Finn World Champ Whaling on it in Big Breeze

I just wrote that the 12 Foot Skiff was the hardest dinghy to sail in the World... but the Finn, ahh! the Finn. Watching the Olympians race this cranky, old, singlehander, big sail with long boom, in a big breeze, you just can't help to marvel at the skill, the physicality, the training to do this in close to thirty knots of breeze. Swede Max Salminen performing for the back deck cam at the 2018 Finn Europeans.



This isn't the first time I've featured Finn videos on Earwigoagin (not by a long shot):

• Grunt Reaching
• Finn Pumping
• The Merry Finnster
• Windy Finn Training
• Finn Gybe Mark
• 2012 Medal Race
• Finn vs. Laser Carving

12 Foot Skiff - Drone Footage

I've read that the Antipodean 12 Foot Skiff is the hardest dinghy to sail. I won't doubt it. A short dinghy is always twitchy; two wiring is always tricky; no limit on the sail area just ups the ante. Here is a short drone video of a 12 Foot Skiff jib-reaching back and forth. Even without the assymetric spinnaker up, you get a good feel for how on the edge this dinghy is, how much skill she requires from the crew, as she blasts along.



Earwigoagin has featured the slightly more sane 12 foot Cherub dinghy in several posts:

• My favorite is the F-bomb post.
• You can find other Cherub posts here.

Permission to Fail Spectacularly: 1968 Yellow Duflos Moth

Dériveur classique Moth, Cannes 1968

These grim set of photos (recently popped up on FB) were taken in the aftermath of Race 3 of the 1968 Moth Worlds in Cannes, France. From the lead-in paragraph of the race report:

"This was the day the hard weather enthusiasts had been waiting for. The wind was screaming through the rigging as the boats were being readied on the beach. The lighter helmsmen were soon in trouble as the boats sailed out of the harbour and hit the full face of the wind. One of the first out, Jean Paul Ladermann (Swiss), in a brand-new, bright yellow Duflos, got caught in irons tacking to avoid a motorboat, and, before he could bear off, was hurled against the vast concrete boulders of the breakwater by mountainous waves. He managed to escape injury by scrambling up the rocks, but within seconds his brand new boat (uninsured) was broken into a hundred pieces. Our heart went out to him, and it certainly did nothing for the morale of the rest of the fleet as they tore out of the harbour past this grim witness of the power of the elements. Marie-Claude was also overpowered at the harbour entrance, but righted again and battled out to the start. After lengthy delays, to allow the battered fleet to get to the start line, the wind steadily increased from 20 to 30 knots and it rapidly became a battle for survival. Eventually only 24 out of the 47 entrants reached the start line in a fit state to continue."

Eleven would finish this race. Photos of some of the survivors returning past the infamous breakwater.

Australian Graeme Lillingston won the race. Graeme was using the higher aspect Aussie rig on a scow hull.

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American Bob Patterson (who was a teenager in 1968) has this recollection of the race:

"I remember it well. I sailed my Patterson Shelley 2720. No air tanks. Two Elvstrom bailers worked overtime to keep me floating but one kept closing as I would come to the top of a huge swell and the chop would hit the bottom hard. I had to kick it open. During one kick the handle came off and the chute was gone, leaving a rectangular hole [in the bailer]. I was reaching so I rode a wave all the way into a sandy beach. I scavenged an abandoned Moth hull for a replacement and got back in the race. Finished 10th."

The elder-Mothist, Bob Patterson, with his restored Shelley (built by his father, Carl) at the 2015 Brigantine regatta.

The Other Punch Dinghy

Writing of the Dunand/Fragniére design Punch singlehander for the 1960's IYRU trials reminds me of the other Punch dinghy I have in my files; the completely different 3.3 meter Punch dink designed by Brit Roger Stollery in the mid 1980's. Roger Stollery has been a mainstay in model yachting design for many years and is probably best known for his refinement and proselytizing of the swing rig. To put it simply, the swing rig consists of a 'super' boom that carries both the main and jib; allowing the jib to be automatically trimmed and also automatically rotated out downwind.

Below are some scans of a brochure that Roger sent me in 1987 that explains the concept in more detail:

The irrepressible Dylan Winter caught up with a Punch dinghy on his sojourn around the waterways of England. Let's roll with his always witty videotape.



The Punch dinghy is a simple dink for simple tasks. That's all you need to know.

