Header Photo: Brigantine Y.C (New Jersey) Classic Moths - 1960

This is a photo I lifted from fellow Mothist, George A's blog. The original post can be found here. This is a Moth Regatta at Brigantine Y.C in 1960 with George A in the boat on the right and on the left is Kenn Clauss sailing a Titan design. Classic Mothists still flock to Brigantine Y.C in June for the annual regatta on the small bay behind the barrier island that holds Brigantine, one of a string of ocean-front communities up and down the Jersey shore. Several years ago I wrote a post about the pre-regatta party that Joe Courter hosts from his fantastic house on the land-side of the bay.

For those who may have an interest in the Classic Moth, the Nationals are scheduled for Elizabeth City, North Carolina over the weekend of Sept 21 - 22.

Header Photo: Rigging on the yard of Brigantine Y.C.

The previous header photo was the young one of Team Albaugh, Erik, rigging his Savannah Mistral Classic Moth in the yard of Brigantine Y.C. (his then girlfriend, now fiance is helpfully pitching in).

This year, 2015, marked the 24th running of the Brigantine Classic Moth Regatta, an event singlehandedly organized by the Albaughs (with a dynamite pre-race party hosted by the Courters). Thirteen Classics raced and it marked my first day on the water this year. Good thing the winds were lightish as I felt a complete klutz in my Moth, which is to be expected. A good time. Mike Parsons of Cooper River ran away and hid from the fleet in all races to take the overall results.

I had some time to take a couple of yard shots before shoving off for the racing.

Team Albaugh was in fluorescent green for the regatta.

Looming on the horizon are the famous casino towers of Atlantic City.

My trusty Maser has been going through a bout of repairs over the last year (hence the white primer). I have been accused several times of taking a nice looking sailing dinghy and making it uglier, year by year. I resemble that remark! (a somewhat funny American switcheroo on the comment, "I resent that remark!")

Click here for previous posts on Brigantine.

Brigantine New Jersey 2010, Pre-Race

I finally got one of my Classic Moths back together to attend the Classic Moth New Jersey Championships this past weekend in Brigantine New Jersey. Brigantine is the next town north of the East Coast gambling mecca, Atlantic City. I'll gin up a more complete regatta report when I get some photos.

We have a pre-race party at Absecon, across the bay from the Atlantic City. There are spectacular views of the Atlantic City skyline as the late afternoon turns to night.

A short video of Atlantic City shot across the marsh and bay.



Tip of the hat to Joe C and wife for a great party..........

Frankenboat: Laser to Maser

Doryman posted a comment to my Brigantine post wondering where was I in the photos. Humble of demeanor, I left out photos of me racing at Brigantine, but, since you asked, I was the one sailing a Laser. Um.....Actually there was three of us sailing Lasers in the Classic Moth regatta at Brigantine.

Laser's in a Classic Moth regatta? How can that be?

Well here is a photo of me and my "Laser".

That's not a Laser!

At one time she most certainly was a Laser, but now #105 is transformed, a rare Classic Moth emerging from the Laser chrysalis into a sailing craft we call a Maser. For the tale that can be told is about several intrepid Classic Mothist's, in true tinkering, Frankenboat tradition, have been happily sawing up old Laser hulls and then piecing them back together into Classic Moths (Masers). The trick is in figuring how to take a 13'4" (4.064 meters) Laser hull and squeeze it down to the Classic Moth length of 11' (3.35 meters).

The genre was started by two Norfolk, Virginia Mothists, Randy Starks and Al Whitener. Initially they just lopped 2 feet fron the Laser transom; a sailable solution but unfortunately ending up with too much wetted surface to stay with other Classic Moths. Undaunted, these two embarked on building several more Masers. each version getting better.

Here are the barebones steps to make a Classic Moth from a Laser (tip of the hat to both Randy and Al for their innovations).

