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

Monotype de Nogent-Joinville

Bertrand Warion sent along some photos he took of the "Voiles des Boucles de la Marne" (rough translation - sailboats of the Loops of the Marne, a reference to the rough S shape of the Marne River on the southeastern suburbs of Paris). The "Voiles des Boucles de la Marne" was a small gathering, this past May, of traditional French small sailboats that were sailed on the rivers around Paris during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Of interest was the plywood reproduction of the 1903 French 5.5 meter sailing dinghy, "Le Monotype de Nogent-Joinville".

The Monotype de Nogent-Joinville was drawn up by Ernest Binet, following the detailed input of Albert Glandaz and was a product of a push by Parisian sailors, as they entered the twentieth century, to develop small one-design sailboats for racing (the French word "monotype", in this case, can be translated to mean one-design).

The Monotype de Nogent-Joinville at the dock. Behind her is the Monotype de Chatou, the scow type which had appeared on the French rivers several years earlier in 1901.

Bertrand Warion

The Monotype de Nogent-Joinville has a deep vee hull. For river sailing, the wetted surface is much reduced compared to the flat Monotype de Chatou but the Monotype de Chatou would remain more popular, with around 140 being built compared to around 20 for the Monotype de Nogent-Joinville.

Bertrand Warion

Historian Louis Pillon put together the lines of the Monotoype de Nogent-Joinville from a magazine article of that period. The Monotype de Nogent-Joinville was a sloop, had a low slung gunter rig, the main had three full length battens. It is a rig that the French designers copied, according to Louis Pillon, from the English designer Linton Hope. This reproduction was built by volunteers at Sequana, the French nautical historical society, under the direction of Bertrand Chazarenc.

Louis Pillon

Out sailing; the Monotype de Nogent-Joinville drifting ahead of Louis Pillon's Monotype de Chatou. According to Bertrand, the Monotype de Chatou has bamboo spars!

Bertrand Warion

Another photo from the dock. In the foreground, with the cool wishbone-type split tiller, is Bertand Warion's Sharpie 9m², a flat-bottomed, canoe-like French singlehander that was designed in 1937.

Bertrand Warion

A contemporary postcard, early 1900's, with a Monotype de Nogent-Joinville sharing the river with various Sunday leisure rowboats.

I have gleaned all of the history from Louis Pillon's articles which I found online.

Bertrand Warion's Swiss Moth: A Dunand Variant?

Moth Classique

The Classic Moth crowd here in the U.S is all abuzz about Swiss Moths, particularly the Swiss Dunand design of the early 1960's, as this design, in the hands of Joe Bousquet, just won the U.S. Nationals, breaking an almost 20 year string of wins by the Mistral design. This post isn't about Bosquet's Swiss Dunand design (more about that in a later post), but rather about the fiberglass Swiss Moth which Bertrand Warion sailed at the French Moth gathering this past September. It seems to be another design variant which is always intriguing to a Classic Moth design geek like me. But a variant on what?

When I first looked at a photo of this Moth taken from above I thought, looking at the decks (which Bertrand installed), early Europe Dinghy (Europa) but when Bertrand sent more photos it is obvious this design is from the deep-V family, i.e. the Duflos or Mistral. Bertrand clarified in a follow-up email that it is a round-bilged variant on the Swiss Dunand design. However Bertrand's Dunand looks very much smaller than the American one that Joe Bousquet has just refurbished; Bertrand's looks almost like it was squished to fit into a Europe Dinghy deck mold.

In this photo you can see in the reflections how the topsides fold up in a soft chine from the midships aft. The original Dunand design has a topside chine in approximately the same area.

Bertrand's Moth has the shallow-V transom of the Dunand.

The rocker line looks very similar to a Mistral.

Bertrand finished the shell with his own decking in wood. The side tanks look tiny which is the old-style look. This definitely makes a commodious cockpit at the expense of more water sloshing about in a seaway.

Had to add this shot of Bertand's Dunand with the Cruising Moth in the background. Looks like raising the anchor can be somewhat precarious on the Cruising Moth

Header Photo: Curvaceous French Classic Moth

Mariposa Moth Classique, Plans de Moth Classique

Mark Morell Photo

The previous header photo featured a French Classic Moth Mariposa (Spanish for butterfly) sailing in tandem with a Nantais Vintage Moth (blue sail) at the French annual Classic Moth rally and regatta which was held yearly during the early 2000's. The strong sheer gives Mariposa a traditional look which suggests a traditional round bottom shape.