Header Photo: Gwen 12's at the ICWDR

Photos from the 2019 ICWDR (Inverloch Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta) held over the Australia Day Weekend (January 26, 27 2019) have been filtering into Earwigoagin Central. The previous header photo features the Gwen 12 class, another Australian Classic Dinghy class that is making a concerted effort to find and restore old boats. Four Gwen's showed up at Inverloch with Grasshopper, the Gwen in the header photo getting the Best Overall Award. From Andrew Chapman:

"The Best Presented Sailing Dinghy was won by Rod Mackintosh’s Gwen 12 ‘Grasshopper’ sail number 2846. Rod... traveled from South Australia to sail with the other Gwen's. When he acquired the boat it was covered in thick green paint and since then it has been completely restored with clear finishes all over. The Inverloch and District Lions Club Perpetual for the Best Overall boat at the regatta, which is selected from the category winners, was [also] given to Rod Mackintosh’s Gwen 12 ‘Grasshopper’."

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Kiwi Neil Kennedy offers up this description of the header photo in "Strine" slang. (It would be nice to have definitions for all this, but with second thought, we'll leave it all to the imagination.)

"As the Aussie's would say " Strewth cobber, ... here is a header photo of two "old Galahs" in a Gwen 12 thinking they were 30 years younger as they get set for a downwind blast. Of course 30 yr's ago they would have been lean and tanned, wearing a footy jersey and shorts, with bare feet, and after blasting around the bay, would have returned to the beach where they would have had two Shiela's in minimal bikinis equally tanned lying on beach towels waiting for their blokes with cold beers ready and waiting in the "esky" for the boys to "scull down" while they derigged and contemplated the evenings activities with the Sheila's, knowing that they were "good sorts" who liked a drink or two and with the usual approach of Aussie girls in that era " if you want a "root" to round out the nights entertainment "just ask !! I kid you not, I lived there for four years and I remember well; " with more than a smile or two."

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A comment from unknown previous Gwen sailor:

"In Adelaide, South Australia first off-wind leg (Close Reach to Beam Reach), 1 nautical Mile long, 3 minutes with a decent wind or more. She sits on a dinner-plate size contact with the water. Water spews out the well (up to 1 metre) and straight over the stern transom. Oh and something hums! If you are not anticipating this kind of speed then you underestimate the Gwen 12's capabilities. It's a heavy weather specialist. You can still put up a kite when no-one else can."

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More photos. No. 1905 is Wayne Fry's Scud IV.

No. 1941 is Toby Leppin’s recently restored 1960’s Gwen 12 Avenger. From Andrew Chapman: "Avenger won the Gwen 12 Challenge Cup. Toby sailed with crew Geoff Rippingale using the trapeze and setting the flat cut wire luff spinnaker...

Simon Wilson in Chaos Restored

Toby Leppin and Geoff Rippingale upwind.

Back in my International 14 days, when we saw such a relaxing photo, especially with the spinnaker being ready to be deployed, we said the crew was pausing to make the skipper a cup of tea.

I've commented before in Earwigoagin about the seeming complete die-off of the single trapeze performance dinghy - a puzzlement to this old fellow who remembers large fleets of Fireballs and 470's and Flying Dutchman in North America. (The 505 soldiers on but at an almost professional level.) I can't think of a better plywood project for a single trapeze, spinnaker dinghy than the Gwen 12.

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From Drift Media, the 2017 Dinghy Show on the Glade. (I'm not sure this happened this year.)

ICWDR 2017 SEGMENT5 from drift media on Vimeo.

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Apologies, but Andrew sent me photo attributions for these Gwen pics but I've mixed the photos up to the point I'll have to wait for Andrew to set me straight.

Music Whenever: Lord Huron "The Night We Met"

I've usually done a music video for Valentines Day - a day late this time. For the dark side of love, another bittersweet, lost love song; "I had all and then most of you, Some and now none of you"

I am not the only traveler
Who has not repaid his debt
I've been searching for a trail to follow
Again
Take me back to the night we met
And then, then I can tell myself
What the hell I'm supposed to do
And then, then I can tell myself
Not to ride along with you
I had all
And then most of you
Some and now none of you
Oh, Take me back to the night we met
I don't know what I'm supposed to do
Haunted by the ghost of you
Oh, take me back to the night we met
When the night was full of terror
And your eyes were filled with tears
When you had not touched me yet
Oh, take me back to the night we met
I had all
And then most of you
Some and now none of you
Oh, Take me back to the night we met
I don't know what I'm supposed to do
Haunted by the ghost of you
Oh, Take me back to the night we met

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If you want a more upbeat love video I refer you back to Earwigoagin's archives.

