Moth Worlds becoming mini America’s Cup

The Mornington Peninsula in the Australian State of Victoria will be the setting for the 2015 Moth World Championship on January 9-16, with field littered with Olympic medals and America’s Cup competitors coming to the iconic Sorrento Sailing and Couta Boat Club to sail on the southern stretches of Melbourne’s Port Phillip.

Andrew ‘A-Mac’ McDougall, the man most responsible for taking the Moths on foils into the main game with Bladerider and then Mach2, has seen the class evolve while still staying true to its roots.

“The Moth is the only successful, open development class left because it so small,” McDougall said. “It is relatively cheap to use top-level technologies, as it does not place it in the hands of the world’s billionaires. However, no matter how much tech you have in the boat, you won’t get a win from that alone. It is all about the user-friendliness of that technology and then how you sail it.”

Rohan Veal won the last Moth World Championship held on Port Phillip, back in 2005, and then followed it up with a win in 2007 on Italy’s Lake Garda. He is impressed at how the talent has risen.

“The talent pool for this regatta is going to make it super competitive,” note Veal. “It would have to be the most ever for any dinghy class – simply unreal. Just count the world titles these people have won in Moths and other classes. Glenn Ashby has 12 alone, plus two Olympic medals. There are easily 30 titles and 12 medals in the group and then there are America’s Cup stars like James Spithill and Tom Slingsby.”

For the 74 sailors already entered, they must contend with reigning Moth World Champion and Olympic hero Nathan Outteridge and two-time world title holder Bora Gulari, who beat Nathan to win the title in 2013 but sat out last year’s championship.

The America’s Cup teams are to be well represented, with likely six from Emirates Team New Zealand, the same number from Oracle Team USA and Outteridge heading up a contingent from Artemis. The great Iain Percy, who at 100kg is a true heavyweight, is also set to be out there.

Source: Excerpts from event media report. Event website: http://www.mothworlds.org/sorrento