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There’s a Bug in the Bay!
March 20, 2011
This afternoon was the kind of day in the Bay that wouldn’t go remarked in July…WNW breeze 8 -12 knots, ebbing tide, 15 dec C and bright sunshine. A fine Frostbite Sunday when an interloper appeared on the race course.
It’s Dun Laoghaire sailor John Chambers blasting back from the Baily aboard his Bladerider Moth. It has hydrofoils on the dagger board and rudder which raise the boat up out of the water when sufficient lift (apparent wind = boatspeed) is achieved.
He came hooning along the edge of the DMYC Frostbite race course and the most amazing thing is the silence of the boat. No Fireball slap in the chop, no Laser splashy, just silence. Somehow, cool is not quite the word. John bought the boat from some guy in France and I’m fairly certain it’s the only one in Ireland. There was a ferocious Spring tide ebbing this afternoon and I wonder if maybe the Moth is the first boat that sails so fast and with so little boat in the water that the current is no longer an issue. I wonder what PY number it sails off.
John’s mother Aine used to race an IDRA 14. Generational change. The current world top speed record of the Bladerider is 28.7 knots. That’s about 20 knots faster than the ma’s aul’ boat.
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