Moth Worlds, J/70s, BWR update—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 13 Jan 2015 While winter’s cold clutches most of North America, plenty of high-flying Moth sailors are having a blast at the 2015 Moth Worlds (January 6-16), which are currently taking place at the Couta Boat Club in Sorrento, Australia. While the breeze was a no-show for the first few days of this high-level event, it fortunately returned, bringing with it highly competitive racing that’s pitting several former world champions against each other, and against the class’ young blood, which is currently dominating the regatta. As of this writing, Peter Burling (NZL) was in the pole position (by a healthy margin), followed by Josh McKnight (AUS) and Scott Babbage (AUS); former World Champion Bora Gulari is currently sitting in seventh place and is quickly proving himself to be the fastest American on two foils.

'You have to be smart about your maneuvers and how you position the boat on the course for the breeze,' said Blair Tuke, of Emirates Team New Zealand, who is currently sitting in 13th place. 'You have to do the maneuvers when you are in a puff obviously. If you get out to one side and aren't in a gust when you tack or gybe, then you're in trouble.'

One interesting historical note to this Worlds is that Rohan Veal (AUS), the 2005 Moth World Champion and one of the first Moth sailors to really figure out foiling (his nickname of 'Lord of the Wings'), has retuned to racing after leaving competitive sailing in 2009. While Veal has no doubt found the competition level in the class to be many rungs higher than when he was racing seriously a decade ago, he is still competitive and still clearly knows how to make a Moth fly on her foils.

'I haven’t sailed since, not a Moth or a dinghy–let alone hiked on a boat,' said Veal. 'My first real taste of getting back into this was the first race [of this Worlds]. All the issues I had back in the early days have been resolved. To finish every race is my major goal.'

Inside this issue, check out the full report and multi-media coverage from this high-octane event, and be sure to stay tuned to the website for the latest news, as it breaks.

And speaking of competitive One Design action, the J/70 class is enjoying its Winter Series on the sunshine-drenched waters of Tampa, Florida. Inside this issue, don’t miss Chris Howell’s image gallery from this great event.

Meanwhile, in offshore-sailing news, the competition continues to be fierce in the double-handed Barcelona World Race (BWR), which takes sailors from beautiful Barcelona, around the three great capes, and back to Barcelona aboard wildly powerful IMOCA 60 monohulls. As of this writing, Alex Thomson and Pepe Ribes, sailing aboard 'Hugo Boss' are leading the charge, followed Guillermo Altadill and José Muñoz, racing aboard 'Neutrogena', and Anna Corbella and Gerard Marín, sailing aboard 'GAES Centros Auditivos'.

Of course, in a race as long and as committing as the BWR, simply keeping one’s boat in quick working order can be a huge, almost full-time occupation. 'Last night it was the chance to repair things when the wind got light,' reported Corbella. 'We replaced three battens in the mainsail because of the three battens it had torn. And we fixed the pilots and so, since about 15 minutes ago, everything is working.'

Fortunately for Corbella and Marín, the repairs seemed to be working, allowing the duo to focus on other priorities. ''We hope to rest a bit now,' continued Corbella. 'With all these problems we have not really had a chance to check the meteo very much but I hope to get out of the Doldrums quickly. We were stopped under some clouds and showers but now we have some wind coming in. Let’s see if we can get out of here quickly.'

Get the full BWR report, inside this issue.

Also inside, get the latest reports from the International 14 Worlds, the 18-foot skiffs and the Star Midwinter Championships.

And finally, be sure to spend some quality time scrolling though Terri Dodd’s great image gallery from the Moth Worlds. Giddyap!

May the four winds blow you safely home,