Clone Wars

It has long been known that the RYA will stop at almost nothing in its pursuit of Olympic medals, but little did I realise that it has stretched to the cloning of athletes. I've been interviewing our best Olympic sailors for years and I hadn't noticed what has been going on until it struck me as I walked into the Dinghy Sailing Show at Alexandra Palace.

If you've seen Wallace and Gromit in the Wrong Trousers, it was like the moment when Feathers McGraw removed the red washing-up glove from his head to reveal that he was not a chicken, but in fact the very penguin who had been lodging under Wallace's very own roof at 62 West Wallaby Street. "Good grief, it's you!" If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't spend too much time worrying about it, just read on.

So anyway, there I was at the entrance to the Show, having a chat with our 49er Olympic representative Ben Rhodes, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a full-size photo of Ben just a few feet away. But something wasn't quite right. Suddenly it dawned on me. "Good grief, it's not you!" It was a Ben Rhodes doppelganger, and I realised his name was... Paul Goodison. I got the photographic evidence to prove it, incontrovertible evidence that the RYA has taken the ultimate step, once thought possible only of an Eastern Bloc nation or perhaps the Chinese, to take the DNA of one of our most talented sailors and grow a nearly identical one in a laboratory.

I take it that the Goodison model was the original, being as he's 30 years old, compared with the Rhodes model which is a couple of years younger. Interesting that the RYA has tried to cover its tracks by giving the Goodison Mk II model a slight West Country accent, as opposed to the broader northern tones of the Goodison Mk I. Spooky stuff...

But seriously... well, not that seriously, Ben was telling me that a lady came up to him at Ally Pally and started telling him how he she'd been round to visit his mother just the week before (blank look from Ben but doing his best to nod along at the right moments), and by the way well done in Australia (yes, thought Ben, 2nd in the 49er Worlds wasn't too bad, but still don't know who you are...), and how she'd heard about his weight-loss programme (well, thought Ben, I don't want to put on too much weight for Qingdao, but don't remember talking to Mum about a diet!). Eventually it dawned on Ben that this lady thought she was talking to the Goodison Mk I model!

Imagine, if close family friends can't tell these two apart, what hope for the media at the Olympic Games? Rodent (as Ben is affectionately known to his mates) and Goody could have a lot of fun with this. Rodent's a pretty useful Laser sailor in his own right, so maybe if Goody's already wrapped up the Olympics with a race to spare, he could send out Rodent to do the Medal Race for a laugh.
 
On a more sober note, however, I do think one of them should be made to wear a red rubber glove on his head so that we people in the media will know which one we're talking to at the press conference.

Ally Pally

Ally Pally was up to its usual high standards, with the customary buzz of excitement and enthusiasm that I've never seen at any other show. I love it, mainly because it's the best opportunity in the year to catch up with long-lost faces from your sailing past.

It would be interesting to use GPS tracking software and analyse just how far you've walked in six or seven hours around the Show. For me, I never seem to make it more than a hundred yards for the whole day, as I bump into friends and acquaintances of old. I was encouraged to hear from one friend, that I'm not the only one who sees people at the Show, but pretends not to have seen them and looks the other way, because if you didn't you really wouldn't get anywhere!

If only the Show went on for a week, and you could get to see everyone, but of course it wouldn't work like that. The great thing about Ally Pally is that - for me, anyway - having just one action-packed weekend, you always leave wishing that you had more time. Whereas for the poor souls who man the stands at the London Boat Show at ExCeL, I'm sure the end can't come soon enough.

RS600FF goes legit

The launch of the RS600FF as an official RS product was one of the highlights of Ally Pally. Not only that, but a day before the show, members of the RS Association voted 94% in favour of welcoming the ‘foiling 600' into the family as a recognised RS class, sitting alongside the standard RS600 from where it originated.

I have been involved with the foiling 600 project since the start more than three years ago, when Linton Jenkins asked me if I'd like some hydrofoils put on my ageing RS600, sail number 650. I jumped at the chance, and while it was a long time in the making, I'm delighted that Linton and his test pilot sidekick Sam Pascoe have seen it through to where it is today.

Foiling above the water at speeds in excess of 20 knots is an awesome, almost divine, experience. With the International Moth and the Bladerider there is an excellent racing circuit that is growing by the month. But this is really only of interest to those of us who weigh 75kg or less. What Linton and Sam have produced is a foiler for bigger boned sailors like me, whose prospects of ever weighing 75kg again become dimmer with the passing of every Christmas lunch and Queen's speech.