1. Look for an old abandoned Laser hull, either in the weeds or upside down baking in the sun, a Laser that hasn't been moved in years, preferably a Laser where the owner has lost everything but the hull. Buy hull.
2. Cut deck off hull.
3. Cut raked bow off hull.
4. Cut a chevron shaped wedge out of center of hull (eliminating daggerboard trunk) to shorten hull.
5. Glass aft hull and front hull back together.
6. To add more rocker to hull, slit keel line to about 3 feet from transom and push more rocker in. Glass keel line together.
7. Pinch up bow and glass together. Make sure hull is no longer than 11'.
8. Add 1/8 inch plywood bulkheads and decks (saving about 40 to 45 lbs on the Laser weight.
9. Add Classic Moth rig.
10. Go sailing

Here are two Masers sitting on the lawn at the Elizabeth City Nationals. In the foreground is one of the Starks/Whitener versions. In the background is one built by Joe Bousquet.



Classic Moth #105 is the last Maser built by Randy Starks. Look hard and you can definitely tell it retains the original Laser transom.



A true Maser aficionado looking for a primo Maser conversion, one worthy of top dollar (at least $400 for the hull) should look for the following............

1. Maser must retain the original Laser transom with serial number. Extra points if the hull still has the original Laser bailer well (and bailer).
2. Must exhibit some lumpy unfairness along the topsides where the split hulls were joined.

Bottom line, a top of the line, show quality Maser must have some Laser lineage visually preserved. (I would also add a so-so paint job to what I consider a proper Maser..... to highlight the tinkering history of this particular model; but that is just my preference).

A shot of Joe Bousquet's Maser under sail.

---

And a YouTube video of your humble scribe narrating another modification project on his Maser.

• And click here to see even more repairs on my Maser - this on the back deck
• Starkers Gone!

Classic Moth; Chestertown Redux, Summer 2009

Bob Patterson and the Chestertown Yacht and CC had the Classic Moths back this past weekend. We got seven Mothboats (I like to call our class the Circle M class because I'm tired of explaining.... no...no we don't foil like the International Moth... we're not that kind of Moth class... glassy stare... not comprehending... why wouldn't everybody want to foil? Sigh!!!!). Wind was a lightish westerly with a strong weather shore component but enough right shifts to keep it interesting. Mike Parsons won again and the Nationals are up next. With Jeff Linton not competing (Lightning Worlds conflict), Mike is riding a strong season...maybe this year? Mike almost beat Jeff two years ago but got passed on the last run of the last race.

While derigging on the grass, a Dan on a bike stopped by (my varnished Classic Moth... ahem... Circle Mboat seems to attract passerbys). Dan is just starting a stint on the Tall Ship Sultana , based out of Chestertown. Dan is from that subset of sailors (seemingly 180 from dinghy sailors), true seamen who handle tall ships with square sails and hemp line the size of your biceps. Surprisingly he was genuinely interested in my 11 foot dinghy and then admitted his father had built a 16 foot, strip planked replica of a Brigantine. We talked of his aspirations of moving up through the Tall Ship ranks (Sultana being one of the dinky ones) and the possibility of meeting up again on Sultana's next trip to Annapolis and then off Dan rode.

A 16' replica of a Brigantine seemed worthy of Internet investigation... Let's go to YouTube. Sure enough, there is a YouTube of what I assume is Dan's fathers Brigantine Replica.



Looks like there could be some stability issues. Somewhat roly-poly.

I usually have some pictures of Classic Moths sailing the regatta but no cameras at this event. From my archives, 2005 Chestertown rigging.

On the Road; Brigantine NJ

The Mid Atlantic Classic Moth Championships were this past Saturday; hosted, as always, by George Albaugh at the Brigantine YC. Brigantine is the next beach town north from Atlantic City, the East Coast gambling mecca. Sailing takes place on the back bay, hemmed in by marsh but still within clear sight of the Atlantic City skyline of casinos and wind turbines. Thirteen Classic Moths showed up despite an abysmal weather forecast.

Fellow road warrior John Z. and I went up in double deck trailer mode. Saturday's forecast, like the rest of the East Coast, was for rain and more rain. Luckily Sat. dawned cloudy with no rain but shortly after launching, around 10 am, a dark line appeared in the West and rapidly ensconced our racing in moderate to heavy showers. The plan was for five short races, back to back, to avoid the predicted thunderstorms of the afternoon. Well, we avoided the thunderstorms, and thankfully, the rain let up once the racing ended only to start up with a lighter drizzle when we packed the Moths up.