The "Punch" Dinghy design for the 1960's IYRU Singlehaded trials

While I am in the midst of covering some of the European Moth design history, mention must also be made of the entry of a Moth type, designed by Mothists Dunand and Fragniére, in the IYRU singlehander trials of the late 1960's. (Three sets of trials, three different locations, Weymouth, England 1965; La Baule, France 1967; and Medemblik, Holland 1968, with the eventual winner being the Contender.) She was called Punch and it appears that she was initially designed by B. Dunand and then the project was taken over by Fragniére for the last set of trials. Punch showed up at the second trials in La Baule and, with her low wetted surface, was the fastest over twenty three entrants in a light air regatta.

Looking at the sections of Punch, as she is turned over on the beach at La Baule, it appears she wasn't an extreme-V hull but rather a semi-circular hull. (The IYRU had initially specified the sliding seat as the only permisable hiking out aid, but allowed trapezes after Elvstrom showed up at the first set of trials with his Trapez singlehander. Still most competitors stayed with the sliding seat - with the exception of the Contender.)

Yachts and Yachting, September 29, 1967

For the last set of trials at Medemblik, surprisingly, Punch was well off the pace. Punch was hamstrung by a very high hull weight. The IYRU had specified hull weight based on sectional shape (a sort of scantlings restriction); the wider, deeper shape of Punch had to weigh more than the narrower, lower freeboard type such as the Contender. Three competitors, the Unit, the Jeton, and Punch at the weather mark at Medemblik:

Yachts and Yachting, June 7, 1968

Hubert Raudaschl, a Finn sailor, designed Jeton, which, in the last set of IYRU trials of 1968, took over the round hull-shape, low-wetted design mantle from Punch and finished second to the Contender. Below is a photo of Jeton at La Baule. She sported these weird set of folding seats that stored flush to the aft deck and individually swung out when needed. It was a feature that definitely would have needed to be changed out if she had been selected. In 1970, the Jeton hull was flattened out and re-purposed as a two man, main, jib, spinnaker dinghy.

Header Photo: The Dutch grote BM 16m2

 

Although I can't see the sail logo in this photo, I'm confident the previous header photo is of the woodie Dutch class, the grote BM 16m2. This is the second time I've done a header photo post on this class. You can read the first post on the 16m2, a post which has more background history. The 16m2 also features in a post I did on an unique method of recovering the 16m2 from the water to dry land.

I've also mentioned that the U.S.A. had their own version of the 16m2, the Celebrity class, now defunct. The Celebrity was built in fiberglass and had the more modern Marconi rig. From the 1968 One Design and Offshore Yachtsman sailboat catalog:

Brewsabee: Another Narrow Waterline Classic Moth Design

Brewsabee is my own design, done in 2005 as a follow on to my original Tweezer design. The design brief was to better compete with the Mistral in lighter air so the waterline beam and wetted surface was pared down compared with the original Tweezer. I never built Brewsabee because:

• After Tweezer, I was getting at the age where I wasn't sure I wanted to continue to flop around in a narrow waterline Moth. Plus winning races now wasn't the end-all/be-all of my sailing existence.
• Building would be more complicated. Brewsabee would be best done in foam/glass, something I wasn't too familiar with.
• I wasn't sure, given the generally light conditions we sail in here in the Mid-Atlantic, that Brewsabee would offer any significant performance advantages over the Mistral.

So I decided to put together a Maser, a flatter Gen I design, which was an entirely enjoyable Mothboat sailing experience.

I don't consider Brewsabee to be an extreme V design, but she is a narrow waterline design.

The Brewsabee has forward flares at the gunwhale, legal in the American Classic Moth Rules since the 1 inch concavity rule doesn't kick in until after the daggerboard trunk. Sections below the waterline were a very hard U forward translating to flattened semicircular at the back.

Again, for printing or downloading, use the upper right icon to pop it into another browser tab.

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Couldn't help myself - a video of Tweezer (no. 92) when she and the blogmeister were able to get to the weather mark first in light air in one race of the Nationals. But, dog-gurn-it, the Mistrals were still able to run us down over the course of the race.