Racing assured

Kevin Hall and Sean Couvreaux look forward to the CST Composites Moth World Championship on the Gorge

After the CST Composites Moth Worlds was sadly blown out through too much wind in Weymouth last year, the class are earnestly hoping that this year’s event on the Gorge will be completely different. Fortunately the Gorge is one of those places in the world where you can set your watch against when the thermal breeze kicks in and according to locals you can even decide how much wind you want to sail in by how east or west you go along the Columbia River.

“It is fantastic,” claims Kevin Hall, best known for his role presently in the afterguard with Emirates Team New Zealand, of ‘the Gorge’. “I used to race 49ers there quite a bit with Morgan [Larson], Charlie and Jonathan [McKees]. It is fresh water, which is always nice. The scenery is breath-taking and there’s usually good breeze. When you sail in breeze it tends to be somewhat steady and your choice is one side or the other, but at the Gorge it is always a new thing. You have got the current going upwind pretty strongly and one side is favoured, but if you get a little under the hills then you have no wind whatsoever, and it is just really exciting racing. I think it will be a great venue - everyone is excited to be there.”

Hall has owned a Bladerider for a year and a half now and says he is getting to the point where he can race rather than just survive in it. In fact he is being modest. He won a recent warm-up round, the 'Oregon State Championship' against some stiff competition on the Gorge ahead of Dalton Bergan, sailing a new Mach 2 Moth, in second but with a string of four firsts in the final four races, Charlie McKee four points further back with the other four first place finishes, followed by Morgan Larson, Adam Lowry and Andy Mack showing that when it comes to foiler Moth sailing, former 49er crews (in 1, 3, 5) are better than their former helms (in 2, 4, 6).

Hall continues of his Moth sailing: “I would love to have much better skills than I do. Foiling tacks? I have made a few, but I am not consistent! It’s not clear what you want to aim for every time because they can lead you to be inconsistent. Good tacks is a good call!”

Another well-known big boat sailor who has returned to dinghies with the advent of the foiling Moth is Gorge resident, Sean Couvreaux.

Couvreaux says that the Gorge is effectively a west-east orientated cut through the middle of the Cascade Mountains with Mount Hood to the south and as a result wind races down the Gorge generally from the west, but very occasionally from the east, and thanks to the severe geography, nowhere in between.

Racing will take place out of Cascade Locks which is to the west of the windsurfing/kiteboard mecca of Hood River, where the wind tends to be slightly stronger. “The Gorge is the only access for air to get from west to east - that is the only way it can go," said Couvreaux. "And as you go further east it gets windier. Where we sail it will be 20+ and if we go east to Hood River it will be 25+ knots for all the windsurfing and kiteboarding you can get even more.”

Generally the breeze is thermal and so the early morning is light but, says Couvreaux, the wind by 11 is starting to crank up to 18 knots or more, up to the mid-20s by midday and only in the evening will it start backing off again.

“So we should have pretty predictable breeze. It is a long river, about 1 mile wide on average with about 1-1.5 knots of current, maybe more, it depends upon the dam! That is just downstream of where we are sailing, so if they open the tap a bit more we get more current! The water level changes every day - the beach can be up or down 3-4ft.”

The Worlds have been laid on this year by Columbia Gorge Racing Association, who are based around the area between Portland, the Gorge and Seattle. Unfortunately there are no facilities or a sailing club at Cascade Locks, however with the support of the town everything will be laid on and there is a choice of accommodation from camping at $5-10/night to luxury hotels at $150-200/night.

The organisation is arranging the transportation of boats from Portland, Oregon to Cascade Locks. Most are shipping their Moths to the event but the boats are so small and light that some have managed to persuade their airline to allow them on as hold luggage. “The location itself will be inexpensive. Meals will be provided or at low cost each night,” says Couvreaux.

The organisers are expecting 20-30 US boats at the Worlds. At present the tally stands at 40 in total with half the boats coming from the US but including the entire McKee family (seemingly), ex 49er sailors Morgan Larson, Dalton Bergen, Zach Maxam, ex ABN AMRO Two crewman George Peet, and perennial foilers Andy Mac and Bora Gulari.

“There are a lot of really good former College Sailors of the Year and good 49er sailors and other dinghy sailors who are getting into the boats,” states Hall as to the line-up. “Maybe they won’t have the tacking skills this year, but they are good sailors and they will be there next year.”

A powerful contingent is coming from the UK, including former World Champion Simon Payne and Adam May, while the Australians posse includes 49er World Champion Nathan Outteridge, Scott Babbage and Andy McDougall.

Simon Payne is sure to be gunning for Switzerland’s Arnaud Psarofaghis, after being so cruelly beaten into second place at the recent European Championship by him.

“For us who have sailed there for a long time, it is a great place,” continues Couvreaux. “A few Brits used to come over here and sailed when we were doing the 49ers – Ian Barker and Simon Hiscock, and Peter Greenhalgh and Alistair Richardson and a few French teams.”

The US Nationals are to be held on 6-7 Auust, followed immediately by the CST Composites Worlds on 10-15 August.

The Worlds will see the launch of the new CST Nano Spars series. The CST Nano Spars masts come in two model variants, ‘Pro’ and ‘Extreme’ which will complement CST’s existing high modulus ‘Club’ range. CST have been developing and testing this technology with the help of some of the best Moth sailors to ensure product reliability and performance.

"CST Nano Spars™ are made from materials which we believe are the highest performance carbon based products ever offered in the dinghy or yacht racing arena. Higher than America’s Cup or Volvo 70! This material is true satellite technology and CST brings it to the Moths as a world first," said CST’s Managing Director Clive
Watts.