Header Photo: Classic Moth Midwinters (2016)

The previous header photo was of 2015 Classic Moth Midwinters champ, Mark Saunders, running downwind in his Mistral. This makes a nice lead-in to a quick report of the 2016 Classic Moth Midwinters this past February.

The Midwinters, hosted as usual by Gulfport Y.C. in St. Petersburg, Florida, was sailed in lightish airs for the most part, and past multiple National Champ, Jeff Linton returned after a layoff to take the title; though both Mark Saunders and Ethan Bixby pushed Jeff hard on Saturday. Frickie Martschink won in Gen 1 in a fleet that comprised mostly of Europe Dinghies. The Charleston South Carolina Classic Moth fleet traveled en-masse to the regatta, having recently restocked with several Europe Dinghies they obtained in a fire sale from the Sag Harbor Dinghy fleet.

The results:

Skipper	Races	Hull Design
Jeff Linton	2,[4],1,2,1,1,1	Mousetrap
Ethan Bixby	1,1,3,3,[DNS],2,3	Mousetrap
Mark Saunders	3,3,2,1,2,[4],4	Mistral
Frickie Martschink	5,5,4,5,4,[7],6	Olympic Europe (Gen 1)
Lewis Hay	8,6,5,4,3,[10],5	Olympic Europe (Gen 1)
Mike Parsons	4,2,[DNS],DNS,DNS,3,2	Mistral
Rutledge Young	[10],9,6,6,5,6,8	Olympic Europe (Gen 1)
George Albaugh	6,7,9,[10],8,5,7	Olympic Europe (Gen 1)
Jack Clark	7,8,7,8,7,[9],9	Round-bilge Lindenberg (Gen 1)
Tom Kapp	9,[10],8,7,6,8,10	Olympic Europe (Gen 1)
Woody Kapp	11,11,[DNF],9,9,11,11	Shelley Mk1 (Gen 1)

Some photos from Amy Linton:

A trio of Gen I Moths making their way upwind. From left to right; Jack Clark in no. 82 a beautiful wooden Lindenberg, Frickie Martschink in no. 4067, a stock Europe Dinghy and no. 144, Lewis Hay in another Europe Dinghy.

Amy S. Linton

Most of the Gen 1 fleet with their skippers folded inside their boats as they slowly make their way around the leeward mark. George A. creator of the Mid-Atlantic Musings blog in the lead.

Amy S. Linton

George A. again, sporting his signature "cycling" cap.

Amy S. Linton

Mark Saunders finished a close 3rd in the Gen II division with his Mistral.

Amy S. Linton

Gen 1 winner, Frickie Martschink approaching the reaching mark.

Amy S. Linton

A start on Saturday. North Sails small boat guru, Ethan Bixby borrowed no. 103, a Mousetrap Mistral, to finish second. Just to windward is Mike Parsons in his Mistral who finished fourth in the Gen II class.

Amy S. Linton

A panoramic shot of the same Saturday start.

Amy S. Linton

George Albaugh has a comprehensive report on the Midwinters, with more photos, over at his blog.

2010 Classic Moth Nationals; Report and Results

Good turnout again this year with the usual ragtag Mothboat builder, tinkerer, racer clan assembling at Elizabeth City, NC to discuss Mothboat designs, drink beer, watch foiler demos in the evening and fit in 9 races to determine the National champeen.

In my several years attending this regatta in mid September, I'd estimate that 85% of the winds are from the North, NorthEast. Ditto this year, with winds mostly about 5-7 mph, which means the weather mark is tucked up against the shore where big lefty shifts or big righty shifts randomly swirl. Added to the tactical conundrum this year; the start/finish line was moved mid course and protected from crossing in the race instructions. One had to commit to the left or right at the bottom of the course, immediately after rounding the leeward mark, which again was a toss of the dice. Enough to make your brain spin but it gave good close racing throughout the fleet

Jeff Linton impinged on the protected start/finish line and was carrying a DSQ early but turned in five consecutive firsts to take home another National title. Mike Parsons, last year's winner, also carried a DSQ when he sailed through the start/finish line but kept his nose clean with mostly top three finishes to claim second. Previous National champ, Mark Saunders had some dicey first beats early on but managed big comebacks throughout the regatta to finish third, only two points behind Mike.

