Yes I have been a bit surprised by the opposition to this particular development. I understand the two sail argument (although I personally find a bit specious), but many also seem to resent the complexity, expense and fragility associated with wings. Getting beat by new technology used to be considered a good thing among Mothies, whereas now it is portrayed as class-killing. I for one am happy to see the answers emerge on someone else's budget, and on the water. The last worlds showed that it is a steep hill to climb, and I applaud anyone who puts forth that effort for the sake of anything as trivial as winning a Moth regatta.
There will, I suspect, be few who are opposed to it now that a bit of time has elapsed. Everyone has had a chance to review and revise their designs, even if only in their minds, based on the Belmont experience/experiment.
It will take a special effort to win a worlds with a wing yet though, the current rigs are very good across the wind range and there is a lot of experience with them.
If wings have potential to be faster, I expect it will take several Worlds to prove it. Foilers were around for several years before anyone took a Worlds with one.
My interest in the issue revolves solely around defending the development side of mothing from people who care more about winning than they do about the technological development of faster boats. I don't think anyone expected that the desire to win would prove an incentive for people at the top of the fleet to oppose development, but we have already seen it happen and I'm sure the friction will continue.
Winning really isn't everything in Mothing; it is more a barometer of equipment performance. As you say the current boats are good; to be at all competitive on anything innovative is a major accomplishment. If some backmarker hack shows up with a crazy foil package and punches above his weight, people will pay attention even if he is only moving from midfleet to something better, because a top flight sailor might take that speed advantage and do something big with it. Same for wings.
Is it also neat that "wing" starts with "win"?
ReplyDeleteDepends who you ask.
ReplyDeleteYes I have been a bit surprised by the opposition to this particular development. I understand the two sail argument (although I personally find a bit specious), but many also seem to resent the complexity, expense and fragility associated with wings. Getting beat by new technology used to be considered a good thing among Mothies, whereas now it is portrayed as class-killing. I for one am happy to see the answers emerge on someone else's budget, and on the water. The last worlds showed that it is a steep hill to climb, and I applaud anyone who puts forth that effort for the sake of anything as trivial as winning a Moth regatta.
ReplyDeleteThere will, I suspect, be few who are opposed to it now that a bit of time has elapsed. Everyone has had a chance to review and revise their designs, even if only in their minds, based on the Belmont experience/experiment.
ReplyDeleteIt will take a special effort to win a worlds with a wing yet though, the current rigs are very good across the wind range and there is a lot of experience with them.
If wings have potential to be faster, I expect it will take several Worlds to prove it. Foilers were around for several years before anyone took a Worlds with one.
ReplyDeleteMy interest in the issue revolves solely around defending the development side of mothing from people who care more about winning than they do about the technological development of faster boats. I don't think anyone expected that the desire to win would prove an incentive for people at the top of the fleet to oppose development, but we have already seen it happen and I'm sure the friction will continue.
Winning really isn't everything in Mothing; it is more a barometer of equipment performance. As you say the current boats are good; to be at all competitive on anything innovative is a major accomplishment. If some backmarker hack shows up with a crazy foil package and punches above his weight, people will pay attention even if he is only moving from midfleet to something better, because a top flight sailor might take that speed advantage and do something big with it. Same for wings.
Are wings even legally measurable yet?
ReplyDelete