Gough dominates 2014 KA Sail Victorian Moth Championships

by Leigh Dunstan on 5 Mar 2014 Over the weekend the final round of the Magic Marine Grand Prix Series was sailed at Sorrento SCBC. This round was also the 2014 Victorian Moth State Championships and proudly sponsored by KA Sail. The event was sailed as a test event for the upcoming World Championships to be held next January. The fleet was treated to exceptional conditions for Moth sailing, with sailors gaining some invaluable lessons from sailing on the same courses that will be used in less than twelve months time. With a venue like this it was not surprising that interstate and even international competitors came to compete in the event.

The forecasted 10 - 20 knot south easterly made racing on the Saturday very close in a fleet that has both grown and improved in recent years. At the front of the fleet there were two clear contenders with Victorian Andrew 'Amac' McDougall and Tasmanian Rob Gough showing exceptional boat speed and clear water to the rest of the fleet. Gough in particular clearly demonstrated that the flat water and sometimes shifty breeze suits his style of sailing, and that he will be a force to be reckoned with come the worlds. The battle for the minor places was hotly contested between the next ten boats. The Saturday saw a few breakages and fortunately Mach2's very own Simon Owen-Smith was on hand to help with the repairs. This was lucky for competitor Leigh Dunstan who found Simon had to take to his boat with an angle grinder to get him back on the water for race three. After racing the Victorian Moth Association put on a free feed with drinks on the lawn, allowing competitors to reflect on what was a pretty spectacular day of racing.

Day two saw no breakages and with 15 - 20 knots from the south, racing was even closer than the day before. It wasn't uncommon for a sailor to lose five to six boats with one wrong shift. Once again conditions could not have been better with some really good, clean racing over four races. Unlike the first six races, Rob Gough was challenged by Amac, who just managed to take the win in the final two races of the event.

The overall trophy was taken home by Rob Gough, with Amac coming in second and taking home the perpetual trophy. After a very dedicated program over the past couple of years, Kohie Kajimoto did an outstanding job to came through and take third overall.

The Magic Marine Grand Prix Series, which has been sailed across the course of the season was won by Richard Jackson, from Leigh Dunstan in second and Amac in third.

The race management crew at Sorrento SCBC did an outstanding job to accommodate the class, always taking on board the feedback provided from the sailors. This should put the club in a great position to run the upcoming Worlds where they can expect 120+ Moths.

As an association the sailors are all extremely grateful to our class sponsors Magic Marine and KA Sail for their on going support!

We would also like to thank Russell Bates and Cherrie Owen Smith for some amazing photos!