Your humble scribe raced his Maser to a second place in the slower Gen1 division, behind Rebecca Dudzinski, who borrowed back her Europe dinghy she used in an Olympic campaign. Rebecca gave the faster Gen 2 guys a run for their money, posting an individual race first and a second to finally place 4th overall. John Z in his Mistral and Joe Bousquet in his modified Shelley finished 5th and 6th overall

Number 1 and Number 2 for the regatta; Jeff Linton and Mike Parsons (Jeff on the left). (As always click on the picture for a high resolution image.)



Mark Saunders finished third with a legal fathead. His sail is a foot short on the luff (14' vs 15'). Mark gives up the extra foot of luff so he can eliminate the pinhead and use a fathead (his sail would lie within the outside dimensions of a normal max 15' luff sail).



Us old farts in the Classic Moths always wondered how one of the women Olympic sailors in the Europe dinghy would do if they raced a Europe in the Nationals. Now we know. Pretty damned good! Fourth to Rebecca Dudzinski in her Europe.



John Z, with his modified Mistral, was top Annapolis sailor in fifth......



And Joe Bousquet, sailing his wife's modified high freeboard Shelly was sixth........



Top ten results table;

Skipper	Races	Hull Design
Jeff Linton	2,[DSQ],4,2,1,1,1,1,1	Mousetrap
Mike Parsons	[DSQ]4,2,1,2,3,4,3,3	Mistral
Mark Saunders	4,2,[6],4,4,2,2,2,4	Mistral
Rebecca Dudzinsky	1,3,5,[7],7,4,5,4,2	Europe
John Zseleczky	[10],6,3,3,3,6,3,5,6	Mistral
Joe Bousquet	7,1,1,5,5,[10],6,6,5	Modified Shelly
Rod Mincher	5,[11],8,6,9,5,7,7,8	Maser
Rod Koch	3,7,[DSQ],8,8,7,10,8,7	Modified Europe
Walt Collins	6,[10],7,9,6,9,8,10,11	Cates
Lewis Hay	8,5,10,11,10,8,[12],11,10	Europe

Thanks again to John and Sarah Pugh for hosting this years regatta on their commodious back lawn. Thanks to Greg Duncan for putting the regatta together. Thanks to Mike and Barbara, Ed Salva, John Z for bringing some tasty beers to swill down.

Thanks to Elizabeth Albaugh and Len Parker for the photos.

And finally I couldn't let Rutledge Young of Charleston, SC off the hook for this great photo of his Savannah Wedge design.

2022 Classic Moth Midwinters

Back again, at least for the moment. Been off keeping myself amused with various non-sailing, non-social larks during COVID-time. I'll try to post to Earwigoagin irregularly, particularly if it is easy; if stuff lands in my lap.

John Z went off down south for the Classic Moth Midwinters and relays the news. Weather was beautiful in Gulfport, Florida; sunny 80F (26C), light winds in the morning with the regular breeze clocking in for the afternoon. Nine Classic Moths showed up with the CMBA resident professional and all-around nice guy, Jeff Linton, again making off with top honors. Shore photos are from John Zseleczky and on-the-water photos from Amy Linton (which I have converted to black and white in my own fashion).

(George Albaugh has his more extensive Midwinter report up on his blog.)

George Albaugh with his wooden Europe on the Gulfport YC dinghy lawn.

Greg Duncan rigging his glass Europe.

Jamey Rabbit with no. 134, his new modified Mistral design. Jamey had teething problems on Saturday but came back strong on Sunday, posting 1st's and 2nd's. Jamey started this project back in 2015, seven years to completion, which is getting into my extended time frame for boat projects. In the photo below, you can definitely see he pinched in the topsides up forward. (Compare to the standard Mistral shape of Joe Bosquet, no. 48, in the background.)

Jamey Rabbit rigging. His new Classic Moth has carbon bits and bobs all over the place. The aft deck looks like you could launch drones off it. Jamey documented his Classic Moth build over at his Blackberry Boatworks blog.

John Z motoring upwind. John would finish 2nd to Jeff in Gen II.

Mark Saunders in his modified wood-redecked Europe giving Jamey Rabbit a run for his money. Mark would win the Gen 1 division.

Mark Saunders in his Europe upwind. From this angle looks very similar to my Maser. I've been looking at film photography recently and somehow I rendered this photo in Photoshop very much in the ethos of Japanese street photographer, Daido Moriyama; very contrasty with bright highlights and darker darks.

A start. Jeff Linton, no.102, has already got a nice jump on the fleet.

