Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals 2021 at Stokes Bay Sailing Club - Day 2
by Mark Jardine 13 Aug 2021 20:36 BST
12-15 August 2021
Stronger winds on Friday were forecast and that's exactly what the Wetsuit Outlet UK Moth Nationals fleet had. 15 to 20 knot South Westerlies kicked up a difficult chop at Stokes Bay.
While the conditions were difficult, the standard of boat handling was incredibly high with most able to change gears quickly as they handled the bear away at the windward gate, maintaining a steady ride height downwind, and committing to the gybes 100%.
Remaining consistent in this breeze with the challenging waves is difficult enough, but one man has taken consistency to a new level. Paul Gliddon has so far finished fourth in every single race and is unsurprisingly lying fourth in the overall ranking.
"It's a bit boring, isn't it?" said Paul. "Coming fourth in every race. I'm really happy, I just need to work on my starts and get off the line a bit better. I'm kind of within touching distance of the leaders but not quite there. My strategy has been to go fully short on the wand, pick a middle ride height where you're not too low and not too high, and when you want a bit more speed, up the ride height and see if you can get away with it. It was interesting coming down the last run next to Kyle (Stoneham) and he forced me to gybe a bit later than I normally would, taking a hot angle in the finish."
Paul had a quick check of his GPS to see what his maximum speed was in the day, only to find it was 29.1 knots - exactly the same speed that he recorded on Thursday. What else would you expect from "Mr Consistent"?
While home club sailor Dan Ward continues to lead the championship by a healthy margin of four points, winning the final race of the day and currently discarding a sixth, David Hivey is on the charge, scoring a second and a third today to move up to second overall:
"It was scary! It was my first time sailing in waves again for two or three years, so it was a bit enlightening, but really good fun. I was kind of going off the wind with upwind settings if I'm honest, just so I had the ability to turn around the waves to try and find the safe route downwind."
It was very noticeable on the water how the leaders were actively steering their boats around the waves, choosing the flattest route which David explained:
"There's essentially a point where the control system can't deal with the size of the waves, so if you keep sailing at the same angle you can change your system to cope with more, but there's a certain limit you can't go past. At that point you have to steer around the waves to keep control."
Jim McMillan had a good day, winning race four and finishing seventh in the final race of the day after he had to nurse his boat round with a tear in the lower luff of his sail:
"I'm very happy! I was as nervous as everyone else going out there today, not having much practice in big waves. I saw there was a long start line so thought people might be hanging back a bit, so I decided to start on port, had a gap to get free and managed to do a one tack beat, managing to keep the boat flying around the course without capsizing and got the win!
"The conditions were difficult and inshore the waves were a lot bigger than further out to sea and you just had to get your settings spot on, do some zig-zagging and hope for the best that there weren't any steep waves!"
Weymouth's Alex Adams is one of the sailors in the mix, despite finding the waves tricky:
"It's not flat like Portland Harbour! Downwind is unsurprisingly the big issue. You go over a large wave and the wand thinks 'Oh, I'm a bit low there', but usually following a big wave is a big trough, so you've then got to make sure you're not flying really high where you're over that trough!"
A real case of what goes up must come down...
Bewl Valley's Alex Barone is easy to spot on the water with the shark mouth on the front of his Moth and is loving every minute of this championship:
"It was really good today - easily some of the best sailing I've ever done. Some of the bear-aways were a bit tricky but I managed to get through most of them, with only a couple of big pitch-poles today, so I'm really pleased with how it went! I've been sailing the boat for two years, but really starting to get the hang of it now, getting my tacks and gybes nice. It's one of the best fleets I've sailed in with loads of really friendly people so it's a great experience all-round."
Billy Vennis-Ozanne is knocking in some good results but struggling for consistency in the conditions after having to step out of the boat for a bit before the Nationals:
"It's been so-so. I haven't done as much sailing as I would have liked over the past two months as I've done a bit of work, then came back and injured myself as well. I only stepped back in the boat last week, so overall it's not too bad considering all that. I've been keeping reasonably fit but there's nothing like a being in the boat and getting 'sailing fit' and I haven't quite got that back yet."
There's no keep some people off their foils, and while James Sainsbury couldn't fix his Moth for today's racing, he did at least manage to get some air on his Wing Foil!
Winds are looking lighter for Saturday, which some will be thankful for, while the adrenaline junkies are sighing in frustration. Dan Ward holds a decent lead, but anything could still happen in this event.
