Noble Allen 2018 International Moth UK Championship at Thorpe Bay - Day 2
by Mark Jardine 13 Jul 2018 06:44 NZST
11-14 July 2018
A race against tide, won by slick race management
Unexpected drizzle and overcast sky greeted the camping Moth sailors in the Thorpe Bay Yacht Club dinghy park on Thursday morning. This led to a lacklustre breeze for the entire morning, resulting in the window available for racing before the tide became too low becoming shorter and shorter.
Just after midday the sun broke through and a decent breeze filled in quickly afterwards. The Thorpe Bay YC race team wasted no time and managed to get two quick-fire races away. Foiling was still marginal, but infinitely better than an entire day ashore fettling with Dremels.
The ebb tide was in full flow when everyone was on the water, and this caught out a number of sailors when it came to the start of the fourth race. Those who had practised beneath the line blitzed away while those trying to work their way downwind to the start area languished in low-riding mode.
The race itself cemented overnight leader Jason Belben's lead with another win. Jason described how the start was key:
"It was marginal foiling so we had to approach with about 40 seconds to go on the foil, moving forwards while the tide was also pushing us over, so that was touch and go, but I pulled it off."
The second race of the day saw home town sailor, and yesterday's birthday boy, Kyle Stoneham take the win. Something he was rightly proud of:
"It was fantastic. The breeze came good with a Force 3 from the South East and we had a cracking time foiling around.
"I spent some time off the foils today but kept looking for the pressure and that was the key thing for me. I used my small rudder today rather than the big rudder foil I used yesterday and had way more boat speed, which made foil taking much easier. I managed to stay on the foils in almost all the tacks today which made a huge difference.
"The race team did a fantastic job. If you'd have said we could have had one race earlier on today then the sailors would have grabbed your arm off. They set exactly the right length of course and duration which led to two races being sailed. With the tide being an hour later tomorrow we've got much more time tomorrow and on Saturday, and the sun should be out which will help."
Overall leader Jason Belben now holds an eight point lead and summed up the day:
"It was another good day for me. I was quite surprised I managed to pull back in the final race of the day as in that second one I was up there, then I got weed on my rudder and the fleet passed me by, but I managed to catch them back on the second lap.
"The breeze was far more consistent today, so it was more a case of figuring out the best way to go to avoid the weed. The tide made things interesting as we had a quite a lot of current under us. You had to under-lay the mark quite a lot as we were getting swept out to sea otherwise.
"The race team pushed out the two races quickly and they couldn't have done anything more than what they did - it was pretty impressive. It was unfortunate that the tide going out stopped us having a third race."
A huge thank you to the sponsors of the event: title sponsors Allen Sailing and Noble Marine as well as WetsuitOutlet.co.uk, Maguire Boats and ShockSailing.com who have provided support for the daily pasta and beer for sailors coming off the water.
Results after Day 2: (five races, 1 discard)
| Place | Sail No | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 4509 | Jason Belben | 2 | ‑3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 4533 | Jim McMillan | 4 | 1 | 5 | ‑6 | 4 | 14 |
| 3 | 4409 | Ross Harvey | ‑8 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 15 |
| 4 | 4525 | Ben Clegg | 5 | 7 | 3 | 2 | ‑15 | 17 |
| 5 | 4148 | Dave Kenefick | 1 | ‑9 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 18 |
| 6 | 4501 | Dan Ellis | 11 | 5 | 6 | ‑13 | 9 | 31 |
| 7 | 3980 | Alex Adams | ‑16 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 32 |
| 8 | 4584 | Mike Lennon | 3 | 11 | 10 | 9 | ‑20 | 33 |
| 9 | 4534 | Jason Russell | ‑18 | 8 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 34 |
| 10 | 4386 | Simon Hiscocks | 13 | 4 | 8 | 11 | ‑14 | 36 |
| 11 | 4442 | Kyle Stoneham | ‑21 | 15 | 12 | 16 | 1 | 44 |
| 12 | 4541 | Jeremy Hartley | 14 | ‑16 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 44 |
| 13 | 4149 | Eddie Bridle | 12 | 12 | 9 | ‑18 | 11 | 44 |
| 14 | 4136 | Ed Redfearn | 6 | 14 | 14 | 14 | ‑22 | 48 |
| 15 | 8 | Dan Ward | 9 | 6 | (DNC) | 24 | 12 | 51 |
| 16 | 4492 | Nic Streatfeild | 7 | 18 | ‑20 | 12 | 16 | 53 |
| 17 | 4544 | Mathew Lea | 10 | 21 | 13 | ‑31 | 17 | 61 |
| 18 | 43 | Alistair Kissane | 15 | 13 | ‑29 | 20 | 13 | 61 |
| 19 | 3799 | Max Stelzl | 22 | ‑25 | 16 | 17 | 7 | 62 |
| 20 | 4542 | David Hivey | 17 | 17 | 28 | 10 | (DNC) | 72 |
| 21 | 4101 | Andrew Sim | ‑27 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 82 |
| 22 | 4548 | Tom Offer | (DNC) | DNC | 7 | 15 | 21 | 84 |
| 23 | 4208 | Tom Lambert | 24 | 20 | 18 | ‑26 | 25 | 87 |
| 24 | 4328 | Alex Ringstadt | 25 | 28 | 21 | ‑33 | 19 | 93 |
| 25 | 4104 | George Boussoulas | 23 | 22 | 24 | ‑28 | 24 | 93 |
| 26 | 4139 | Neil O'Toole | 20 | 23 | 23 | ‑29 | 29 | 95 |
| 27 | 4484 | David Jassop | 28 | 24 | 22 | 30 | (DNC) | 104 |
| 28 | 3169 | Brad Gibson | ‑29 | 26 | 27 | 25 | 27 | 105 |
| 29 | 4036 | Chris Clarke | 19 | 27 | 31 | (DNC) | 30 | 107 |
| 30 | 3870 | Eddie Gatehouse | 31 | ‑32 | 25 | 27 | 31 | 114 |
| 31 | 4390 | Cian Byrne | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 19 | 18 | 119 |
| 32 | 4479 | Adrian Coatsworth | 32 | 30 | 26 | ‑34 | 33 | 121 |
| 33 | 4554 | David Smithwhite | 26 | 35 | (DNC) | 23 | DNC | 125 |
| 34 | 3995 | Charlie Coulborn | 30 | 31 | 33 | 32 | ‑34 | 126 |
| 35 | 3989 | Hiroki Goto | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 22 | 26 | 130 |
| 36 | 3629 | Thomas Mehew | 33 | 33 | 32 | (DNC) | DNC | 139 |
| 37 | 4096 | Mark Dicker | (DNC) | 29 | 30 | DNC | DNC | 141 |
| 38 | 4241 | Ian Keely | 34 | 34 | 34 | (DNC) | DNC | 143 |
| 39 | 4033 | Adam Golding | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | 28 | 151 |
| 40 | 3948 | Neil Cooney | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | 32 | 155 |
