A return to Extreme 40
Seven years ago, Robert skippered the first winner of the Extreme 40 series with Basilica and followed that up with a second place as skipper of TEAMORIGIN. And now he is back as skipper of Team DUQM Oman. The creators of the Extreme 40 took the biggest, fastest sailing boat in the Olympics then made it twice as big and even faster and brakes do not come as standard.
“Things have obviously evolved in the five years I have been away with more competitive teams and a much bigger fleet. I think the racing is probably a little more start dependent and everything has got a lot more professional and the manoeuvres are critical. It will be a lot harder than it used to be and we have focused on getting the boat handling nailed down. I will have to get used to the new race format and the reaching starts and focus on making it happen for us on the water.
I’m very happy to be racing with Team DUQM Oman, we've got a great team and its great to be back racing Extreme 40s, fingers crossed we can carry on in the series during 2013. Its tough racing but we are getting back into it more and more each day."
Team DUQM Oman was only put together a few weeks ago so Rob had to put a team together and jump into the action with no practise since 2008 - in at the deep end to say the least.
Will Howden (Mainsail) has years of experience in the Extreme 40 and came second last year competing on The Wave. Will raced for nine years in the Tornado Class and is one of the most experienced short course multihull sailors in Britain.
Nasser Mashari (Bowman) Oman’s most experienced Extreme 40 sailor, Nasser also sailed with Rob for Oman Sail’s Tour de France campaign having spent over a month together in a 30ft boat offshore, Rob and Nasser still remain friends!
Andrew Walsh (Headsail)
As an experienced member of Skandia team GBR, Andrew has also won a number of National and European titles in high performance dinghies. This will be Andrew’s 4th Extreme 40 series.
Bleddyn Mon (Tactician)
Welsh 49er young sailor, competed on The Wave in 2012 and the youngest tactician on the circuit at just 20 years of age with ambitions of Olympic Gold.
About Team DUQM Oman
Duqm, a land area of 1,777km2 to the southeast of Oman with 80 km of coastline along the Arabian Sea, is a Special Economic Zone (a geographical region that has economic and other laws that are more free-market-oriented than a country's typical or national laws), the biggest in fact in the Middle East and North African region and among the largest in the world. The Duqm Special Economic Zone is an integrated project that includes an international deep-sea port managed by the Port of Duqm Company; a state of the art dry dock and ship repair facility operated by Oman Dry Dock Company; and the development of several thousand hectares of industrial zone, a city for over 100,000 inhabitants, an international airport and a tourist area. Duqm, thanks to its strategic location is an ideal starting point for any regional and international hub centre.
Winter Training
What has been your priority over the winter in the Moth Class?
Working towards the worlds in Hawaii and it would be nice to improve on 19th in my first world’s, it would be good to get a top ten but it should be a tough worlds with a lot of the top Australians, Kiwis and USA guys entering.
I am still on a steep learning curve in the class and this winter I have been trying to do as much sailing as I can given the conditions. If I can get three days a week on the water, then I am pretty happy. This time of the year, there is usually not enough wind and it’s cold and not much daylight. The basic goal is to get on the water as much as possible, improving boat handling but also looking at rig and other refinements that can be made to the boat. It’s cold but well worth doing, time on the water really improves performance. I have been doing a few events but the UK Moth season really kicks off in a couple of months.
How do you keep motivated when it is so cold?
The Moth is so exciting, so I don’t need much motivation but getting the wet suit on is hard some days but once that’s on I am straight into it. I train for two hours maximum and the sailing gear is so good these days, you don’t really feel the cold.
Do you train alone?
No, usually with my coach, Derek Clark and as many other Moth sailors that make it out at Stokes Bay. I find it important to train with other people, it is pretty grim weather and just having another boat out there makes you work harder on boat handling and speed, it is good to have a bench mark.
What about weight, we all eat a bit too much and have a few pints at Christmas?
I have been trying to lose a bit of weight, I am down to 76Kg now and maybe I will get down to 72-74Kg and see how that feels. I have been doing a lot of running and watching what I eat; cutting out bread, pasta, all the chocolates and beer is bad. Basically cutting down the carbohydrates. I also take multi-vitamin supplements at this time of year, there are a lot of bugs about and it keeps your immune system up.
What about gym work, weights?
