Outteridge wins, Payne second at Moth Australian Nationals

by Lisa Ratcliff on 25 Jan 2009
Britain's Simon Payne, who had led the Moth Australian Nationals throughout the week, had to settle for second, after a black Saturday that saw him OCS in the first race and then DNF after ripping his trampoline in a capize in the second race. This left the fast improving Outteridge with a three point lead going into the final race, and the Australian Olympic sailor did not need any further bidding.

49er World Champion Nathan Outteridge finally scored a heat win on the last day of the Zhik International Moth Australian Nationals and it cemented his place at the top of the series point score in his first hit out in this class.

Outteridge gave the race committee a wave and a smile as he sprinted over the finish line at the head of the pack in race ten. In return, they blasted their horn multiple times to signal the victory, which is an extraordinary result for the 22 year old who spent around 25 hours settling into the new class of boat off the back of his Beijing Olympic 49er campaign.

'Simon had the edge all week but today I started hiking a lot harder and the boat found different speed,' said a delighted Outteridge this afternoon. 'They are awesome boats to sail, it will be hard to go back to the 49er after this. An Olympic campaign is so intense, with this class I’m just enjoying sailing again.'

In a 14-16 knot southerly which finally allowed the commencement of race ten more than four hours after the scheduled 10:00hrs start, Outteridge sailed a flawless race, hitting 22 knots downwind in the three lap race and averaging 15 knots upwind.

Payne wasn’t able to catch the super quick Outteridge today but with his brand new Mach 2 only foiling the day before the regatta he’s delighted with second overall in this new generation design.

Payne finished second in the final race with David Lister of Australia in third and Luke Damic fourth. Overall Payne took second behind Outteridge, with Lister third and Scott Babbage fourth. Fifth was the New Zealander Andrew Brown and sixth went to USA sailor Bora Gulari, giving the Australian Nationals a very international feel.

Next on the calendar for Outteridge, the current 49er world champion, is the Farr 40 Nationals, then the 49er Worlds on Lake Garda in July. He admitted today he’d also love to go to the next Moth Worlds which will be held at Cascade Locks or ‘the Gorge’ in Portland, Oregon, in August before re-starting his 49er Olympic training with new crew Iain Jensen, also a Lake Macquarie sailor.

Simon Payne and the Mach 2 Moth designer Andrew McDougall spent until 11pm last night repairing the damage from yesterday’s race nine, when Payne went through the trampoline in a capsize.

'I shouldn’t have got up yesterday,' he acknowledged. Payne felt plenty of pain yesterday when he broke the start in the first race and was scored OCS, while in the second race he was scored DNF after his capsize.

The gracious Englishman, who was hoping to fit a Radox bath and a gin and tonic in before this evening’s trophy presentation, paid full credit to Outteridge. 'Nathan is a professional sailor, you can see how good he is out there. He’s a class act and he’ll go far.'

Speaking on the new frontier of Moth designs Payne recalled that 'five years ago the class was full of people with beards tinkering in the garage and making things in the kitchen and look at it now, we are one of the premier dinghy classes.'

A homemade Moth built from a Gilmour mould by self-confessed tinkerer David Lister from Caringbah in Sydney’s south finished third on the pointscore. A St George Sailing Club member and former 16 foot skiff sailor, Lister’s success has got others in the boat park talking, but he’s not giving too much away.

'It’s a complex boat, quite different to the others. There are more differences than you can see. I’m very secretive. The trick is not to copy anyone, to do your own thing.

'I have done a lot of work at home, testing a lot of stuff. I’ve used my own rudder and modified a Prowler centreboard and I’ve managed to get an edge in boat speed. I’m not a boat builder by any means, I just like to tinker.'

At 87 kilos Lister was one of the heaviest mothies sailing in the Zhik Nationals held in conjunction with the 165th Skandia Geelong Week. Not surprisingly, he liked everything about this regatta, but wasn’t a fan of the light air morning races. Case in point was today’s lengthy postponement due to a glass out on Geelong’s Corio Bay until the southerly finally kicked up.

The Moths are a development class dinghy and for this series, four scow Moths (the original Moth design, with a square bow and no foils) have taken on the might of the modern Bladerider and Mach 2 designs.

Ian Sim from Sydney’s northern beaches has been sailing his 10 year old scow Moth called Smith since its launch. 'Geelong’s a wonderful place to sail,' he said.

Zhik International Moth Australian Nationals - Final results

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Pts Score
1	AUS11	BLADERIDER	Nathan Outteridge	RSYSB16S	15.8
2	GBR3381	MACH 2	Simon Payne	HISC	21.2
3	AUS9368	MANIC	David Lister	STGSC	22.6
4	AUS3263	APPLIANCES ONLINE	Scott Babbage	WSC	37
5	NZL3217	SOUTHERN SPARS	Andrew Brown	TBC	41
6	USA3281	BORA GULARI	Bora Gulari	BYC	41.8
7	3295	SAILINGBITS.COM	John Harris	A18L	58
8	3573	READY!	Luka Damic	STGSC	61.8
9	3283	ALTITUDE	Rob Gough	RYCT	66.5
10	3128	KA SAIL	Mark Robinson	CYCA	71.5
11	SUI3252	OYSTER FUND	Psarofaghis Arnaud	SNG	78
12	3262	CARBON NEUTRAL	Les Thorpe	BYRA	81
13	3288	THE MIGHTY BOOSH	Rod Ray	BISC	92
14	3570	OBSESSION	Alan Goddard	BSC	92.8
15	3297	TBA4	Samantha England	BYS	102
16	3128X	UPGRADE	Lochlin Byrne	SYC/RBYC	110
17	9332	HTFU	Andrew Stevenson	STGSC	113
18	3290	TBA	Peder Arvefors	BRASS	137
19	3260	PHLEGM FATALE	Stephen Donovan	STGSC	141
20	3321	IFFI	Martin Cross	BSCRPAYC	149
21	13279	BLADERIDER RX 2	Martin Gravare	GKSS	156
22	9343	TIGER ON A CHAIN	Phil Stevenson	STGSC	167
23	3271	RED BARON	Greg Wise	ASC	170
24	3420	TBA	Brent Pearson	KBSC	184
25	3309	HYDROPHOBIC	Michael Boode	RGYC	191
26	9334	LEA	Lea Sitja	SGSC	201
27	9365	BUCCANEER	Ned Dally	ASC	212
28	3279	NN	Magnus Gravare	GKSS	219
29	3472	TRX 1	James Owen-Smith	DBYC	226
30	3232	SUMMIT	Will Logan	RYCT	230
31	3305	BLACKADDER	Alastair Gibson	BSC	244
32	8978	WINGNUT	Michael Willcocks	LCSC	245
33	3359	CHATTERBOX	Stephen Tillman	ASC	249
34	9364	SILVER SHADOW	Martin Johnson	WSC	252
35	1	THE TRAMP	James Mackenzie	STGSC	256
36	9256	SMITH	Ian Sim	BSC	261
37	9360	VERTICAL HORIZON	Matthew Day	WSC	277
38	9168	FRAN	Kylie Lowry	STGSC	281
39	1260	SAILFAST	Hiroki Goto	SFC	296
40	3178	TEKNOLOGIKA	Bruce McLeod	STGSC	309
41	3182	RENEGADE	Jonathan Emonson	GLYC	312
42	9311	ON THE PROWL	David Barnes	XXXX	344