I have had a few sails against the moths at St George. I can sort of hang in with them upwind even if they are foiling, going higher and slower but getting there with the second level boats. But downwind they are twice as fast and I have to wait to be lapped to get another go at them.

Have been playing with battens a lot and have the sail looking much better than at Albury, when there were some hard items installed. I seem to have regained the lost light air speed and height and have found a way to get upwind more comfortably when the wind comes up.

Next Sunday Seth is coming for a sail, and since he is one of our top ICs I should get a better picture as to whether I have improved since racing Hayden.

Canoe Rendeveu Albury

Visted Albury to race a few canoes including National Champ Hayden Virtue.

He won 4 out of 5 races with vastly superior upwind speed. I beat him only once with a downwind finish speed burst, and on only one other occasion got past him at a leeward mark.

But I was happy with my stage of development knowing that Hayden is the best in Aust and up there near the top of the world as well.

At least I managed 3 full races without swims in some challenging and gusty conditions, only relapsing once I got very cold and a little tired.

Speed improvements are needed to the LOG. We found that the similar rig on my former Moth, Chainsaw, improved dramatically with some diamonds to prevent side bend, so this will be my first experiment. I have to sort out the luff zip / unrig requirements, but first I will see if it makes the required difference.

Report on:
http://www.internationalcanoe.yachting.org.au/?page=32413