International Moth Grand Prix at Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club
by Eddie Bridle 17 Aug 2018 13:48 BST
11-12 August 2018
Dave Hivey wins the Eastbourne foiling Moth Open © Guy Lalande
A mixed forecast attracted a number of boats down to Eastbourne for the weekend, where conditions were set to be varied over the two days.
Saturday saw four races scheduled and completed, with 8-12 knots of wind and a strong tide gradually creating chop throughout the day's racing. With keen sailors, excited with the conditions, racing was away.
Race one allowed current European champion, David Hivey, to get a strong start and he extend this lead through the race gaining himself a 1st, followed by Alex Adams in 2nd and Eddie Bridle closely behind in 3rd place.
With wind and waves increasing, David Hivey managed to finish the day with a comfortable lead overall, only counting firsts for that day after a discard, leaving Ben Clegg 2nd and Eddie Bridle 3rd, both on equal points and Alex Adams one point behind in 4th. All to play for on Sunday for the whole fleet.
The day's conditions left the rest of the fleet also battling it out with to all the points being very close. Back in the pack two of the locals, Andy Jeffries and Alex Koukourakis, were separated by two points to become highest placed local boat.
Sunday's racing was more testing with even bigger waves and around 15 knots of wind, allowing some sailors to achieve their 50 metre swimming badge during the two planned races.
Racing once again allowed David Hivey to hold onto his lead with a 1st and 2nd and Alex Koukourakis taking the other first of the day. Eddie Bridle and Alex Adams had a good battle all day, both on equal points going into the last race with Adams coming out on top, securing his 2nd place.
The rest of the fleet had a good day resulting in close final results from what was a fantastic weekend of racing. Many thanks to the race officer and everyone at Eastbourne Sovereign SC for the great hospitality.
The next GP is at the WPNSA on 8th-9th September, which promises to be another fantastic event.
More Guy Lalande photos can be found on facebook here.