Mike Parsons catching up with Rod Koch (the other Rod). Rod, along with Jeff is a past Sunfish champion. Rod raced a modified Europe back around the 2010 time frame.

Joe Bousquet holding a slim lead over Jeff Linton at the reach mark.

Mark Saunders in his Gen 1 Europe holding off the faster Gen II Mistrals of Mike Parsons and Joe Bousquet.

Classic Moth Nationals 2011

This year has been a bust for my Classic Moth racing. I've raced two regattas this year but a wedding and then subsequent entertaining of out-of-town relatives meant I missed this years Classic Moth National Championships in mid-September. Luckily 'Earwigoagin' correspondent Len Parker was on hand to file the following report and photos.

Nationals 2011 as seen through my novice eyes ... Weather forecasts for the weekend were 20-30mph winds with on & off rain. Not knowing the Elizabeth City topography very well , I guess those forecasts were for further east as it was 10-15 on Saturday with some heavy showers , and slightly less wind on Sunday with some gusts keeping everyone busy and putting several down. The wind did pipe up even more both days after the racing had ended.

13 signed up to race.

Gen 1 ... George Albaugh , Walt Collins , Greg Duncan , Lewis Hay , Bill Schill , John Pugh , Joe Courtier.
Gen 2 ... Jeff Linton , John Z , Mike Parsons , Mark Saunders , Randall Swan , Patrick Burger.

5 races Saturday... Jeff won all 5. In the first or second race Bill Schill lost his mast and we had to tow him in. As we were sorting it out Patrick also lost his mast , so we had to tow both in together. Greg came in a race or so later & Patrick used Greg's extended-mast Europe for the rest of the day. Mark then snapped a shroud and lost his mast in race 5.

Sarah & John Pugh's hospitality was superb as usual , with food , drink , and a roaring fire going to get people dry and warm before the caterers arrived.

The annual meeting was also held Saturday and the sail proposals were passed ... and all the officers remain in their respective posts.

4 races on Sunday... Jeff won 2 races , as did Mike. Lewis ... Randall & Greg didn't race. Patrick back in his new boat retired in race 1 after shipping too much water. He plans to widen those side tanks. Mark came in early after being over the start line early a couple of times.

Results Gen 2 ...
1. Jeff Linton
2. Mike Parsons
3. John Z

Results Gen 1 ...
1. Walt Collins
2. George Albaugh
3. John Pugh

Turtle Trophy ... Bill Schill

Lewis Hay bought Randall Swan's Skol. John Pugh bought Lewis Hay's Europe. It was a fun weekend , the racing weather was good , the spectating weather was awful on Saturday and I was wearing every item of clothing I'd bought with me and it was all soaked but it was still fun. Everyone got away at a decent time after the prize giving due to the meeting being held the day before.

Roll on to the next one ...

Cheers ,
Len

Len also sent along some photos.

Photo Captions:

1. Walt Collins and John Z. dueling upwind
2. John Z upwind.
3. Walt Collins leads Jeff Linton around the leeward mark.
4. Start on Saturday.
5. Mark Saunders, Mike Parsons, John Z aiming for the leeward mark.
6. Mike Parsons, John Z on the second reach into the leeward mark.
7. Mike Parsons upwind.
8. Jeff Linton rounding the leeward mark.
9. Joe Courter in his Maser.
10. George Albaugh upwind.

George Albaugh, the same George from the photos above, has two posts on the 2011 Classic Moth Nationals; one on the racing with pictures and the other on the people around the Pugh's backyard.


Meanwhile, Joe Bousquet, who also missed the Nationals for a family reunion, posted this GoPro video up on YouTube of him sailing his Mistral Classic Moth at Silver Beach on the Delmarva Peninsula. (Was he allowed to take his Classic Moth to the family reunion? Lucky dog!). The new deck Joe installed on his Mistral looks very curvaceous and varnish-pretty in this wide angle view. You may also hear how these plywood Moths have a very different "Boing" sound when going through waves (compared to those unnamed plastic classes).

Header Photo: Start at the 2017 Classic Moth Midwinters

The previous header photos was of one of the starts at the 2017 Classic Moth Midwinters, held at Gulfport, Florida over the weekend of February 25 and 26. Reports back from the attendees was of warm, sunny weather, with light to moderate breezes. Our perennial champion, Jeff Linton from Davis Island Y.C., made one of his occasional appearances to win the Gen II division and the regatta overall. The Gen I division was entirely a fiberglass Europe Dinghy division and was won by Frickie Martschink from Charleston.

