2024 PredictWind Moth Worlds - Day 3 - Coutts shows his mettle
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz 6 Jan 05:21 GMT
4-9 January 2024
Mattias Coutts (NZL) into the top mark - Day 3 - 2024 PredictWind Moth Worlds. Manly Sailing Club. January 6, 2025 © Richard Gladwell - Sail-World.com/nz
Mattias Coutts staged a comeback performance performance to finish top of the leaderboard, at the conclusion of the Qualification Round of the Predictwind 2024 International Moth World Championships, sailed off Manly Sailing Club, 40 minutes north of Auckland.
After a prediction of strong winds later in the day, racing got under way an hour early on both courses.
Coutts turned in his worst performance of the regatta, in the opening race of the day - placing 7th. He bounced back in the next three races scoring a hat-trick of wins - letting out a war-whoop as he rounded the top mark for the first time in Race 7 - celebrating being back in the front of the fleet with daylight second.
In a piece of serendipity, his series rival Jacob Pye (NZL) also placed 7th in the first race of the day sailed on the more inshore Alpha course. The 2023 UK Open Moth champion was unable to capitalise on Coutts' Race 7 faux pas - and Pye had to count the 7th in his final score.
Pye didn't help his cause, with two seconds and a win in the last three races - leaving Coutts, with three wins in the remaining three races to rack up a 5pt lead at the end of the Qualification phase.
The breeze didn't live up to the strong wind warnings - but did kick in later in the day. The peak breeze during racing was about 22kts - enough to cause some ruckus at the back of the fleet.
At the end of the Qualification racing, Youth sailors continued to dominate the top echelon - only two Open and one Masters competitor managed to invade the top 13 in the overall standings.
Consistency is the outstanding feature of the youth sailors - most of whom have spent many months training in the waters of Kawau Bay - and that effort shows out in the results, with only the occasional double digit placing - often their discard place in overall points.
One got the impression from talking with a couple of the top Olympic and America's Cup competitors, that this Worlds was really the beginning point of the next cycle on the professional circuit, after a grueling sailing season in Europe.
Paris2024 Gold medalist and SailGP 2024 Champion, Diego Botin (ESP) finished in 19th place overall at the end of the Qualifying, and will sail in next week's SailGP Auckland, and the challenging conditions for the Moths look to be a good warm-up for SailGP racing.
"Today was like perfect conditions to raise these Moths," the top 49er skiff sailor told Sail-World, as he wheeled his Moth back to the boat-park. "We've been having this shifty offshore breeze every day. It's epic racing. The fleet is also super tight. There is a big group of young guys pushing very hard, and it's super good to be part of it."
He explained that he was not surprised at where he was placing in the 2024 Predictwind Worlds. "To be honest, we we are in the early stages with with our boat. We are trying to develop a competitive boat, and it takes time. And here for us, it is pretty much about learning, to see where the level is at, and try to get ready for the next worlds."
Asked to compare the single handed foiling Moth Racing with the bigger foilers used in SailGP and America's Cup he responded: "I would say it's like a mix of it and Olympic racing. In SailGP and in the Olympics, we are sailing one design classes, and this is a development class, which makes it very interesting. It's pretty nice to mix it up. And it's super nice to race these boats. It's super fun."
He was sanguine about his chances of being able to make his podium in three major events in 2024. "I think I'm missing a bit," he confessed. "I'm missing some pace to be able to fight at the front in this Regatta, and this is what I have to work on for the for the future - to get a bit more pace. And I think, we will make it happen. It's gonna be a fun road."
The Spaniard said he looking ahead to SailGP Auckland where he is helm and skipper of the Spanish team. "We have a Sail GP events in 10 days or so. And that is super exciting. Also, Auckland is an amazing venue, and it's going be a tight race, because we have the new T-Foils coming, which is gonna mix up the fleet quite a lot. It's going to be exciting."
Pushed further as to whether the much-vaunted T-foils would really have much impact on the racing, Botin expanded on his previous comment: "I think we'll see some changes on the fleet definitely."
One of the world's most experienced apparent wind sailors, Iain (Goobs) Jensen (AUS) placed 27th in the Qualifying racing at Manly.
The Olympic Gold and Silver medalist, a veteran of four America's Cups with INEOS Britannia team, is also competing next week in SailGP Auckland as part of the Emirates GB sailing team.
He too was enjoying the challenging conditions at Manly, despite not being able to get out of double figure points scores in the nine races sailed. however he did have a much better final day, with 10,11,10 scores in the last three races.
"It was a good fun day," Goobs commented when interviewed doing his boat was-down. "We had offshore conditions and flat water and plenty of breeze. It's nice and shifty."
"I went better today, than yesterday, but I'm still pretty average, to be honest."
Like Botin, he came into the Predictwind Moth Worlds, after a tough 2024 - maybe more so for Jensen given the demand of trying to get an off-the-pace America's Cup team into the 37th Match against Emirates Team NZ.
"I came in a little bit half half cooked on this one," he admitted. "I haven't done much recent Moth sailing. I haven't done much Moth recent Moth sailing. There's a lot of kids here who are really bloody good. It's good to get back in the fleet and hopefully do a little bit more training for the next Worlds.
Sitting in 27th place overall Jensen wasn't too optimistic about his chances in the Finals. "I'm loving the racing. Just gonna keep enjoying it."
The Finals will be sailed on the last two days of the regatta, and while it is a great chance to see some of the superstars of Olympic, America's Cup and SailGP racing competing off Manly SC, most of the focus will be on the expected slugfest between Qualifiers points winner Mattias Coutts and runner up, Jacob Pye. Coutts won six races and Pye five in the Qualifiers - while racing in separate fleets on all three days.
The Finals are the first opportunity for them to lock horns in the Predictwind World Championship.
Full final results after two dismissed protests can be found here.