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).

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.

Header Photo: Classic Moth Nationals 2017

The previous header photo was taken before one of the start at this years 2017 Classic Moth Nationals. As you can see the event was competed in light air, though there was enough oomph in the breeze for Race Officer Greg Duncan to get 11 short races off. Mike Parsons won the Gen II division and the overall title, Walt Collins won the Gen I division and Don Janeway won the Vintage division. Fifteen Classics entered though there wasn't fifteen on the line at any one time as some had other stuff to do on Saturday and some had other stuff to do on Sunday.

The Pugh's lawn at E-City with the fleet ready to float around in the whisps and wafts of that weekend's zephyrs.

Mike Parsons, the Cooper River ace and 2017 National Champion rigging his Mistral. Behind him is a Vintage Connecticut.

Results for the 2017 Nationals.

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.

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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.

Last Regatta of the Season; Cooper River Frostbite

The Classic Moths participated in the Cooper River YC November Sunday Frostbite series this past weekend. New travel partner this time. George Albaugh offered up his double deck trailer and I got to ride in luxury in his Volvo station wagon the three hours up to Cooper River. What a glorious day. Weather was more like early October with temps in the mid 60's F; warm enough so I sailed in shorts. Winds were light and typical Cooper River fluky. I think I might have leaned out on the high side twice. There were four Classic Mothists; Mike Parsons, the Wizard of Cooper River, won for the day but most of us had our moment in the sun at one point. We shared a short windward/leeward course with the five Sunfish while the 20 or so Lasers had their own course upriver from us.

Most racers launched their dinghies at Cooper River over a wooden bulkhead. On my turn, my Classic Moth went in the water smoothly. It was so calm, I decided to take about 15 seconds to park my dolly, expecting my Moth to be waiting patiently on my return....... but NOooo!, "Starkers" had floated off just barely out of reach of a Laser sailor launching next to me. I watched as "Starkers" drifted lazily downwind for a good 20 yards and made a decision to commandeer the aft deck of the Laser in an effort to chase her down. Initially 'Uva" (good natured German Laser sailor) refused me boarding rights to his Laser but I settled that by plopping back on his aft deck and pushing off. We drifted after my wayward Moth as I arranged my knees to allow him to steer. Luckily "Starkers" remained upright and the transfer was made with no issues.

On retrieval, a worn forestay rope gave way as I yanked on it to get "Starkers" on the dolly. After a few anxious moments as the mast swung to and fro, I was able to retie the forestay. I'm sure my launching and retrieval shenanigans provided a good measure of amusement to some of the spectators that day.

Pictures from Ed Salva (who had a win and several strong races that Sunday). The Moth fleet after haul out on Sunday afternoon (as always, click on the picture for higher res image).............

And to our apres-sailing beer. Mike Parsons on the left brought out a bottle of the Troegs Brothers Javah Head Stout which the blogmeister on the right is enjoying mightily......... And if you like coffee flavored dark beer, may I also highly recommend Wolavers Alta Gracia Coffee Porter .

2020 Classic Moth Nationals

Lloyd Griffin

The 2020 Classic Moth Nationals in Elizabeth City was a drift-fest, with racing only on Saturday. The 2020 Nationals were postponed for one month because of concerns over too much wind from the remnants of one hurricane. Ironically the rescheduled Nationals had the wind sucked out of Elizabeth City by the passing of the remanants of another hurricane.

As usual, George A. over at Mid-Atlantic Musings has the complete report.

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Results (top twelve) of the 2020 Classic Moth Nationals. Congrats to Mike Parsons, the 2020 champion, George Albaugh, winner of the Gen 1 division, Joe Bousquet, Masters champion, Sam Moncia, junior champion, and Emma Mayer, women's champion.

Skipper	Races	Hull Design
Mike Parsons	1,1,1,1,[2],1	Mistral
Joe Bousquet	2,2,2,2,[4],2	Mistral
Parker Purrington	3,[4],4,3,3,3	Dunand
John Zseleczky	4,5,3,[7],1,4	Mistral Y2K-mod
George Albaugh	6,3,[8],4,5,7	Wooden Europe (Gen1)
Zach Balluzo	5,[7],6,5,6,6	Mistral Y2KMod
Bob Patterson	[8],6,7,8,7,5	Shelley (Gen 1)
Sam Moncia	[9],8,5,6,9,8	Olympic Europe (Gen 1)
Emma Mayer	7,[10],9,10,10,10	Olympic Europe (Gen 1)
Matthew Panek	12,11,10,12,8,[DNF]	Olympic Europe (Gen I)
Logan Weeks	10,[13],11,9,13,11	Olympic Europe (Gen I)
Valerie Turbett	11,[14],14,11,14,9	Olympic Europe (Gen 1)

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.

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.