It was a light air day. The start line was short and the weather mark was tucked up under the weather shore to make for some very tricky conditions. The Classic Moths are like the 6 meter keelboat class, we divide our trophies up depending on the age and the speed of the various hull designs.

Mike Parsons, who owned the favored left end of the start line the last two races, won the higher performance Gen 2 division. Joe Courter, sailing his Maser (modified Laser) registered some high finishes to take Gen 1 (slower, higher wetted surface designs) and Greg Duncan took out the Vintage Division (restored hulls from designs dating from the 1940's and older).

Your humble scribe finished third in Gen 2; getting to the weather mark OK but getting stuck in the water in the calm zone compared to the high flying Mistral designs.

Some pictures from Ingrid Albaugh. Click on picture for a larger, higher res view.


Start with Harrahs casino and wind turbines in the background.



Erik Albaugh coming to grips with the narrow waterline Mistral design.



Exiting the dead zone around the weather mark. Raining pretty hard.




Approaching the reach mark.

Brigantine Classic Moth Regatta Report; A Month Late

I was waiting for some pictures to do a full report on the Brigantine regatta, though I did cover the much more important pre-regatta party over here . Well, George Albaugh delivered the pictures (and some video) last week.

Twelve Classic Mothists attended with the three divisions evenly split; Gen2 with 4 Mothboats, Gen1 with 4 and Vintage with 4. Good winds and short courses made for a quick 5 races. John Zseleczky won the overall title and the faster Gen 2 division over Mike Parson, your humble scribe won a nailbiter over Walt Collins (1 point) in Gen 1, and Greg Duncan won another close battle with George Albaugh in the Vintage division. Depending on the race, the weather mark either had a large leftie shift or a large rightie shift. Figuring that shift wasn't so much my problem (I always seemed to be coming in from the left anyway); more of an issue for me was I had some horrendous starts. But it's all fun, especially scooting along the back side bay shore line to a gybe mark set just off the club...... where Merv's daughter was a hootin and hollerin as you wobbled into the gybe (her Dad, Merv, over 80, capsized, got towed in hanging off the transom and reappeared the next race rarin to go........Wow!).

Some pics (you know the drill, click on the pic to get a higher resolution version). Pictures taken either by Ingrid Albaugh or Jesse Joyner.

The top Vintage guys duking it out (George Albaugh on the left, Greg Duncan on the right).



A pre-start shot with the three divisions showing; on the right, Mike Parsons in the narrow waterline speedster Gen2, just to the left of him is Greg Duncan in the Vintage Skip Etchell's Connecticut design, circa 1950, and all the way to the left is our octogenarian, Merv in his Gen 1 Maser.



Winner overall, John Z in his Gen2 Modified Mistral..........



Merv and Greg Duncan upwind (I know you sailing coaches out there in the bloggosphere are tut-tutting about how they should be sailing flatter but this is still a nice shot).............



Walt Collin's rounding the weather mark in his Gen 1 modified, turbo charged, Ventnor knock off.



And a quick video of some of the starts (courtesy of Jesse Joyner).

Classic Moths at Brigantine 2011

This blog is anything but topical, so I write this report about a month after I raced my Classic Moth at Brigantine New Jersey, only my second regatta of the year. We had good breeze this year, seabreeze direction, around ten with some gusts higher on some races. My mongrelized Maser was lacking some speed in the Gen1 division when matched against the two thoroughbred Olympic Europes sailed by Walt Collins and George Albaugh. I didn't help matters much with two premature starts in the last two races, though this is typical for me when I haven't been racing much. For some strange reason, the Europe Dinghies seem to have picked up speed when using regular Classic Moth sails instead of the cut down Europe Dinghy sails.

For the overall trophy, John Z eked out Joe Bousquet at the finish of the last race after a stirring tacking duel up the last beat. For more complete reports, link over to George's blog or over to Joe's blog .

Two pics from the regatta that I lifted from George Albaugh (I think taken by his daughter Ingrid).

Here I am chasing the fleet after one of my Over-Early Starts...........



