It's perfectly clear reading around that there are great benefits to be had by learning the art of foiling in a club with several boats. Some of us don't have that luxury, meaning the learning curve is bound to be longer and harder. One thing where the moth community can help us exiles is in sharing pimps in a on-line reseource dedicated to the purpose, perhaps like the M**** P********** S**** class does. The site of that unmentionable class provides excellent advice, albeit that it's for a one-design class. Clearly, for Moths the applicability of pimps between different designs is open to question, but there are many that are common. For example, I've recall reading in various blogs that roughing up the foils can help us cold-water sailors by reducing ventilation. Now the water temp in Ogston is plummeting, it's time to find such practical advice but that's actually not that easy.
If I was a web-literate technophile I'd be delighted to collate ideas to share, but I'm not. Isn't it something on which IMCA could take the lead? Would it be better there, or within the various national forums / fora / forices?
Personally, I think it would be a really great resource to chart the development of the class, in the small, just-as-significant ways as well as the large. Does anyone have the time or inclination to take it on?
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteYou'll be pleased to know that the uk site will be updated in the near future with a lot of the most up to date ideas surrounding boat setups and tuning.
The problem is that things move so quickly that it's hard to upkeep. The idea will be that info will be published on an annual basis as that is easier to keep track of.
Cheers,
Phil
Thanks, Phil. I hate to give the fat boys credit, but the way the MPS team have done it is quite good. They e-mail in the idea with photos: that should make it relatively easy to post.
ReplyDeleteAs with most things, figuring out who to listen to is one of the hardest things. Opinions are like, well, wetsuits - everybody has one. So finding a high-level sailor with a good technical understanding of the boat and emailing them is often the simplest way to get help.
ReplyDeleteBruce set up a wiki a while back but I think the login requirements stifled it a bit.
ReplyDeletehttp://wiki.mothosphere.com
I know how you feel being isolated make you feel like you are inventing everything yourself. However the best thing to do is go to the events and chat in the bar with the other guys. The Internet is not a substitute for this. If you capsize and make a fool of yourself crashing around then that is considered normal so do not wait until you are ready to win before you go to your first event. Everyone says this no one new listens but after they have gone to an event they tend to suddenly agree.
ReplyDeleteMoth Community links on IMCA site point to the AUS forum which has lots of info in it and various other links like the Wiki, and IMCA forum. As mentioned earlier things evolve fast so the system of blogs seams to work better in the Moth class. There is plenty facilities out there (I do not think we need more as we are diluted enough) but they need to be filled with content which means guy like you need to post questions and post info about what you know.