Gun shy...

I've been a little gun shy to crank on the vang when I'm sailing, concerned that I'll blow my boat up.  However, it's become clear that one of the major problems, if not the only problem as to why I don't successfully foil well clear of the water is because I'm not using nearly enough vang.  I tried to adjust it on the water last weekend to allow it to get tighter but it was too windy and wavy to successfully make that change.  Once the weather warms up a little (and the foot of newly fallen snow melts) I'll spend some time with the boat rigged in the yard, dialing in the vang so that it can be cranked next time I go sailing.

It's that time again, actually, it's overdue.  After much work getting J22s ready for the sailing season on behalf of the Park City Sailing Associatoin (www.parkcitysailing.org), I can finally get to the couple of tweaks needed on the Moth. I put a carbon tube on the deck last weekend, that will capture the horizontal push-rod and keep it from flexing.  I'm hoping to get out this coming weekend to take it for a spin.

By the numbers

Sailing is on hold for a while as it's cold in Park City (-10 F this morning...fun). So the boat is stored for the Winter and I'm eyeing the small project list though I'll take some time to relax and focus on skiing for a while and put sailing on the back burner.

Thanks to Richard Davies, the US Moth class President, who while I was in Long Beach at the Turkey Day Regatta at ABYC, diagnosed a couple of issues on my setup and set me straight. He also measured the WB and it's officially a MOTH! I'm stoked for all of that and can't wait for the Spring.

A picture of the Moth sitting on the car prior to heading to San Diego to see the America's Cup World Series and then to Long Beach/ABYC for the Turkey Regatta.

Sailing but not foiling

I got out for an hour or two today and it went very well. In general the boat had no issues, setup went well, launch was relatively easy but the wind was light so I had very little time out on the outer wing bars. It was probably a good way to get the boat wet and to see how things went, too much wind may have been more than I wanted to deal with. Hopefully we'll get some great breeze next weekend.

Finished...for now

It's in primer gray and not completely faired but that was the plan for some time, to get it to a sailable point where if something went wrong as I got foiling, I wouldn't have to repair a fresh paint job. So there it is, battleship (545 primer) gray. Now it's time to get the rust off my minimal foiling skills from the loan of the West Coast Sailing demo Bladerider RX two years ago that George was so willing to leave with me for a bit.

Almost Ready...almost mothable

A little more fairing/finishing work, a bit of rigging and the wand system. The boat's almost mothable.

She ain't a looker but she'll do

Here's where the boat is at the moment. I'm dialing in the gantry, wand system and racks over the next few days. The boat will be primed in a week or so and ready for a test sail soon.