International Moth Inland Championship at Grafham Water Sailing Club

Despite a slightly light forecast for Saturday, 16 mothies made the journey inland to Grafham water for the 2016 inland championships. The forecast was correct on arrival, with sub 5 knots being recorded on the water whilst the fleet waited ashore under the A.P flag.

The two Chris's (Tilbrook and White) who had travelled from the Southwest felt the need to make their journeys worthwhile, so headed on to the water to practice balancing a moth in no wind at all. As expected with the sun beaming down on this inland venue it was only a matter of time before the sea breeze arrived..... Well, the breeze began to fill in and it was beginning to look foilable. The A.P flag came down and pretty much everyone but Dan Ellis made their way to the race area.

Due to this decision, reporting for race 1 will be kind of difficult as the race officer then got racing under way fairly promptly. With a clean start in race 1, whilst Dan Ellis was still pulling the grass like weed and killer shrimps off his foils, the fleet got away leaving him a couple minutes late for the start. The wind was still very patchy as it was still filling in, large holes in the wind made a nasty game of snakes and ladders but also gave the opportunity for the slightly earlier built Ninjas to mix in with the rest of the fleet, as there was definitely more to it than just speed. Jim McMillan took the win followed by Ricky Tagg and David Smithwhite.

Race 2 saw the same conditions and the same top 3 boats out in front. This time David Smithwhite held on to take his first ever moth race win showing all the time he had been putting into his moth sailing was beginning to pay off. Jim McMillan finished 2nd ahead of Ricky Tagg. Again, not a lot to report on race 2 as Dan Ellis spent the race finding the holes in the wind (snakes) on the race course.

Having used both his discards in the first 2 races in an event that would only see you having one discard at the end, Dan Ellis managed to become the only boat OCS in race 3. After returning to re start, things began to look much better. The fleet which had got away clean on starboard was all being headed as the breeze went light on the left side of the course. Dan Ellis remained in pressure and was carried back up into the fleet and back into the race. The breeze became more constant throughout the race and also built in strength, giving the likes of David Hivey the chance to show his speed but it wasn't enough to catch Jim McMillan who took his second race win of the day and Ricky Tagg who held on to 2nd and David settling for 3rd.

With the breeze starting to get up around 15 knots, David Hivey set off from the start with great boat speed and established his lead ahead of Dan Vincent who was also itching for a bit more breeze to get the bow down and stretch his legs. Jim McMillan was never far behind and the positions remained the same to the finish. Jim McMillan had become the overnight leader with some very consistent results, even though the conditions had been anything but consistent.

Saturday night's social was organised by the class president himself, James Sainsbury. The plan for the night was curry and drinks at the club with a short stroll to the local pub for more drinks and darts. This was too much for James as he ended falling asleep whilst still sat at the table, drink in hand, not long after paying for cash back at the bar but forgetting to pick it up.

The night went on. Kyle Stoneham and David Hivey showed good form in the darts but unfortunately missed out on the win after Dan Ellis took the shortened course option straight to the bullseye.

Full darts report to come shortly from Jim McMillan as he finished in 3rd place. Sunday's racing began early with a 10:30 start. Dan Ellis was keen to not make the same mistake as the first race Saturday and got a port flyer start on the fleet, with intentions to carry on with his form he had finished the darts with the previous night. However, Jim McMillan and David Hivey were the guys on form from the previous days sailing and took 1st and 2nd followed by Dan Ellis in 3rd. Reports of James Sainsbury still being asleep appeared to have been confirmed. Although at the time he was sailing his moth flat out into the windward mark, which is where his gantry and rudder remained as he found himself and the rest of his boat nearer to the spreader mark. James picked up the pieces and was recovered to the shore to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Race 6 saw another port flyer from Dan Ellis, only this time the breeze dropped at the same time leaving the majority of the fleet off the foils. This gave Dan nearly half a lap lead after just one lap. This stayed the same until the third lap when Dan found himself off the foils near the top of the beat. Ricky Tagg was hard right on the beat, foiling and coming to 'hunt Dan down'. In fact, those were the very words used by Ricky as Dan popped back on to the foils and they bore away around the windward mark side by side. This battle continued for another one and a half laps with Dan just holding on to take the win from Ricky. Jim McMillan managed to come out on top of the rest of the fleet to take 3rd where a lot of place changing had been taking place.

Race 7, and by now most of the fleet had caught on to the port flyer start. Only problem was this time it was massively starboard end bias and difficult to cross the line on port. Tom Lambert made the most of this in his hard wing stingray moth by getting a clean start off the starboard end of the line and coming in from the left at the top mark to take the lead. Unfortunately, after rounding the leeward gate and still looking strong, his rig came down taking him out of the race. This left David Hivey, Dan Ellis, Kyle Stoneham and Jim McMillan in a tight bunch to do battle at the front. The three lads from the previous weekend "the lads one" event were determined to get a "lads one" top 3 lockout in one race this weekend but this was not to be. David Hivey powered off as the breeze began to build to take the win ahead of Dan Ellis. 3rd place went to Kyle Stoneham in his new Exocet who could be seen foiling super high and regularly getting his tips out for the lads.

Final race of the weekend, and it looked as if Jim McMillan had the event in the bag but with the breeze still steady and up to 15 knots David Hivey was looking to maximise his chances of taking the title. An early gybe on the first run for David and Dan Ellis gave them both a bit of breathing space from the rest of the fleet. They maintained this gap for almost the rest of the race with Dan looking to take his second race win going into the final run. Dan opted to carry the pressure he was in on the final run out to the right, David gybed and took the left of the run which turned out to be better call, and after all it had only paid for the previous 3 laps... Dan found himself completely out of the pressure and off the foils as David foiled on to the finish for the win. Dan saw the pressure coming down the course towards him which would get him foiling again onto the finish. Only problem was this pressure was carrying Jim McMillan down too and Jim foiled on by to take 2nd place and Dan accepted 3rd.

So Jim McMillan became Inland champion for the second year in a row fresh off the back of his "the lads one" win held at Thorpe Bay yacht club the previous weekend. He really lived up to his "lads one" title by sailing the whole weekend bare armed with his guns out and his "lads one champ" flat cap on. Full report of that weekend can be found on the Moth Class UK Facebook page.

The weekend turned out to be a fantastic weekend of racing, with all 8 scheduled races being achieved with a prompt turnarounds thanks to the race officer and assistants at Grafham Water Sailing Club. The forecast turned out to be lighter than the actual conditions we got, as we had a good breeze, flat water and sunshine giving everyone the opportunity to get their tips out. There were also a few cases of fresh water fish being filleted by foils.

Next up for the Moths is the nationals over the August bank holiday at Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy, hope to see you all there for what is set to be one of the top events of the year.

Overall Results: