2019 Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals at Castle Cove SC Day 2: Big or Small? Making the call

2019 Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals at Castle Cove SC day 2 © Mark Jardine / IMCA UK

The Moth fleet were met with a serious dilemma on Friday. Up to 20 knots from the North when leaving the shore, but a forecast showing a rapidly decreasing wind strength as it veered towards the East. What call should they make?

Big foils ready for the lighter winds or small foils for what they were seeing on the water at launch time? Complicate that a little with combinations of small rudder foil and big main foil, then add the option of deck-sweeper sail or a higher aspect rig, and you create a dinghy park full of people scratching their heads.

The wind held true for a sparkling first race of the day, creating perfect foiling conditions for the 75-strong fleet who all looked thankful that the wind was a notch lighter than the brutal conditions of the first day.

It was after this point that those who believed the forecast - and went for the big foil and chose the lighter wind rig - started to see their choice vindicated as the wind progressively dropped for the second and third races of the day, subsequently leading the Race Officer to fly AP over A, sending the fleet home for the day.

2019 Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals at Castle Cove SC day 2 - photo © Mark Jardine / IMCA UK

Top US sailor Brad Funk is using the event as practice ahead of next year's Worlds and said of the racing today:

"It was a head out of the boat kind of day, trying to stay in the pressure. I didn't particularly care where I was going, as long as I was going into pressure. I broke my foil in the first race while I was in second place, but still managed to limp across the line in seventh. Then I managed to get the big foil back on, and the new Maguire big foil is pretty slick and I managed to get the win in the last one.

2019 Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals at Castle Cove SC day 2 - photo © Mark Jardine / IMCA UK

On his battle with Dylan Fletcher, Brad said:

"We've done a lot of training together and so I think we are a bit more tuned up. A lot of people haven't put the same amount of time into their boat and their sailing. It takes a lot of energy and time to keep these boats together as there are hundreds of things that can break at any moment. For example, we're running up to a tonne of load in the vang on a 30kg boat. I've been fortunate to train here this summer and put in the hours."

2019 Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals at Castle Cove SC day 2 - photo © Mark Jardine / IMCA UK

Irish sailor David Kenefick had a decent day on the water and talked about the choices that need to be made ashore:

"Most people went with deck-sweeper sails, so a windy weather rig, with a big main foil and small rudder foil. The crossover wind strength is getting lower and lower to the deck-sweeper, so we're already down to 10 or 11 knots, so we're using that for the majority of the time. But today the breeze dropped to 7 or 8 knots; we were a little bit caught out, but thankfully most of the fleet were in the same boat."

2019 Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals at Castle Cove SC day 2 - photo © Mark Jardine / IMCA UK

David described the point when you drop off the foils in a lull:

"It's really frustrating and you probably start swearing! It's stressful and horrible when it happens."

On his day overall David said:

"I had a much better day after a shocker in the first race yesterday followed by a breakage in the second race - today was much better."

2019 Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals at Castle Cove SC day 2 - photo © Mark Jardine / IMCA UK

Mike Lennon sailing a Thinnair Moth and designer of the almost universally-used Lennon Sails:

"The first race was good! It was windy enough for small foils and deck-sweeper rig, but then right from the start of the second race you needed to be on the big main foil. Once you make the first tack off the foil you lose a load of places and it feels really bad. I came in after the race to get the big front foil and it wasn't enough. I needed the higher aspect rig as with the deck-sweeper you start to get up on the foils and then it collapses in on top of you as there's not enough leverage in the rig to pull the boat up. Even with the big foil I struggled like crazy and got timed out in the last race!

"We were having the debate ashore before racing as it was winder than forecast and overcast and we thought 'Is it really going to drop that much?'. It was forecast versus what we could see in front of us. For the first race it was right call, but after that we should have gone with the forecast and put the big stuff on."

2019 Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals at Castle Cove SC day 2 - photo © Mark Jardine / IMCA UK

Isn't hindsight a beautiful thing?

Paul Williams, Managing Director of Wetsuit Outlet had these words to say about their title sponsorship of the event:

"Wetsuit Outlet is delighted to return this year, growing our sponsorship to be the lead sponsor of the Moth Nationals. As the largest online retailer of premium performance sailing brands, such as Zhik and Gill, it's a perfect association to be involved in the all-action Moth class.

"Over the last 14 years Wetsuit Outlet has grown to be Europe's biggest dinghy and yacht sailing retailer, supporting everyone from the leisure sailor to the serious racer, by offering the best customer service and next day delivery from our extensive stock."

2019 Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals at Castle Cove SC day 2 - photo © Mark Jardine / IMCA UK

IMCA UK (the UK Moth Class Association for those not into acronyms) is fortunate to have the support of some key sponsors who we'd like to thank individually below:

• Noble Marine Insurance have been involved with the class for many years and probably provide the best service to Moth sailors when things don't go as smoothly as planned. A quick chat with the sailors in the dinghy park will reinforce this.

• Allen Brothers have been designing and manufacturing high quality deck hardware in the UK for many years. Their XHL blocks are in use in many of the kicker systems across the fleet thanks to their extraordinary load-bearing capabilities - it does no harm that they look the business as well.

• Maguire Boats are the builders of the market-leading Exocet Moth but have supported designs of every flavour during class events. Simon and his team work tirelessly to ensure that every sailor spends as much time as possible during a championship on the water.

• Shock Sailing are based just around the corner from Castle Cove SC at Portland, servicing high-performance boats at the WPNSA and around the world. This is a company which is always innovating, and they are loaning a RIB for the Nationals.

• The Rutland Moth Squad are a growing band of competitive sailors who are notching up some top international results. They take the phrase 'loyal to the foil' to new levels and the class are actively looking to add Rutland to the Grand Prix circuit.

Results after Day 2: