Sailing Magazine
pic by Mark Jardine
The day started with a calm, mirror-like Solent, but ended with 4 glorious races completed in perfect foiling conditions. This was Stokes Bay at its best and the Moth fleet turned on the style in spades.
The middle two races were pretty lumpy, although dying off for te final race.
Jof Heathcote reports.
I had some consistent results, but didn’t really feel like I was at my best.
I started stupidly by panicking and changing sail on the beach; in a crazy rush while people were already launching, but I got the decision right at least. I went with the right foils, although I probably should’ve switched over after the third race!
I was super-quick downwind all day, but stopped for a swim on the first run of the first race. Bloody idiotic really!
I broke the May stick in the second so sailed most of it with no shock cord on the wand which makes the setup interesting in the waves….
And then the last two races followed the same pattern of struggling to hang on upwind, and then making big gains downhill. I picked up the following results – 6; 7; 5 7 – which is better than I felt. This puts him 6th overall after 5 races.
Hopefully it’s light enough for the big foil tomorrow (Saturday) as I’m far better upwind on it said Heathcote.
Racing today has again been brought forward to 11h00 with four races scheduled. A 12-15 knot wind is forecast with sunshine – it should be another cracker.
