International Moth UK National Championships at Hayling Island - Day 1

Chris Rashley on day 1 of the International Moth UK National Championships © Tom Gruitt / yachtsandyachting.com

Day 1 of the International Moth UK National Championships © Tom Gruitt / yachtsandyachting.com

The International Moth UK Nationals are underway at Hayling Island Sailing Club. The club is awash with the vast fleet getting set for the worlds and this morning saw sailors bimbling with their boats, talking about the wind (or lack of it) and many preparing for their first true racing at the worlds venue.

Tim Hancock's thorough briefing assured competitors that the wind would come in and told the fleet to launch at 10.30am for a 11.30 start. His prediction proved correct and the fleet carried their boats into the water and foiled out to the race area.

There is a vast fleet of 116 helms for the UK Nationals with many international competitors using the event as a worlds warm-up. This has necessitated the fleet being broken up into yellow and blue fleets, racing on an inner and outer loop of the same course.

Race 1 started in 10-12 knots of wind with a little more at the windward mark. The yellow fleet raced on the outer course but the blue fleet were less lucky, suffering a complete failure of the wind after one lap, leading to the abandonment of their race.

Mike Lennon, who won the first race on the outside course, describes the final run, "Chris (Rashley) gybed outside of me, further East and in better pressure. He nearly got me; there was three boat lengths in it at the finish - I'd lost about 100m. It was pretty scary at the end, when I gybed across I thought I might not stay on the foils, it was getting so light and fluffy."

The wind was back up to 12 knots again for race 2 with the fleets swapping to yellow on the inner course and blue on the outer course. Chris Rashley turned the tables on Mike Lennon to take the race win in the Yellow fleet, while Scott Babbage took the win in the Blue fleet.

Mike Lennon describes his race; "I think the tide has slackened and was turning so I thought going offshore was better. The pressure felt good going left. Going up the beat I tacked simultaneously with Chris. We were pretty much holding station but Rob suddenly was way ahead. When I got within 50m of the windward mark I got this massive knock; I went down about 15 degrees - Chris didn't get it! Suddenly from being in the hunt with those two, I was way off. Even when I tacked I had very little pressure to get back up on the foils. I was struggling a bit.

"It paid to the stay on the right (East) on the run to get the wind and nothing changed. Going up the next beat I'd sort of decided I'd pump it all the way out to the layline and overstand it slightly, so at least if the pressure dropped I could put the bow down and go in with some pace.

"Then the wind did exactly the same thing as before, but even more so. Rob was even worse off than me; he was off the foils for ages. Chris went round first and I went round second. Down the last run it was light and fluffy but nothing much changed. It was scary because you could see the wind going... and going. Luckily I stayed on the foils till the last 30 metres and that was it."

Mike Lennon on day 1 of the International Moth UK National Championships - photo © Tom Gruitt / yachtsandyachting.com

Blue fleet then re-ran their abandoned first race with Josh McKnight taking the win ahead of of Jason Belben.

Overall there is a three-way tie at the top with Chris Rashley (GBR), Josh McKnight (AUS) & Mike Lennon (GBR) all on 3 points. The top 15 is packed with the top names in the class. The quality of the fleet is highlighted when you see names like Chris Draper, Luna Rossa's America's Cup helmsman, in 13th place after two races.

The International Moth class is hugely grateful to the companies that are helping make this championship possible; Magic Marine, LV, Lennon Sails, CST Composites, Ronstan and Blueteq.

YachtsandYachting.com is the official media partner and will be producing daily reports and blogging live from the World Championships. Reports will be complemented with Beau Outteridge Productions videos. Media wishing to receive daily reports and photos from the worlds should sign up at www.mothworlds.org/hayling

The World Championships take place between 19-25 July and are preceded by the UK Open National Championships on 16-17 July.

Results after Day 1: (two races)