Hyde Sails' perspective on the UK Moth Nationals 2013
by Hyde Sails 15 Jul 2013 16:07 BST
27-30 June 2013
A highly competitive event in Weymouth was won by Rob Greenhalgh, with Hyde's Mike Lennon showing great boat speed to finish fourth...
The Rolly's Brownies Moth Nationals hosted by Castle Cove SC in Portland harbour Weymouth was probably the best Moth event in years.
A total of 70 entries also made it the biggest UK nationals in the long history of the class. The championship consisted of three races a day over four days.
Mostly blue sky and full range of sailable winds gave superb racing. The last time Moths gathered in Portland harbour was for the 2008 Worlds where the championship was condensed to two very windy days due to prolonged gales - highlighting the vagaries of an English summer!
A test for the new Hyde 2Dm mainsail For Hyde sails and Mike Lennon (Hyde Technical Director and IMCA VP) this was a further test of the promising Hyde 2Dm main sail. Lennon had taken this design to second overall at the European earlier this year, which had generated much interest in the fleet.
Lennon got off to a flying start arriving first at the windward mark in race one, however over the span of the race was worn down by Chris Rashley and Rob Greenhalgh - this developed into a familiar pattern!
Day two was the windiest of the four-day series with gusts of around 25 knots - with series leader Greenhalgh showing he was human by capsizing whilst leading race two. Whilst Lennon doesn't revel in the stronger condition he did show the versatility of he new Hyde design by arriving in the top two at each first mark rounding and posting 6, 6, 3 after a difficult day for him. The stronger conditions brought Olympic silver medallist Simon Hiscocks into the fray and he moved up to third overall after a solid day in the testing conditions.
Day three produced a little less wind but no real change in the order. However Day four was forecast much lighter. The first race was in marginal conditions so with many of the fleet struggling to foil some pretty big gaps were inevitable. While Greenhalgh and Rashley slugged it out for the championship Lennon was pleased to score some good points against Hiscocks in the battle for third overall.
Rob Greenhalgh went on to take the championship with a race to spare with Rashley second and Hiscocks holding on to take third.
Lennon said on reflection "I think I had the speed to win this so I am a bit disappointed with fourth, but in the end I was out-sailed and made too many mistakes. I can take some comfort that the Hyde 2Dm sail is creating a lot of interest and two of the guys that beat me have placed orders."
For more details on Hyde's Moth sails see www.hydesails.co.uk/dinghy/Moth-sails
Request a Moth price sheet and to place an order contact email or call 02030 090 447 or contact your nearest Hyde Agent.