Winner John Z kicking Y2K up on a plane................



Agan, many thanks to Joe and Judy Courter for the always superb prerace shindig at their waterfront home.

My Early Moths in Tandem; Photos taken around 2005

These photos are of two of my early Moths, taken about twelve years ago, doubled up on my trailer for a trip to the Brigantine Regatta. On top is my Classic Moth, the yellow Energizer, a modified Stockholm Sprite and on the bottom was my winged scow Moth, Flatoo-a-T. Back then, the Brigantine Regatta had a "Modern Moth" division for winged Moths and I gamely raced my scow in that division, with little success. If I remember correctly, my friend Bill Beaver, raced my Classic in a couple of races.

For some reason I made a set of custom fiberglass mudguards for this trailer (hence the blue color). Both of the Moths, the trailer, and the Ford Aerostar van are no longer in my possession (the van and trailer junked, the Moths sold off into oblivion).

The dent in the aluminum wing tube, visible in the photo, is where a fellow Classic Mothie rammed me head on (he was on port prompting an exchange of pleasantries).

The blogmeister in the yellow Energizer.

Click here for my original post in Earwigoagin about my scow Moth.

My story on my winged International scow Moth has disappeared from an International Moth website. I reprint it here.

Classic Moth Boatbuilding; June 2011 Update

Recent Classic Moth boat building news floating around the net.

Joe Bousquet was the chap who re-released the squirrely narrow waterline 1960's Mistral design on the reconstituted Classic Moth class some fifteen years ago. Except for one year when Jeff Linton won with a Florida Wedge design, the Mistral or one of it's variants (Mousetrap) has won the nationals ever since. After fifteen years, Joe's original Mistral "Try-Umph" needed a redeck as the 3mm (1/8") plywood can take only so much of asses and knees crashing down over time. Joe details the redeck job in this post from his blog "MadMothist". Joe lightened things up by sistering foam with his rolled tank frames. Here is a pic I stole from Joe's blog of Try-Umph's deck and frame layout (which in it's basic form has been copied by almost all of the Mistral builders).



Mike Parsons also did a redeck on his Mistal. Mike has done several deck versions; this year must be his third or fourth. His previous version had used 1.5mm (1/16") plywood on the foredeck that for weight reasons had only one coat of varnish. That one coat of varnish quickly disappeared and last year the deck took on the hue of weathered teak and became a sponge, perpetually wet when coming in from the races. Mike went back to a 3mm deck over the winter and using his carbon laminating prowess, lightened the mast step and daggerboard trunk so the actual new weight was slightly less than the old version. A pic of Mike's Mistral with the new deck taken at this years Brigantine regatta.



And finally, Patrick Burger, he of the weird but wonderfull FrankenMoth/Mothball design sprung at this years Midwinters , decided to up the ante, and has built himself a Mistral, but not just any old Mistral. Patrick has built the first foam/glass Mistral that I'm aware of in the Classic Moth World. Shortly after the Midwinters, Patrick scarfed up a plywood Mistral hull from Rod Koch that had spent too long out in the Florida sun and was unsalvageable. Using the wood Mistral hull as a plug, Patrick taped down some contoured foam and glassed both sides to lift a new hull. The hull and deck are now complete and pictures show some radical visual differences.

Patrick has put in a V-transom with the hull continuing aft as planing strakes. The sidedecks are narrow with no decking surrounding the daggerboard trunk, hence the cockpit looks enormous compared to the tiny footwell of the Bousquet layout.



This side on shot shows the reverse sheer with the V-transom shape.



With the large cockpit of the Burger Mistral, one truly gets the feel of how narrow a hull the Mistral is (not a flat area anywhere).

Patrick is a painter by trade and used finishes not typical in the Marine Industry on his Mothball. I'm sure the color layout he chooses will be another interesting facet of this Classic Moth build.

More on the Mistral design can be found here

2015 Classic Moth Nationals

The 2015 Classic Moth Nationals at E-City this past weekend had two glorious sunny days with winds mostly under ten knots. Jamey Rabbit repeated as National Champ with an even more dominating performance than he had last year. As usual, the Gen II Mistral or modified Mistral designs filled the top four positions. Rod Mincher returned to the Nationals after a several year layoff to take the Gen I division in his Maser. Gary Gowans, who won Gen I last year, copped another victory this year, in the Vintage division.

