OK, guys. After this post, I'm not going to go through this song and dance about getting crap on the lifting foils of a Moth again. As our friend, Peter, would say, it's becoming redundant. I agree with that and if it weren't for the fact that hundreds of folks new to the sport are reading these posts, silently, I wouldn't bother. Because they are, they deserve the correct story as has been reported several other times on these pages, but not recently. There's no place for mythology, other than the bar, when you are trying hard to learn about boating.
Answered in order from Doug's last post.
Trash in the water is a sad thing for all of us but you go further, ostlind, and try to imply that it specifically affects the Moth(or any foiler) more than any other boat. Hogwash, as Jim and Timothy have pointed out.
Quite simply and to the point... it does affect lifting foils more than any other conventional boat. Weed is far easier to dislodge from vertically oriented foil surfaces than from a combination of vertical and horizontal, especially when the vertical/horizontal foil has a mid span joining point. Most folks can figure this one out for themselves if they have been on a few boats that caught weed or plastic crap and found themselves slowed as a result.
The foiling Moth is especially susceptible to anything in the water that can disrupt the lifting surface as virtually the entire experience, the draw, if you will, is about getting airborne and hitting the gas. No lift equals no gas pedal equals an ordinary sea hugger boat tooling around with a big set of inconveniently draggy foils.
Real simple stuff if you pay attention to facts and not mythology
As to the previous comments on this thread, I'll save you trouble of scrolling up to check them out:
If there are so many plastic bags in the waters they're sailing in that it's an issue, all that junk in the water is my concern. I'm glad the waters I boat in don't have such a high concentration of plastic bags yet.
and
I windsurf in Thailand and The waters are strewn with plastic bags and assorted dunage. On a formula board with its long vertical fin this can be a real problem. At 25 knts if the fin encounters even a 6" plastic bag a dramatic catapult is usually the result ,often resulting in expensive equipment damage.
Timothy, I'm not big on Formula boards myself, but I've seen lots of guys in SoCal encountering weed. They have exhibited all sorts of tactics to deal with it, as any sailor learns. I've also seen them switch to weed specific foils. In any event, you still get to sail in the same attitude with a plastic bag wrapped on your foil. You may be slower until you clear it, however you do that, but you do not lose the fundamental reason for having the ride.
A Moth, or any other boat with T-foils loses vertical lift. What other reason is there for having a foiler, than to get the lift and the associated speed? I wonder how many Mothies with foils will list, "I love to ride around in seahugger mode with my foils fully deployed", as one of their hot buttons?
You further try to portray it as a big disaster at a previous Worlds and the Dubai Worlds-hogwash again-just watch the videos of the boats hauling ***! You've tried to portray trash as affecting only one competitor in both worlds-Veal earlier and gulari now-hogwash again:if there is trash in the water it affects EVERYBODY. gulari's problem in this worlds is far more substantial than a couple of pieces of trash in NINE races.
I guess you like the word hogwash, Doug. It's looking more and more like you want to get booted here, just as you did at Sailing Anarchy and that Model Boat site you used to visit. From my experience with you, this sort of escalation is the first sign that you are about to erupt in a full scale flame-out. Good luck with that.
If you go back and read my postings, you'll see that I did not say it was a big disaster. I said it was unfolding as
a big story. I further backed that up with a couple of quotes directly from Sailing Anarchy, made by observers who are on site in Dubai. If you have a problem with the reportage, then take it up with the folks who made the direct and immediate observation... on site.
Since you are not on site and you have no quotes to counter the ones presented, it is incumbent upon you to either present your own, on-site quotes, OR, if you are a decent fellow, hold your tongue until such time as you do. You have not presented the first option, so please observe the second.
Next, I did not try to portray trash as effecting only one competitor... in either circumstance. Here's my posted comment, as supplied by and attributed to, Sailing Anarchy...
"2009 Moth World Champ and US Sailing Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, Bora Gulari, had a tough go of it in the last race when he managed to pick up two plastic bags. From what I’ve heard, there is no short supply of foil draggers off the Dubai coast with quite a few competitors hooking up garbage. Class president Mark Robinson picked up one, and one racer actually picked up the same blue bag on two different laps! "
References to the 2006 event in which Veal and others encountered crap in the water are listed below.
It would be really good if you came to the place where you actually read and comprehend what is posted, rather than what your fury dictates through some magical filter in your head.
Lastly, Doug... when there is a lot of trash in the water, it does not necessarily effect every competitor. There's lots of water out there and not everyone is following the same line like robots. I'm sure it could be possible to create a formula that would show the probability of encountering junk based on samples taken, but that's not my department. I'm simply reporting what has been observed. Your solo extension of facts into mythology is alarming.
Your recounting of the Veal incident is NOT CORRECT-according to Veal himself a lot of people had trash problems but the killer for him was his bum knee. He personally told me that....
