Mothing Malcesine

I cannot believe I am typing these words: I successfully competed sailing in the 2021 Moth Worlds on Lake Garda. I completed all the races, didn’t have any breakdowns physical or mental (!), and beat some boats – I think five or six. I was the oldest competitor in the regatta 🙂 and likely, had the most fun. 100% of the time I was thinking, “this is SO awesome, how did I get here?”

I will confess, today was challenging; the wind was light, and I was not able to foil much of the time. Lowriding a Moth is not fun. But so be it.

Today I decided not to mount my GoPro, instead, I took out my iPhone! Yep, for the last race I sailed in, got it, and sailed back out, testing the supposed watertight qualities of the iPhone 12. Yep, it worked, and it’s waterproof:

It’s not often you are sailing a Moth and can take out a cellphone to take pictures, but there was no wind …

Here’s a little video shot while waiting:

When the wind finally came up and the Committee ran a race, it was a crummy race; I was not able to foil, and a lot of other people weren’t either. Marginal foiling is yuk conditions for Mothing.

And so that was it! The 2021 Moth Worlds is in the books. Here is a photo of all the winners:

Tom Slingsby dominated, winning nearly every race, to repeat as World Champion.

And then there’s this guy:

I think I win “most fun had” or some such award. Cannot wait to do it again. Let’s see, next year the 2022 Moth Worlds are in Buenos Aires, Argentina …

It’s the last day of the 2021 Moth Worlds! So kind of sad, but kind of cool too (yay I did it), and definitely a transition. This is being blogged in between the first two races of the day – held in the North wind of the morning – and the next/final two races – [hopefully] held in the South wind of the afternoon.

This morning the wind was not actually enough to race Moths if I could say, I was unable to get foiling for any amount of time. There was a lot of grumbling among the competitors in both fleets, the standings were shook up. I had a 61 and a 62 and I don’t think I actually beat anyone who was sailing, and may have missed the time limit for finishing. Let’s hope there is more wind later!

Another transition – I’ve been so busy sailing and blogging about sailing I haven’t told you much about the time off the water.

Well there was this:

It’s the sort of thing that seems to go all the time around here. That was as I was having dinner a few nights ago in Malcesine. That was my best dinner up to that point, but then …

Two nights ago I had what was probably the “nicest” meal so far, a restaurant called Aqua in Naga-Torbole, at the North East corner of the lake. I found it randomly while looking for a different restaurant; it looked awesome, and it was.

It’s right across from the teeny cute harbor of Torbole.

Truly high end Italian, worthy of Michelin stars. Everything was so creative and interesting and the whiskey gelato took the cake.

And then last night I visited the Bastione overlooking Riva del Guarda, which is at the North West corner of the lake. You might remember I saw it, took a picture, and added it to my bucket list? Well I can cross it off.

You reach the Bastione via a funicular from the town, it goes up at about a 45 degree angle, and the Bastione itself is a grand old fort overlooking the town and its harbor, in pretty good condition.

Next to the fort is a restaurant also called Bastione, and that’s where I had dinner! The view was spectacular.

The food was great but the service was even better, and I was introduced to the local olive oil, prepared and treasured like the local wine, and I have to admit it was wonderful.

As I was sitting there recovering from the day of sailing on the lake, all I could think was … how did I get here?

And so now onward, another transition, the end of the regatta and then the rest of my trip … so much experienced and so much left!

Yes indeed, more footage, this time from 2021 Moth Worlds Day Two … slightly better with the stick-tape-GoPro-mount thing (today I try a bigger stick):

Here is an index:

0:00 – flying around before the start
0:28 – race 1 prestart (passing committee)
0:42 – start of race 1
0:57 – race 1 weather leg
1:25 – race 1 downwind leg
2:12 – race 1 finish
2:23 – race 2 first start (recalled)
3:13 – race 2 actual start
3:58 – race 2 weather leg
4:30 – race 2 weather gate, crash/recovery on tack around mark
5:31 – race 2 downwind and finish!

One of my friends found this picture of me on the race website, must have been shortly after the start of race 2:

Deciding whether you have room to tack ahead of would-be oncoming starboard tack boats is pretty tricky, because you don’t know how well you’re going to tack and get back up to speed 🙂 … whew!

