Grant's Moth Blog

SOLD

2009-07-15T02:12:00.000-07:00

Well for the first time in six years i am boatless.

Michael O'shea a 49ner sailor from Sydney brought the boat and I wish him well, I know he will enjoy every second in the class.

For me, I have not yet had the time to miss the class yet, between work and family life I would not have had the time to sail but I'm sure when the summer months come around I will regret the sale.

So the plan is to be back for the 2011 worlds at Belmont a new man/ sailor but for now exercise is on the road with two pedals.

I'll still post occasionally letting you know the progress of hip replacement and cycling achievements if you are interested.

Up 4 sale

2009-03-09T15:55:00.000-07:00

Well for the first time in 5 years it looks like I may be boat less with my decision to put "Freaken Sweet" up for sale.

Over the last few months with a combination of work and recessions I have not had the time to get out on the water.

The sale of the boat is regrettable, It comes with a combination of frustration and finances.

over the last year I have been up grading my boats to hopefully gain an edge only to find that lack of mobility on the boat slows or inhibits any straight line gains I make. Tacking and gybing are key factors in being competitive in moth sailing. Over the years my handicap is increasing and not decreasing which is a sign that my sailing is not improving with the rest of the fleet due to my hip and for me I sail to enjoy but part of that enjoyment is being a "little" competitive which is slipping for me resulting in stress and frustration.

I am not quiting sailing all together, I have intentions to still visit St George and pick up the odd crew if needed.

I have been doing ALOT of bike riding the last three months, lost 8 kgs in the process and am currently finishing in the top 8 out of 20 riders in my class on club days into my second race.
the best part about this is the fact that this does not affect my hip in a negative fashion, there is no pain when I ride in fact the injured leg was 100mm in circumference difference to the other. Now it is only 35mm smaller which my specialist is stoked about.

So, with the increased strength due to the riding and the sale of my boat this places me in a great position for my hip resurfacing both financially and physically. I will still post hear with updated on how I am doing.
I will promise this, After the operation I will be back on a moth hopefully a new Mach 2 pirouetting across the boat.

If you are interested;
Freaken Sweet (Luka's Skywalker) excellent condition
Prowler 4 two years old
near brand new center foil (oliptical foils)
New wing tramps
MSL 12 sail
CST High mod. Mast and boom
competitive boat with great history
NO LEAKS

$14,000.00 or
$14,600.00 with registered fully enclosed, Galvanised trailer.
Call me on 0415 473 115
grant.medcorp@bigpond.com

Back on the Bike

2009-01-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

It has been 9 years since I have ridden a bike. When I was originally diagnosed with the arthritis the doctor back then advised me to give up riding, high impact gym work outs and look for a new job and just swim for exercises.

Over the last couple of years with moth sailing my exercise regime consisted of swimming, rowing machine, weights, bad food and plenty of beer.

I enjoy the bad food and beer, but training solely at the gym on a rowing machine or swimming laps bore the shit out of me and I burn out mentally after a few weeks through the boredom.

Over the Xmas break I pulled out my old bike and went for a small ride and it did not hurt, so I have brought the bike home.

Over the last couple of days I have ridden to the gym worked out in the weights room and ridden home, not too far around 8km round trip. I did not realise how unfit I have become, legs shaking and dry reaching after small hills (embarrassing) but every day gets easier and the rides become longer.

How does this affect my hip?

It's better than pain killers, swimming hurts, riding does not ?? my right hip is 4 inches smaller in diameter than the other and I was asked by the doctor to try and build the strength back up again before the re-surfacing sometime this year.

Most of the trouble I have on the moth is due to the fact that my bad leg is so weak and I can not support my body weight on it to be able to maneuver around the boat properly. I won't be able to do this well until the operation but I have gone from walking up stairs having to use the handrail to being able to walk and sometimes run up stairs un assisted in a matter of a week on the bike.

Hopefully this helps on the water, I'll keep you posted

Boycott

2008-11-16T16:27:00.000-08:00

Deciding to boycott :-) Balmoral on Saturday, I went down to St George to race our point score.
Julian, Clive and I went out to race with Bruce coming down to say hello as he is on repair duty.