George Albaugh, over at Mid-Atlantic Musings, attended the regatta and wrote a detailed post with lots of photographs.

I've lifted a couple of photos from George's blog to repost here as well as two photos from John Z. Photos with no attribution are either by Len Parker or Amy Smith Linton.

The entrance to Gulfport Y.C on Boca Ciega Bay.

John Zseleczky

What a champion does; execute a perfect port tack on the leeward end of the start line. John Z. to leeward in 111 does the same. Mark Saunders on starboard couldn't quite get to Jeff.

Jeff Linton's downwind form.

Occasionally a Gen 1 Moth will beat a top Gen II Mistral to the weather mark. Here, Fricke Martschink, Gen 1 winner, leads John Z. The Gen II almost always blow by on the first reach.

I was told the Charleston S.C. fleet expropriated this massive trailer from their yacht club to transport four of their Europe Moths to the regatta.

John Zseleczky

Gen I Results

Skipper	Races	Hull Design
Frickie Martschink	3,1,2,1,[4],1,1,1,4,1,1	Europe
George Albaugh	1,2,5,5,[8],4,4,3,3,5,2	Europe
Woody Kapp	DNF,5,1,2,1,6,6,4,[OCS],2,3	Europe
Tom Kapp	4,[8],4,7,6,5,5,5,1,3,4	Europe
Rutlege Young	6,7,7,3,5,3,[DNF],2,2,4,5	Europe
Lewis Hay	2,3,3,4,3,2,2,[DNC],DNC,DNC,DNC	Europe
Randell Stoney	5,6,6,6,7,7,3,[DNC],DNC,DNC,DNC	Europe
Greg Duncan	7,4,8,8,2,8,7,[DNC],DNC,DNC,DNC	Europe

Gen II Results

Skipper	Races	Hull Design
Jeff Linton	1,2,1,1,1,2,1,1,[3],3,1	Mod Mistral - Mousetrap
John Zseleczky	[4],3,3,4,4,3,3,2,1,2,2	Mod Mistral - Y2K Bug
Mark Saunders	2,1,2,2,2,1,2,[DNF],DNC,DNC,DNC	Standard Mistral
Mike Parsons	3,[4],4,3,3,4,4,3,2,1,3	Standard Mistral
Erik Albaugh	[5],5,5,5,5,5,4,4,4,4	Mod Mistral - Savannah

Classic Moth Midwinters 2009

Well I'm back from Florida. We spend almost as much time on the road as at the sailing venue (the Classic Moth Midwinters are scheduled over a weekend) but it is still a gas.

As it has been over the past three years, the Midwinters were hosted in great form by the Gulfport YC on Boca Ciega Bay.

Jeff Linton won again this year, but only by a point in a tough battle with Mark Saunders of Norfolk.

Race 1 and 5 were light and fluky with major changes throughout the fleet as some massive windless holes took over the course. Races 3 and 4 had a pleasant 8-12 westerly seabreeze. Sundays three races were from a easterly direction in the 5-8 knot range with some large shifts between left and right sides.

Fourteen Classic Moth's showed up, 13 made it on the water.

Many thanks go out to Rod Koch - regatta organizer, Dave Ellis - PRO, Jeff and Amy Linton - food and entertainment, and all the Gulfport YC volunteers that make this regatta happen.

Results were;

Skipper	Races	Hull Design
Jeff Linton	[5],1,2,1,2,1,1,3	Mousetrap
Mark Saunders	1,2,1,[3],1,3,2,2	Mistral
John Zseleczky	[4],3,3,2,4,2,3,1	Y2K
Mike Parson	3,4,4,[5],3,4,4,4	Mistral
Walt Collins	[8],6,6,4,5,6,8,5	Europe
Randall Swan	6,5,[11],6,7,5,5,6	Skol
Rod Mincher	2,7,5,[10],6,8,7,8	Maser
Lewis Hay	7,8,8,7,8,7,6,[10]	Europe
George Albaugh	9,10,7,8,10,9,9,[12]	Europe
Briggs Monteith	10,11,12,[DNF],9,10,11,7	Mousetrap
Greg Duncan	[11],9,9,9,11,11,10,9	Europe-wood
Rutledge Young	12,12,10,11,[DNF],12,12,11	Mint
Merv Wescott	13,DNC........	Cates
Rod Koch	DNC.......	Mistral

I'll have more on this regatta as time goes by.

