Rohan Veal defends Moth title

With a mix of foils and no foils at Australian Nationals

This was a milestone event for the class. It attracted a recent record fleet of 42 Moths from 5 states, including a strong fleet of 12 scows and 9 juniors. But more significantly, the 2003-4 event brings a new era to moth sailing and possibly to the future of small boat racing. For the first time a hydrofoil borne vessel has won a major event. The Moth class again is leading the way.

Not only did Rohan Veal defend his National Title but he did it with 8 straight wins by margins from 3 to almost 8 minutes over some of the best conventional Moth sailors in the world. This is the same boat and configuration as featured in the World Championship report in November 2003 issue of Australian Sailing. Veal's boat can use either conventional fin and rudder or specialist hydrofoils fitted to the fin case and rudder pintles.

After two stormy days, Lake Cootharaba offered a week of strong winds and flat water, ideal for the current design foiling moths, but also great fun in narrow skiffs or scows. Veal initially sailed two races as a conventional moth without foils in strong winds for a 3rd and a 4th, then fitted the foils to lead around every mark for the remaining 8 races which averaged 15-20 knots.

The racing for the minor places was more intense. Winner of the two initial races was Rob Fish who slipped to third overall after Chris Dey scored a string of second places. These two, plus NSW Champion Les Thorpe, Scott Babbage, Andrew Stevenson, Steve Donovan and Ben Croker fought some close battles for the 2nd to 6th places in most heats. 2003 World Champion Mark Thorpe did not compete.

Singapore resident, Mark Robinson sailed the only other foiler present. He arrived without practice and had some spectacular crashes early in the week, but by races 7 and 8 he managed a couple of second places to end up 6th overall, showing that the transition to foiling will not be as difficult as some feared.

Veal sailed a John Illet built Prowler from WA with Ilett foils and a KA sail. The next 5 sailed Thorpe Hungry Tigers with Truflo sails except Robinson who fitted his with Ilett foils and KA sail.

First home built boat was Andrew Stevenson (7th), first heavyweight Ben Croker( 9th) first master Phil Stevenson (13th), first Junior Steve Ray (15th), first Scow Mike Kohler (17th ), first lady Yumiko Shige (Japan, 21st)

The Australian Moth Association has also voted not to ban foilers but to impose a restriction on changing equipment during an event. This should lead to development of foil systems which cope better with light and rough conditions.

Results:

Pos	Boat Name	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Tot
1	White Knuckle Expres	Rohan Veal	[3.00]	[4.00]	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	8
2	Hotblack Desiato	Chris Dey	2	2	[3.00]	2	2	2	[5.00]	3	2	2	17
3	Momentry Lapse	Robert Fish	1	1	2	[4.00]	3	[4.00]	4	4	3	3	21
4	Sector 7G	Les Thorpe	4	3	4	3	4	3	3	8	[31.00F]	[44.00C]	32
5	Moth.2	Scott Babbage	[28.00F]	5	5	5	5	5	[6.00]	5	4	6	40
6	Generation X	Mark Robinson	7	8	[14.00]	7	[15.00]	6	2	2	7	4	43
7	Shenanigans	Andrew Stevenson	5	[17.00F]	[39.00F]	9	6	7	8	6	5	5	51
8	Karma Package Deal	Stephen Donovan	6	7	7	[8.00]	8	8	7	7	6	[9.00]	56
9	Bullet With Butter	Ben Crocker	8	6	6	6	[11.00]	9	[11.00]	9	8	7	59
10	Jimminy Crickets	Greg Wise	[28.00F]	[44.00C]	10	12	7	12	16	15	10	8	90
11	Hollywood Goes Tiger	Peter Harney	[44.00C]	[17.00F]	9	13	17	13	14	10	9	10	95
12	Obstreperous	Mick Boode	28.00F	[44.00C]	8	10	[34.00F]	11	9	12	13	15	106
13	Chainsaw	Phil Stevenson	11	9	15	17	12	17	15	[35.00F]	[44.00C]	11	107
14	Naked Tiger	Ethan Twyman	9	[44.00C]	12	15	14	16	13	14	15	[44.00C]	108
15	Blank	Stephen Ray	28.00F	[44.00C]	11	11	9	15	12	13	[31.00F]	13	112
16	Li-Lo-Lil	Tim Phillips	15	[44.00C]	13	16	[21.00]	14	17	20	17	12	124
17	Raphsody	Mike Kohler	14	11	20	20	16	[22.00]	[21.00]	18	12	14	125
18	Sail for Freedom	Ryan Kelly	10	[44.00C]	39.00F	[44.00C]	10	10	10	11	11	29.00F	130
19	99	William Mueller	[44.00C]	17.00F	17	18	13	19	[20.00]	19	18	17	138
20	Statik Jackal	Andrew Sim	17	[44.00C]	16	14	19	21	19	16	16	[44.00C]	138