Nope. The header photo above is an optical illusion as other photos reveal that Mariposa is actually a multi-chine plywood shape (a three-planker) with the bow sections developed and pulled up.

Mariposa has a flat rocker panel that starts just in front of the daggerboard case and a topside chine that curves up to meet the gunwhale about 600mm from the bow. The developed bow suggests this Moth was built using the stitch and glue method.

The French Classic Mothists weigh their Moths like the Americans - on a bathroom scale. The scratched up bottom shows that Mariposa is not a coddled racing dinghy - and gets plenty of use.

An in-the-water shot of Mariposa shows the topside chine clearly disappearing into the gunwhale.
This Moth design is visually appealing - Mariposa may not be much of a racer but that's OK.

The designer is the tall gentleman on the left. I have no idea who he is. Maybe some reader could help out on identification?

Update, August 14: Dominique Banse to the rescue with the designer indentification. Thanks Dominique!

"There is an article about this Moth in the French magazine “Chasse-Marée” number 147 from November 2001. The owner builder’s name is Bertrand Warion. The boat is built with 5mm plywood and weights 76 kg."

Update September 29, 2015: Designer Bertrand Warion adds a comment to this post updating us on the latest with Mariposa.

"Hello ,I am Bertrand Warion who designed Mariposa and usual reader of your blog.

The boat is still in good condition with great modifications, large cuts to flatten the bottom rocker and new cockpit plan, more "modern" but quite unconfortable for me. [I am] thinking to ameliorate that point.

I did not sail Mariposa [for] 5 years (leaving job, town) and [now] mainly designing and building others boats but i will recondition the boat soon.

Here are some new Mariposa pics.

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There are a few enterprising readers of this post who could put together their own version of Mariposa, at least in model form. Earwigoagin is always open to publicizing such design experimentation.

Through the early 2000's the French Classic Mothists held an annual get together. I think it was originally held at one of the clubs on the Seine but then moved over to a small lake about 100 km. south of Paris, sponsored by Cercle de la Voile du Centre, Etang du Puits, (Google translation - the pond of the well), just off the Route d'Argent. Though well attended, in a mystery still not explained, the annual French Classic Moth gathering and regatta just stopped. [Mystery somewhat explained - see below] .

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The mystery of the French Classic Moth get-together got somewhat clearer when reader Dominique Banse emailed an article from a 2001 issue of Chasse-Marée, the French classic/traditional boating magazine. It turns out that all these photos were taken at a Classic Moth design competition that was sponsored by Chasse-Marée and held at Suc d'Erdre, just north of Nantes (and not at Etang du Puits as I wrote initially). There was a turn out of 20 Moths Classique, both new designs and old, as well as several IMCA narrow skiffs. There is still no explanation why the Classic Moths in France could not keep the annual event going after 2001.

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 I recently rediscovered on the Web, photos from Marc Morell (who took all the photos used in this post) documenting the Suc d'Erdre. The diversity of French Classic Moths is just astounding! I'll feed more of these photos into later posts on Earwigoagin.

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.

Bertrand Warion Watercolors

Bertrand Warion, French boat builder of classic dinghies such as Moth's, 9m² Sharpie, and the Dinghy Herbulot, is also an accomplished marine watercolorist.

Bertrand's watercolors are now offered up for sale on the Internet. Well worth a look if there is a area on your wall just begging for some boat art.

Update 09/02: This link allows you to preview 63 of Bertrand's watercolors.

While we are dwelling on art, it's worth checking out Trevor over at the blog eh...whatever (over on the right on my blog list). He has a fair number of posts featuring his watercolors. (Though hailing from somewhere in the middle of America, Trevor's art doesn't feature many boats... still very high quality art nonetheless and always interesting to peruse.)

RazMoth: Classic Moth News: Winter 2017

Contstruction de Moth Classique

Bertrand Warion (French designer of the Mariposa Moth) is at it again. A couple of months ago I received an email from Bertrand detailing the building of a new Classic Moth design (the RazMoth Mk II):

"Mariposa is now out my mother's garden and back in my new home (it’s been 3 years,a lot of other work and lot of things to do). As soon I finish my home renovation (rebuilding another part of my home) I am thinking of building a new deck for Mariposa for a little more hiking comfort.