It's just great that you have the impression that you and Rohan were once tied at the hip, Doug. But once again, documented facts, directly from his now defunct website, say otherwise. Take the time to read, once again, if you did so at all way back in '06, and comprehend that which has been written on these pages. I dug-up the germane post for you in case you found it too tedious.
From this link:
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/foiler-moth-world-championship-standings-12959.html Look to post # 5 made on 07-31-2006, at 07:24 PM There's more to the argument there if you care to read it.
Geez, Doug, the fouling foil stuff happened, it was openly addressed by Rohan and now you have a panic attack. That's really good form.
This from Rohan's personal account with regards to weeds, bags, etc.:
From Thursday's Race Two: "However the good thing was that I was dragging around some weed for the last lap, so that was now gone and I could concentrate on catching Simon on the last lap. I closed the gap downwind again, but it wasn't enough and came through in 2nd."
Lost Championship points due to weed disrupted foil surfaces.
From Saturday's final heat: "... By this stage I had lost over 100m and Adam was now in front. Then we all tacked on the starboard and that was it. I don't know if it was weed (again) or my wand configuration, but I could not foil at all on that tack..."
Now, this second quote was from what turned out to be the very last race of the event and ultimately decided the whole affair. Up to that point, Payne and Veal were running neck and neck for the title. Rohan ended up in fifth for that heat, lost significant points to Payne due to a malady that he directly addressed as potentially attributable to weeds (again) which vaulted Payne into the overall lead. The rest is history, as they cancelled the next day's racing due to no wind and Payne walked away the new World Champ.
Now, maybe Doug doesn't call that significant, but I do. As has been witnessed by other competitors, as well as directly addressed by Veal, losing the capability to foil on a foiling boat is a death sentence for performance. If it's a racing scenario, then the death sentence ripples down through the rankings as the points slip away from the damaged contender.
In another entry from Rohan's diary. This from the race on Thursday that he won: Of significance was the race result for Payne in that heat, finishing fourth due to weeds on the foil:" ... The winning margin was about 30 seconds or so, with Jason in 2nd, Adam 3rd, and Simon in 4th after snagging some weed on a windward work."
Not significant that the points that Simon lost were crucial to tossing Rohan into the points lead at the end of that day? OK, maybe in some mythology that could be true, but it was real enough for Simon Payne on that day.
Here's the silly bag thing quote by Rohan that got Doug all riled-up:
"In race two, I started mid line with Adam but shortly after crossing the line, I snagged a plastic bag in the water dropping 3 knots of speed instantly. I tacked to starboard to try and clear the bag, but it stayed on. I then tipped the boat over removed it and got going again."
Now, I'm sure this is much to Doug's chagrin, but his glossy reporting in his previous posting is not accurate at all on this matter. Rohan did not get clipped for first right at the line as Doug tells it. The race in which the, so-called, bag incident took place was, in fact, the second of the day and in that race, Rohan finished fourth, not second, as Doug would have you believe. The clipping action at the line was for third place and not first. Again… not very significant to drop into fourth place points due to a plastic bag?
The finishing order from Rohan's site:
Race 2: (the bag race)
1st Simon Payne
2nd Adam May
3rd Jason Belben
4th Rohan Veal
5th Sam Pascoe
So, draw your own conclusions as to how well he may have done without the "bag on the foil" trick right at the start of the race that afternoon.
It's significant that Mr. Lord will alter the reportage to suit his own brand of myth, as he projects it. Makes you wonder how many other little bits of data have been "tweaked" in the past to suit the projected, emotional needs.
As to Doug offering-up excuses for Rohan and his injured knee... please, stop speaking for the guy, Doug. Rohan does a right fine job of it himself. Nobody forced him to go put his butt on the line with an injury. He decided it was good enough to give it a go and the sympathy ends right then and there. He's a professional athlete and he gets to decide if the body part is working well enough to make the appearance. No excuses, no pained expressions, no whining from the sidelines can fix that decision. To offer that excuse for the end result is a dreadful posture of disregard for a superb athlete who knows his body better than do you.
It is now and will remain so, my belief that Rohan's problems with disrupted, weed and plastic bag fouled, foils played a significant part in his placing at the World's this time around.
His knee wasn't a significant part of the deal, or he would have been hampered by that issue throughout the event. His showings in several of the heats with first place finishes proves that to be a Red Herring argument put forth by those who would like to redirect the substantive issues away from what they really are. Rohan, himself, actually states that it was his athletic fitness that allowed him to remain in top form all the way through each race, while others dropped positions as the laps wore on.
From Rohan: "It seems as though anyone of the foilers can lead around the course for the first lap, but there are only a few guys that are capable of winning a race after three laps due to the high skill and fitness required to sail these demanding boats."
As has been stated on many occasions prior to this dust-up by such respected members as, Frosh, CT249, Rhough and several others, Doug's overwhelming desire to play hype-meister has far outstripped his ability to either recognize, or render, the truth when making a posting on these pages.
Now, Doug… please put these incorrect and unsubstantiated observations of yours to final rest… will ya’? 
