The National Titles will be from January 8th to the 13th at Mornington Yacht Club on Victoria's spectacular Mornington Peninsula, situated on Port Phillip Bay. The waters off Mornington provide a fantastic variety of conditions and launching is out of a sheltered harbour, perfect for sailing a moth.
2012 KA Sail Australian Moth National Titles - Feature Video
This video may have taken a little while to finish off, but we're sure you'll agree it was well worth the wait. Your about to see never before seen footage, both on the water and off the water. Sit back and enjoy what was a wild ride for the competitors!
We have to give a huge thank you to the Victorian State Government and KA Sails for their support of the event.
Cherrie Owen-Smith did a great job of getting some shots during the nationals. If you would like to check out her pics you can find them at her website just click HERE
The final day of racing saw Nathan Outteridge dominate with two wins in light to moderate conditions. With a second and a third Rob Gough did enough to take the win from Scott Babbage in second and Nathan Outteridge came through into third place overall
Overall:
1st - Rob Gough: 21 points
2nd - Scott Babbage: 26 points
3rd - Nathan Outteridge: 31 points
4th - Peter Burling: 34 points
5th - Andrew McDougall: 39 points
Full results can be found HERE
So today is the lay day and I finally have some time to sit down and fill you in on whats been happening. I must say we have picked an exceptional day for the lay day, with a leisurely 59.3knot recorded at the yacht club at eight o'clock this morning.
Most of the results have been covered by Simon and he even managed to beat me too getting the first of our videos out, which I'll still add below. I also have racing from day two to go up below. Stay tuned for plenty more of them, coming shortly.
Rog Gough - Revelling in the conditions
I'll give a brief run down of how things have gone so far. Day 1 saw the invition race sailed in light, mostly non foiling conditions, where Jack Sherring, the lightest sailor in the fleet took the win. After an hour or so of waiting the race committee started race 1 in non foiling conditions, knowing that the breeze was building. By the top mark a number of the leading boats found themselves cartwheeling before they got to the clearance bouy, in what was now a 15-18 knot westerly with waves quickly growing. For many this moment was their first introduction to a 'real' wave. I won't go through all the results, but needless to say that all the regulars are dominating, although it should be said that Rob Gough is loving the rough conditions and can be quoted as saying 'bring on more waves'.
Amac - Doing well in the waves
On the first night KA Sails support of the event meant the competitors were able to relax with some free food and beer, which helped num the bruising.
Day two presented more waves and even more wind in the beginning of the day. Some boats went out, however it was quickly determined that conditions were un-sailable. Eventually the postponement flag came down and racing commenced. Conditions were lightning off, making life tough with the swell that was still rolling in. Upwind it wasn't uncommon to see boats cartwheeling with the trough being so large the wands were flicking forward and driving the boat under the next wave.
Day three saw more of the same, with waves being a little more confused, particularly at the top end of the course. Racing was challenging and as the breeze grew to nearly 20 knots only half the fleet made it to the finish line in the race six. Race seven was started, however before the bulk of the fleet made it to the top mark the race was cancelled as a squall came through and made conditions un-sailable.
Joe Turner - Not loving the waves here
Tuesday night saw a lay day eve function at the club, again proudly sponsored by KA Sails, where the competitors were treated to a sit down meal. There is bound to be plenty of people wearing a nice hangover today.
On another note we had the agm today and Wangi is hosting the nationals next year. Seems like dejavu given it's on Lake Macquarie, venue of last years nationals. I'm sure they will put on a great regatta, we're all looking forward to it.
Video won't link properly yet but can be found at Day 2 of racing
I have to apologise for the delayed post, turns out being one of the organisers, sailing and providing the press releases is quite time consuming.
Mornington has turned on some very challenging conditions for the sailors over the first two days and the forecast for day 3 is no different. I would go as far as to say that I'm not aware of any major regatta in the foiling era of the moth class has seen waves of this nature. As a class the vast majority of it's sailors have become accustomed to sailing in relatively flat water where they can just 'send it!' Do that on Port Phillip Bay in a westerly and you may last 2-3 waves, but you won't get past the 4th without ending up five feet in front of the boat. It has taught the visiting fleet a new way to sail a moth, where they have to stall the boat to survive the large waves and sail aggressively for a safe avenue downwind.
Simon has already got his hands on the results and filled in some of the details so I won't repeat it, except to say that I will post further updates shortly.
We are very fortunate to have Drift Media on board who are the crew who covered the worlds at Belmont, so footage should start coming through VERY soon.
In the short term if you want some pics and more info check out the Australian sail-world.com
