It's all about trust

A number of you may have been worried about how Carbon Footprint was feeling about my exploits with the Mach 2. She was particularly touched by those of you who in fact contacted me to express this concern. Fear not, she has never been far from my mind and will be justly rewarded for her support and trust in my foray into Mach 2 world with a new round of upgrades. A bunch of flowers may not go far enough to make up for working late with the secretary but a new ride height control, better wand system and the promise of a trip to Australia more than make up for a brief fling with a Mach 2!

Trust is a two way thing and just as Adam trusted me to take his boat to Silvaplana he was also to have to trust me once more. Ok, so not strictly a two way thing, more an everything my way thing, but what is a girl to do? Many of you may be asking yourselves what could require more trust than your girlfriend spending a week in foreign lands with your Mach 2? Had I secured a job oiling up the six packs of Calvin Klein models mid photoshoot? Had the call come in from George Cloony that he needed a partner for the upcoming Oscars ceremony? No, this was going to require trust on a far deeper level...

It had been meticulously designed, slaved over in the workshop, ok so the Boat Yard at Beer did a lot of the work, (saving me from endless sanding, I owe you boys big time!), it is a world first, a milestone in Moth sailing history, sailed only twice before in the capable hands of Adam May. Yes, I was about to become only the second person to go Mothing with a wing sail!!! I was pretty nervous to say the least, breaking it was clearly going to mean more than washing up duty for a month and lets face it a wipeout is never far away when I’m Moth sailing. I least I knew I could trust the Mach 2.

I got on, righted the wing, so far so good. Carbon Footprint had taken Adam out of instruction giving range, I was on my own and I was scared. OK, this can’t be that hard, what do I know about wings? The have them on airplanes, you ‘put the flaps down to take off’. What do I know about foiling? ‘Bear away, shut your eyes and think of England’. I did both these things, and trusted in the Mach 2.... We started slowly at first, would we lift off before the end of the runway? Trust in the laws of physics... The apparent wind generated, we accelerated, the apparent wind generated, we accelerated, the apparent wind generated, you get the picture..... oh my word!!! Before I knew what was happening, or could open my eyes and attend to important matters like steering, we were approaching the psychological 20 kt barrier, and the far more physical barrier of the harbour wall.

Since I am writing this I clearly survived the experience as did Adam’s wing, phase one of destruction testing ‘Let girlfriend loose with it’, well and truly passed. Adam may have a few design upgrades in mind, all I have to say is that it’s going to look so good in pink.

Going all the way

Since the whirlwind Mach 2 romance of Silvaplana I had waited nervously by the phone, pacing up and down and checking my messages at embarrassingly unnecessary intervals, waiting for that call that would mean it was more than just a holiday romance. Then it happened, my heart skipped a beat, ‘Mach 2’ flashed up on my phone..... he’d called!!!

Adam was playing with C Class catamarans in the States, I was at a loose end, the weather was looking good and so we arranged a date in Weymouth.

It was fantastic, all that control we experienced in the Swiss mountains came flooding back, although after Silvaplana even the Weymouth flat-water-play-pen seemed a bit bumpy. We exchanged small talk and messed about enjoying each other’s company. There was no denying it, there was electricity in the air and the unspoken hovered around us, would we go all the way... (round). We had a few trial bearaways and then the moment arrived.... it was a little bit awkward at first, I wasn’t quite sure where to put myself, I bumped my nose on his wingbar... and then the magic finally happened. Ok so it wasn’t quite like I had seen in the movies (it always looks so slick when Simon Payne does it, a bit quicker when the younger guys do it and no one quite knows if Tom Whitcher has actually done it). Never the less I was no longer naive and wondering what it felt like to actually do it... listening to all those more experienced Mothies talking about it in the changing rooms, I had finally done it....

a foiling gybe!!!

(Pretty pic by Sunset and Vine)