And finally here’s a rather interesting aerial view of the North end of Lake Garda:

We are racing right in the middle of this view … you can see why they call it “the wind tunnel!

And so onward to Day Three of the Worlds, please stay tuned…

I’m going to do it again: ask me how it went today.

“Okay, how did it go today?”

Incredible! Another amazing day on Lake Garda, so beautiful, so fun, I am so happy to be here. I continue to wonder that I’m actually here, actually racing in the Moth Worlds on Lake Garda. Well I guess I am 🙂

Today I had a 61st and a 42nd – yay – it was tough because there wasn’t much wind and once you stopped foiling it was kinda hard to get foiling again. Of course the Gold Flight didn’t have such trouble: here they are on their first race of the day…

The Committee actually ran three Gold races, then called the Silver fleet back out for a 3rd race, but there wasn’t enough wind and they bagged it. So be it, can’t wait for tomorrow!

A few additional notes about Mothing:

• When it is iffy foiling like today, raising the boat helps. It may not actually cause you to foil higher, but it may cause you to foil at all. In the higher winds of previous days I had lowered the boat for more control.
• I’m getting better at going super low downwind. It’s a weird feeling to be “drifting” almost dead down with the sail all the way in at speed, but you can sure cut the distance. The boat is mighty unstable though, you often have to head up to get it back under control.

It was fun watching and listening to Nathan Outtridge get interviewed right next to me. He’s currently sitting third, behind reining World Champion Tom Slingsby and Iain Jensen. He noted he hasn’t been sailing this boat much so he’s getting back used to it. Well yeah, he was sailing the America’s Cup 🙂

Today Piccola had a new tattoo; a little pink Moth courtesy of Helena Scutt and the Magenta Project. I think it made her happy.

You will be happy to know, I took the GoPro out again today, and … I fashioned a beautiful elevated mount for it 🙂 … with a stick and some electrical tape.

Stay tuned for more footage!

I had previously reported yes I have my GoPro but no I did not have any of the GoPro mounting stuff. But … I did have a roll of electrical tape! And so I taped the camera to my tiller, and here is the result:

It’s an eight minute video, edited down from two hours (!)… here’s a legend:

0:00 – foiling to the starting area
1:00 – just flying around
1:35 – start of 1st race, first weather leg
3:38 – long port tack across the lake
4:40 – flying downwind
5:05 – start of 2nd race, catastrophic start, saved by a general recall
6:08 – actual start of 2nd race, much better 🙂
6:56 – rounding the weather gate
7:09 – foiling across the finish!

(It should be immediately obvious why I named the boat Piccola 🙂 )

The camera is a bit low … tomorrow I’ll try finding some kind of stalk so the video shows more of my surroundings … please stay tuned!

All the preliminaries out of the way, the Pre-Worlds, the practice, the Qualifying; today was the start of the real Worlds (dum dum dum). The fleet had been split into two flights, Gold racing for the Championship, and Silver racing for glory. Piccoli and I are in Silver.

The mood in the boatyard was completely different. No laughing or joking, it’s go time. For some of these sailors they’ve been training months or years for this. 2/3 of this fleet are professionals. They are paid to finish well, and the pressure is on.

The Committee were shooting to get three races off today, but only managed two due to light-ish winds. When the Gold people are having trouble foiling, it’s too light. But they did get off two good ones. So, ask me how I did.

“Um, how did you do?”

Awesome! I had a 56 and a 60, finished both races in fine style and beat some boats. (There are 142 entries, 71 in each flight.) My highlight was the second race, right before the start I capsized in the middle of the line. By the time I was back up I was on port, lowriding, heading straight at the committee, with 70 boats on starboard foiling right at me. Disaster! But whew, it was a general recall 🙂 Thank you Murphy.

On the restart I headed to the pin end – a good 1/2 mile away – and found some nice pressure. I hit the left corner early and crossed a bunch of people. There is no feeling – none – like sailing a foiling moth on port and crossing a bunch of starboard tackers foiling right at you. The closing speed is tremendous – you can feel the wind as they duck you – and a collision would be catastrophic. Fortunately Piccola and I made it. Yay. Unfortunately I carried port a little too far to the right into light wind; I foiled in but had to lowride out. So it goes.

