Left: not the first big crash in SailGP but the first time they completely broke the boat. Nathan Outteridge’s Japanese team are very cautiously towed back in after being violently assaulted by Ben Ainslie’s British entry. However, after a frantic night in the shed, with all of the British shore crew working away feverishly alongside Outteridge’s own men and women, Japan was back out on the water the following day (above) although now in the all-red British boat – the Brits in any case having been ‘excused further participation’
heel allowed the main lifting foil to generate lift to windward and unloaded the centreboard of side loads. The Illetts’ Prowler was superceded by Andrew McDougall’s
Bladerider, later manufactured in large numbers in China. Partly because of quality problems McDougall lost control of the company, but then made a comeback with McConaghy and the Mach2. In the UK Kevin Ellway pushed development further with the hugely successful Exocet. And that brings us to the AC75 – called a ‘big Moth’ by those
in a position to know. Moth World Champions in the America’s Cup include Pete Burling, Nathan Outteridge and Paul Goodison. American Magic’s head of design, Scott Ferguson, professes to love sailing his Moth; that surely helps him when working on AC75 design. Alinghi’s Arnaud Psarofaghis was just a boy when he could first be seen foiling around on Lake Geneva. Adam May, formerly head of design for Artemis [expected to soon reappear at Alinghi], came eighth in the 2007 Moth Worlds on Lake Garda. How did things ever get so far? Today’s designers would probably
agree with Sir Isaac Newton’s words in his letter of 1675: ‘If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ Even if those giants sailed (much) smaller boats. Attribution: This article leans heavily on information from the
International Moth Class UK website, which in turn includes infor- mation from Phil Stephenson’s talk at Foiling Week 2014.
SIMMERING – Blue Robinson SailGP returned to Sydney for the final event of 2021 with a heck of a lot simmering away just under the surface. Australia were topping the table, USA and Japan were in ascendance and, following their catastrophic capsize when leading in the final race in Cadiz, Great Britain needed a solid result to get back in the game before March’s final event in San Francisco. In the press conference the day before the event here in Sydney Ben Ainslie said he hoped to perform well here, particularly as the visiting English cricket team were not having the best of times (understatement – ed). Unfortunately for Ainslie, his own dreams were also to turn to ashes… Day one saw Spain’s Phil Robertson piece it together to lead in
the opening race around the first turning mark. Ben Ainslie was in second, and trailing him was local Tom Slingsby, keen to take the home win. But at the finish it was still Spain, Great Britain, Australia.
For race 2 Jimmy Spithill, onboard USA, pushed hard at the start earning a penalty for OCS. But it was another Australian, Nathan Outteridge, skipper of Japan, who timed it perfectly at the start of race 2, with Spain again in the top three ahead of Great Britain. USA moved up the fleet to third place but Australia were having a shocker – seventh place for the local hero. Race 3 was the biggie. Twenty seconds before the start Nathan
Outteridge faded low to claim the leeward end of the box, then sailed up slowly to recreate his powerful slingshot start from race 2. The fleet were bunched mid-line; Great Britain were focused on getting around the bow of USA, which they did, but then took out the bow of the Japanese boat, slicing it off with their port foil just forward of the Japanese daggerboard case. It was a massive shock to all involved, Ainslie later confessing that he was so focused on getting past USA that he simply didn’t see the Japanese. Thirty seconds after impact we were alongside, with Rescue One
on the Japanese boat’s damaged side and Anthony Nossiter driving Salvage One tying up on the clean side. After the headcount the recovery process swiftly kicked into gear. For Nossiter, the rescue diver and paramedic, the focus was about getting pumps and airbags onto the sinking Japanese boat while the Japanese support team wedged smaller airbags into the gaping bow. Then the long tow home. Nathan Outteridge and wing trimmer
Chris Draper have experienced crashes large and small, and oversaw the tow backwards from Shark Island to White Bay accompanied by spectator boats and flashing lights. If you can stay calm foiling at 50kt, then 4kt backwards at the centre of attention in front of the Opera House is peanuts. Ainslie quickly took ownership of the crash, offering the Japanese
the use of his boat plus all the Great Britain shore team to get Outteridge’s team afloat for day two. As Outteridge quietly com- mented to me later, ‘It was very good of Ben to do that, to get us racing… he didn’t need to.’ And race they did. With their Japanese wing slotted onto the rebranded red British boat, Nathan’s team emerged on day two hungry for a result. Arriving back on the course, the forecast was spot on. White-
caps on Sydney Harbour are interesting in any class of boat, but for an F50 it is eyes wide-open stuff. As we rounded Bradleys Head on the salvage RIB we punched into 23kt gusting 30. The shore crews had removed the middle sections of all the wings overnight, so the fleet were out with the small wings, but still there was a
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