I still do weights but it is important not to eat too much, it sounds obvious but if you don’t feed your body then you don’t put on weight but you have got to keep your strength up, you don’t want your muscles to fade away, it is just about eating the right things and in smaller quantities. I try to get to the gym 3-4 times a week. Some people may say that its hard to get motivated for the gym or a run but I know that the effort makes me fitter, lighter, more agile and that makes my sailing better, that is a clear motivation.
Winter Moth Sailing Kit?
Base layer would be a thin thermal top under a Blind stitched - 5mm steamer, you can launch and essentially stay dry within your wet suit. It is critical to keep your feet and hands warm. Boot-wise I have been struggling but I have found some 6.5mm neoprene windsurfing boots and I don’t get cold feet. Glove-wise, most wet suit gloves don’t give you enough grip but the thermo builders gloves have great grip. A neoprene hat and a lifejacket finish it off.
What about your Foxer racing, where does that fit in?
We get 15-20 boats out on a Sunday in the Hamble River and there are good guys out there racing; Ian Southworth, Tom McWilliam, my brother Peter, Shaun Barber, Craig Burlton, with guest appearances from the likes of Geoff Carveth and Paul Larsen. It is tough racing; the Foxer Racing is probably one of the best Sunday morning, one design racing in the UK, right now. It’s proper grass root sailing, which keeps me sharp tactically. We often get in eight races over a weekend with some great competition, which is the key to it all.
How do you balance your professional sailing with your hobby or development in say The Moth Class?
My job is professional sailing, so work has priority. I have just had a couple of events cancelled, such as Key West, so that means I can train in the Moth. It would be great to get involved in a big campaign soon, a Mini-Maxi or similar but for me, the Volvo Ocean Race always looms in the not so distant future. For me it is a great race and I am still hungry for it. I don’t do it just for the money, I do it because it is a great race and I would love to do another one or two, but it is almost harder to get the gigs than do it.
So far now it will be a balance of dinghy sailing off my own back and big boat racing but there is never enough time to do it all.
Life after the Extreme
Flying a Moth
The Moth Worlds was a month after the finish of the Volvo, so I didn’t have much time and the weather was pretty bad back home in the UK, so I only really got out for 15 days before going out for the event but I did as much as I could. When I got out to Garda before the event, I was sailing everyday, which really shows the value of a good training camp.
Over the last five or six years, Moths have been foiling and I see that as something exciting and probably the future of sailing. I bought one a few years ago and always wanted to have a go but never really had the chance to sail in the class before and I felt that if I don’t do it now, I won’t get another chance for a while, so I decided to throw myself into it.
Over the last five or six years, Moths have been foiling and I see that as something exciting and probably the future of sailing. I bought one a few years ago and always wanted to have a go but never really had the chance to sail in the class before and I felt that if I don’t do it now, I won’t get another chance for a while, so I decided to throw myself into it.
The Moth class is very modern and I think that a lot of
sailing is going more single handed just because it is easier, in many ways
less expensive and much less hassle to get a boat together. It’s high speed and
cutting edge and that always excites me.
I learnt a lot in Garda, mostly about sailing the boat;
tacking, gybing, getting on the foils. They are all elementary but to do well
you have to be very good at the basics and it takes time to perfect them, you
have to come away, analyse and go back and put what you have learnt into
practice. Having said all that, training is not enough, to get better at racing
you have to experience starting, boat on boat tactics, you can’t really
simulate that. More racing is the answer!
SB20s - SEPT 2nd at the Europeans in Holland
I was the first National Champion ten years ago, it is not a
boat for purists but they offer great tactical racing. It is a shame that the
SB20 won’t take off in the States but there are a lot of boats around Europe,
it would really help if the various associations would work together to get
more out on the water. I think there is too much focus on the big events, when
what is really needed is to get more boats out at club level, that would get
far more boats out on the water and more people involved from other classes,
having a big turn out at a Europeans or Worlds shouldn’t be the focus, getting
lots of club racers involved will give a solid foundation to the class.
The beauty of the SB20 is that it is a simple boat, which is
easy to get on the water. We did the worlds last year and came second in a
borrowed boat, I bought a boat last year and put a good team together for the
SB20 Europeans this year; Jerry Eplett, Shane Hughes and Henry Rees. We were
pretty happy with second and the Europeans but the plan is to go to the Worlds
in Australia and we hope to go one better than last time. To be honest, we are
not there as a job; we are paying are own way. We are going for fun and
although we will race very seriously, we will make sure we enjoy it as well. Even
with the Volvo or any team boat, getting the right mix of people is crucial;
they have to be good enough but you have to get on well, that’s just as
important.
