Noble Marine International Moth GP at Grafham Water Sailing Club

A fleet of 24 International Moths turned out for the third Noble Marine Grand Prix event of the year at Grafham Sailing Club over the weekend of 13th & 14th April. This included some new designs out for their first competitive event of the year Mike Lennon's 'Thinnair', James Sainsbury's 'Valkyrie' and Doug Pybus's home build. Noticable absence was Dave Hivey, apparently testing his new boat in Garda.

On Saturday temperatures were in the low figures despite it being Spring and the wind could only be described as variable. The fleet experienced four seasons in one day with light variable winds in the sunshine and cold moderate winds under the clouds. No one leg seemed to maintain a constant pattern however the race officer managed to get four good races in with close racing right to the finish and place changes abundant. Jim Mcmillian once again showed his skill in these conditions being the most consistent over the day but the top six was wide open with a mixture of front runners- Ben Clegg, Simon Hiscocks, Ross Harvey.

Noble Marine International Moth GP at Grafham - photo © Richard Packham

Sunday had a much better direction across the lake and the wind proved to be more consistent and stronger throughout the day however the temperatures were no improvement so the prompt starting by the race committee was much appreciated.

The racing was extremely close with finishers within boat lengths after three laps and positions changes were frequent with shifts and pressure differences across the course. Ross had a great start to the day with 1,1,3 which meant the event was still to be decided on the last race however a broken forestay ended Ross's day badly.

Noble Marine International Moth GP at Grafham - photo © Richard Packham

The event was decided on the last run which despite a large shift going into the line left Jim with overall victory.

Overall Results:

Noble Marine International Moth GP at Grafham prize winners - photo © Richard Packham