Final Round Of the KA Sail Vic Moth GP

The final round of the KA Sail Victorian Moth Grand Prix will be raced at Black Rock Yacht Club as part of the Black Rock Skiff Regatta on the 21st - 22nd April.

Aside from finding out the overall winner the KA Sail will be drawn at the presentation so don't miss it!

For all the regatta details - Click Here

2012 KA Sail Victorian Moth State Championship

Racing commenced on the second day of the 2012 KA Sail Victorian State Championship at Sorrento CSBC in moderate conditions, with flat water and very overcast.  

Race 5 was again sailed in a fantastic 10-15 knot breeze and was completely dominated by Richard Jackson, who made the port start on the pin end his own and from there was never challenged.  Series leader James Owen-Smith had issues with weed and finished the race in fifth position.

Kyle Ross - First placed Junior and best placed non Mach2

Races 6,7 and 8 were dominated by Andrew McDougall who took three bullets in a row, showing his fellow competitors how it's done and also proving that in the moderate wind range the MSL16 has blistering pace.

James Owen-Smith dominated Day 1 of racing (Photo- Russell Bates) 

Andrew McDougall won the series overall from James Owen-Smith in second and Richard Jackson in third.  Kyle Ross won the Junior trophy sailing his Bladerider exceptionally well at times and Sam England took home the women's trophy.

Overall Winner - Andrew McDougall (Photo- Russell Bates)

Thanks again to our major sponsor KA Sail for their wonderful support of the event!

For more fantastic pictures check out the Mach2 website - Click HERE

2012 KA Sail Victorian Moth State Champioship - To Be Continued...........

The 2012 KA Sail Victorian Moth State Championships started in a challenging fashion with the first four races sailed in 0-15knots, often varying from one extreme to the other within seconds, as well as having to deal with an outgoing tide. These unusual conditions saw leading boats going backwards with boats coming from hundreds of metres behind sailing past at speeds over 20 knots.

In recent years the Victorian Moth fleet has come a long way with the standard of competition.  Anyone of six boats out of the eleven boat fleet is capable of winning races and the justle for positions at the top of the leader board is very tight. 

Race 1 saw Andrew McDougall use his brand new design, KA MSL16 to good effect taking the win from Richard Jackson and James Owen-Smith. 

Race 2 provided wind that were extremely fickle and at times it was quite literally a lottery.  James Owen-Smith took the win from dark horse Kohie Kajimoto and Samantha England in third.

AMac: Always looking for a new edge
Photographer: Russell Bates

Kohie Kajimoto
Photographer: Russell Bates

After a lengthy postponement Race 3 started in more consistent conditions of 10-15 knots.  Richard Jackson came first with James Owen-Smith and Andrew McDougall following close behind.

Race 4 was also sailed in 10-15 knots and Andrew McDougall again took the win from James Owen-Smith and Kohei Kajimoto following through for third.

Racing was cancelled on Sunday due to lack of wind and the remainder of the series will be held later in March.

Leigh Dunstan
Photographer: Russell Bates

Lochy Byrne
Photographer: Russell Bates

Sam England: Something wrong with this photo?
Photographer: Russell Bates

Kyle Ross
Photographer: Russell Bates

Results can be found at HERE

Just in case you were planning to come to Geelong

The 2012 Victorian State Titles were to be held as part of the Geelong

Festival Of Sail.  The regatta organisers have had trouble arranging a major

sponsor for the event and unfortunately our entry fees reflected that.  The

cost of entering the regatta was $240.00 for six races over two days.  After

some discussion the fee came down to $200.00, however this is still 100%

increase per day on our last state titles held there in 2010.  We didn't

canvas the entire fleet, however when word got out about the cost

approximately 3/4 of the people who would normally race in the moth fleet

made it clear that they would not attend, based on the cost of the entry fee

and having to pay for accommodation.  With this in mind we have chosen to

withdraw as a class from the event and contest the 2012 State Titles

elsewhere.  It should be noted that this was done amicably with the event

organisers, ensuring we maintain a good relationship with Geelong YC and

it's event organisers.  Stay tuned for our new location! 

