Arrived in Belmont....

After a few days relaxing with friends and sightseeing in Sydney I made it up to Belmont yesterday.  So nice to unpack the boat in beaming sunshine and 30 something degrees.  Certainly beats the temperature in the UK at the moment which was -12 when I drove to the airport - definitely the coldest winter I can remember in the UK.  Good luck back home guys with the Bloody Mary!!!!  :-)

The venue itself is really great - friendly locals, flat water, extremely hot (too hot for some of us Poms) with a vast array of fast food outlets (Arnaud...).  The club follows the traditional Aussie sports club model - i.e. is well funded through pokies and other entertainment and the non-sailing locals seem genuinely interested in what's happening on the water - definitely something the UK clubs can learn from I think....

Today the weather is apparently due to change here with the winds shifting to come from the South.  This has led to quite light winds, although I've been told normal service should hopefully be resumed in a few days time.....I really hope so as I'm currently the heaviest I've ever been after having to substitute sailing for gym work due to the weather...

In terms of spying on innovations I havent had a great deal of time to look around.  Hats off to the guys that brought wingsails - very impressive speed out of the box from what I've been told and although they may not be using them all the time for a first iteration they seem very quick.  The new mach 2 booms also look very smart.....

Ricky - thanks so much for your hard work getting the boats out here - we owe you big time.  Looks like everything went really smoothly.

Phil - you post one more shark article on your blog and I'm bringing one back in my travel box to throw at you at the next open....!  Either that or a bluebottle.

punt championships!

So while everyone else was out in Switzerland another championships was taking place out on the Norfolk Broads... (really need to get the new moth done...fast..) the Norfolk Punt Championships! Sailing with my brother had some good racing at the sharp(er) end of the fleet, battling out with two other brother teams (very Norfolk...) for the championships getting it down to the last race, only to lose the win due to some unfortunate wind shifts....broadland sailing... still 2nd is not too bad for zero practice..good one! looking forward to next year when the new unlimited sail area rules should hopefully come into play...

As for the new boat, should be posting as progress is made, M2 two piece boom is now a one piece again, and trolley is ready to weld, just need to get cracking on the actual boat!

Andrew

SIlvaplana Update

Quick update before laptop battery dies.

Has been raining solidly for several days now, very cold at night (0 degrees).  Tonight it even rained pasta sauce after Doug had an accident cooking at the campsite whilst cooking a communal meal.  Jon started to cry but hid it well.

Martin has been impressing us all with his reinvention of traditional english dishes, namely the full monty (all day breakfast in a tin), supernoodles, pepperami, and pot noodle.  Martin has also pioneered a new way of keeping warm in his tent at night by choosing to use his dry suit as a pair of pyjamas.  This has drawn some odd looks but apparently works better than wearing everything you brought on holiday with you.

Rodders appears to have gone a funny green colour following too many cans of relentless energy drink, and has gone to bed with a mysterious illness.  Tom Offer's tent appears to be the size of a small aircraft hanger, we have decided to rig this and pitch the rest of our tents inside.  Jon appears to have the smallest tent known to man, even a hobbit would be at risk of aclostrophobia.

The wind has been fickle so far but our spirits are reasonably high and we are hoping for more wind in the coming days.

Emma's Flapjacks have raised the spirits slightly this evening, fingers crossed the weather doesnt get any worse over the next few days.

Over and out.

Lift to Silvaplana?!

Anyone willing to give a lone mothy with bag a lift to Silvaplana in exchange for beer / fuel money on Thursday afternoon / evening or Friday morning? 

I'm currently in Pfaeffikon SZ near Rapperswill, near Zurich (not Pfaeffikon ZH) but happy to get a train to a more convenient pickup point!

Cheers

James

Who's in?

Preparation for the Euros is well underway at Queen Mary.  Quite a few of us have been making it out on the water over recent weekends, despite Queen Mary being more aptly referred to as 'Green Mary' at the moment.  An old chap at the nationals warned me that there was toxic algae making its way up the coast from France and I guess it was only a matter of time before it made it here....!  The edge of the reservoir looks like a bright green pea soup at the moment making for pleasant launching.

Doug, myself and Ben ventured out last weekend for some light / no airs practice.  Doug was running rings around both of us when the wind was light in his ninja, Ben managed to have a breakage free sail which should be commended.  This weekend myself and Jon Peates ventured out, I was pretty useless thanks to having my arms pulled out of their sockets giving wakeboarding a try the previous evening.  Jon seems to be getting the hang of the Mach 2 a bit more now after some more tuning this saturday, he's certainly not struggling for straight line speed managing to clock 25. something knots in about 12-14 knots of breeze. 

The fleet at Queen Mary has really come on in the last few months, its good to see that we have a range of abilities with everyone really keen to share knowledge.  It will be interesting to see how Andrew Friend fares in his custom ninja that he is planning to build after taking some time out for studying / working in recent months.  Paul Beard is also getting on really well with his Bladerider pulling off foiling gybes much earlier than I remember when I first got mine.  Theres been some talk of being more organised and having a class start at the weekends which I think is something we'll definitely look into after the Euros.  All in all theres never been a better time for a mothie to join Queen Mary. 

  On the rash vest front, I've put together the below design for those that are interested.  I'm hoping as its the same pattern on both sides this will keep the costs down.  Throw me a line if youre interested in buying one....Also for any internationals feeling left out I can send over the photoshop file if you want to get your own patriotic rash vests made up....

 

Nationals Update

Nationals is going well.  Sailing conditions were great today with a decent breeze kicking for races 4 and 5 and some very close racing.  Arnaud had a bit of drama before the start of race 3 after he broke one of his shrouds where it attaches to the plate.  Back out for race 4 however he had some good battles with Simon who is currently leading the regatta.  Mike Cooke also had more than his fair share of dramas, after looking very quick in one of the races with his new foils he was forced to retire with more breakages.  Will be interesting to see how he fares tomorrow given the forecast for decent breeze.

3 more races tomorrow in 11+ knots, hopefully some more good results for the Queen Mary Mothies.  Heres some photos of the QM Mothies in action:

Thanks to Heather Davies of Fotoboat for the photography.  Bring on the manly breeze for tomorrow's racing!

gone!

so the BR is packed up and off on its way over to new owner Nico in Valencia... Time to get working on the new one then! Exhibition opens thursday then work commences on building / sourcing parts for the new boat (ninja with a few tweaks, and a mean paintjob...!) anyone who fancies dropping by to check out the exhibition if they are in london are more than welcome - open this thursday through untill the 4th july , at the Royal College of art, (next to Albert hall).