The
early morning Peler from the North provided contrasting fortunes for
the fleet of 220 Moths racing day 3 of the McDougall + McConaghy Moth
Worlds 2017 hosted by Fraglia Vela Malcesine. After a lunchtime break to
repair boats and refuel with more pasta, all fleets were sent back out
for a much more sedate afternoon of racing, but again the Garda wind
gods had other ideas. By 1600hrs the weak afternoon breeze shut down for
the day determining the all important Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets
for the Final series.
The
Green and Blue fleets were sent out early for a 0830 hrs start but a
number of competitors stayed ashore to make a late judgement as to
whether to sit out the first race of the day.
The
Blue fleet was sailing the Southernmost course off the picturesque
medieval city of Malcesine. However, just the downwind dash to the race
course proved too much for many. The Peler was honking a good 20 - 25
knots with some steep waves. After about an hour the PRO got racing
started but only about 16 boats got off on time. Some others joined
shortly after to complete one lap and get a score on the board. For the
second race of the day, race 4 of the event, the breeze did soften into
the teens but the conditions were still gnarly and difficult for the
club level sailors.
Paul
Goodison (GBR) took up from where he left off yesterday adding another
two wins to keep a perfect scoreline. He was pushed hard but never
really threatened by another Olympic medallist from GBR, Simon Hiscocks,
who finished with two excellent seconds. Tom Offer from Rock Sailing
Club in the UK was also rewarded for his persistence adding a 3,4 to his
score. There were good performances for some of the master category
sailors, Americas Cup team coach, Philippe Presti (FRA) finished the
tough first race and took 5th in the second. Another Americas Cup
sailor, Francesco Bruni (ITA) got round the course finishing 5th in the
first race.
The
Green fleet set up at the Northern course which is where the lake is at
its narrowest with the mountains either side. The breeze was similar
here with 20 - 25 knots and with nasty steep waves. A number of mothies
reported boat speeds in the early thirties (knots), recorded on their
instruments.
This
group was randomly loaded with rock stars and proved to be the most
dramatic of the day. Double world Moth champion and hot favourite,
Nathan Outteridge (AUS) blitzed the first race but agonisingly suffered
another major rig failure as his mast broke going at full speed.
“It
was pretty fresh out there this morning, we were getting mid 20’s and
bigger gusts. At the top of our course, it was quite flat but lumpy at
the bottom.”
“I
managed to win the first race but then in the second race I had a pitch
pole in the middle of the bottom gate when I was in 2nd or 3rd, and
snapped my mast, so that is two DNF’s in two days from two different
things, so I am just running over the boat pretty closely now.”
Another
top contender and long term Moth worlds podium finisher, Scott Babbage
(AUS) also suffered further breakages with a vang failure. Even the
unflappable current king of sailing, Pete Burling (NZL) suffered a
number of stacks as he appeared to be suffering from control issues
downwind. Pete finished 8 and 11 for the day.
Ben
Paton (GBR) usually revels in the strong winds but having crossed the
finish line in 3rd in the first race, he was leading race 2 when one of
his ample biceps (arm muscles) caused him pain, forcing him to retire.
The
standout sailor from the Yellow group was another 49er Gold medallist
and AC sailor, Iain ‘Goobs’ Jensen who found form and speed in abundance
to card 2,1 from the morning session.
“I
was just getting around cleanly, the boat was working really nicely, it
was definitely a survival day, there were big waves and gusts of up to
26 knots, so it was basically whoever didn’t swim was going to be in the
top few.”
“A
few guys had new foils on and we're still just getting used to them,
but I had the standard Exocet small foils on and they were going well.
It was really good fun, awesome sailing, some guys who had the
Velocitek’s on were recording top speeds of 32 knots.”
Also
enjoying the heavy stuff was Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) scoring 6,2. Emma
Spiers from Australia did well to finish both races upright with a
respectable 19,23 and one of the lightest and smallest mothies, Josie
Gliddon (GBR) finished 22,22 with her cut down rig proving a valuable
asset. Around 25 boats finished both Green fleet races.
The
Yellow and Red fleets left the shore around 1100hrs, by which time the
breeze was beginning to drop down to a more manageable 12 - 15 knots,
fading to 10 or less for their second race of the day. The waves had
also dropped resulting in much less boat damage and capsizes.
There
were 44 finishers in the first race and 50 finishers in the second for
the Red fleet on the Northernmost course. The race track looked a bit
more one sided with the fleets sailing straight off the start line to
hit the steep Western shoreline of the Lake before mixing it up with the
local ferries scuttling up the coast, totally mind boggled by what was
happening around them!
At
the front end former Moth world champion, Josh McKnight (AUS), sailing
his own Moth design, shared top spot with Rob Greenhalgh (GBR) finishing
with a 1,2 for the day.
Franco
Greggi who is one of 5 boats from Buenos Aires in Argentina, was one of
the outstanding performances of the day in the Red fleet, mixing it up
with the leaders with a 3,5.
“It
was a very difficult morning because you have to choose your mast and
foils carefully, I chose the smallest foil I had and I am happy I did.
My main idea was to start well where there were no boats and try to use
my speed in order to get to the front. There are a lot of top sailors
with a lot of speed so It was really good to be with the leaders. I am
very happy I am in the top 30.”
Another of the Corinthian sailors, Dave Hivey (GBR) continued his good form with a 7,3 to keep in the top group overall.
The
Yellow fleet was the last to start their races, sailing on the Southern
course off Malcesine. By the time they started the Peler was all but
gone and they raced in a much more sedate 10 - 15 knots with flatter
water. Tom Slingsby (AUS) fired another bullet and a 7th to stay in the
lead bunch overall.
Fellow
Australian Laser Gold medallist, Tom Burton finished 4,2 and a third
Aussie, Harold Mighell from Sydney, finished 2nd, but with a bad second
race finish of 26th. Corinthian, Rory Fitzpatrick, one of a flutter of
mothies from Ireland finished with an excellent 7 and 1 in the morning
session.
The
Yellow fleet was the first to be sent out for the afternoon session in a
light 10 - 12 knots from the South and flat water however after a long
wait the weather gods again foiled the race committee and racing had to
be curtailed for the day.
With
4 qualification races completed per group, sailors can discard their
worst score. So the points table at the end of qualifying shows Paul
Goodison (GBR) with a string of bullets followed closely by Tom Slingsby
(AUS), with three wins and a discarded 7. Rob Greenhalgh (GBR) sits in
3rd, Iain Jensen (AUS) 4th and Josh Mcknight (AUS) 5th. Pete Burling
(NZL) sits in 15th and due to damage Nathan Outteridge (AUS) is down in
35th. For the same reason, Scott Babbage (AUS) sits in 41. Some regular
club mothies stack up in the top 20 which is a credit to them in such a
high-class field as this.
Annalise
Murphy (IRL) is the top female competitor, easily qualifying in the
Gold group. There is a cluster of women who will race against each other
in the Silver fleet. Emma Spiers (AUS) 102, Wakaka Tabata (JPN) 108,
Josie Gliddon (GBR) 113 and Emma Gravar (SWE) 114.
Of
the Masters, Jason Belben of Stokes Bay sits in an admirable 23rd, one
place ahead of long time Moth campaigner Rob Gough from Tasmania,
Australia. Phil Stevenson, the grand master of the fleet is comfortably
in the Silver fleet in 133 spot.
The two Italian Ferrighi brothers lead the Youth category (under 23yrs), Gian Marie qualifies in 18th and Stefano in 44th.
The
Final Series of racing begins tomorrow (Friday) for Gold, Silver and
Bronze fleets with a first start scheduled for 1300hrs.
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