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We talk to Australia foiler Moth guru Rohan Veal about his new Prowler MkIV

Rohan Veal, Australia's foiler Moth guru and the man who has done the most to promote this new breed of flying dinghy globally, has a new toy...

Veal this weekend was racing his new Prowler, his fourth foiling Moth from John Ilett's company Fastacraft, at Sydney International Regatta, where - once again - he won every race, one by 10 minutes, securing the regatta having sailed just eight of the ten races. Aside from his 10 minute margin race, Veal says the competition has been getting a lot closer. "The other guys I am racing against they are good sailors. One came fourth in the World Championship [Mark Robinson], and the other guy [Scott Babbage] is a very good 29er and 49er sailor and he is going to be very good. He has a new boat, it is not like mine but similar, and he sailed very well."

From a conditions point of view racing in Sydney this weekend was excellent. "It was unreal sailing. It was the best regatta I’ve sailed in a long time. We had 15-30 knots every day. It was an awesome regatta. So I’m going again next year."

The new Prowler MkIV, the first of the latest model to come out and delivered to Veal just four weeks ago, Fastacraft have improved many things, in particular the hydrofoils. These are a new design with tapered rather than square ends. "They are not necessarily faster, but they are so much more refined and smoother and quieter through the water and they make it a lot easier to sail," says Veal.

While the wand system used to drive the trim tab at the back of the lifting foil at the bottom of the centreboard (the alititude adjuster), is similar to the previous design, for the new boat the outrigger holding the rudder has been moved further back improve stability laterally. However Veal says thay have had to compromise on the fore and aft position of the centreboard. "On the last boat I had at the Europeans, I moved it a long way forward, but it was too far forwards for optimum balance so we moved it back a bit. Not many people would notice the difference but having sailed so many of these now, and other people’s boats, I’ve got a good feel for what is really ideal, so every boat we do is just different in some way and we are just trying to find the optimal design and I think we have got it now."

The next Prowler MkIV to come off the Fastacraft production line when it is finished this week is heading for the UK and to European Champion Simon Payne. "It is extremely light, just 9.2kg and that is painted as well. If you look at my boat, it came out a bit heavy with the paint and then I have gone and added all these stickers as well. I probably shouldn’t have got it painted with all the stickers. But it looks good - that’s the most important thing!"

This morning when we spoke to Veal he was in his car en route back down to Melbourne, a nice 900km drive. The boat has been left back in Sydney ready for the Australian Moth Nationals starting on 1 January. Aside from the threat from the likes of Scott Babbage, Veal says that the Australian foiler Moth scene is heating up now and is seeing the return of many ex-Mothies to the class.

In Australia, Veal obviously promotes the Fastacraft Prowler he sails, but behind him at the Sydney International Regatta was a modified Hungry Tiger design made by Mark Thorpe in Sydney. Veal describes it: "It has very low freeboard, the transom is extremely narrow, and has low freeboard at the back as well. I’m not sure about the weight - it is probably around 10-11 kg, but the hydrofoils have rounded ends, so they are a good design, but they are a bit heavy because I think they are solid carbon. It doesn’t affect performance - he is still sailing quite fast. He has a KA sail on and he is going a similar speed to us."

To be frank, Veal thinks that between Moths, their minimalist hull have very little bearing on performance. "The foils make a little bit of difference, but the rig and the sail makes all the difference - that is the motor for the boat. As long as you have that set right you are laughing."

In fact Veal reckons the foiler Moths are becoming something of a one design. "Everyone is agreeing and compromising on a set formula or configuration - the amount of lift you need on the centerboard and rudder, this is where the centerboard and rudder should go, the type of sail you should be using - because there are so many variables. The last few years people have been experimenting with all this stuff. So we are saying - this is the best."

Most top sailors are now using the sail from KA with a mast and boom from Brett Burville's company Windrush. "The mast doesn’t make too much difference, it is the sail that makes the hell of a lot of difference from what I’ve found. We have just made a new sail - that is what we were all using up in Sydney, called the MSL11. We had to cut some area out of the sail because of the new rules, so we lost about 0.3sqm of area but we are trying to reduce drag and increase speed by using less area. We are getting there…"

From here Veal says there will be more development with materials and sections - both sail and foils - in order to increase speed. But major improvements he believes are still to be made in terms of ease of use. "At the moment we have to lean back on the boat to induce lift to get the boat out of the water, and we want to look at processes at how to automate that a bit more so anyone who hasn’t sailed a Moth before and doesn’t know about leaning back and is going slow, the boat will automatically ride up flat and fly." The million dollar question is how to automate this process but according to Veal, this is under discussion at present. "For the moment the top guys don’t need that - we just want something simple, strong and fast. But we want to get the class to the masses now and the barrier to entry is going to be ease of use. We think they are pretty good to use at the moment, but we can do better. I reckon that is another 12-24 months away."

Obviously while gear has some bearing on performance what really makes the difference in performance is sailing technique. This is where Veal really dominates at the moment having spent so much more time foiling Moths than his competitors have.

After Sydney Veal will take his boat back to Melbourne where he will sail her in some exhibition racing to coincide with the Volvo Ocean Race stopover. Here she will be pitched against some 14ft skiffs and F18 catamarans. Who will win of these three? "It depends. The place we are sailing is pretty average as the wind swirls around near the city, so it is not ideal. So I don’t know - it depends upon the conditions. I know I can beat an A-Class in good conditions, so I should be able to beat an F18. But it is all for fun, just for show."

With the next Moths World Championship being held in Denmark in July 2006, so Veal will be returning to Europe and says depending upon time constraints he might try and sail some other races while he is over. In Europe and the UK in particular the foiler Moth scene is progressing well with Simon Payne and Adam May now up to a similar level to Veal. "Adam and Simon are sailing brilliantly. They obviously did very well at the Europeans, but the new boat I have got now is so much better than that last one I had. We have taken a massive step forwards," says Veal. We look forward to seeing who is going to kick who's butt in the Worlds next year.