best, but for the Argentina Worlds Fletcher-Scott stayed conservative: ‘I had switched sails from Lennon to the new North Helix design, I had an 8.25 which I used for the whole event but in training I spent time on the 7.5. ‘The two sails are very similar with the same luff length and
measured area, the main difference is that the 7.5 has the area cut off the leach and is designed for lighter sailors or as a windy sail for heavies. Due to the conditions out there and how my strengths were versus the fleet, I decided not to race the 7.5. In hindsight I should have used it for two of the days, but I stayed with the fleet on the full area sail.’ The days of Moth sailors being mere bare-footed sylphs ended
with the foiling era. Tom Slingsby was reportedly in the upper 80kg category when he won the Worlds at Lake Garda in 2021 with 13 race wins from 14 starts. Weight matters now and Dylan put on 5kg for Argentina: ‘In the
When it comes to identifying the venue of a major international regatta those brown waters and short chop can only mean Medemblik in the Netherlands or Rio de la Plata in Argentina. It’s still winter in Europe so bare arms mean Argentina – site of December’s Moth World Championship which was dominated by UK 2020 49er gold medallist Dylan Fletcher-Scott (above). In 2nd place was Argentina’s own brilliant rising star Massimo Contessi (left) who surprise, surprise also took home the Junior Trophy
‘Cecco’ Bruni kept the leaderboard honest. Speaking afterwards to me, the highly approachable Fletcher-
Scott commented: ‘The waves made life challenging, from trying to get the boat on the foil in the light to managing it when the breeze was up. I was confident in the big breeze – though I struggled in one windy race due to some over-attention to the control system… basically fiddling too much with something that was working perfectly well! I have also never raced a Moth in waves like that. ‘Overall I had a solid regatta, just safe with most things, not
pushing that hard or being too risky on the racecourse. I felt like I just needed to be “Steady Eddie”; with such difficult conditions I always thought it would be higher point scoring than typical events. Not just from the waves, the wind is very hard to read with the muddy water –I remember this well from a 49er Worlds here, always difficult to know exactly what was going to happen next. The last day especially I sailed very conservatively, just making sure I got the job done.’ The famous river sediments of the Rio de la Plata, caused by
the topsoil running off agricultural fields far upstream and flowing into the Paranà after spring thunderstorms, was the atypical South American backdrop for the latest Moth Worlds. And they came from far and wide – a couple from Australia, half a dozen from the USA and no fewer than 16 from Europe made the pilgrimage to Argentina. Yacht Club Argentino can trace its lineage back to 1882, before
being founded officially in 1883. Today it’s thriving. The Rolex South Atlantic circuit and the club’s International Yachting Week are just two of the highlights. Scooping the Moth Worlds was a coup. Every meeting of this fabulous development class throws up the
new. It’s relentless. But the suspicion is that a degree of real standardisation is creeping in at last. Fletcher-Scott’s set-up was progressive but not radical, as he explained: ‘I used a Maguire Aerocet designed by Kevin Elway. ‘Foils-wise I used the 2.1 main foil all the time and then switched
between a cut-down 2.1 rudder and normal 2.1 rudder depending on the conditions. I used a TV1 (mast) top and BV1 (mast) bottom by CST for the whole regatta – which I have raced all season. Nothing new here to be honest. ‘The boom had some nice new 3D-printed aluminium fittings on
the vang lever, again by CST, and a neat track for the outhaul. It’s not adjustable while sailing, however. Due to how the Cunningham works (acting as a sort of inhaul) the sail flattens well enough when you pull the controls on even through the base. Also, given how we just have one sail, it has to go through a huge shape change to develop the required power for downwind, while also getting very low on camber upwind and without too much twist.’ Getting the optimum sail area for the predicted conditions matched to athleticism and lift is a conundrum that foxes even the
summer I was 72kg, by the Worlds I managed to get up to 77kg which certainly helped my upwind speed. And that’s where I have spent most of my focus, to be honest – the numbers do not lie, and weight is just fast once we are powered up in 8-9kt of breeze. ‘For the conditions out in Buenos Aires I tried to push into a
higher, slower mode for more of the time. It just felt right given the wind and water conditions, and seemed to give the best VMG – even though it did not feel very nice at times… Still, once the wind was in, I was able to average around 21kt at 46° with the 7.5 sail. In fact, I also hit some of my highest VMGs downwind in training as well, getting to 28-29kt average at 150 TWA.’ With the famous Carling Trophy secured and the title of Inter -
national Moth World Champion now irrevocably affixed to his name alongside that Tokyo gold, Dylan is setting his 2023 sights on defending his new title at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy in June. The whole foiling world will be there and as he says: ‘Weymouth will be amazing, flat water, hopefully some fan- tastic sea breezes and 150 foiling machines blasting around. ‘One of the challenges has been fitting the racecourse in. We
are now doing two-lap 1nm races in 16 minutes, which will mean three laps this year as we cannot fit a bigger course in the harbour! Plus given the development of the boats we will be going even faster by the time the Worlds starts. I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone crack 35kt come June…’ Magnus Wheatley
USA In with the new, but why out with the old? In these pages quite a bit of emphasis is placed on new technologies and designs, and the influence they have. All of us get excited when brilliant minds go to work on creating new ideas and even new spaces for the sport to grow into. However, there are equally brilliant minds at work enhancing what has already been created to improve performance, safety and (usually) comfort too. This is particularly common in the USA offshore scene where
there are dozens and dozens of boats designed and built over 30 years ago that are still cherished and raced in a variety of classic races: the Bayview and Chicago-Mac Races held annually, the Newport-Bermuda Race held on even-number years, and the Transpac from LA to Honolulu held on odd-number years. On the Great Lakes in particular the short summer seasons, the
non-corroding fresh water and care taken over the long, harsh winters to store yachts indoors have extended the lives of boats in these fleets decades beyond their comparable life expectation in more southerly and salty waters. The ULDB Sleds, for example, that migrated to the region in the 1990s from their birthplaces on the Pacific coast remained the first-to-finish class in the Mac races for another two decades until TP52s started showing up. The Sleds are ‘classics’ in their elder age, but not in configuration.
Unlike the arms race of a box rule, most rely on their ORR ratings to stay competitive racing under handicap because of slight differ- ences in design and trim. In fact, most were kept close to their original trim – except for a few new keels, rudders and spars, with the occasional stern scoop added for a bit more waterline length. Some too have migrated back to the Pacific and are enjoying
continued competitive life there: no fewer than 10 Santa Cruz 70s SEAHORSE 25
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