in the cabins of the committee vessels or back on land. The job of accurate and timely production of the results is particularly critical during the qualifying series, as fleet allocations for the next day are to be posted by 2100hrs that night. So sorting out who did three laps, who did two and who did one in each race with a large fleet is a difficult job. A computer program is more or less essential to quickly sort the mark roundings list into an actual race result.

No bolting from an open gate
To facilitate accurate bottom mark rounding recordings, there will not be a ‘gate’ at the bottom of the course. Two bottom marks will be deployed for each course, both of which have to be rounded to port, much like a hitch mark after the windward mark in yacht racing. This configuration helps to line the boats up in a more or less orderly procession, hopefully, around the bottom mark and was successfully used at the last Australian Championships that were conducted on Lake Macquarie.

'A gate would allow boats to be rounding either end simultaneously, thereby making the accurate position recording required with lap counting difficult, if not impossible. Furthermore, it seems to me that a gate is a very dangerous thing for Moths, considering they do 25kn+ when travelling downwind', Moor finished by saying.

Now there won’t be sheep stations to contest over, but in the yachting world this is going to be the biggest thing since sliced bread. Accordingly, if you’re going to be there, get your choice of fillings in between your sliced bread and head for Sorrento to witness this en masse infestation of foiling Moths. It will be huge. Do look out for blue bottle octopuses in the rocky corners of the beaches if you’re having a wade, for most creatures in Australia will either harm or kill you. Finally, a thank you and Season’s Greetings to all the volunteers around the globe that make going racing possible.

The foiling Moth really is sailing’s developMENTAL class. You’ll be able to see that for yourself at Sorrento and here on Sail-World. They will be in action from January 6 with the Australian Championship and then from January 9 to 16, the McDougall + McConaghy 2015 Moth World Championships will be conducted.