Clive arrived late to the club and started well behind us, he played a few laps with me and he has improved a great deal staying with me through out these laps, more tacking and Gybing practice and he will be fast.

Julian finished his first race ONLY 50 minutes behind. The queen of Sheba lying on the cockpit floor down wind and sitting on the wing bar looking like he was roasting marshmallows and holding a beer (nice combination) upwind.
The toe straps are there for a reason big fella.

Jokes aside well done.

So it was an empty win for the gybing Zoo Lander, Thanks Bruce ;-)

Bruce and Luka have released the next pod cast with Phil which is a great listen you can download it from Bruce's site or off I Tunes.

Well, gotta go, there is a hot chick on t.v.

Butter Feet

2008-11-02T23:33:00.000-08:00

Any day but a club championship.

Perfect SE'er on Saturday for our first club/champs. nice pin end start behind Dave at the top.

Going into the second gybe I noticed my back foot was tangled into the shock chord to the control lines. Already committed to the gybe I went across and ended up in the piss with the shock chord snapped and control lines every where. With the boat upright again i was off then into the piss?????

What happened was when the ropes snapped it damaged one of the vang cleats and the cleat stopped gripping the vang, usually not a huge deal, the problem is with the smaller dia masts the camber induces won't stay on the mast without vang tension. Every tack they would pop off so i pulled out of the race.

Dave won by an enormous margin. Luka did not even get to the start with rudder pin issues. Donosan was second with Phil in third and Kylie fourth.

Out this Thursday for repair and training.

Just the two of us

2008-10-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

It was only Bruce and I that arrived at St George choosing not to go to Sunshine. Shigemi came down as well to finish us but with only two on the water there was no point.

Bruce and I started with the skates and joined in with the race, the MG's were four minutes in front of us.

By the top mark I had over taken all the MG's and was first down hill. By the start of the third lap I was lapping the MG's and the skates. The boat was handling fantastic.

I went through the finish and de-rigged hosed down the boat had a quick shower and went into the finishers box to give John a hand as he was by himself the second boat across the finish line was a Skate 35 minutes after me.

Bruce had mad a few wand changes and it was great to see him up and foiling about. Three red boats in the club should confuse the finishes.

lunch break

2008-10-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Sitting at home staying out of the wind looking up the weekends forecast.
BOM states Saturday will be NE 14 and Sea/b has it for SE 8-10 might be one of those shifty early season St George races where it is blowing light SE on the southern side of the river fighting a NE up near the river club for those of us not making the trip to Sunshine.

The rest of this week is out as I'm waiting on new wing tramps to be made.

It does not look so good anyway.

18/10/08 Race 1 (for me)

2008-10-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

Nice 10-12 NEer greeted us for the race. A small turn out with Dave, Luka (on Clive's boat), Kylie, Lea and me.
We all had a clean start with Dave leading then Lea, myself then Luka, by the top mark I made up ground and Dave turned the mark 10sec before me in second.

Down wind to the wind mark we had half meter swell with the run out tide but the boat felt good. unfortunately I had to put it in the piss at the wind mark as the mark was a mess with Skates and a cruiser to the starboard who refused to either stop or move away from the race coarse. I rounded up to pass him on the other side digging the wing bar and putting in.

I always love it when the driver of the cruiser abuses you for being in the road, Dick head.

Any way up and off to the bottom mark with Luka up my ass. Upwind I made ground on Luka (a testament to how well his boat is set up).

At the top mark Dave decided to turn around and round the mark again apparently he was getting bored being upfront by himself. :-(

We headed down wind and for the rest of the race it was Dave and me in the lead with Luka pulling out with a broken mainsheet. Kylie also retired with a broken bridle.

Dave won on scratch by three minutes then I came in on second nine minutes in front of Lea.

I won on handicap which i'm pretty happy about.

I am extremely happy with the boat it is fast up wind and down it is stable with minimal ventilation. I could get more out of it down hill, I was a little conservative in the wave keeping it low when I did not need to but a great race in general.

Luka's new boat is due this week.

AHHHH Noosa

2008-10-02T20:26:00.000-07:00

We are currently on a family holiday up here in sunny Noosa.

