third. Nathan Outteridge was timed out in 19th (‘that’s never happened to me’) resulting in him dropping down to sixth overall. Peter Burling may still have been on top but the weather was clearly in charge. Wild conditions on Day 4 saw the event director ask for a show of hands for racing. Most in the Gold fleet elected to race with all but a couple in the Silver fleet voting against. Finally, late afternoon the Gold fleet headed out to the course but PRO Garry Hosie felt that in the fleet perhaps only 10 would finish, so once again racing was abandoned. Some competitors felt they could race, Josh McKnight and Tom Slingsby among them, but there were plenty of sailors who thought it a prudent move, happy to head to the coffee shop rather than the repair shop. Day 5 was the crucial one for Burling and he cemented his position with a second in Race 9, then winning the remaining three races in shifty southwesterly winds gusting up to 25. Outteridge was in the hunt, winning Race 9, then finished second, fifth and third, lifting him to second overall, with Josh McNight third. ‘Today we had perfect conditions and I had a great first couple of races, but in the third I had two swims upwind… one while I was ducking a boat,’ Outteridge said.
On the final day Burling finished sixth in Race 13 on a breezy and bumpy course but competitors were brought ashore as soon as that was done for officials to again reassess conditions. Chris Rashley won that race, his second bullet of the championship. Around half the Gold fleet headed out for Race 14 just before 2pm, and in gusty 22-25kt winds the 24-year-old Burling finished the worlds the way he started... with a win.
Defending world champion Outteridge started his campaign with two bullets, came up with two more and finished second overall. McKnight, Moth world champion in 2012 and third in 2014, finished third again this year but the championship belonged to Burling. Nine wins from a possible 14 was extraordinary, considering the fragile nature of these boats in tough conditions that proved to be the undoing of Tom Slingsby, Scott Babbage and Paul Goodison… among many others.
Burling attributed his nine wins thus: ‘You get on a winning roll and just keep going. All the time I have put into this campaign paid off. Nathan and I spent a lot of time working on our boats and nothing broke.’
Outteridge was disappointed the full series was not completed and that conditions were extreme. It’s happened at the last three worlds. ‘In Hawaii and Hayling Island there was no wind, and here it’s been extreme at both ends. It’s a bit of a shame we’ve been compromised by having such a big Gold fleet – had it been just the top 25 guys in Gold, it would have been easy to keep sailing on the final day as the calibre is so high that the sailors would have handled it.
‘It’s something for organisers to think about in future, because Moth events are getting bigger as the boat gets more popular. It’s hard to manage a fleet of 80 boats on one course – even from a safety aspect. But, mate, Pete was impressive. Nine wins, he deserves the title!’
Despite breaking his boom, Josh McKnight had enough points to finish third overall: ‘I had hoped to challenge Nathan for second, but there’s nothing wrong with third. I finished with guys who have America’s Cup contracts either side of me, and I’m a uni student who just loves sailing a Moth.’ Two British sailors, Chris Rashley and Chris Draper, finished fourth and fifth. And so the 24-year-old rising star of Emirates Team New Zealand has added a Moth worlds to his Olympic silver and two 49er world titles. Boy, the America’s Cup is looking younger and younger… Blue Robinson
USA
No whining allowed… but what does the future hold? It gets rather old to listen to people standing around in shorts, cocktail in hand under a palm tree, griping about an event that is in its 28th year of producing great sailboat racing. Do they have no shame complaining while their neighbours at home endure winter’s full darkness and the fury of sub-freezing temperatures, the endless shovelling of driveways... and the bored whining of kids marooned at home, with schools closed due to the weather?
SEAHORSE 17
Conce on
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