"This summer a new Classic Moth (RazMoth Mark II) was built in my backyard in 10 days. It was to a design previously built by myself in 2000/2002 with some modifications.

"The new owner is very happy with RazMoth Mk II (he is a surfer, not a sailor but learning rapidly).

"The first trial of the RazMoth Mk II was in July, on a little "ducks lake" near my home and then one week on the rivers "Garonne" and "Gironde". We also sailed on Lake Sanguinet and Arcachon bay this summer. It is an easy Moth to sail, very easy to surf....

"This winter my young friend will build his own mast. (We were using Mariposa’s mast to begin with). It will probably be a free-standing mast (he is also a carpenter and joiner).

"Regards b. warion

RazMoth Mk II is a very simple, very easy to build Classic Moth. It has a shape similar to the Fireball (flat rocker panel, multi-chine shape) with a scow bow. Bertrand supplies details of the specifications for the RazMoth Mk II:

"The new RazMoth Mk II is made of exterior grade plywood, 5mm, glued with epoxy and glassed on the bottom. All stringers are 25mm/15mm. The hull weight is 45kg (for a total weight of 54/56 kg (with the mast weighing 5kg). The mast is a carbon windsurf shape with an aluminium sail track glued on with some "home depot" polysilcone compound

Some photos of the Moth build.

Setting up the frames. Only five including the transom.

Laying in the stringers. You can see the flat rocker panel and the multi-chine hull shape.

Right side up without the intermediate plywood panel installed.

Hull sides and flat rocker panel attached. Looks like Bertrand's backyard back up next to a vineyard. Now, that's cool!

Sea trials for RazMoth Mk II at the "Duck Pond". I have the same color "Crocs". Must be something about crazy Classic Moth sailors.

The original RazMoth Mk 1.

Bertrand writes of the Mk 1:

"RazMoth Mk I in 2002. The boat was made of very low quality interior plywood and destructed 3 years later (really low cost boat). I sailed the first RazMoth with my great dog "Tango" (we were both young back then!)"

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Simple plans/drawing of the RazMoth.

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Header Photo: Mariposa Again!

As far as I know this is the first sailboat to be featured twice in a header photo. This is Bertrand Warion's Mariposa, a French design Classic Moth with the sauciest sheer (hence the most photogenic) of all current Classic Moths. (Plus I'm partial to lime green as a hull color.) This is the second iteration of Mariposa. Bertrand Warion decided to change the interior of the original Mariposa over to a double bottom (an idea he has since back-tracked on since he is a tall fellow and he felt somewhat cramped when he took away some of the room for his legs).

No matter. This still shows the room for experimentation in the Classic Moth class with probably the most roomiest interior going in the Classic Moth. The trade-off? The tiny gunwhales are definitely not a comfortable hiking platform.

Mariposa line drawings.

Classic Moth Design and Builds; Winter 2019

What's happening in the Classic Moth world in the winter of 2019?

Frenchman Bertrand Warion has designed and has in the molds, a cruising Moth designed for hopping around the rivers in France. The Bertrand Cruising Moth is overbuilt compared to a racing Moth (as would be expected). Bertrand envisions encountering lots of debris; logs, trees, cows, couches coming down the swollen rivers, given the increased rainfall. Global warming has blessed some parts of the world with rain and more rain.

His plans show a simple low-Vee design with a keel strake protecting the forward third of the hull. A nice rear seat completes this laid back design.

Substantial stringers and keelson show this Moth is designed to take some serious abuse.

Brit John Butler was a serious designer playing the narrow waterline International Moth design game in the 1970's and 1980's. Now that John is in his 60's (age) he has designed a stitch and glue Moth he says will;

• Fit the U.S.A Classic Moth rule (non-wing).
• Fit his somewhat increased girth since his young International Moth racing days.

Pics from Facebook.

Here is John's 1.5mm mock-up of his stitch and glue design. Note the flat bottom and intermediate chine in the aft third of the hull.

The German Tiger Moth was a modification on the Swiss Dunand Moth. Pics of the plans showed up on Facebook. Compared to the Dunand, the German Tiger Moth has narrowed the front sections and rounded the aft sections. There is also some very slight hollows near the chine. (I wonder how they build this?)

Finally the Dragùr "Disco Volante" Moth. A very simple scow design from 1958. Not a race winner but  would be a very simple build and still fun to sail.

And finally, Mark Hughes put these very credible Classic Moth hull lines out there.