The Silver flight had two races and then came in for the Gold flight to have two, so we got to watch. Here’s the Gold flight in action:

It took the leaders two minutes to reach the weather gates, wow. It took me about five minutes to sail the same leg, including three not-great lowrider tacks. The downwind legs were pretty interesting too; all the pressure was on the left (East) shore, so the fastest boats jibed back and forth down the shore. I did not do so, settled for a more conservative path but made it every time with Piccola still up and flying.

I’ve already said there’s no feeling like port-tacking a bunch of starboard boats while foiling, and there isn’t…. But foiling across the finish line of the Moth Worlds at Lake Garda was special. I felt chills.

How did I get here?

(I have a treat for you … I mounted a GoPro today … am editing the video. Stay tuned for live action!)

Thus far I have resisted naming my Moth … it’s not mine of course, just mine for this regatta. I registered her as “Flight Risk” which is the name of my Moth in Santa Barbara … a great name and quite fitting for me as well as for my boat 🙂

But today I found the perfect name for this Moth: Piccola.

A good day: no flailing, no dumb mistakes, nothing wrong and the boat had no issues. I even wore my life jacket 🙂 We flew around for hours and got used to each other, and it was so great. Toward the end of the day the wind picked up and we were blazing. On some of the downwinds I think I went faster than I have ever gone; I don’t have a GPS so could not tell. (I have a GoPro with me but of course forgot the mount; I am thinking to mount it somehow – tape will do in a pinch – and that would give me videos to share as well as GPS tracks. Stay tuned!)

As this little Moth picks up speed, she starts to sound two high notes like a flute. Two different tones coming from the boom; maybe there are holes which cause the sound. Like … a piccolo! Hey, what a perfect name! Although of course a Moth is a girl, so Piccola. Which means “little” in Italian, but also “baby”.

Today I learned something super important about Mothing; for experienced Mothers this is 101 stuff, but for me it was eye-opening. You will remember the discussion about the wand, and how it controls the trim tab on the back of the main foil to adjust the boat’s “ride height”.

You might have wondered about attitude. Let’s revisit that diagram:

At the bottom of the rudder is a smaller foil which doesn’t have a trim tab. However the angle of the foil can be adjusted. (rudder is “timone”) The entire rudder can be tilted slightly forward, increasing the angle of attack, or sightly back, decreasing the angle. The tilt is controlled through a clever mechanism by rotating the tiller extension. (“prolunga del timone”) Rotate the extension clockwise (looking toward the bow) it tilts the rudder back, lowering the stern and raising the bow. Rotate counter-clockwise and it tilts the rudder forward, raising the stern and lowering the bow. Since the tiller is always in your hand, you can always adjust the attitude of the boat. You may not be surprised to hear: this matters!

I’ve never really messed around with this before – silly me – today I did, and I discovered it is super helpful. See a set of waves coming? Rotate clockwise, raise the bow, no problem. Flat water? Rotate counter-clockwise, lower the bow. Piccola loves being bow down (I can see you smiling, you J/70 people out there). At sufficiently high speed leaving the bow up causes sudden dips and wild crashes. Lowering the bow delivers beautiful smooth flight. As long as I raise the bow for waves 🙂

Another thing I learned – again probably in the 101 category – going upwind you can point higher with the bow down, and going downwind you can point lower with the bow up. Not sure why this is, but sure it is so.

I found myself talking to Piccola a lot. About her attitude 🙂 Now I understand why that control is in your hand at all times …

Buon giorno Malcesine! Yes, I’m posting “early”; I had a great sleep (thanks for asking) feel completely recovered from my exhausting day yesterday and am ready for more Mothing. Today is Day Three of the Worlds but it’s an “off” day; a reserve/break between the first two days which were qualifiers and the next three days which are the World Championship regatta itself.

Despite being an off day I am most definitely going to be off sailing, and can’t wait. Today I will wear my helmet and my life jacket, I will have no trouble launching from the beach, and I will [hopefully] have a working boat. We are going to spend some quality time together figuring ourselves out so we can work as a team when the racing resumes.

Blue skies mean wind later? This is Mount Baldo, the local peak; there is a cable car up to the top and when the sailing is all over I will most definitely go up there…

A little more food blogging. Last night I voyaged to Riva de Garda, a town at the North end of the lake, and a beautiful one at that. It features an “old town” right down on the water, and I found the coolest piazza for dinner. La cena era Cotoletta alla Milanese aka Wiener Schnitzel con Amarone della Valpolicella – molto deliziosa.

Many people out on a Friday night, perfect for peoplewatching.

There is a funicular up to the Bastione, a fort which looks out over the city, and riding it up is now on my bucket list.

Well, the wind is coming up, time to go sailing … please stay tuned!

Well Day Four is the books – that’s Day Two of the Worlds – and I’m exhausted. I’m too tired to do much of anything, and most definitely should not be blogging. Calibrate accordingly.

It was windier today, and I found myself wishing the boat would just slow down so I could catch my breath. Unfortunately when it’s windy the boat has two speeds, zero and 20+. If you don’t pay attention while going one, you will find yourself going the other very quickly.

My exhaustion was compounded by another superdumb mistake. But before I tell you about that, I have to tell you about the beach and my solution for launching without flailing.

Here’s the aerial map from yesterday. But today instead of launching from the “ramp”, I rolled my boat down to the “beach”. This did three things: 1) closer to the exit and better angle to get started, 2) directly upwind of “me” (rolling a Moth around on its cart with the sail up, you can only go into or away from the wind, otherwise it will capsize) 3) less traffic from other boats. And indeed it worked, I was able to launch successfully. In fact I did it four times, more on this below.

Back to the superdumb move. So I spend the whole day sailing, working on the boat, sailing some more, swimming next to the boat, sailing. I am exhausted. I finally get in after the last race, carry the boat out of the water up onto the beach, and what do I see? My life jacket, lying on the beach.

Yep I sailed the whole day without a life jacket. Which is dumb for safety reasons, but also, when you wipe out as much as I do you spend a lot of time swimming, and it’s harder swimming around without a life jacket. Sigh.

Picking up another thread from yesterday, you will remember I lost a pin in the linkage to the wand, and tied a bit of line as a replacement. Well that didn’t work; I no sooner got out onto the lake and started foiling than it broke. No wand linkage, no foiling. So I had to come in to find something else, and after digging around a bit I settled on taping in a small hex wrench.

It worked! Unfortunately I didn’t check the control lines for the wand after fixing this, and when I got out on the water I discovered I needed to rerig everything including the wrench. Sigh. Back into the beach, work on the boat, back out onto the water. I am getting quite good at launching 🙂

What about the racing itself? Well quite honestly I didn’t see as much of it as I would have liked. I spent the day following everyone around the course. But I do have a few observations:

• There is a big rivalry between the various boat manufacturer camps.  The Australian Mach 2 is the historical incumbent, they pretty much invented the off-the-shelf foiling Moth, and continue to be a leader.  Nathan Outteridge has a Mach 2.  More recently the English Exocet seemed like it was winning everything.  And even more recently, the top guys are sailing the New Zealand Bieker.
• The race committee announced they would only run races in the range 8 to 25 knots.  Well that’s a big range, and Garda is a big lake, so at any given moment any part of it can have any wind speed.  There were times today that I thought we were below 8, and a few times I thought we were above 25 (probably just exaggerating).
• There is a bell-shaped distribution of speed in the fleets.  At the front, a few boats pull well away and have significant spacing.  In the middle there’s a big pack with lots of infighting.  And at the back, a few stragglers struggling to stay in contact.  Including me …
• As I mentioned yesterday after the start everyone punches the left corner.  It easiest since you’re on starboard tack, and also the left side (East Coast) seemed to have the most wind.  Today the committee setup the course so that the first tacks happened right off the yacht club.  As a spectator it was fun to watch, and as a racer fun to have a bunch of spectators yelling encouragement.  You don’t often get that in sailing 🙂

It turns out that the past two days have been qualifying for the Gold and Silver fleets, but the scores won’t count toward the final placings.  I didn’t know that.  So be it, I’m back to zero!

Just as I was leaving the club, exhausted, I looked up and there was this magic sunset. It put a big smile on my face which is still there now 🙂 … onward!