Bora Gulari wins Moth World Championship

Kaneohe, HI (October 19, 2013) – An early squall drenched the 80 competitors for the 2013 McDougall + McConaghy International Moth World Championship this morning as they prepared their flying carbon-fiber craft for the sixth day of racing. The rain and clouds brought with them an unfortunate side effect, cooling down Oahu’s Ko’olau Mountains and shutting down the building thermal breeze that might have allowed a final day of racing for the Moth World title.

After a tense 3-hour wait in the Kaneohe Yacht Club boat park, Race Officer Tom Pochereva reached for the treble horn that indicates the end to the regatta; within seconds, a dozen American racers lifted Michigan’s Bora Gulari in the air and tossed him in the club pool for the 2013 World Champion’s ceremonial dunking.

Gulari becomes the first American two-time Moth World Champion since 1959; he won the 2009 World Championship in Cascade Locks, Oregon. “It hasn’t really set in yet,” said Gulari, after drying himself off. “One thing I know for sure is that without Anthony, George, Brad, and pretty much the entire US Moth racing team, I would never be World Champion again.”

Gulari attributes his success to his Mach 2 Moth, which he says “is a perfect platform for this kind of sailing,” combined with the cumulative effect of dozens of small changes to the boat. “We’ve been working for a solid year in Detroit, refining and changing things bit by bit until they’re perfect,” said Gulari. He also gave credit to his sail package, adding “North Sails and specifically sailmaker Chris Williams came up with an extremely powerful sail design for this Worlds; I’ve never sailed with a faster sail since I bought my first Moth.”

Final Results (Ten Races, Two discards) – Top 10 of 80
1. USA, Bora Gulari, [18]-1-2-1-3-3-[7]-5-3-3- ; 21
2. AUS, Nathan Outteridge, 1-2-1-[10]-9-1-8-2-[12]-5- ; 29
3. AUS, Scott Babbage, 4-4-[27]-[24]-1-12-1-4-5-13- ; 44
4. GBR, BEN PATON, [15]-3-3-15-[23]-6-3-6-2-7- ; 45
5. GBR, Robert Greenhalgh, 2-7-7-9-[19]-[13]-11-1-1-8- ; 46
6. AUS, Rob Gough, [17]-8-13-8-8-2-4-[38]-6-1- ; 50T
7. GBR, Chris Rashley, 3-[35]-6-11-7-4-13-[36]-4-2- ; 50T
8. AUS, Julian Salter, [12]-9-8-5-2-[29]-5-3-11-11- ; 54
9. USA, Brad Funk, [24/ZFP]-5-4-3-5-5-18-10-20-[23]- ; 70
10. NZL, Peter Burling, [40]-28-[52]-2-10-7-6-9-10-4- ; 76

Complete results – Photo gallery – Daily reports

Event website: http://www.mothworlds.org/hawaii/

Photo credit: ThMartinez/Sea&Co/International Moth Worlds

Report updated Oct. 20, 06:40am PT with details from event media