Moths fly at Sorrento...Kiwi OK Worlds win...Tauranga Cup images

by . on 13 Jan 2015 Welcome to Sail-World.com’s New Zealand e-magazine for January 13, 2014

Firstly an apology for the lack of recent newsletters due to some minor technical issues, plus the fact that we too need a break.

Sail-World has cut over to our new format website - which has been flipping in and out of live test mode, for the past few weeks while the last few wrinkles are eradicated from the system.

The change is a response the shift in interweb use, and particularly the in increasing use of mobile devices to read the latest sailing news. At last count, 40% of our readership accessed Sail-World using a mobile device, and we need to make changes to improve that experience.

Part of that change is to give readers the chance to select the format that best suits their style. If you click on the cog-wheel at the top right-hand corner of the site, you will have a choice of five background colours and three formats - the Classic Sail-World - Feature version - and Mobile (with full screen width and horizontal ads).

For those reading on devices lower than an iPad there will only be the Mobile version with horizontal ads.

We are still working through some issues, but always appreciate feedback.

The main event this week is the McDougall+McConaghy Moth Worlds being staged at Sorrento, Melbourne.

The event has attracted most of the top sailors in the world - professional and amateur who think they are capable of sailing a single hander that will hit almost 30kts.

New Zealand's Peter Burling has worked out a nice lead on the fleet almost 160 boat fleet. After some interesting race management decisions triggered by the vagaries of the Melbourne weather, the race schedule is well behind. Nevertheless the Race Committee in its wisdom has decided not to sail on the rest day, Wednesday, and will try an complete the regatta on Thursday and Friday when better weather is forecast.

The regatta is significant for the fact that several prominent members of Emirates Team NZ are participating - Dean Barker, Glenn Ashby, Blair Tuke, Peter Burling and Ray Davies. All, except Peter Burling, are competing in their first ever regatta in the foiling Moth, and the learning curve has been very steep.

In this edition, we have the best of the coverage so far. We have interviewed two of the Emirates Team NZ members on most days of the regatta and will continue to do so.

There's several video's from each day with some outstanding images of the Moths in flight, and also the technology background to the class.

Again we will feature more of this in the next few days.

There has been plenty of sailing action over the Tasman, mainly on Port Phillip Bay.

Concurrent with the Moth Worlds, the International 14 class, are holding their World Championship at Geelong and are experiencing the same vagaries of the weather as the eastern side of the bay. Although the class is no longer sailed in NZ, the I-14's are a major international class and the images from the series are impressive.

Just over a week ago, New Zealand won another OK World Championship, with Matt Stechmann winning by just a single point from fellow Kiwi Luke O'Connell. There was a three-way tie for second place which forced the use of a tiebreaker to split the places. A third kiwi sailor, Greg Wilcox won fourth place.

We have reports and images from the Worlds in this edition. Stechmann joins a long line of New Zealand sailors who have held the World OK title, going back to Clive Roberts first win in Falmouth, England in 1973.

We also have a video update on the latest development with the repair of Team Vestas Wind. A close look at the video reveals the true extent of the damage caused by the grounding. Once she is in the Persico building facility, the rebuild can begin. But at present the task is to scope out the best plan of attack. The next six months are going to be very intense for her shore crew and management.

Follow all the racing and developments in major and local events on www.sail-world.com/nz

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

sailworldnzl@gmail.com

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