Today it's 29degrees with a water temp. of over 20.

I am watching a few Hobie Wave's out on the water in the NE breezes they have up here most of the time by about 10am. Sensational.

This of course makes me miss my boat. oh well we are back on the 11th.

Not to sure how the first race went at St G on the 27th can any one fill me in.

Season starts

2008-09-22T03:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday's registration and practice race saw the start to the St George SC's race season.

Unfortunately only 6 or seven moths, 2 16's and a couple of MG's hit the water. Maybe the 20-30nt coastal warning turned people away and we were lucky enough to see gust's of up to 20 at most.

I didn't make the start of the practice race and was left behind on the first lap. once I got into the first lap I was more than happy with my speed both up and down wind.

I had a couple of problems that have to be sorted through out my laps i lost vang with the port side cleats not closing on the rope and Tacking, which has never been a problem for me is turning into a small problem that needs some adjusting.

Gybing though, is great which is a turn. mostly off starboard though :-)

I'm off to Noosa for the next three races so no racing for the meantime.

16ft Moth now foils

2008-09-17T03:04:00.000-07:00

Today I went for a sail as the work day was slow.

A nice 10nt SEer.

Dave arrived as I was packing up and was heading out as well as Bruce G with his 16ft carbon moth NOW with hydrofoils, and a nice job of them.

The 16 is a trapeze boat even though it has wings so Bruce has opted to keep the rudder foil fixed and chose to pitch the boat through body movement off the wire. Note- he has the ability to adjust the wand setting on the fly.

It was a little lite when he finally got out on the water and through a few puff's he was up. Not bad considering it was his first outing with it.

I can't wait to see it up and running with all the teething problems sorted.
with it only a few kg's heavier than a moth, a 16ft mainsail and 10-11ft out from the center line of the 1ft wide hull, should made a wicked down hill ride. More than happy to lend him the Velocitech that day.

Took a couple of photo's on my phone but they were too far away. hopefully a couple soon.

By "Rev's"

2008-09-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

A sad day yesterday as a deposit was put down for Revelations.

She is off to Mt Isa to new daddy Justin, good luck with it mate she'll take care of you.

I did not think I would become so attached to a boat. It was a purchase off Scott I'll never regret. It would have been interesting to see how it would have performed with elliptical foils on it.

Oh well, come Saturday on the prowler. I should feel better.

NAME????????

2008-09-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

With the Moth registration day at St George on the 20th of this month, I have to pull my finger out and come up with a name for the new boat (luka's red Prowler).
Here's what I have had in mind;
* "Final Revelation"
* "Taken for Granted"
* "Addicted"
* "Recently Divorced"

Any Suggestions?

So close to the new season

2008-09-08T01:58:00.000-07:00

Went out today in a 17-20 ssw at St George. Had a good hour on the water and looking forward to a few more days out before the season starts as this boat is teaching me new things every day.

Down wind speed reached 23nts in one gust, I did not push it too hard as I still didn't feel confident to do so and It has been some time since I have had a chance and conditions to do so.

Worked with carbon for the first time (yep,been in the class for 4years and never used it) Julian and I carboned the cockpit of his scow, the stern and sides of the hull where the wing bars sit. In true moth style Julian opted to due this in the dinning room of his new house (it's nearly finished with the timber floor yet to be sanded, they have not moved in yet).

But if Sandra new he'd probably be dead.

5- 23

2008-08-29T02:48:00.000-07:00

Julian and I went for a sail yesterday in an 18-23 SW at St George.

Over the last couple of weeks we have gone out in 4-8nt's on a 14ft windrush. So yesterday Julian was keen no matter what the forecast was.

Only this time he was solo on his scow moth. Cutting a long story short, there was a fair time in the water, bruises and an early night. I have to say first time on a mono hull in 18 SW is a good effort and he loved the time on the water.

The new boat was great, getting used to the flap less rudder is interesting.
I will be going for a sail tomorrow and Luka will be down there as well and he is going to give me run down on the boat and take it out.

Rev. has been subject to spare parts to people at the club recently so I may have to spend some time getting her back up and running.

The Prowler

2008-08-26T02:58:00.000-07:00

Well I have to say, it comes down to John I's boats or Luka's set up makes a magical difference. What a pleasure to sail.

