Moth World Championships review
by Chris Rashley 4 Nov 2013 15:56 GMT
4 November 2013
Chris Rashley sailing his foiling Moth © Allen Brothers
2013 has been a good year for me, not quite as good in terms of results as 2012 but as the competition gets tougher and the boats get faster it's getting harder to stay ahead consistently.
I have been unbeaten at any Grand Prix events and taking home the European Championships title for a 3rd year in a row has kept me at the forefront of the moth scene in the UK and Europe.
The National Championships in Weymouth slipped away from me having to concede a very close defeat to Rob Greenhalgh after he arrived with a much faster set up but 2nd in the 70 boat fleet was a good result nonetheless.
The World Championship in Hawaii was to be the pinnacle of the 2013 Moth racing calendar with some of the biggest names in sailing attending.
I had made a big jump in terms of equipment working with Alex Vallings at C-tech, Mike Lennon at Hyde Sails and the Exocet Moth designer Kevin Ellway. Simon Maguire the builder of the Exocet as ever kept my boat in stunning and reliable condition. All this work put in by the team put me back on pace with the worlds fastest and I showed some good form finishing 2nd in the 76 boat fleet the US National Championships in Hawaii a few days before the start of the World Championships.
Hawaii unfortunately did not deliver its 12-20 knots brochure conditions that we had seen in training but more like 3-10 knots with 30 degree short shifts! Despite the tricky conditions I still came away with 7th. I was happy with this considering I had been training and tailoring my kit all summer to be fast in 10-20 knots.
Allen Brothers have been fundamental in my successes during 2013 and have delivered me reliability, control, innovation and weight saving.