Back in a big boat (October ICAP Leopard Les Voiles de
St.Tropez)
I really enjoy sailing on Leopard with Mike Slade and Chris
Sherlock and St.Tropez is always good fun and pretty relaxed. The racing is not
the be all and end all at the event but I am always trying to improve my
sailing ability and I have come to realise that people-skills, thinking things
through are just as important and St.Tropez was a good occasion to put those
lessons learnt into practice.
The Future
The Moth Class is awesome, I have decided to get into that.
It is something that you can do until you are 50. Obviously the America’s Cup
multis are foiling, which is an interesting development and maybe there will be
new or existing classes, where the new skills needed to foil are going to be
required. People often talk about the trickle down effect from the AC but Moths
have been foiling for years and a lot of the sailors racing in the ‘Cup come
from high performance skiffs. Foiling is not a new thing but with the
investment that the ‘Cup will put into it, who knows where it might lead the
sport?
Next week, I am off to the A-Class World Championship in
Islamorada, Florida. There are 115 boats entered, so that will be full on. It’s
single-handed catamaran with curved foils. It should be exciting, I am tuning
up with Stevie Brewin who won the Worlds last year. He is looking to win again
but I don’t know where I am going to come! I am a complete newbie to the class
and I can’t have any aspirations at all. However, I love new challenges, new
adventures, different boats because I learn new things and I am really looking forward
to it.
All the best,
Robert
Robert
Gold Fleet will be tough
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| © Th.Martinez |
It is a big race course for the Moth Worlds on Lake Garda. It's very shifty so places can change pretty rapidly, capsizes are very
costly and it is easy to make mistakes. Getting top ten finishes has been very
satisfying bit there is a big jump to the top guys from where I am but I am getting
a lot sharper and better at it. My goal before the event was to make the medal
race, so that has been achieved.
The Gold fleet is the top
sixty boats and it will be much harder to get good results. I would love to get
top ten results and make it into the top 15 for the world championship.
However, the six medal races will be a lot tougher and making one mistake then
can easily mean you get a bad result.
Starting is very difficult because
it all happens so quickly and manoeuvres are critical. Also the way the usual course
is set up, we are starting on port and trying to cross the starboard tackers
means there is a lot of carnage. Playing the wind under the cliffs is key,
especially getting the first 2 or 3 tacks in cleanly, an average tack isn’t
good enough, it has got to be on the money. After that it is all about trying
to hold on to the top guys downwind, who are very fast.
It all happens pretty quickly
in a Moth; you get foiling in just 7 knots of wind. Upwind you can be doing 15
knots and downwind 20, so it is all a lot of fun!
All the best
Robert
Going for Gold
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| © Th.Martinez |
It has been a steep learning curve just to learn the basics
but I can now see how great the class is, there is a massive amount of
development to get the rig and the foils right. The Moth Class has got to be
the most competitive dinghy class there is right now and Lake Garda is an
amazing sight with over 100 out on the race course.
Before the event, I set my goal as making the Gold fleet and
I am on course at the moment in 16th with 100 guys behind me.
Yesterday was pretty wavy and full on. I had a couple of major spin outs before the start of the first race and after we got going there were a lot of guys who didn’t make it, so I was pleased with three top ten results. Today was supposed to be the reserve but we have two races scheduled. At the moment the northerly is still kicking in at about 20 knots but it is due to swing round to the south, so I guess we may have a delay.
Yesterday was pretty wavy and full on. I had a couple of major spin outs before the start of the first race and after we got going there were a lot of guys who didn’t make it, so I was pleased with three top ten results. Today was supposed to be the reserve but we have two races scheduled. At the moment the northerly is still kicking in at about 20 knots but it is due to swing round to the south, so I guess we may have a delay.
Tomorrow just the Gold Fleet racing and I hope to be there. Check out the cool video from Day 3!
All the best,
Robert
So far so good..
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| © Thierry Martinez / Sea&Co |
I was pretty happy with the performance on the first day but split fleets make the results look a bit better. Tomorrow it looks like they may give us six races. Three in the morning and three in the afternoon.
My legs are aching from just three races so it will be pretty full on! The forecast is looking like wind and waves in the morning, which will probably mean some different results to Day 1.
I am hoping to keep getting good results and make the Gold Fleet.
Really enjoying getting back into dinghy racing.
All the best,
Robert
Video Day 1 Moth Worlds
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