People's Foiler hits the big Two Oh!

Having managed to clear the decks of all the daily detritus, I finally got to go for a midweek sail in the Moth when the Nor'easter was pumping. Having owned my boat for nearly 3 months, I had yet to sail it in more than about 12 knots of wind. This meant that my heavy weather sail was still brand spanking new so, with a good 16-18 knots blowing, I couldn't resist the chance to give it a go.

And I was duly rewarded for my patience. The Moth sailors in the UK have a little "speed table", membership of which is open to anybody who breaks the 20 knot barrier. before today, there were 25 members - now there are 26.

Since my last post about the Moth, it has been officially named. In honour of that great "ambassador" of the foiling movement, Doug Lord, the boat has been named "People's Foiler". Now it was time for her to prove her worth.

It was clear from the moment I sheeted in that it was going to be a fast day. Setting off on port close hauled, I sailed about 600 metres to the other end of the beach in what seemed like a matter of moments. It was hard to keep speeds below 12-13 knots, even though I was playing with the sail controls to see how the new sail responded. A quick tack and bear away and the GPS went crazy, but only a little more than the bombardment on every sense in my body. The acceleration, the speed, the sensitivity of the steering, the shear exhilaration. Instantly the GPS showed over 20 knots and just seemed to stay there. Before I had time to digest what was going on, I was deep into the moored boats near the club and looking to slow and get away.

Flushed with the knowledge that the 20 knot barrier was history, I pressed on. I found a comfortable 14 knots upwind mode and then it happened. Nothing changed except the GPS readout suddenly jumped to 20 and straight back down again. A clear spike and with it the doubt. A GPS spike is pretty common. Many claims of high speed in dinghies are no more than spikes, which most proud sailors refuse to accept. This has lead to claims of bathtubs sailing faster than skiffs and I don't want to add to the catalogue of false claims. So, was my membership of the 20+ club no more than a spike.

The rest of the sail went at speed but as usual, there was never going to be enough time. So, within half an hour of coming off the water, I was downloading the data to my laptop and checking the data for spike. Sure enough, there were a few of which my favorite was the one that showed I went from 12 knots to 21 in 2 metres. I don't think my Porsche could do that, never mind a boat.

However, the top speed of 21.8 knots (25.01 MPH) was genuine, which moves me into joint 13th on the table. I am well pleased and here is the evidence.