The fleet was split almost evenly among the divisions with 6 Gen II, 5 Gen I, and 6 Vintage to make a total of 17 Classic Moths.

I was able to wander around and take some yard shots of a few of the Classic Moth fraternity/sorority.

Usually the Classic Moth Greybeard Society doesn't have a quorum at the Nationals but this year they did. Dan Mallott, Gary Gowans, and Jahn.

Bill Boyle, who was the lead builder on the Tweezer project, has built or restored a bunch of Classic Moths. Here he is with his restored Ventnor.

Joe Courter, who puts on the great pre-race party at the Brigantine Regatta, got the Old Goat award (he's well into his 70's).

National Champion for the second year in a row, Jamey Rabbit,

John Zsecleczky finished third overall.

Mike Parsons finished second overall.

---

Top Twelve Results of the 2015 Classic Moth Nationals.

The Gen II  and National Championship winner is marked with yellow, the Gen I winner is marked with green, the Vintage is marked with orange.

Skipper	Races	Hull Design
Jamey Rabbit	1,1,1,1,1,1,[2],1,1,1]	Mistral/Mousetrap
Mike Parsons	2,3,2,2,2,[4],3,2,2,2	Mistral
John Zseleczky	4,4,3,3,[4],3,1,4,3,4	Mistral/Collins
Joe Bousquet	3,2,4,4,3,2,4,3,[5],5	Mistral
Rod Mincher	5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,4,[6]	Stark Maser (Gen 1)
John Pugh	6,7,7,6,7,7,7,[9],7,3	Olympic Europe (Gen 1)
Greg Duncan	8,6,[13],7,6,9,9,8,8,8	Olympic Europe (Gen 1)
Zach Balluzzo	11,[12],8,8,9,8,6,6,9,7	Mistral
Gary Gowans	9,10,9,9,[11],6,8,7,6,9	Tennis Bracelet (Vintage)
Carol Terryberry	10,11,11,10,[12]10,10,10,12,11	Ventnor (Vintage)
Erik Albaugh	13,13,[14],13,8,11,12,12,11,10	Mistral/Savannah
Bill Boyle	[14],14,12,14,14,12,11,11,10,12	Ventnor (Vintage)

George Albaugh over at Mid-Atlantic Musings blog has put more photos up in his 2015 Nationals photo album.

On the Road; Chestertown MD

The Classic Moths were over at historical and picturesque Chestertown, Maryland on July 11. Not that sailors ever stop to look at anything historical or picturesque as they dash to the Yacht Club. Let me note that the Saturdays farmers market in the town square looked very picturesque and worthy of stopping for a gander if the missus was in the car. But luckily she wasn't and we were late so it was.... stamp the tourist snapshot into the brain for the 20 seconds we were at the stop light.... and then off we went, 1/2 mile out of town to the Chestertown Yacht and Country Club.

Ten Classics showed up. A summer regatta at Chestertown has always been popular with Moth boaters but there was a time when the Chestertown Yacht and Country Club became more Country Club than Yacht Club. Thankfully, through the efforts of Bob Patterson, small boat sailing is making a comeback and this was the first summer regatta in several years.

The Chester River is narrow up at Chestertown, the sailing is always shifty... like lake sailing except for a wicked current. This year we had some breeze out of the south, building throughout the day. In the racing the choice seemed to go right for some big lifts and also some big holes, or stay left in some steadier breeze. It didn't matter much because the weather mark was tucked up at the bend of the river and left and right shifts became willy-nilly up there. He who lucked into the last shift got around first. The afternoon brought more wind with some wicked gusts. The log canoes racing at Cliffs City, about 2 miles downriver, really struggled in the breeze; I think 4 out of 7 capsized.

