by James TOMLINSON, SuMoth Challenge Solent University team Communication Officer

Enter the world of one of the fastest one person dinghies in the World. A class where not only extreme speeds sailing speeds are achieved, but also a class that allows for innovation and now sustainability.
1974 saw the first innovation of the foiling moth since it has captured the awe of sailors. The class has developed from small class to an international circuit, attracting over 120 boats at the last world championships.

Foiling Week is an annual event held at the Fraglia Vela Malcesine, or more commonly know as Italy Lake Garda. A location that provides a unique backdrop, and near-perfect sailing conditions for sailing. Foiling Week is more than just racing, it is a week-long event where industry are invited to come and deliver talks to create a forum of design and construction.
The SuMoth Challenge is created to engage competitors, designers and industry leaders to network.

The Schedule

The event will take place during the Foiling Week in the middle of July 2020 at Garda Lake in Italy. The Fraglia del Vela Malcesine has hosts hundreds of sailing events every year and attracts people from all over the world. The Foiling Week forum adds to this and brings the industry all together at this spectacular venue.

The Event + Plan

Foiling Week present the following challenge for Universities around the World;

Challenge: To design, engineer and race a fully functioning Moth built from sustainable materials, and developed sustainably.

The competition is judged on a split weighting:

• 30% Dynamic – Fleet Racing and Speed Test
• 70% Static – Design, Manufacturing and Sustainability

For our team, a strong emphasis will be put into the Static part of the competition- which will be conducted locally where we are based in Southampton.
Here Mario and Giovanni will form the Design team and create a design that incorporates effective materials and efficient design. Arnaud and James will form as the Build team, with help from the group. The intention is to have a boat functioning before May, allowing the sailing team to start testing and the entire team to asses where we are at 2 months before the event.

Lake Garda is regarded as one of the most unique and stunning places to sail in the industry.
The shear mountainous backdrops capture the awe of sailors from all over the world and bring a large international group of people together to attend the Foiling Week forum. The forum attracts industry-leading organisations, and not just from the sailing industry. It is the ideal place and event to showcase what could be regarded, as the future direction of our industry.

Our journey will begin here in Southampton and lead to Lake Garda next year. We invite you to follow and join us on the journey over the next 8 months.

Meet the Team

Vittorio BOCCOLINI (ITA),
Vittorio joined Solent University in 2018 after having taught for years in further education. Following his passion for sailing, Vittorio studied Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of Napoli Federico ii. Here he gained a PhD and MEng. In his free time, Vittorio loves cooking, sailing his Laser, travelling and spend time with his family. As part of the Lecturing staff, I am really excited to supervise the Solent students for this project. The challenge that the SuMoth project put on a relatively small group of students goes beyond the simple application of the taught subjects: time management, building technique, presentation skills and sailing capabilities are just some of those added values that they need to learn and use to have a successful campaign. I do expect they will be able to be innovative and think out of the box by using all the possible resources and material most sustainably.

Team Captain:
Arnaud ANDRE (FRA), Mature student in the second year of Yacht Design and Production. Born and raised in France I started sailing when I was 8 years old. In the late 80’s I qualified as a dinghy coach- coaching a team of rising stars in classes like Europe. I then moved into professional sailing in the 90’s sailing on 12M/J class, and world champion in 1994 onboard 8M/J class. I became the team manager for a challenge for the Tour de France a la Voile and following on Motor and Sailing Yacht captain during 12 years. For my second life, I am now a student at Solent University. Always interested in reducing our impact on the planet, this challenge might open our eyes on the impact this industry can have and reduce it.

Communication Officer:
James TOMLINSON (SWE), my background revolves around sailing and sailing media. I started out sailing and have now moved into freelance media. Working with events, teams and suppliers. I have been fortunate to work in the top performance of the Yachting Industry and have seen first hand the move towards more sustainable methods of boat building and the way events are run.
Foiling Week is a great event and a very strong forum, and a perfect chance to connect with industry. For Foiling Week to promote this project to the forum is very valuable. I think SuMoth presents a great opportunity for us to create something special, but also for people to follow the journey and get involved in areas.
I look forward to seeing where the project takes us.

