McDougall+McConaghy Moth Worlds- Burling - 'Just a standard Mach 2'
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com on 15 Jan 2015
One - Two - Burling leads Outterudge - Day 6 - 2015 Moth World Championships, Sorrento, Melbourne Thierry Martinez/International Moth Class
http://www.moth-sailing.org
With a hat-trick of wins on the penultimate day of the 2015 McDougall+McConaghy Moth Worlds, Peter Burling decimated the 80 strong Gold Fleet, and few would bet against him finishing the job on Friday.
Despite his success, the points system used for the regatta has kept his great rival in the Olympic skiff event, Nathan Outteridge (AUS) very much in the viewfinder. The 2012 Olympic Gold medallist trails by only eight points.
In a class where boat damage is almost expected in the highly strung foiler, a couple of bad races, or serious boat damage could still prevent Burling snatching away Outteridge's world Moth title.
When Sail-World spoke to the 24-year-old New Zealander, he did not know the leaderboard situation, or indeed how many races had been sailed or remained in the regatta.
'I haven't even looked to be honest. I was down checking the boat and making sure everything was going to be right for tomorrow.'
'It was pretty good to walk away with three wins and a second in those conditions,' was Burling's summation of the sixth day of the World Championship being sailed from Sorrento at the southern, or Bass Strait end of Melbourne's Port Phillip bay.
'The boat came back in one piece, with not too much damage, and everything is in good shape.'
Conditions today were much as forecast a 15-25kt SW breeze, which was fresh from the get-go at the earlier start time of 11.00am. 'It was fairly windy, the lowest, we saw, was about 15kts and we got up to 28-30kts in the third race of the day. It was close to the top-end for the boats, but it was good racing,' he added.
'The wind was in solidly at 11.00am and that was as strong as it got, then it dropped a little, before kicking in for our third race, when it blew hard before easing and swinging to the left for the final one - the last one was probably our lightest race.'
Burling must be the only person at Sorrento who didn't think that he dominated the day's racing.
'I struggled to get off the start line. A few of the guys were being quite punchy at the starts, while I was trying to play it safe, and then just tried to work my way through the fleet.
'I had nice speed downwind and made some big gains there. I didn't make too many boat handling errors or capsizing, and go a few good shifts, which got me through the day.'
However, even Peter Perfect had one slight stumble today with a capsize on the first race, after a tussle with Nathan Outteridge.
'I was about 50 metres behind Nath at the top mark, before we bore way and was just sending it, trying to catch up, as we were well ahead of the third boat. I was pretty much parallel with him by the time we were 100 metres from the bottom mark. I was probably pushing a bit harder than he was, and I came a bit unstuck.'
He puts it down to operator error. 'I was just pushing really hard, and flying higher and closer to the edge. You just pull one string and go closer to the edge. Then you go too fast, lose control, and capsize. '
'It was a risk I was willing to take. I was a safe second and thought I would have a go and try to get him.'
The Olympic Silver medalist would appear to have dazzling speed on all points of sailing. But Burling demurs.
'Definitely I think there are four or five who are very quick upwind, but I would back my speed downwind.
'You still have to be in the best breeze. I like to think my handling is good. So if I have to put in a few manoeuvres to get to a shift or puff of breeze, then I can do it without losing much, and capitalise on what I can see.'
Sailing boffins and boat fiddlers seem to be attracted to the Moth flame.
Although he is has studied engineering, Burling says he sails a standard boat.
'It's a lot more off the shelf than the other top guys. I have done a bit of work on it with the foils and a couple of the systems - so they are slightly different. But I am using standard Mach 2 parts. It is what I have used in the past when sailing a Moth. But there are definitely a few things I would change to my boat before the next worlds. The class keeps progressing and getting faster and faster - which is one of the reasons we keep sailing them.'
'When I did my first worlds (this is his third) one of my strength was tacking. I don't know whether it is something to do with my setup or my technique. But I quite like the manoeuvres.'
The other Emirates Team New Zealand sailors are all on their first Moth Worlds. They did some work together in the Shed on the boat and trained together outside on the Waitemata harbour. Burling's other half in the 49er, Blair Tuke, sails his skipper's second foiling moth. 'He pushed me along a bit in the end, Burling reflects.
Currently, Tuke lies in 8th place overall and is the second Kiwi. He is with striking distance of sixth place overall.
The Emirates Team NZ sailors are all staying together and have a RIB available on the water for food and drink.
Burling's performance has a look of deja-vu to those who saw the 2014 A-class catamaran worlds at Takapuna. There the group under the baton of then six-time world champion Glenn Ashby, worked together out of the Team NZ base and dominated the regatta.
It was a clean-up for Emirates Team NZ sailors - Ashby won, Blair Tuke was second and Burling took the Bronze
Burling says there are a lot of differences between the two programs, a year apart.
'In the A-class worlds, there was the four of us, but there were only about five boats foiling downwind. We just happened to be fortunate enough to be in that progression. We bought standard DNA boats, at the right time, and figured out how to use them better than a lot of other guys.
'With this regatta, we have standard Mach 2's - the same equipment that everyone else has - but they have all been doing this for a lot longer than we have.
'It is similar in that we are all doing it and going all right. But this is a very different program.'
The Final day of the Finals series gets underway at 11.00am on Friday.
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