Weddings are a time where two families come together amongst a group of the bride and grooms friends and consume way too much alcohol, say things they shouldn’t and give small children an excuse to stay up way too late. Weddings are also another reason why you can’t go out sailing on an otherwise perfect Saturday afternoon.

This I suppose, that is why each weekend contains two separate days, almost like someone had a plan to create another, backup day where you could go sailing when the regular day was needed for something else.

Now that I live but a stone’s throw from St. George Moth Sailing Club, it was a short drive down after lunch on Sunday to put some air time in with Grant and David out as well.

The conditions were light with some nice 15knot gusts at times, allowing a few good runs as well as a lot of flopping about. I didn’t put the GPS on, so I don’t know the actual speeds I was doing, but based simply on the shit-yourself-o-meter, I think that I must have broken the 20kt barrier at one point.

Some other highlights of the afternoon included a much better tacking technique, better gybes and Grant being hit by a large power cruiser, luckily without any damage.

I also had fun with the wake of another power cruiser managing to get the entire main foil airborne in a wave trough, and only one capsize.

In other news, Phil managed to break yet another foil at the T-join on Saturday. At least this time he got the foil back.

Well the “carbonology” moth is finally revealed to the public. The Velociraptor brings the total number of serious moth constructors to three (Fastacraft, Bladerider and now Velociraptor).

This new manufacturer is doing everything right to ensure they are embraced by the moth class.

• They are actively promoting moth development as opposed to a possible one-design class.
• They are paying for IMCA membership for one year for all their customers.
• If you are building a boat you can purchase a “builder day” where they show you how they build their boats so you can learn to build your own.

These are all small almost insignificant things by themselves but they show that they are embracing the development ethos of the moth.

And it looks sexy too!

This week saw the NSW moth interclub heat come to St. George. It also saw a rather strong 20-25knot southerly blow in. After rigging my boat and making the usual Saturday morning tweaks and maintenance, I decided to pull the pin and not venture out, so I didn’t break something with only three weeks before the states.

Over the course of the afternoon, most of the others joined me on the beach for a number of reasons, ranging from wanting to not break anything, to minor breakages, to one rather large one.

I have a family wedding next week, so I am planning to head out next Sunday with Grant and some others hopefully to put some more miles in before the states in Jervis Bay over Easter.

Through the week I have also started to put firm plans in for over winter and I have decided to re-finish my boat and paint it instead of the clear carbon finish.

The problem with a clear finish is that it either looks really sexy or really shit, and mine isn’t sexy. The next big choice will be what shade of red to use !