Classic Moth 2011 Midwinters; First Cut

Last weekend, Mothboat regatta road trip partner John Z and I were down at Gulfport YC, St. Pete, Florida for the Classic Mothboat Midwinters. Suffice to say that, after years of traveling thousands of miles up and down I-95 to sail the midwinters in 40-50 degree F temperatures , this year we were treated to both Saturday and Sunday temps in the high 70's to just scratching the 80's. After a chilly December, January, and February in the Mid-Atlantic, this was a much welcome change. Sixteen Mothboats sailed eleven races in lightish winds (I think I got serious in the hiking straps for a minute or two the whole series).

A great series, both on and off the water. I'll post some teaser pictures now and post a more detailed report later. Longtime Mothist, George Albaugh, in his blog "Mid-Atlantic Musings", has weighed in with his first post up on the Midwinters. You can jump to his article HERE .

First, acknowledgements to the photographers. On shore photos are from Bob Patterson and the on the water photos are from Amy Parker. Again, click on the picture to get a higher resolution image.

Transplanted Englishman and Isle of Wightian, Len Parker, with his 1960's Isle of Wight/McCutcheon built Shelly design......



Rutledge Young from the Charleston fleet with the, very pretty but unfortunately slow, Savannah Wedge design......



Walt Collins with his Olympic Europe dinghy.......



Your blogmeister with his Maser......



Greg Duncan launching his modified Mistral. Prognosis was Greg couldn't keep the transom out of the water in the light stuff (maybe a lighter skipper would be the ticket) and, in bending up the panels, he had pushed the rocker too far forward. A previous video on this design with Greg's commentary can be found here ........



Annapolitan, John Z., finished second overall in his Walt Collins built mod-Mistral "Y2K Bug"....


Derek Dudinsky showed up with his Mousetrap design after a hiatus of several years, busy with a young family. Derek runs a successful marine metal fabrication business in St. Pete..........



One of the starts............


Sail maker to the stars (at least for the Classic Moth crowd), Rod Koch rounding the weather mark in a borrowed Mistral. Rod owns a very quick modified Europe but is usually seen racing OPM's (other people's Mothboats)........


Overall winner, Jeff Linton, crosses tacks with 73 year old Randall Swan (4th overall) in the creepy crawly conditions of Sunday's racing......

Music Whenever: Caroline Smith "She Ain't Got It"

One week after Valentine's Day, let us regress into a "He done me wrong, He ain't got it" song....

And Now from the Other Brother

To forestall any sibling rivalry (as if being mentioned on my blog merits any delusion of Internet notoriety!), Tom Price, brother of ice boating expert, Chris (mentioned in my previous post) has sent along some vintage Classic Moth pictures from the Baltimore Sun photo archive. Tom was doing some research for a historical talk he was to give to the Gibson Island YC when he stumbled on these.

Looks like a Mothboat start. Some very different vintage hull shapes here....



John Jenkins, sailmaker to the current day Log Canoes, picked up the log canoe rig features (club clew and sprit boom) that this Mothboat had adopted

Hard Water Sailing

Regular readers of this blog know that I have some friends that love fast sailboats. No surprise then that many of these same friends own iceboats, namely the DN class iceboat . Iceboat owners living in the Mid-Atlantic are a patient lot. With our moderate winters, an iceboat doesn't see the light of day very often; years can go by with the iceboat tucked away in the garage. This winter was an unusually cold one for December and January, so it wasn't unexpected when I got a phone call from Bill Beaver at the beginning of February; "there's thick ice up on the Pennsylvania lakes, want to go up with me on Friday and do some DN sailing?" I've done this a couple of times in the past. I usually take my ice skates along and then cop a ride on a DN whenever someone wants to take a breather. Memories of great fun and so it transpired that at "0-dark-thirty" (a favorite Bill Beaver expression) I was riding shotgun in Bill's Volvo, heading north around the Baltimore Beltway toward the Pennsylvania border.

Bill had one more surprise for me.... somewhere between my last DN outing (5 years ago? maybe 6?), Bill had acquired a second DN.... I was going to have a DN all to myself!

Blue Marsh Lake outside of Reading Pennsylvania was our destination. Three other iceboat nuts showed up; former International Canoe competitor and long time friend, Roger Link from just south of Annapolis, Chris Price (forward hand on the very successful Price brother team during my International 14 days), and Jim Irwin from Riverton YC, Philadelphia. Wind was calm until about 11 am, then filled in from the south, but very streaky. We did get gusts around 10 knots, but also some calms and a big zonal shift; more westerly over on the western finger of the lake, more southerly at the southern shore.

This didn't matter to me. I'm all into joy riding these speedsters. Laying flat, head propped up with the ear next to the boom, going about 30 mph in the gusts, bouncing, chattering, ice chips pelting the face.... what a hoot. Unlike anything you will ever experience.

Roger and Bill, coming from techie soft water one-designs, are now trying to upgrade their equipment. Racing these beasts entails a whole different mindset in tuning; runner shape/sharpening; very flexible masts, pusher starts and then a graceful entry into the cockpit; not hitting anyone at 40 mph.

For me; I'm just happy to be a permanent newbie in this very exciting sport. Bill, pencil me in when we get another cold winter (2014? 2015?).

Far off shot of three DN's on Blue Marsh Lake.........



Chris Price rigging his DN on the right, one of Bill Beaver's DN's on the left....



And here's a recent YouTube with an video camera onboard a DN.

Music Whenever: Valentines Day 2011

I've been married for awhile. I admit, I am not the most romantic guy on the planet. But, every so often, throughout my married life, the sedate, the status quo gets shaken up so my eyes open and you appreciate all the qualities in the life partner who has chosen you. This is one of those times. Happy Valentine's Jeanie!

Two videos featuring either, falling in love, or crazy in love.

A Russian music video that celebrates that first attraction, that wowee!, that floating on air, what the heck does she see in me moment, where the smiles seem permanently plastered on the face. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to determine who the artist or the song that backs up the video. Any help would be appreciated in the comments......

Tatiana & Alexey - Love Story from artisland on Vimeo.


And who can ignore Heart! The Decembrists cover "Crazy on You".........

This is the third installment of Valentines Day music videos. More from the Earwigoagin archives.............

Click here for the Valentines Day video for 2010.

And click here for the Valentines Day videos for 2009.

Mothboats back in the late 1940's

George Albaugh sent along some photos, all taken at (I think) the 1948 Moth Nationals. I'm not sure if this is the first year for a National Championship win for the upstart Connecticut design by the famous Skip Etchells (of Star and Etchells 22 fame). Many Mothboats of that era have both the hull number and the boat name splashed on the bow, a neat touch that maybe the modern Classic Moth should emulate. George also supplied the captions......

Mothboats tied up to the dock at Elizabeth City. Note the barn door rudders.



The 1948 National Moth Boat Champion, the Connecticut "SHUCKS", Nr 999. Lems Blades’ "THUNDERCLOUD", Nr 910 can be seen in the background.



Nr 908, "LITTLE NOB" was sailed by Gene Willey. Dorr Willey’s "BLONDIE", Nr 808 can be seen in the background.



Peggy Kammerman’s "SOUTHERN CROSS", Nr 122 down from Atlantic City. "SOUTHERN CROSS" was the 1935 National Champion, skippered that year by her builder Stansbury Cramer.



1948 National champ, John White, launching his Connecticut "SHUCKS".




Billy Letts from Big Bayou Yacht Club, St. Petersburg, FL taking "MISS BEHAVE", Nr 506 for a test sail with his girl friend. Not too many current day Americans could sail “two up” in a Moth Boat!




Trophy Presentation.



The “Connecticut” Moths from Rocky Point Yacht Club.

Music Whenever; Cities of Foam "Sky High Lee"

One of those weeks where my head hasn't been into posting to my blog. I've picked up on the musical group "Cities of Foam" from Dylan Winter, who favors their sound as a backdrop for several of his sailing videos. Seems to be a melding of musical tastes here..........