Provisional Results after Day 2: (five races, 1 discard)
| Pos | Helm | Club | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Dan Ward | Stokes Bay | 4636 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | David Hivey | WPNSA | 4817 | bfd | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| 3 | Jim McMillan | Netley Sailing Club | 4813 | bfd | 2 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 16 |
| 4 | Paul Gliddon | Netley Sailing Club | 4637 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| 5 | Eddie Bridle | brightlingsea | 4826 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 19 |
| 6 | James Gray | Stokes Bay SC | 4548 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 20 |
| 7 | Alex Adams | WPNSA | 4546 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 20 |
| 8 | Dominic Hutton | Stokes Bay SC | 4717 | 5 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 32 |
| 9 | Ben Clegg | Brightlingsea sailing club | 4869 | 12 | 9 | 22 | 14 | 10 | 45 |
| 10 | Jack Wetherell | WPNSA | 4635 | 8 | 23 | 7 | 7 | rtd | 45 |
| 11 | Christian Hamilton | Netley Sc | 4533 | 10 | 32 | 14 | 13 | 8 | 45 |
| 12 | Andy Jeffries | Eastbourne Sovereign SC | 4386 | 13 | 25 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 47 |
| 13 | Doug Pybus | QMSC | 4837 | 23 | 12 | 8 | 17 | 46 | 60 |
| 14 | Billy Vennis‑Ozanne | WPNSA
Stokes Bay SC | 4715 | 9 | 33 | 15 | 21 | 15 | 60 |
| 15 | Jason Belben | Stokes Bay Sailing Club | 4509 | rtd | 6 | rtd | 8 | 5 | 65 |
| 16 | Paul Jenkins | Eastbourne Sovereign SC | 4442 | 17 | 20 | 21 | 16 | 14 | 67 |
| 17 | Josie Gliddon | Netley Sailing club | 4522 | 15 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 23 | 68 |
| 18 | Mike Lennon | HISC | 4766 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 46 | 46 | 69 |
| 19 | Ed Redfearn | BSC | 3980 | 19 | 16 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 70 |
| 20 | James Ross | Netley SC | 4807 | 25 | 14 | 17 | 28 | 17 | 73 |
| 21 | Joe Adams | Oxford sailing club | 4048 | 24 | 19 | 24 | 18 | 13 | 74 |
| 22 | Jeremy Hartley | Stokes Bay | 4765 | 22 | 24 | 46 | 15 | 16 | 77 |
| 23 | James Phare | Qmsc | 4780 | 14 | 12 | 26 | 26 | 46 | 78 |
| 24 | Kyle Stoneham | WPNSA | 4705 | 46 | 18 | 13 | 5 | 46 | 82 |
| 25 | Steve McLean | HISC | 4669 | 31 | 31 | 28 | 23 | 19 | 101 |
| 26 | David Schafft | SVSS | 4489 | 30 | rtd | 29 | 24 | 18 | 101 |
| 27 | Brad Gibson | MYA | 3169 | 28 | 27 | 46 | 22 | 24 | 101 |
| 28 | Adam Golding | HISC | 4589 | 20 | 17 | 20 | 46 | 46 | 103 |
| 29 | Paul Beard | QMSC | 45 | 27 | 28 | 23 | 29 | rtd | 107 |
| 30 | Andrew Jarvis | Oxford Sailing Club | 4721 | 16 | 21 | 27 | 46 | 46 | 110 |
| 31 | Gareth Davies | Brightensea sailing club | 4760 | bfd | 11 | 30 | 27 | rtd | 114 |
| 32 | Tom Lambert | wilsonian sc | 4208 | 21 | 29 | 25 | 46 | 46 | 121 |
| 33 | David Jessop | HISC | 4673 | 11 | 46 | 19 | 46 | 46 | 122 |
| 34 | Alex Barone | Bewl valley sailing club | 4100 | dnf | rtd | rtd | 25 | 22 | 129 |
| 35 | Eddie Gatehouse | HISC | 4758 | 29 | 30 | 32 | 46 | 46 | 137 |
| 36 | Greg Goodrum | SBSC | 4713 | 26 | 26 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 144 |
| 37 | Donald Smith | ASYC | 4361 | 34 | 34 | 31 | 46 | 46 | 145 |
| 38 | Nic Streatfeild | Rutland | 4492 | 18 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 156 |
| 39 | James Sainsbury | Rutland sc | 4545 | 32 | rtd | rtd | rtd | 46 | 170 |
| 40 | Henry Rees | SBSC | 4035 | 33 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 171 |
| 41 | Orkun Soyer | Draycote Sailing Club | 4779 | 35 | rtd | rtd | rtd | rtd | 173 |
| 42 | David Smithwhite | HISC | 4764 | 46 | rtd | rtd | 46 | 46 | 184 |
| 43 | Charlie Ellse | Restronguet sailing club | 4745 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 184 |
| 44 | Graham Simmonds | Hayling Island SC | 4656 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 184 |
| 45 | Andrew Friend | Norfolk Punt Club | 4578 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 184 |
| 46 | Cian Byrne | RCYC | 4390 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 184 |
IMCA UK would like to say a massive thank-you to the event sponsors, who have been so good to the Moth class, especially during these times.
- Wetsuit Outlet - Since 2004, Wetsuit Outlet has grown from humble beginnings into Europe's largest supplier of watersports clothing and equipment. Last year Wetsuit Outlet celebrated shipping over 2 million orders since starting 16 years ago. How did they do it? By offering quality products at competitive prices whilst having the best customer service in the business. Wetsuit Outlet stock top brands including Zhik, Gill, Musto, Gul, Crewsaver and more!
- Noble Marine - continued support has allowed IMCA to subsidise entry fees for this year's championship, the support we receive is directly linked to the policies they provide Moth sailors with a discount for class members.
- Blueteq - as well as hosting the online entry system, they are sponsoring beer and pasta during the event.
- Maguire Boats - Builders of the market leading Exocet Moth, Simon and the team will be on site for the whole event providing support for their four-time World Championship winning boats.
- Ronstan - From the outset of Foiling Moths, Ronstan have supplied light, strong and efficient hardware in the UK and Internationally to all level of sailors. With a range of blocks designed by sailors specifically for the class it is the choice of recent World Champions.
The class encourages Moth sailors to support our sponsors wherever possible, since they are so good at supporting us.
Find out more about the class on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MothClassUK