Mike Parsons and John Zseleczky continued their battle from Brigantine and finished 1,2 in the higher performance Gen 2. Regatta organizer Bob Patterson finished 3rd in Gen 2. George Albaugh, sailing the 2004 Europe that won the Olympic Trials, finished first in the slower Gen1 class with Ed Salva in another Europe, second and Victor Stango in a Shelly, third.

Tip of the hat to Bob Patterson who pulled off a great regatta.

Pictures from Ingrid and Elisabeth Albaugh. As always, click on the photo for a higher resolution image;

John Z upwind in a modified Mistral

The Gen2 leaders Mike Parsons and John Zseleczky doing battle. John, why is your right foot up around your ears in this photo?

Classic Moths beating upwind with picturesque Chestertown in the background (I think it's picturesque ... Someone told me this town is pictureseque)

Gust on! Why is the 150 pounder on the left handling this gust better than the beef brothers on the right?

Start of one of the morning races.

A Piece of Furniture: The "Woodie" Europe Dinghies

The designer of the Europe Dinghy, Belgian Alois Roland, originally built them in wood. When Roland's company went bankrupt, his assistant, Giuseppe Christalli continued building beautiful wood Europe dinghies. When the Europe Dinghy class went Olympic the wood boats were no longer competitive and the class became plastic and has remained one where the new boats are entirely made out of glass.

History of the Europe Dinghy from Classic Classes by Vanessa Bird.

My Dutch friend, René de la Rie, sent along photos of his stunning wooden Europe which is not a Roland or Christalli but a Tebberman. Tebberman was known primarily for his rudders and centerboards, and only built a few Europe Dinghies, but what lookers his Europe Dinghies were! Beautiful deep mahoganies were matched with contrasting lighter inlays to create masterpieces.

George A of Mid-Atlantic Musings also owns a Galetti woodie Europe. Whilst not as stunning as a Tebberman the Galetti hull is still very pretty. Galetti was an Italian builder on the southern shore of Lake Garda. He was more famous for his 505's and Quarter Tonners.  Over at his blog George A tries to identify the builder of his "woodie" Europe dinghy. George unveiled his woodie Europe with a new Bosquet foredeck at this year's Brigantine regatta.

---

Redecking a glass Europe hull.

Aussie Scow Moth Pics

Continuing on one of the common threads throughout this blog, that being all things scow related, I've dug into my photo archive to post some photos of the Aussie scow Moth. The Aussie scow Moth is a particular favorite of mine since I owned one for several years and dragged it out to race once a year at Brigantine N.J. Back then George A. had a start for "All things Moth but not a U.S. Classic Moth" and I  and the scow suffered through some miserable light air performances to get a chance in some breeze. I wrote about my Aussie scow here.

Oztayls (This has got to be mnemonic for something - don't know what though? Aussie Tales?) has started a blog about his restoration of one of the later designs of Aussie scow.

Here is a early picture, probably mid 50's since they all look like variations of the original Len Morris single chine model and sport wooden masts. I'm guessing one of the clubs around Sydney.

Again, Sydney Harbor, though later, a start in the 1960's. The scow on the left sports a "walking stick mast" with a sizeable luff tube to clean up the air flow, developed by Rick Le Plastrier. Amazingly advanced for the time, this predates the Windsurfer rig by about 20 years. They had trouble depowering this rig so it fell out of favor.

Winged Scows: The International Moth class increased the beam around 1969/1970 so the Aussie scows adopted wings along with the rest of the class. The pics below are recent ones of the winged scow versions. The red scow in the bottom picture looks to be one of the narrow, single-chine scows that were developed in a futile attempt to keep up with the skiffs which were getting extremely narrow and faster (when the skiffs won the 1984 Australian Worlds in big breeze, this marked the end of the scow as a competitive Moth in its home country).

Blasting!

I have dragged a comment by this orange scow's former owner, Jon Reid, into the main post.

"That's me in the bottom pic, bright orange boat so the rescue boat could always find me. The boat was originally Learning Curve, designed and built by Bob Nicholson on Lake Macquarie north of Sydney. I did a major renovation to it in 2006 after tearing a hole in the bottom. Painted it orange and changed the name to TurtleTouchingCloth. Sold it several years ago and believe it is still at the Seaforth Moth Sailing Club. God I look young in that picture."