SailTek International Moth Open at Stokes Bay Sailing Club

The fleet launched in much more breeze then expected causing a number of the fleet to ignore the weather forecast and instead trust their eyes and so launched with small foils. They were however soon dashing back to the shore to fit bigger foils as large quantities of processing power proved more accurate at guessing the future then the naked eye.

This unexpected wind resulted in a bit of excessive enthusiasm at the first start, coupled with a bit of tide. a general recall was inevitable. A softening wind and black flag restored balance and everybody got away cleanly on the second attempt. A few tried a port tack start sailing out into favourable tide only to find themselves becalmed while the leaders worked their way up the shore in more wind. At the windward mark it was feather weight local Jason Belben and David Hivey fighting for the lead. An unforced pitchpole by Hivey shortly after left Belben to take the win as the wind died and left several boats lowriding into the finish.

The breeze filled in again for the second race which allowed the whole fleet to complete the race in foiling conditions. This race settled into a pattern of tack up the shore for the wind shift and then gybe down the shore to stay out of the tide. Jim McMillan now back on the water having tied his kicker back together after a first race glitch took the win from Belben.

The third race saw a dying breeze with Belben and McMillan getting away from the fleet who were left lowriding from the windward mark with the exception of Paul Gliddon who managed to sneak out to sea and foil off in pursuit of the leaders. A few boats managed to get back on the foils and complete the first lap but all bar the leading three timed out and so results for the rest were based on the first lap. Coming into the finish in a seemingly comfortable second McMillan fell of the foils only to see his old boat foil past and for Gliddon to take second.

After a few beers and a curry, the mothies were ready for Sunday's racing, well after a bit of boat work anyway, since it is the only activity actually more fun then sailing a moth. To this end a few of the fleets err... plus sized sailors decided to go double or quits on the light forecast and switched to their heavy wind deck sweeper rigs. A move which turned out to be pointless as there was in fact no wind and so no racing.

This left Jason Belben the winner followed by Paul Gliddon and Alex Adams.

Overall Results: