Do you know your way to Pondicherry?

This is somewhat old news. I received an email back in May from Filio Shiavina that a group in Pondicherry (south-east corner of India) were building eight Y2K Mistral Classic Moths. We received a photo of the first one being spray painted. Lionel Mallard and son Nat, who own the Ultramarine boatyard are supporting the Moth building effort and I assume the following photo was from their shop. Since then no further news/pics have surfaced.

Update, October 26, 2018: Joe Bousquet, who is on Instagram, came across several photos of the launch of one of the Pondicherry Mistrals, sans rudder. Seems like 15 year old Siam Mallard couldn't wait to build a rudder and launched his Moth with just a paddle for steering. The last photo had him a fair distance from the launching site. Oh, the courage of youth.
 

Filio has been working on a 3D modeling of this mod Mistral. He noted one discrepancy in the offsets given in the post. We await some pretty 3D pictures of his work.

For those who like their geography, here is the Google Map for Pondicherry (officially Puducherry in India).

Header Photo: Three Moths from the Sucé-sur-Erdre Get-together

Moth Classique

The previous header photo featured three Classic Moths from the 2018 French get-together on the River Erdre, just above the city of Nantes. From the left, David Balkwill sailing a 1940's Nantais Moth, Jean-Yves, sailing his homebuilt Moth (built when he was 12; I'm guessing the 1960's), and on the right is Jean-Jacques Cadoret in the 1960's cruising Moth, Moth Béarnais de Camping.

Scow Moth Rendezvous: Albert Park Lake

A week ago, six Classic (non-wing) Aussie scow Moths made it out on the small lake in the Melbourne city park, Albert Park.



Details are sketchy but they raced in the first of the summer series racing. (It seems if it is fall in my neck of the woods in the Northern Hemisphere then it must be spring in Australia - but if they call it a summer series, then so be it.)

Rigging area. Not sure what the designs of these scow Moth they are but I imagine they are of the Imperium time-frame.

The original Len Morris Olive made it outside the museum. Next to her is the Len Morris Mk II.

The scow Moths started with a Europe dinghy and a Laser Radial. We see a Solo dinghy and Sabre dinghy in the background, waiting for their start.

Some racing pics:

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Phil Johnson in his painstakingly restored Peter Cole Mouldie design.

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Photos originally appeared in Scow Moth Club group on Facebook.

Header Photo: Classic Moths upwind; 2017 U.S.. Nationals

The previous header photo is an upwind leg of the 2017 Classic Moth Nationals at E-City. It was light wind that year and it appears to be light wind again this year. The 2018 Nationals are going on as I type this blogpost. They were postponed one month because of Hurricane Florence. I'm not attending because I've lost my racing motivation at the moment.

Les Moths Classique: Les Rendez-vous de l’Erdre

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Blog post on the original French Moth get together, the 2001 Moth design competition sponsored by the French magazine "Le Chasse Marée".

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To celebrate the 90th birthday of the Moth class, seven very different Classic Moths of the French section gathered at Sucé-sur-Erdre, mid September, for a congenial get-together. Though racing was not the central reason for this rendezvous, there was some racing in very light air. Sucé-sur-Erdre is about 15 km north of the city of Nantes. Nantes is considered the traditional center of Mothboating in France as it was there that 150 of the Nantais Moth were built during World War II. Bertrand Warion sent along a report and photos and I poached some photos from David Balkwill (who I think is an English expat living in France) that were posted on Facebook.

Bertrand Warion stumbled upon this Moth as a shell in Switzerland twelve years ago. She is a version of the Swiss Dunand design. The hull is glass and Bertrand got her back on the water with some new wooden decks and a Europe Dinghy rig.

Philippe Meunier

Calimero, owned by Jean-Jacques Cadoret, is a French cruising Moth from the 1960's; a "Moth Béarnais de Camping". George did this blogpost on the history of the French camping Moth. Lots of package in a small form, I can see this Moth being an ideal weekend gunkholer for river exploring.

Philippe Meunier

Crocodile is flat bottomed Moth, designed and built by Charentais Olivier about five years ago.

Philippe Meunier

You need some flat, wide sections to make the "Moth Béarnais de Camping" work. You can see the metal keelband up forward to protect the hull on beach landings and the use of a centerboard.

Bertrand Warion

The Moth owned by Jean-Yves. Named Felix, he built this Moth when he was 12 years old. It was designed by his father and from this shot shows some relationship to the British Moth.

Philippe Meunier

On the left is Julia, a Moth designed and built by Didier Leveille for the 2001 Moth design competition, sponsored by nautical magazine, "Le Chasse Marée". On the right is Calimero, the cruising Moth.

Bertrand Warion

Julia at speed (most likely the fastest she went during the mostly windless weekend). Didier designed Julia somewhat after the Laser with flat sections throughout. I do like the artistic sail logos. I'll have to find out what they mean. A photo of Julia's sections here.

Philippe Meunier

Launching. Jean-Yves in number 131. Bertrand Warion's red deep-V design is being remarkably docile. Usually these Moths flip right over when left unattended.

Bertrand Warion

Nola, the stunningly restored Nantais Moth of Jean-Jacques, sailed here by David Balkwill. David was none too impressed with this vintage Moth. (I dragged his opinion over from the comments.)

"My experience sailing the Nantais Nola was astonishing. I've sailed Moths, both British and International, since the seventies, but this one from 1941 was by far the most uncomfortable. We had very light winds, but after three days on the water I was covered in bruises from all the corners and edges I was squeezed up against; in conditions where you can't move or you stop the boat!

Philippe Meunier

Rigging and launching was from Didier Leveille's house on the river. On the left is Crocodile. On the right is a wooden Europe. Not sure of the builder of the Europe Dinghy but the skipper was Frédérique Larrarté,

Bertrand Warion

Let's close this blog post with the most popular Classic Moth, Frédérique Larrarté with her ubiquitous Europe dinghy.

Philippe Meunier

Header Photo: Bertrand Warion's fleet in the reeds

Frenchman Bertrand Warion has provided plenty of copy for the Earwigoagin blog. This is a photo of some of his fleet sitting in the reeds. Peychot is Bertrand's own design; the small plywood cruiser in the middle of the group. Bertrand designed "Peychot" (little fish) several years ago with a mixture of some old and some new. "Peychot" was launched in 2013. Bertrand writes:

Very proud to see "Peychot" on the front page. The photo was taken during the launching days on the Lake Sanguinet. The one on the left is my one design, then the "bac à voiles", next is a little classic dinghy from a friend.

Lowriders Moth Facebook Group

For those who enjoy the history of the Moth there has been plenty of archival material going up over on Facebook. Look up the International Moth Lowriders Group. From a comment by John Butler on one of the posts)

"A number of active Moth Sailors from the 1960’s, 79’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s are regularly posting articles, photos, and class yearbooks, etc., over at the International Moth Low Riders Facebook Group.. there’s plenty to see and comment on.

I have a whole tranche of archive albums in my possession, originally created by the UK’s Major Tony Hibbert, recently found at UK Moth Builder John Claridge’s workshop.... some dating back to 1961.... which I’m currently cataloguing and scanning."

Link to Facebook Moth Lowriders group.

A Earwigoagin TOH to John Butler for making this history available. An English start from the 1960's. Note the mixture of short mast and tall mast rigs.