International Moth GP at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy

Stuart Bithell makes a clean sweep at the International Moth GP at the WPNSA © Dylan Fletcher

After nine months since the Moth nationals at Weymouth, and a long winter with no racing, 33 Moth sailors descended upon Weymouth despite a windy forecast itching to dust off their boats and get some long-needed race practice.

With the forecast being in the high 20s there were a lot of nervous faces in the boat park and a few competitors deciding that discretion is the greater part of valour.

Race 1 started in a very manageable 15knts with Jim McMillan and David Hivey leading the fleet followed closely by Stuart Bithell. After plenty of position changes with people trying to remember how to foil tack Bithell went on to take the win followed by Hivey then Alex Adams.

By race 2 the wind had increased to 20knts. The Weymouth Moth squad put their training and fitness to good use with Big Bithell putting in a dominant performance, followed by his apprentice Kyle 'big guns' Stoneham And Simon Hiscocks showing he's still got it finishing in third.

In race 3 the wind had increased again to fresh 25knts and quite a few sailors decided to call it a day and went ashore. Those that remained started to show their exhaustion and fatigue with most struggling to tack their boats and hike, apart from The Weymouth Moth Squad who again dominated with Bithell taking a hat-trick of wins and Kyle another impressive second and a consistent Alex Adams third.

Everyone made it back to shore with no serious damage and big grins on their faces. Some decided the Sunday forecast was not looking manageable and left for home.

International Moth GP at the WPNSA - photo © Dylan Fletcher

In the morning there were a lot of anxious faces but after launching the wind had decreased to a perfect 15knts.

The first race was much closer with plenty of position changes throughout the fleet with different bands of pressure around the race track and most boats able to do dry laps. Bithell won again followed by Jim (finally remembering how to tack) taking second and Jack Wetherell (having sorted out issues from previous day) taking third.

The wind increased back up to 20knts for race 5 and with Bithell pretty much guaranteed first overall at this point the battle was raging on for second and third. Bithell won with Jack (using his insane hiking expertise) taking second and Jim (using some fast downwind speed) taking third.

By the time the final race started the wind had picked up again to 'fresh to frightening' and some boats called it a day. While Bithell was busy having a sandwich cruising in front of the fleet there was an intense battle between Kyle, Jim and Jack with some sketchy leeward gate roundings and splash-downs. In the end Jack took second, and there was a photo finish between Kyle and Jim for third.

In the end Stuart took a clean sweep of victories, and Kyle with his best result in years taking second overall from Jim on countback. Massive thanks to the Academy for putting on the event and to David CJ for doing a splendid job as always getting all the races in.

Overall Results: