First Time...

Well, it was today. After the abortive attempt on Saturday, and with my Naval Architecture Dynamics exam safely out of the way this morning, flat water and a perfect 12 knot north easterly were far too tempting for Sam and I. With an audience of interested house mates launching went as well as can be expected - several attempts but the idiosyncrasies of Mothing quickly came back to me.

Damn she felt tight. With the new carbon racks firmly locked in, and the ability to pull on a decent amount of rig tension without destroying the front bulkhead she felt like a different beast- different, and better. I was having too much fun reaching up and down to care she wasn't lifting - back to that in a minute. Meanwhile, Sam and I swopped boats, to see if he could diagnose the problem. With a well set up foil and rig combination, Sam's boat literally flew! Easy as you can say 'Foils' she took off and happily sat about a foot above the water. Confidence inspiring and safe, never felt like she was going to pop out. I even attempted some 'Veal Heal', which increased the speed seemingly ten-fold, and the fear factor equally so, as the body gets closer to the water screaming past! Sam eventually caught up and persuaded me to swop back, having reached the conclusion, verified by those on land, that the rudder was pulling down, due to miss-alignment. Still, it gave an impressive rooster tail!

Nick, a good 420 sailor, then took the boat for a sail, and although he had a multitude of problems launching showed that any competent sailor, given flat water and a steady breeze, can sail a moth. He had no real problems, sailed up and down a few times and came in. Carbon rigs, and the extra stability from the foils (at slow speeds) have defiantly made the step to moths easier, as far as i can tell.

Unfortunately the session was brought to an abrupt halt by several non foil related failures. However, even this could not damp my sprits, and i think it was cold enough to come in anyway!

Overall impression - Awesome. The best experience was foiling through a group of seagulls, who took off as they do, and I preceded to fly side by side with one for several seconds, in complete silence. Time in the Gym is a must though - the amount of hiking involved makes laser sailing look pathetic.

Worth every penny.