Going off how well Dave's boat sails set up is the factor. John however does make a nice boat.

There is no fault with this boat. No slop, play or imperfection and it shows in its performance.

A good mate and work colleague has joined the Moth class buying Mark Wolney's Scow "Mad Scow" which is another member to join the St G's Moth squadron. He has not even stepped onto the boat and he is talking about building his first boat. Moth spirit coming out already.

Still contemplating what to call the new boat. I have received the designs for its new look but names I always have trouble with.

I am looking forward to the new season we have a few new faces at St G.
By the sounds of it, there has been alot of off season work completed by our regulars. Bruce is re-spraying his boat with new foils on the way, Luka's New boat is due shortly, Mark is going to be foiling this season on his new Gilly. Phil is no doubt working on something new.

New boat

2008-07-30T21:55:00.001-07:00

Sorry it has been a while since my last post as work has taken 110% of my time, both spare and work related.

I'm happy to say that that I have sold my green tiger 9313 to Chris Dixon at St George with the fastacraft foils. I hope it gives as much pleasure to him as it did to me.

I have got Rev, up for sale for $9500 now after buying Luka's boat Skywalka from him. I have always thought that anyone buying on of Luka's boats was on a winner and I practiced what I preached.

My first sail on it will be this weekend and I can not wait. My first Prowler.

The only problem is that there will be three red boats at St George that will be red, so the question remains. How to pimp my ride?

Any suggestions?

Oh, And a new name? Sorry Luka.

Anzac Day

2008-04-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I hope we did not offend anyone with our fancy dress theme for the last race at St G, but watching Donosan sail around in pink PJ's wearing a blond wig with rollers and sporting a 5 o'clock shadow made it worth while.

We were granted a perfect day with flat water and 20kt's from the south.

Dave one the race with John H close in second. Luka came third with Donosan 4th, Alan 5th and then me in 6th.

There were 17 moth's at the club which was a great turn out.

Phil did not sail after re-arranging his forefinger with a chisel and Scott not making it to the start in time with Mast issues.

In all, it was a great day. Now Revelations will go to hospital to receive her new foils and I will be spending the entire off season gybing and tacking. As I am more than happy with my boat speed my turns are awful.

Congrat's to Dave on taking the win and the new Anzac day plaque, also to Donosan who won the best dresses apron with rubber jubblies and Marty who took home a rather expensive clock with the fasted speed of the day at 23.1

We are going to make the Anzac Day race fancy dress every year now, so no excuses. In fact I think Joe the commodore of the club is going to encourage this for all classes.

Hope so.

Low tides but wicked rides

2008-04-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

Saturdays race greeted us 17-24 sse winds (bom observations) which meant flat water and fast rides.

Once again we were all late to the start so Phil's call out "Lets go" was our official over the line. Dave as usual was off and away up wind stopping occasionally after a tack to see what we were all up to before shooting off again. He is the only guy that I know that would stand in a lions cage and wave a steak in front of its nose because he knows that he can get out of the cage quick enough) One day you'll trip Dave ;-)

Rounding the top mark all race was interesting, with full cunno and bugger all vang one second is spent winding rudder suck to stop the nose dive and in an instant diving to the front of the wind bar winding the opposite direction and praying quietly.

The rides down wind were awesome some of the best I have had on a moth. I have never been scared on the moth. After a broken back, numerous broken ribs, amnesia and endless sprains after 100Kmh+ falls with water skiing I didn't think that the boat could hurt me, I was wrong.

On my way to the bottom mark I was hit by a gust and as I bore away the rudder let go and I was flung clean off the side of the boat and I was well and truly winded.

The race sore three capsizes in total but the wild rides made up for it.

The last lap was the windiest and I learned alot as I would usually pik out of these conditions, i'm glad I didn't.

Dave won the race, I came second with Phil 3rd after breaking his vang.

Luka pulled out with a push rod letting go and Donosan retired when his stay removed itself from the spreaders.

Bruce was happy with his latest set up and retired early not wanting to risk injury to his boat.

Many thanks to the McLeod Family for hosting an end of year BBQ at their new home.