I'm delighted that LDC Racing Sailboats have had the courage to adopt the RS600FF into their stable of boats. Of course, the RS600FF could have continued to exist outside of the RS brand, just as the Rooster 8.1 is doing very nicely thank you outside of the Laser family. But look what the Bladerider has done for getting people into foiling Moths who would never have done so if such a clean, elegantly marketed package hadn't been available to them.

With Linton's boatbuilding expertise combined with RS marketing acumen, hopefully the RS600FF will provide an out-of-the-box one-design foiling alternative for the larger sailor. Between them, the International Moth, the Bladerider and the RS600FF are taking foiling increasingly into the mainstream.

New sails please

If you saw the RS600FF at the Show, you'll have spotted that it had a different sail to the standard 600. I was initially opposed to the idea of veering away from the standard 600 sail, which is how we've learned to sail with the foiling boat, but fundamentally the boat's potential was being hampered by a sail that was too full and too stretchy for sailing at the speeds generated by hydrofoiling.

I haven't had a chance to use the new sail yet, but reports from those that have, suggest it makes it much easier to sail the boat consistently. Not only that, but it doesn't half make the boat look sexy. The standard RS cloth is looking very dated now and, I'm told, is not that cheap because no one else uses it these days.

Looking at how the RS600FF's appearance is transformed into a boat for the 21st century, thanks to its transparent cloth and square-head leech profile, I think it's time for some of the other RS boats to consider changing cloths. Not to make the boat faster, simply to bring its appearance up to date. Such a move has worked wonders for smaller classes like the Tasar, the Blaze and the Byte CII, and I see no reason why it couldn't do the same for the RS200 or RS400, for example.

If the RS800 fleet could cope with a change like their sleek new cockpit layout, then this should be a much simpler change to take on board. Numbers in the RS400 have plateaued in recent years. I would put money on a new sail plan breathing a new lease of life into the fleet.

14 Trials

A new event called the '14 Trials' is soon to take place at Hayling Island on 5/6 April. The Trials are open to any high-performance sailor aged under 35 who'd like to have a crack at racing the International 14. Already there are some high-profile names signed up from the 49er, 29er, RS800 and Musto Skiff fleets, which is no surprise considering the prize for the top two teams is the 12-month loan of a top-notch International 14.

There is also a third boat available for a 12-month period to the team that a selection committee deems to have shown the most promise over the weekend. So three boats up for grabs, provided you and your sailing partner commit to a minimum of 10 events throughout the year, including Prince of Wales Cup Week in Weymouth and the Inland Championships at Grafham Water.

One of the boats available is one I know very well, as I sailed it for two years crewing for Martin Jones, one of the owners who is lending his second boat to this novel scheme. Looking at the calibre of some of the sailors entering this event, I would say that GBR 1497 and the other two boats in the scheme are quite capable of propelling these '14 rookies' to victory in a few events this year, possibly even the major championships. What they might lack in 14 experience these sailors will more than make up for with great boathandling and racing skills from the one-design fleets where they have learned their trade.

Martin says there are "three main aims with this programme, to:

    · attract new blood into the fleet
    · provide a high-performance avenue for young sailors who have come out of the Youth Squad but who don't want to go the Olympic route.
    · dispel the myth that you need to spend loads of money to be competitive in the 14. The boats that these new teams will be racing are good second hand boats worth about £6,000 or £7,000 - but I bet you it won't be long before they're winning races in them."

A number of sponsors have committed to the 14 Trials, including Musto, Hyde Sails and Hayling Island SC, who are providing three months free membership to each of the winning teams.

The Eligibility criteria for the Trials are:

  · Sailors can be male or female, but must be under 35 on 31 December 2008.

  · Teams should be over 140kg and able to commit to 10 class events in 2008.

  · Should have a strong profile in another class or be able to demonstrate a determination to stay the course and have the ability to become a successful 14 sailor.

If you fit the criteria, and want to take part in the Trials, then contact:

Harvey Hillary:  harvey.hillary@rya.org.uk, +44 (0) 7771 541 677

To download the entry form, visit this page on the International 14 UK website:

www.gbr.international14.org