Organic Mint Tea

Constantijn brewed up a great pot of of organic - or was it bio dynamic? - mint tea after which we sat on our cabin porch admiring the neighbouring caravans. I had just turned danish bacon, margarine, danish egg and finely ground pepper and salt into a Carbonara that would surely have stopped the Risorgimento dead in its tracks but which given the circumstances tasted acceptably good. Is any of this relevant?

Let's stick to facts: I can report that three members Dutch Belgian Moth Association, E.B, C.W., and G. G. had a dinner party in Horsens - to celebrate a week of boat work. Of note that in that location and at that time a European Championship was sailed in which E.B. distinguished himself by kicking ass.

Simon´s Xs

Titles are important. I bet you this one got a hook into you. I thought of "Bavarian Rhapsody". That would have been very appropriate as I spent three great days in a bucholic setting on the shores of a beautiful Bavarian lake. But I know gossip sells....

It is a matter of fact that I did run into, and spent the week end with not one but two of Simon´s Xs. We are talking moths here. One of them trounced me convincingly and if you look at the flags and are a sharp blade you might correctly surmise that it was not the young skinny one but the more mature shapely creature in a red dress.

The Bavarians, being very efficient, calculate the avg. speed of the boats and the highest speed of a race won by Harald was 5.2 knots while the lowest speed of a race won by me was 6.5 knots. We won all the races between us, Harald 4 and I 2. As consolation Harald thought I was fast low riding - for a foiler. As the courses were up and down but not necessarily perfectly aligned with the wind this gives only a rough idea of where low rider/foiler break even point might be. Most of the time there seemed to be a steady wind of 4.5 to 5 knots, just a fairy´s breath away from getting me up on foils.

I did learn one very important thing: the muscles used low riding are not the same as those used foiling. After a month on Garda I thought I was fit but days later I am still feeling the very long hours of low riding. I will work in a couple of low riding sessions a week if I can manage it. I would hate to get to a major championship and be knackered for the duration due to a first day of low riding.

Easy come easy go

All packed and ready to head back up across the alps. Going to pop up to the Ammer See for a little race and then home sweet home.

More than twenty sailing days and roughly 600 miles on Garda. So many details, so much honing to do, so much to learn - can I say: "workaholic"?

There is still loads to do.

Big Bang

Yesterday the mast came down while peacefully sailing upwind in about 12 knots; spreader bracket failure. By coincidence a volunteer rescue team was out practicing so I gave them something to do. They had a landing craft and they just lowered the front and we pulled the boat in. Last time I had that kind of service was at the 1978 Laser North Americans in Kingston. I had forgotten my stern plug and it was pretty disconcerting to get caught up by the leaders of the silver fleet who had started 10 minutes later. I was only 16 and I went through an uncomfortably long bout of self doubt before noticing that water was sloshing over the deck at every tack. Ian Bruce had organised a fantastic championship and a landing craft was on standby for quick on the water boat repairs. Pulling a fully swamped Laser into the boat required a bit more effort than hauling the Moth in. Draining it must have taken the better part of thirty minutes. They had a spare stern plug and didn´t charge me for it!

Today I buzzed down to Malcesine to strafe the M32s as they were waiting for a start. Easy come, easy go. About 20 miles of water covered down and back up the lake – just a short session. It´s Sunday.

Privilege

Air temperature slightly above 10° C, water temperature slightly below same, breeze-fickle; on standby for seven hours in order to get three and a half of good sailing. Sky overcast and raining most of the time. Pit stop required to change AOA as conditions go from light marginal to 15+ in the gusts. All this is to say that no other sailing project I can think of would motivate me to this extent.

The Moth is a truly exceptional machine. There were Melges 32s out practicing – state of the art keel boats crewed by a mix of professional and semi professional talent. Nice platforms from which to view some Moth action. And this crowd´s nowhere near as cruel as the Opti kids: they don´t laugh when diving is on the program. My body felt a little rebellious but all I had to do was look at the guys hiking the big boats down with the life lines in their gut to totally get over it and thrash myself up and down the lake.

Imagination

Garda has been unusual so far. The wind has been mostly light and I´ve only had one afternoon being bucked by the Torbolean waves which I came to tame. I whisper to them but they are not listening...yet.

Today my light air take off speed was in the low fives and just three weeks ago it had been in the high sixes. I´ve been imagining possibilities instead of limitations.

Road Trip

Driving down the highway with a boat on the roof conjures memories of North America and Laser sailing in the very distant past. Now the car and the boat are quite a bit faster but the autobahn despite, being the holy grail of motorheads world wide, doesn´t quite evoke the limitless freedom of the Trans - Canada Highway. The sound track has changed too. Feels like a time warp.

The destination ends up being Torbole, Malcesine is running too many regattas and there´s no space in their dinghy park for my Moth. Just as well, the breeze will be a little stiffer...

The trip doesn´t end here. I head down to Florence to see my sister and drive my wife to the airport in Pisa before heading back to Garda. I cross snow capped mountains three times. Italy looks beautiful to me this time around.