07/2008 –

The largest ever fleet of foiling moths have assembled for the CST Composites 2008 Moth World Championships.

With 99 entries from 18 countries, it is the second largest fleet of Moths to attend a world title event and Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy is a hive of activity with sail measurement and much preventative maintenance taking place.

With such a large fleet, the boats will be split into two groups for the first three days of the qualifying series to determine who will be selected for the Gold and Silver fleets. The final two days will be a sail-off to determine the event champion.

Unfortunately the invitation race scheduled for today has been cancelled due to too much wind. Conditions from Monday are forecast to be more conducive to foiling with 15 to 20 knots, with conditions further easing later in the week.

Regatta favourites Simon Payne (GBR) and Scott Babbage (AUS) have been performing solidly in the lead-up sailing, however in the breezier conditions some other contenders have been performing well in practice races including John Harris and Andrew McDougall from Australia and Arnaud Psarofaghis from Switzerland.

French sailing champion Sébastien Josse has taken time out from his busy schedule preparing for Vendée Globe [the round world non-stop single handed sailing race] campaign to join the Foiling Moth ranks on his Bladerider. “I am going there to sail a bit, but mostly to learn because there are loads of little tuning and tricks to know that I would take hours to pick up because I am not very experienced sailing a foiling moth. After a week of sailing I will know the basics. I get on well with Rohan Veal [2007 world champion] and I count on him to give me advice so that when I get back to France I will know how to handle the boat more. Anyway, the physical training is good training for the Vendée Globe”.

The International Moth Class Association President – Mark Robinson is excited with influx of new competitors to the Moth class “there is so much interest in the event and the word is spreading about the foiling Moth. It is very exciting to be involved in the Moth Class at this time”.

More information on the International Moth Class Association: www.moth-sailing.org

Photo Credit: Alan Henderson – www.fotoboat.com

– PR –