KA Bladerider International Moth

Originally posted by Philsy Has anyone fitted a foiling Moth (or similar) with a gennaker? That would be fun. Or would you end up kite surfing?

Unlikely that it needs it really, when they can match 49er's downwind without one...

Has anyone fitted a foiling Moth (or similar) with a gennaker? That would be
fun. Or would you end up kite surfing?

One of the top Mothies came cruising through our fleet last season. With 50+ boards and boats on a little inlet, it seems that almost no one noticed the Moth foiling along. I expected everyone to be talking about it while unrigging, but the overwhelming reaction (even from the fleets he sailed through) was that people just didn't see it. The same thing happened to some extent at Geelong when Rohan Veal was sailing.

It's undoubtably cool to look at and people watch with fascination once they have noticed, but perhaps it's not necessarily eye-catching to the casual observer.

The sailor was loving it; he said it was as much fun as the first time he planed, and (like others) he said they are if anything more tactical now as they lose less speed while tacking. Exactly how tactical pre-foil Moths were is of course a separate question.

The Moth also seems to suffer from the same problem as modern windsurfers. The monofilm sail looks interesting but it's less eye-catching. Most of the windsurfers you see in ads and other graphic designs are '80s versions because then they had colourful mylar sails, and art directors just love colour and always prefer it to action. It's something people have commented on and ISAF demanded colourful sails for the new Olympic board but like most things, it didn't deliver. At least one of Rohan's boats looked the goods, though, with the whole hull covered by a very cool sticker.

Para, surely Olympics should be about both "racing boats that sail quickly" and about racing other boats quickly? They may be quite different skills (and the latter is more popular) but surely both are worthwhile.

I don't see how sailing a boat on hydrofoils will be any more interesting to a non sailing TV viewer than watching a Finn or Laser. Once you've seen a boat sail very quickly and on foils you've see them all, can we have some running please?

At least with the Finn and Laser you get closer, more tactical racing which will hold the interest of those of us that do sail.

Racing a boat that sails that quickly is an acheivement, but a very differant acheivement that the ones that the Olympics are intended to reward.

Originally posted by Hector [QUOTE] Easier to rig than any other dinghy?

I inagine something went pearshaped in the copy and the compare was meant to be any other high performance boat or those lines.