The Designers:
Mario TRINDADE (BRA), Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, sailing was in Mario’s blood since he was very young. After about ten years of Professional Sailing, Mario decided to join Solent University to upgrade his skills and become a Yacht designer.

As a Sailor, Mario has accomplished many titles such as Multiple National Titles, Multiple South American Titles and 3 World Championships in multiple classes.

Mario will head the design side of the team to create an innovative, simple and efficient design

 
Giovanni MENGUCCI (ITA), Born and raised in Italy, Giovanni started dinghy sailing, and then sailed his way up to offshore. After a long involvement in a class40 around the world project (Roma Ocean World), Giovanni moved into a smaller but equally competitive and challenging class- the Mini Transat. More recently Giovanni helped prepare two Mini 6.50’s for this year Mini Transat. In 2020 Giovanni will be starting his own Mini Transat campaign with his boat. His campaign will share values of the SuMoth Challenge, with a focus on sustainability and reducing the impact of his campaign on the environment.

The Sailing Team:
Peter DILL (BDA), I have somewhat of a unique sailing background. I’ve always taken every opportunity to get my feet wet, but my exposure to high-performance sailing is largely thanks to the 2017 America’s cup being hosted in my home waters in Bermuda.
During this time, I had the opportunity to work for Oracle Racing as a shore crew member and secured a spot on Bermuda’s Youth America’s Cup team as a boat captain/sailor. I not only have sailing experience on these boats but practical knowledge on maintenance and systems. The moth is a different beast than a foiling catamaran but there are cross-overs and it is a boat I have worked on extensively and have some less competitive experience sailing. It is in everyone’s best interest to keep our environment healthy, and sustainability is a problem of increasing importance. This is the primary reason I’m excited to take part in the SuMoth challenge. Mostly to learn about more efficient/sustainable boatbuilding methods but equally to learn the design challenges and what goes into the engineering of one of these boats.

Adriana PENRUDOCKE (BDA), I am keen to take part in the challenge, as overall I am a very keen sailor both in the racing world (in the laser radial class competing at European and world championships), as well as foiling on the WASZP. From this project, I would not only gain from skippering on the SU Moth, but I am also very keen to gain more experience from more hands-on experience in different sustainable materials from not only our team but others. With having qualified for multiple world championships and regattas in places like Lake Garda and other iconic sailing venues, I have a wide range of experience in the racing spectrum and would like to continue broadening my sailing experience by taking part as a skipper in the SU Moth challenge. As you can see from both a professional and leisure standpoint that I am keen to join in for the SU Moth Challenge 2020. Furthermore to sustainability, this project/challenge will broaden my list of different sustainable materials that I may have not thought of in the process.

Opportunities to join the project

From the Team Manager:
We think this event is a great opportunity for us to put our name on the charts as now sustainability is a real concern in our industry and as youth designer or production manager we need to learn and apply this to our day to day working life.
Solent University has a great opportunity to also show the sailing world its interest in sustainability and new material, technics.
Vittorio.

Areas of support
The SuMoth brings costs with it. There are allocations in the rules that allow us to buy old components of existing moths to work with. Luckily for us, we have full access to the University to help with R&D and manufacture.
Key areas we are seeking support involve deck hardware, rope, travel and accommodation at the event.
Foiling Week has an international reputation and is publicised over all social media streams. At the forum, there are guest speakers every day of the event. Here there are great opportunities for exposure.
Foiling Week create a great scene to be associated with; Sustainability; Youth; and Innovation.

From all of us in the team, thank you for reading and learning about our project. We hope you choose to follow our journey as things begin to start happening. There will be some challenges ahead, and we feel prepared together to get through them and come out on top with a Sustainable Moth ready to take on the Foiling Week.
James T.

The Foiling SuMoth Challenge was created by Foiling Week™ to support and promote sustainable boat building practices. Sponsored by 11th Hour Racing, the SuMoth Challenge will challenges students to construct competitive Moth class-compliant foilers while also considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the manufacturing process. The teams will compete in their full designed boats at Foiling Week 2020 in Lake Garda, Italy.