Next week is our last race on Friday Anzac Day, In fancy dress. So come down for a laugh.

Grant

The end of the North Easterly winds

2008-04-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

After a delayed start we got over the start line on a fleet scratch start.

I opted for the pin end start with two 16's and two skates staying in clear wind away from the rest of the fleet.

We started in an easterly breeze no more than 6-7knt's not quit enough to stay up.

Luka, Phil and Bruce were amid the fleet at the boat end with Dave coming down only to pick his tool box as he is in the process of moving house. Congrates Mate hope it brings years of happiness.

Luka and I both tacked onto port with Phil and Bruce staying on Starboard.

On Tacking onto starboard and Luka retired from the race with a damaged push rod linkage to a new highly experimental centreboard.

Phil by now was well ahead as he is proving to be the king of low riding. But a gust came through and I managed to foil to the top mark. I did not over take Phil but made alot of ground on him.

As I rounded the mark the breeze died off and we were back running square, once again Phil opening up a lead staying uncoupled I did not as trying to re-couple has put me in the piss alot.

At the bottom mark breeze returned and I caught up to Phil by the top Mark again with the breeze leaving us. The smart thing to do would have been to un-couple and try to stay with Phil but I tried to get onto the foils to make ground down wind with no luck the wind had died off so I retired from the race. No spits of the dummy, just laziness.

Well done to the Bert Newton of low riding (Phil) who just loves 0-5knt forecasts, and for good reason.

I am allot happier with the boat a few small tweaks sore me up and foiling in light wind that I usually would not foil in.

Thanks for reading,
Grant

Club race

2008-04-10T01:54:00.000-07:00

Most of my Thursday and Friday nights are spent on my knee's praying for 10+knt's for the Saturday racing, but as the winter months fast approaching we have been lucky.

Last Saturday looked doubtful but the easterly breeze came in, in the nick of time. Only 10knts but enough.

Dave took the win convincingly, he is extraordinarily fast. Good on him as the amount of effort he has put into his boat is reflected in his performance.

Donosan took second with me in third...

As Dave and Donosan went around the bottom mark the wrong way gave me first place, but being the good sportsman I thought of not worrying about it..................HA yeah right, WINNER.

Very shallow.

As usual my down wind turns are slowing me up allot, and as soon as I can establish the boys on site I will be looking for needed down time to spend gybing from the airport to the club.

Thanks for reading,

Grant

The "Birmingham experience"

2008-04-01T03:05:00.000-07:00

For those you who don't know me that well, I don't exactly walk like a "super model".

After the 10 years as a fitness instructor and water ski racing competitor has left me with arthritis in my right hip which was diagnosed eight years ago.

Over the last year the pain has increased and I thought it best to get an X-ray to assess how bad this has become.

You know it's bad when the radiologist personally escorts you back to the doctor for diagnosis.

The doctor told me that the arthritis was server and an immediate hip replacement was needed. The only problem is, the possibility of time off the water if not to retire from moth sailing as the traditional hip replacements will not allow the agility needed to sail these boats with the risk of dislocation.

The thought of having to give away sailing was tough.

Today, I had an appointment with Dr. Lawrence Kohan an orthopedic surgeon.

He told me that it was stuffed, there is no doubt about it.

Thanks to Simon Nelson I asked about the Birmingham Hip re-surfacing, and I CAN HAVE IT.

This is not a replacement, and I can go for a run (which I have not done in seven years) go for a ride, a ski and it will out last me.

This for me is great news.

People with arthritis know exactly what I mean. You can't sleep, you doze. watching your kids run around with other people because you can't takes the cake.

An important lesson I have learned, Always get a second opinion by a specialist.

All I can say is 2011 Aus worlds bring it on.

Once again, Thanks Simon N it's the best advise I have EVER heard.

Thanks for reading

Grant

Back on foils

2008-03-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

Turning up at the club on Saturday with a forecast of 5-10kt's was not promising. It seemed to be a States repeat.

Mark W came down to race only to return his boat to the shed and retire the day with visions of sore knees.

Donosan took our minds of the wind with his two piece mast becoming fused together. Rallying a few strong arms we spent a good part of the morning playing tug-of -war trying to twist it apart, finally separating it twenty minutes before the start. (thanks for the beer after the race Donosan), I'll help you any time.

