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Welcome to the Mach 2 Blog

We've started this blog so we can publish news and views by Mach 2 sailors for Mach 2 sailors. And for journalists who've got to write about something and need inspiration. If you've arrived here, but need information about the boat, the brand and how to order please go to our corporate site.
This site does not have any of that information, so why does it exist? Well in this, the "Next Generation" of our sport, the corporate site could be likened to the "Vulcan neck pinch", professional, efficient and slick. Not half as powerful as the "Vulcan kick in the bollocks" though, but more politically correct. Sometimes you need both.. Send us you news, read what we have to say, and enjoy..

Thursday 15 December 2011

Merry Christmas from Mach2




Its been another great year for Mach2 and we'd just like to take this opportunity to wish all Mach2 sailors and all Moth sailors a wonderful Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

This time last year we were frantically getting ready for the Belmont Worlds, with a container load of Mach2's and spare parts on their way to Sydney!

Nathan won brilliantly! We retained our World Title and then got back to work. A few months later we introduced the new Mach2.1 upgrade, and in September we were delighted to welcome Simon Propper to the team. Simon aka "Hollywood" is the Mach2 representative for the West Coast USA and is already doing a great job of engaging local sailors.

This year we don't have a big event near Christmas, and it gives us a chance to spend some time with our families and cheer on all the Mach2 sailors doing so well in Perth at the ISAF Worlds and also on the Volvo Ocean Race.

Soon though it will be back to work, and 2012 is a real focus for Mach2. We want to excel once more at the World Championships at Campioni, Lake Garda in Italy during August, and with the last four World Champions sailing Mach2's we feel we've got a good chance.

Most of all though this event is important to us as it gives us a chance to meet many of our customers, some for the first time, and we need to be there to give them all the support we can!

Merry Christmas from Mach2.

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Pete Barton - Life begins at 30 (knots)!



The UK fleet had been chasing this record all year and it is fantastic to tick this box in the UK before the season is out. Just when focus was waning and it looked like it was not going to happen this year it finally happened, almost by accident, in Lymington on 27th November. Here is Peter Barton’s account....

At 8.20am I was resigned to no sailing as the Lymington weather station was recording gusts up to 44kn. However, by 9.10am it was clear that the front and passed and the race was back on to make the 10.30am race start.

Breaking the 30kn barrier was not on my mind as the conditions appeared less than ideal. The sea had a small confused chop near the entrance to the Lymington River. The water was a cool 12’C and salty, both of which the techies say isn’t good for top speeds. With a cross-offshore breeze the gusts were particularly pronounced, perhaps a case of blast power being more key than refinement. I was racing, there was no dress rehearsal or repeated runs. There was one shot only and the focus was reaching the leeward mark, not a top speed. I had been watching the speedo at around 27kn during the run up and then a pointy gust hit, I committed to it and felt a pronounced acceleration. I have done a fair few 27s in the past but I knew this was faster.


My first experience of 30kn is that I felt very reliant on the control systems looking after me over the small chop. I am not sure I could have reacted fast enough to save it myself, whereas at say 22kn I might. The difficulty here is that slightly different foil control settings may be required at 30kn than at 24kn, due to he speed of water over the foils. However, you don’t really want to be re-tuning  after that gust hits as it could already be too late! A minute earlier I had ‘bottled it’ as I reached 26kn and shortened my magic wand another 5cm, thereby reducing flying height and increasing gearing. Both of these might assist survival at the expense of speed, but then it is not much fun breaking through the 30kn barrier as your lifting foils also become airborne!  The plot thickens, hopefully I might get used to it....

I am both delighted and honoured to be the founder member of the UK International Moth 30kn Club. I have already began drawing up a suitably unique constitution and the bar is fully stocked. All I need now is some more members!

Equipment: Mach2 Moth, KA 13.2 Sail.
Location: Western Solent just outside the Lymington river, near the RLym platform. During racing.
Wind: The gust was probably 23-27kn. Direction 295’. [Recorded at adjacent weather station: Mean 19kn and Max Gust 27kn (over the 10 minute period)]
Sea state: Small confused chop, 12’C water temp, salty.
Current: Slack high water.

Authenticity;
Velocitek Speed Puck GPS recorded speed over 30kn for 4s (the 30.61kn and 30.31kn below are adjacent), the unit is updated every 0.5s. The accuracy is to 0.2kn.
2 second run n°1 = 56.7km/h [30.61Knots] (31.5 m. in 2.0 s.)
2 second run n°2 = 56.13km/h [30.31Knots] (31.2 m. in 2.0 s.)
10 second run n°1 = 52.01km/h [28.08Knots] (144.5 m. in 10.0 s.)
10 second run n°2 = 50.73km/h [27.39Knots] (140.9 m. in 10.0 s.)

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Ka Sails Victorian Moth Grand Prix -round 2

As the northern hemisphere gets cold its always nice to see southern hemisphere Mach2 sailors enjoying themselves. It reminds us that we dont have to wait too long until its our turn again!



We are jealous already!

Video by Richard Jackson

Monday 18 July 2011

Macau Moth Man



Here is Mark Evans with his new Mach2 Moth in Macau over the weekend. Mach2 designer Andrew McDougall helped Mark gets started and reported "Best first go I've seen. He will be good! He has great balance."



Mark is co-owner of McConaghy boats and MD of the McConaghy China operation that builds the Mach2 Moth.

Monday 14 March 2011

Lochy Balboa!

Ok maybe not the Italian Stallion but Victoria's closest answer! Lochy Byrne did it and recorded his first and definitely not his last Championship win!

After two days of waiting due to no wind and gales, five races were ultimately sailed on the last day and Byrne defeated heavyweight Andrew McDougall. Sam England was first female in third place.



Yo, Andrew! It's me, Locky!

Monday 14 February 2011

Mach 2 warranty transfer




Some of the early Mach 2's are now finding new owners as sailors upgrade to new boats. All Mach 2's are covered by a two year warranty and any warranty remaining is transferable to the new owner. If you sell your boat please don't forget to let us know the name of the new owner so we can keep our records straight. Thanks.

Tuesday 30 November 2010

15 year old Mach 2 sailor does 23 knots!




Jack Sherring, the winner of the Silver edition Mach 2 auctioned on eBay shows that he's got the right stuff by clocking 23.4 knots recently.

McConaghy boats auctioned this stunning Mach 2 last year at Audio Victoria week and the proceeds went to the childrens charity "Variety"

Clearly Jacks been practising and he's' entered for the World Championships at Belmont in January. Are we seeing a future World Champion here?