Victorian Moth Grand Prix Series round 3 - Sorrento

'Leigh Dunstan - KA Sails Victorian Moth Grand Prix Series - Round 3'    Kylie Dunstan     Round 3 of the KA Sails Victorian Moth Grand Prix was  held at Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club on Saturday  3rd December. Three races were sailed back to back  with conditions ranging from 10-17 knots, with the  breeze blowing offshore, making it ideal for Moth  sailing. With nine boats on the beach we were set for  a fantastic days racing. Race one saw Leigh Dunstan first to the top mark, only to  tack from the port lay line and drop off his foils, watching  three boats foil past before there was enough wind to foil  again. The rest of the race saw Andrew McDougall and  Richard Jackson fight it out for first and second. The win  went to Jackson seeing his first break though win in a  Moth event, with second to McDougall and third to Dunstan. Race two again saw Jackson and McDougall battling it out  for first and second, this time McDougall taking first and  Jackson second. Third place was hotly fought out between  Dunstan, Sam England and Lochy Byrne, with Dunstan  finding the pressure on the run to the finish. Andrew McDougall - KA Sails Victorian Moth Grand Prix Series - Round 3 - Kylie Dunstan Race three saw a carbon copy of the top three from race  two with McDougall first to the line, in front of Jackson and  Dunstan again in third. After three rounds of the KA Sails Victorian Grand Prix  Series McDougall is in first place overall, with Jackson and  Dunstan in second and third respectively. Check out some head cam footage from on board Richard's boat. Can't see too much racing, however you do see James  nearly getting his head ripped off on the start line! A special mention has to go out to Sorrento Sailing Couta  Boat Club with their exceptional organisational skills and eagerness to accommodate our needs for the event. The  Grand Prix now moves on to Geelong as part of the  Geelong Festival of Sail in January. Richard Jackson - KA Sails Victorian Moth Grand Prix Series - Round 3 - Kylie Dunstan   James Owen-Smith - KA Sails Victorian Moth Grand Prix Series - Round 3 - Kylie Dunstan

KA Sails Vic Grand Prix - Round Two

Round two of the KA Sails Victorian Grand Prix was held at Mornington YC, location for the upcoming nationals.  Unfortunately numbers were down a bit with many away, injured or with broken boats.  Never the less the days racing was particularly eventful.

In a similar fashion to round one we picked a day with plenty of rain and some very fickle winds, at least until we went sailing.  On a personal note as I went to put my foils in I noticed that my push rod had snapped off at the base.  I showed Amac and he said 'you'll be right it just means your flap won't go up so just avoid the big waves'.  I looked at at the building south westerly and thought of the forecast which was 'squalls in excess of 30 knots with the thunderstorms' and thought yeah right, shouldn't be too hard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7nv9DWZvts
Footage from Richards Go Pro, having trouble linking it properly, but this should work


We all went out, sailed past the pier and out of the protection of the harbour and got smashed!  The combination of the wind strength, which was above twenty and the waves, meant it was too dangerous downwind.  The race committee was then kind enough to set us another course much closer to shore, where we were able to seek the protection of the harbour.  The conditions were still bumpy in certain areas of the course, but very sailable.

Race one saw Amac take the win with Leigh (me) taking second and Richard in third.  Race two was a bit more eventful with Richard rounding the top mark in first with Amac close behind in second.  After Richard parked not far past the top mark Amac had to crash to miss him, causing damage to his boat and finishing his day.  I managed to find the passing lane on the final run and finished just ahead of Richard on the line (much to Richard disgust, as seen in the footage).  Kohie came through to take third.

We then had to sail back in in what was now gusting to 30 knots, which made for a tough sail in.  A special mention has to go to Kohie who sailed well in the very difficult conditions.  Thanks also to KA Sails and Racer X Marine for their support of the event.

Footage from the slalom run - Sail Melbourne

Richard has done a great job piecing together some footage from his Go Pro.  This video shows about 15 knots and bumpy seas.  This was our practice run of the slalom course mentioned in the previous post and after this and particularly the following race it filled in to twenty and the seas became much less manageable.

Nice work Richie!