Rigged Right.

Wow what and event! When the first 19 boats are Mach 2's and the average age of the first two is 49.5 years old, we are very happy. Two old gunfighters still doing their stuff, who would have thought it...

But did we win or did others loose? That event was always going to be light and the Americans, who tried so hard, just got it plain wrong, turning up a little too heavy and with a rig that even their sailmaker says is only any good in a breeze. That's the problem. If you only ever go sailing when its windy, you only do any good in those conditions. Unfortunately we all have to sail in the light and marginal stuff and whilst we may be able to control that at championship level, at club level you have to be able to sail in anything, and have a rig that goes well in anything. You only get so many Sunday's right?...

Funny though that Simon and Andrew used two different rigs..

Andrew used the KAMSL13 with the soft Mach 2 mast, and at 78kg (!!) he was first to foil and very fast downwind.

Simon used the KA MSL10B with the stiff Mach 2 mast and was very quick upwind with massive height and great speed up and down the range.

So why two rigs? Well weight really... "In training before the event I was as fast as the Americans when the breeze was up" says Simon. "My rig covers the wind range perfectly and I figure I'm just a bit light to hold the MSL13 down in a breeze. I like the simplicity of just one rig"

Anyway back to the event. Whilst it was never windy, it was wavy and each race called for adjustments to the boats settings to optimise performance. We are really beginning to understand wand axle gearing adjustment a bit more, setting the gearing one turn back from the top in the light stuff but moving to half way down the shaft for downwind sleigh rides.

But Moths are all about development so what was new? Dalton ran a double wand system which worked well controlling the ride height evenly from port to starboard (although we are not sure if it lasted the week) and Adam May had a very cool self tacking gps/compass holder.

But if you want to learn more (much more actually) get yourself to Mar Menor in Spain (17th -23rd of May) and the Pro Vela sailing school for the new Moth Fest event. Simon will be coaching for the first three days and whatever your current level you will definately move to the next one!

Meet Dion

This is Dion Houghton. Dion manages the Mach 2 production at McConaghy's Zhuhai facility and his team build your Mach 2. Dion (who is bi-lingual) lives in Hong Kong and has sailed for many years with a strong background in International 14's .

Dion will be sailing at the Worlds in Dubai. He will be competing under the flag of Hong Kong (HKG) and, as you can see, he looks very good!

So you thought Mach 2's were built by people who didn't sail? Not true..

eBay Baby

Check it out! Huge respect to McConaghy for donating this boat in difficult times. All proceeds go to the childrens Charity "Variety" the official charity of Audi Victoria Race Week,

Click here to follow to the auction.

What do you think of the colour? Its metalic silver. Better thant the black? There's only one..

Back home 25 years on

The nationals in Perth were a well run series. Well done John Illet and all at the SoPYC. Racing was glamour with a mix of winds (none over 20 knots though, which I think no one missed).
The one non foiling race was won by local Richard Heritage by a metre, to the very vocal delight of the girls on the committee boat.

I think the best thing about the regatta was the feeling that we were the entertainers: The number of regatta volunteers who came up to me and said how much fun it was to watch us warmed my heart.

So I won. 25 years since the last time. I had speed to burn. Andrew Stevenson and Luka Damic fought out for 2nd, never more than one point apart. Stevo did the job. They both sailed well, with Alan Goddard and Brent Pearson mixed it, sailing some good races.

I was on std Mach2 gear - although up to the the last day I used a cut down rudder hydro that was possibly slipperier but I could amost never foil tack. (With the std rudder on the last day I seemed just as quick and got lots of foil tacks) The sail was an out of the box MSL13 no tweaks, not even to the battens.

And again, smiling at the check-in lady worked, only $70 excess this time! (Ex trophies though, thanks Stevo!!) So I can be out sailing again tomorrow testing the new MSL15 that just arrived :)

rgds Amac

Photos - Greg Hilton (Three time Australian Champion 78-86, he along with other 70''s and 80's Moth legends such as Graham Livingston, Graham Keys, Rob O’Sullivan came down for a look and give support.)

Sad News

We are very sorry to hear the that Australian Moth sailor Roger Quinn has died in a tragic accident in Thailand.

Our thoughts are with Roger's famly and friend at this terrible time.

No more can really be said, dark times.

Bora Gulari wins Rolex Yachtsman of the year award

Can he stop winning? A huge congratulations to Bora, he thoroughly deserves this award and it couldn't happen to a nicer bloke. Currently he's a winning machine and he's all set to continue in Dubai. And what a huge accolade for the Moth Class! My, how far we've come!

Australian Nationals - so far

Here's Amac looking good at the Nationals in Perth. It was a lay day today.
Current standings are:-

Provisional Current Standings:
1. 3380 A McDougall - 6 2.
3573 L Damic - 17 3. 933
2 A Stevenson - 18