International Moth Lowrider National Championships 2025 at Stone Sailing Club - Day 1
by Dougal Henshall 16 May 10:15 PDT
16-18 May 2025
Highly disparate boats, from tunnel scows to narrow skiffs, enjoy fun sailing together - Moth Lowrider Nationals at Stone day 1 © Dougal Henshall
While many of the early arrivals to Stone Sailing Club considered getting an practice sail in, some of the wiser minds stayed in the bar as the conditions were hardly welcoming. After the previous weeks of glorious weather, this was a grey day with a nearly bitter stiff North Easterly breeze over a fast-running ebb, creating conditions that would be testing for the tricky-to-sail Lowriders.
Thankfully Day 1 dawned with less breeze, though RO Neil Fulcher warned at the briefing that, with the wind hard in the NE, there would be big shifts and major changes in pressure. His prognosis was spot on as helms found some of the gusts to be brutal, whilst the shifts varied from a place changing 15 degrees and back, to real zingers that caught hard-driving helms hiking off the wings with headers that gave at best a 'tea bagging', though many would find themselves taking to the chilly wet stuff of the Blackwater.
The Race Team had set a trapezoidal course, with just enough bias in the beat to allow for the flooding tide and with an on-time start the event was away.
The breeze varied between 12 and 20kt plus so being in the right place at the right time was crucial - being in the wrong place could be disastrous. Last year's champion Martin Harrison looked to have won the start and was well placed at the windward mark, but as soon as the leaders turned onto the top reach a new dynamic came into play. After losing his title to Martin at the Portland Nationals last year, Paul Hignett had upgraded to a Prowler design giving him almost electrifying pace downwind.
Martin clung on in second place, but Paul was away and after three very rapid laps had a comfortable margin of victory. Division 2 was equally one-sided, as any expectation that the terrible twosome of Ian Marshall and Lyndon Beasley would continue their close battle from last year ended before the start when Ian got boxed in behind the Committee Boat. It had been expected that the Division 3 boats, the non-racked oldies, would be struggling in the conditions, but Graham Cooper in the Mistral belied the sensitive nature of the round bilged hull by keeping up with many of the fast Div 2 boats.
The RO had warned that he would not be hanging around, as he was keen to get all three planned races completed before the ebb started running (which would really shake up the sea state). After a quick tweak to the course the fleet were soon racing again with something of a change in fortunes across all three Divisions.
Paul Hignett was again making the most of his boatspeed, but at the same time he was being paced by Katie Hughes who was also sailing a Prowler, and Martin Harrison... only for last year's champion to 'bin it in' whilst reaching.
Meanwhile, back in Division 2, in the battle to be best Magnum 6, Ian Marshall had really nailed the start and the first shift to enjoy a healthy lead over the rest, whilst a scow was seen to be burning up the bottom reach to great advantage.
At the finish Katie had slipped through to hold a narrow lead on the short beat from Mark 4 up to the finish for what would be her first championship win in the Moths. Ian Marshall was sailing a blinder and looked to be leading Div 2, whilst the Mistral held on to be first Div 3 boat home.
After another quick turn around Race 3 was under way, but the fleet had saved the drama for this final heat of the day. Ian Marshall had clearly used up all his good form in the previous race as he was seen to be upside down on the course side of the line, and when the gun went Katie Hughes was just breaking the line and got a second gun.
Harrison in his Axeman design saw the 25 degree left shift, flipped over onto port and looked to be away up the beat, but now the question was whether he could hold off the Prowler of Hignett on the long reaches. Having to restart (Hughes) or get upright and restart (Marshall) put these two fancied runners in unfamiliar territory of playing catch-up among some slower division boats, but their speed would carry them through towards what would be an even more dramatic final lap.
As the leaders closed in on the gybe mark, they encountered what can only be described as a 'swirling squall' that would account for a number of capsizes. Leader Hignett, gybing safely, swung onto his new course only to find that the wind had followed him around. Harrison had suffered another un-characteristic swim and had been caught by Katie Hughes, who wisely wore around given the tricky wind conditions.
Harrison thought that he was in a strong position ahead and to windward, only for Katie to settle onto the new leg and blast her way clear from leeward into second ahead of 'Uncle' Nigel Williams who completed a 1,2,3 result for the Prowlers.
Division 2 looked to be a 'Beasley Benefit' and he continued to sail what looked to be an error-free series. Division 3 would be a toss-up between the Mistral which was being superbly sailed by Graham Cooper, an all GRP Skol and one of the scows (the scows, although not the quickest, looked to be having the best of the fun down the reaches).
All of the above will now be subject to some careful application of PYs but with the majority of the fleet re-hydrating before the AGM, it may be a while before the final results get published [these will be added to this report as soon as they become available].
The observations though from Day 1 at this intriguing event are clearly obvious: the offwind speed of the Prowlers, the improving quality across all three Divisions, and the need for structured time in the boat as seen by Hignett and Hughes.
It was painfully obvious how the conditions and the raised standard across the fleet caught some out, but tomorrow's breeze is forecast to be lighter so we may be seeing yet more names fighting their way to the front.