As the morning went on the breeze did come in from the east about 10-12knt's. I was late to start with spreader problems and went through the gate 6th, with Steve a few minutes after me with Shagaimi.

On the fist work I managed to get into third with Dave around the mark first then Luka and me.

The Easterly course is a figure of 8 and not the easiest course to remember with Bruce, Steve and Shagaimi confused on the course direction. Due to this remaining third would be unchallenged unless I did something stupid.

Dave took the win for our final club championship race with luka second me third and I believe Kylie to be fourth.

Bruce retired from the race with gudgeon issues and Steve remained on the water to continue racing.

With two capsizes I could have done better, both were on port gybe which remains my weak point due to my hip.

Missing was Phil S, After having a ripper NSW states I think he wants to finish on a high.

Next week is a club point score and looking forward to it. Any way, Back to erecting the back fence.

Grant

Hello There

2008-03-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

Well I have been told that to be a true mothie you have to have a blog, well, here goes.

If you like blogs that are full of technical detail you may be a little disappointed. This blog will contain mostly my venting, weekend results, thoughts, shit stirring etc...

O.K. where to begin, I'm 33 years young, married with two great kids.

Two years ago I purchased RFTM off Scott Babbage and started foiling a moth. Now called "Revelations", my boat is a Thorpe made Hungry Tiger Mk2, And was purpose built for foiling with Thorpe built 'Stevo foils'. This boat was sailed by Scott to a 2nd in the 05/06 Aus. titles and a win in the NSW states of the same year. An extremely well built boat and one I thoroughly enjoy.

Why did I choose the moth?

After a season on a 16, Luka approached me and offered me a sail on his old Lazich. As soon as I got off the water I rang the owner of a moth for sale at the club and made an offer there and then. I was hooked.

Although the boat was a low rider ( there was not many foilers in NSW at this time) I fell in love with the Moth. This feeling was tripled on the purchase of Scott's old boat.

As the years progressed, I found it was the people within the class that has made it worth while, from the gang at St George to the people that I spend time with at the away regatta's. Every one I have met in the Moth class have been sensational, and it is a privilege to sail with them through out the season.

NSW State titles

I was hoping to do a lot better.

In the lead up to the states I made the decision to Purchase Aaron Gregory's HT 9313. As it is impossible to obtain new foils at the moment, Aarons Fastacraft foils are only a couple of months old.

So I left for Melbourne on Monday morning to pick it up, and returned home on Tuesday morning straight to the club for a set up check.

I sailed the boat on Tuesday and Wednesday at St George with Luka, Dave and Bruce. The down wind difference is incredible with John's foils.

The races on Friday I chickened out on, paranoid about braking my new purchase. Saturday was a little calmer and I took the plunge. Races 2&3, up wind the boat felt great. After the gates were shut on me at the boat end of the start I was last to cross the start line. By the first tack I had caught right up to the fleet.

The boat was faultless, I seemed to have problems tacking this boat over the other one capsizing on tacks which I don't do very often, and down wind, I'm not even going to post. Disaster.

The rest of the regatta was light wind some races I did well some I didn't. A great learning experience though, I suppose this is what happens when you pick and choose your training days with the best conditions.

My Arch Nemesis Phil S had a great NSW states. Every week Phil and I do battle on the water Mid pack and It's always close racing between us. It was great to see him take out 3rd overall and 2nd NSW.

Congratulations to Scott for his win it is great to hear your fired up now for the worlds.

Some of highlights of the regatta;

-Les arriving with a BR, only to have to go back home to bring back "Sector". Old Faithful.
then in the last four races telling every one how great the HT's are and that if any one offers him 12k they can
have it. (no arguments there).

Doink showing the Win TV cameraman that he can curse and swear at his boat in several different languages when he was caught in irons at the wing mark.

I have proved that it is possible to take copious amounts of pain killers, bourbon and beer over a three day stretch and your kidney's can still function.

Quote of the weekend by Kylie Lowry in 3kts of wind. "Luka, your dreaming. You are not going to foil".

Safe sailing and thanks for reading.