International Moth Open at Grafham Water Sailing Club

23rd September 2001

Despite the light forecast, ten moths arrived at Grafham to be welcomed by a F6 north-easterley. Ian Forsdike led the way up the first beat, holding a good lead at the windward mark from the three-boat group of Doug Pybus, Mark Bridgewater and Mike Kerslake. With the gusty conditions and the odd squall thrown in for good measure, gaps gradually opened up around the next lap or so, and all looked settled until Mark kicked into turbo on the third lap to follow Doug closely around the leeward mark. The distance between these two never reached more than two boat lengths for the rest of the final lap, with Doug just holding on up the last beat for second. Rob Campbell put in a late charge to take fourth from Mike Kerslake, with Tim Ollerenshaw close behind in fifth.

With the wind dropping during lunch, the fleet came out for the second race hoping for a little respite. This wasn’t to be- the skies soon turned black again, and the squalls stronger. Once more Ian Forsdike made it look easy, and led comfortably around the windward mark followed by Doug Pybus and Mike Kerslake. Rob and Tim managed to take Mike, whilst late starter Russ Wheeler showed good boatspeed in his first windy race in his new Hungry Tiger to take sixth.

In race three Ian Forsdike’s dominance was briefly questioned, with Doug Pybus showing good boatspeed early on the first beat, only to fall back after underlaying the windward mark. Doug managed to get back in touch along the first offwind leg, and by the leeward mark Ian’s lead was down to four boatlengths. Ian then stayed left on the next beat and was unchallenged for the rest of the race. The battle between archrivals Tim and Rob went down to the wire, with Tim just holding the breeze on the drag into the last leeward mark to claim third spot.

A mention should go out for James Browning who finished all three races despite the difficulty of the conditions, his mere two months mothing experience, and more importantly his tendancy to capsize in the path of Flying Fifteens!

Overall Results:

More Information:

• YachtsandYachting.com International Moth Page