Adelaide International Regatta (AIR) results and Report.With over 130 competitors, AIR is one of the largest regattas in South Australia and attracted numerous entries from all around the nation.
Rohan Veal, Leigh Dunstan and David Barnes very kindly made the journey over for what was described as “Adelaide SIRS” allowing the Moths to get our own start and course.
Combined with grateful locals Greg Wise and Ned Dally, the 5 Moths created a visual impact both on the beach and out on the water which cannot be understated.
Many aspiring young sailors had never seen Moths racing as a fleet before and this demonstrated that there was life in a class that has always struggled with numbers in SA.
Racing got underway on Saturday afternoon with 3 races back-to-back in a predominately light but building sea breeze. Race 1 saw a bit of confusion on the course as we struggled to work out which marks were ours, with 5 other classes sharing the south course race area. Rohan confirmed things with the start boat before returning to the finish line, just beating Ned who almost snuck through for a win. By races 2 and 3, the breeze had picked up to a pleasant 12-15 knots and Rohan foiled away comfortably to make it a clean sweep for the day. David however had broken his gantry early on and returned to shore to valiantly try to fix it by running to the local chandlery in his wetsuit to buy a gudgeon and reattach the rudder to the transom.
Sunday saw a light south easterly gradient breeze struggle to fill in, leaving sub-foiling conditions for most of the day. Race 4 which started at 11am, was a lesson in low-riding with the Moth fleet getting overtaken on the first beat by the J24s who had given us 6 minutes head start. Race 5 started to look more promising with Rohan giving the regatta fleet a foiling demo in the 5-8 knots while we waited for the race committee reset the course. The marginal conditions however meant taking huge risks downwind if attempting to foil and sometimes this resulted in getting caught out wide of the rhumbline in a lull. This is exactly what happened to Rohan, allowing low-riding Greg to sneak through for a win. By Race 6, everybody could foil away from the start line, just. The marginal conditions combined with massive amounts of ribbon weed strewn across the course called for various ‘pit-stop’ manoeuvres to disconnect, reconnect or clear weed. Rohan even developed a ‘pop’ method, where he purposely ventilated the foils to blow the weed away, however a few seconds later several more strands would be collected. Leigh and Greg had a great battle for second spot, crossing gybes down the last run and culminating in a finish separated by only a May stick!
On Monday morning we were greeted by more of the same light breeze, although the warmer temperature brought promise of an early sea breeze. It wasn’t to be, and low-riding seemed to be the order of the day, again. In Race 7, the Moth fleet enjoyed a close tactical first work to see Rohan just lead David around the top mark only to get caught trying to foil again and let David just pip him on the line for a win, which more than made up for the disappointments of day 1. When Race 8 wasn’t looking good at all with the breeze gradually fading, however it switched and kicked in halfway through the race allowed for a foiling finish, with Rohan first, and David and Leigh taking the minor placings, allowing them to head in and quickly start packing up for the long drive home that night. Ned stormed home sailing perfect angles down the last run to overtake Greg who had been off busy collecting ribbon weed samples. The question all weekend was; Do you stop and clear the weed and get overtaken, or let the weed sit there and get overtaken anyway?
The official results show Ned finishing 5th in Race 8, which is incorrect as he finished 4th. This means that he tied for equal third overall with Leigh on 23 points, only four points behind Greg on 19 in second place. Rohan convincingly won the event in style, only being beaten in two of the most marginal races while trying to foil.
Despite the tricky conditions, the AIR regatta was an outstanding success for the class. There was lots of interest generated form juniors and potential future Mothies in the 420 and 470 classes.
Greg and Ned sincerely thank the Victorians for making the effort to come over and help boost the profile of Moths in SA.
There are no photos yet, but they should be up on
http://www.paparazzi.com.au/ sometime soon.
Rohan’s report;
http://www.rohanveal.com/ Full results;
http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/results/adelaidesc/2008/club/combined/air/SGrp1.htm
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