Header Photo: Classic Moth Midwinters and Report from 2015

The previous header photo was of the 2011 Classic Moth Midwinters, held at Gulfport Y.C Florida, the last one I attended.

The 2015 Midwinters were held again at Gulfport Y.C, over the crossover February/March weekend. Ten Classic's attended but unfortunately, this year, no-one from the Florida fleet raced. Saturday's racing was called off with the threat of thunderstorms but Sunday offered up warm temperatures and a pleasant racing breeze. Mark Saunders arrived with a makeover on his venerable Mistral; he added a "Linton rocking" rig and a new North sail to secure victory in Gen II class. The three Mistal's finished at the top of the heap in Gen II with a Skol, a Duflos, and a modified, Lane Reeves Mistral following. In the Gen I class, long time class stalwart, George Albaugh in his Olympic Europe, finished comfortably ahead of three other Olympic Europe dinghies.

Much thanks to Amy Linton, who bore the brunt of the organizing this excellent regatta.

A mix of photos from Amy Linton and John Zseleczky.

One of the starts. #79 is Mike Parsons in his Mistral. #2721 is Frickie Martschink in his Skol, and #4067 is Lewis Hayes, hugging the RC boat.

Erik Albaugh in his Lane Reeves, mod-Mistral. Lane Reeves, when he bent up this Mistral, ended up with a finer bow and a flat transom.

Frickie Martschink - he of the post Lunch of Champions - had good speed in his Skol.

Winner of the Gen II class, Mark Saunders in his Mistral.

Famous designer, Charlie Morgan showed up to look at the fleet. It appears he cut his teeth on the Moth when he was a "youngin". Here is talking to Tom Price of the Chesapeake fleet. Charlie's son is standing next to Charlie.

Two of the four Classic Moths from the Chesapeake fleet who attended. On the left is John Z's Mistral (he finished 2nd in Gen II) and on the right is Tom Price's Duflos.

Rod Koch, George Albaugh and Erik Albaugh debate one of the finer design points of the Lane Reeves mod-Mistral. George and Erik made up the other portion of the Chesapeake contingent.

Click here for other posts on the Classic Moth Midwinters.

Finally got some sailboat racing in ........... Portsmouth Boat Club

You would have thought I've gone all traditional, waiting for Memorial Day weekend to get my first racing in for the year. This one was a road trip, as are nearly all regattas for the Classic Moth, the class being spread up and down the East Coast. John Z. and I loaded up our two boat trailer and drove the four hours down to race on Saturday at the Portsmouth Boat Club, Virginia.

Four Classic Moths showed up, down from the normal seven or so, as some regulars were either out of country or attending graduations. One thing I like about small classes is the camaraderie. You show up pre-race and there are hand shakes all around, then catching up on news of other regattas, and then catching up on what is going on in life.

Racing takes place off Portsmouth City Park and it is always like lake sailing ... this year 0-5 with holes and puffs and big shifts. The course is skewed but you don't come to Portsmouth to find a Race Committee gunning for U.S Sailing's St. Petersburg Trophy. They always have a large assortment of newbies in the Open Handicap Division and since I got my first baptism in sailboat racing in similar oddball courses, I applaud Portsmouth Boat Club. Almost everyone goes home with a trophy and let me salute the two kids in the Sunfish who someone in the RC (Dad?) was constantly coaching and the Melonseed traditional dinghy with skipper and son bringing up the back markers.

As far as the Classic Moths; we got a separate start, Mark Saunders and John Z. were battling up front the entire regatta. Mark won with 3 bullets to John's 1 bullet. Greg Duncan and I tied for third; each splitting 3 and 4 in the four race series.

For the BlogMeister.... I was slow on the offwind legs which seemed to be about 80% of the race ... the stop/start in light air has never been my forte in this class .... excuses .... well maybe my varnished Tweezer design is a little off the pace, maybe I'm a little heavier than the leading two competitors ... but it wasn't I lacked skill I tell you (well maybe it was dumb of me to ensnare the leeward mark in one race, to the point I had to remove my rudder to get off).

I wrapped up the regatta as I did the last time I sailed at Portsmouth ... I'm big on tradition ...... on coming ashore I thought I entered the shallows so I jump out expecting to wade to shore .... this time like last time, I jumped overboard to keep going underwater ... glub glub.

It was a great time!

A picture of the intrepid four