Sit down.
Hold on to your hard drives!
it's time for...
The official on-line zine of the U.S. Modern Moth Class
In this issue:
The nationals are coming! Still time to build a boat!
Die uber Moth!
The North Americans (?)
Your chance to assume a leadership role in the class!
Web site down (ouch!)
The Elián Moth
The U.S. Modern Moth nationals will take place on June 17, in Brigantine, New Jersey. One day due to the short life of duct tape. The event will happen rain or shine, wind or no wind. My three previous trips to this regatta have been hot and sunny with light air. Odds are that this year we will actually have some wind. Maybe. The event is sailed at the Brigantine Yacht Club which is just over the causeway from Atlantic City. Further information is available from George Albaugh, the gracious host of the event, at There is still time to build a boat for the nationals. I'm pretty sure I could build a Mistral in a couple days, and I may suggest we have a regatta where all participants show up with only five sheets of plywood and their rigs 24 hours before the first race. Be sure you bought the fast hardener! Maybe this would grow the class? If you are skeptical about the actual time required to build a modern Moth check out Greg Konnecke's boat which won the master's title at the world championship. Greg built the boat in the parking lot during the Aussie championships a few days before the worlds. Also note Greg's innovative rig: an off the shelf 8 meter North windsurfer sail with a wishbone boom. "I didn't think I'd have time to finish the rig" he quipped after receiving the trophy.
In an effort to regain the championship trophy, an urn that holds the ashes of the Moth's designer Captain Joel van Sandt, I came to the conclusion that my boat was holding me back. The only thing to do was to contact an established high performance dinghy designer to energize my Moth program.
In Europe or Australia, or even California, the process of getting a new Moth is relatively simple, just make a quick phone call and order a boat. However, as those of you who were at last year's nationals will recall, the narrow boats don't do well on the short Brigantine race courses. I contacted Bob Ames, designer of the Vanguard Skiff, the Vanguard 15, several Ultimate 30s, and the Ames International 14. My thought was that here is a designer that understands dinghys and has not done a Moth, thus a new perspective without baggage. Bob took into consideration the Mistral's success of late, the straight line speed possibilities of the narrow boats, and the fact most of us racing are larger than our counterparts in Europe and Australia. The result was the Ames I (see attachments).
My original idea was to build the Ames I secretly, and appear at the nationals with amazing boat speed, charisma, and a narcissistic high providing enough focus to finally beat Joe Bousquet and Company. Although I had been able to build relatively light skins, the revolutionary solid wings of the Ames I provided some structural problems. I consulted with several people including Dave Caldwell (designer and builder of high tech composite sailboards, and the driving force behind WoodWinds Sailboards, not to mention builder of Free Willy the whale), Steve Clark (owner of Vanguard Sailboats), and Patrick Mack of Premier Yachts (and former sous chef to Mark Lindsay). It appeared construction of the wings was only possible in composites, and the Ames I may be built later this year by Patrick Mack at Premier. My belief is that this boat is the ultimate boat for our racing in the U.S. The wedge shape of the hull is quite like the Mistral, but the flat areas should allow quicker planes. The entry of the Ames I is as fine as any narrow boat. Perhaps the best thing about it is that most of us could sail this shape, and sail it fast.
I am interested to know what all of you think about the boat, and whether or not you would be interested in forming some type of syndicate to insure its production. Perhaps a group order? Historically Mothists don't engage in these practices (our group carbon mast buy failed over the winter when none of us could agree on a builder), however this could establish an East Coast builder which the class really needs, not to mention put you in a new boat!
Bob Ames was kind enough to do a second hull which I am building in secret (not any more) for the proposed North Americans in October. The Ames II is a more traditional rack wing boat, but unlike the Skippys and Axeman shapes this actually looks like a dinghy. Watch out!
On the new boat front...Patrick Mack has a new design for a ply boat that looks hot! Jim Creedon on Martha's Vineyard is building what he calls the Elián Moth built entirely of things Jim found floating in the ocean. Charles Graves has a beautiful new boat from Paul Lindenberg's drawing table. Ben Sandell sold his Mistral to Joe Courter on the corner of Mercer and Houston Streets in Soho. Aussie Matt Bidwell , transferred to NYC from Down Under, has bought John Schneeman's "Orbit Zero", bringing the coolest (sorry gang) modern boat in the country to Sag Harbor. Ben Miller will debut his new Mistral at the nationals. And in the spirit of "If Miller can do it, then I can do it!" Julian Rossow-Greenberg will be launching his as well. Nancy Patterson -Tidy promises the Patterson II will hit the water at Brigantine. George Bailey has had his dad rebuild "Lumpy" into a lean mean racing machine! We could all use some time in Florida (!) George Albaugh has a new Bousquet built Shelley Mk IV with a very large Super-Dome deck (rumor is you can play baseball underneath in bad weather). Sag Harborite Joe Hanna is building a boat in a sandbox (no kidding I've seen it!), using an unusual laminating process. Frank Haines has been rumored to have a Mistral in the works. And last, but not least, the infamous "Scottman" will be launched at Brigantine solely for entertainment, the Classic guys will get a big kick out of this!
So maybe you have some extra free time? How about becoming "class president"? We need somebody to come in, charge dues, organize races, answer mails, send out plans, and promote the class. Having held this fun job for a couple years I can promise you fame, fortune, and faxes at four in the morning from Europe! How cool is that? If you would like the job, and we'll all support your nomination no questions asked, e-mail me at We now have a fair number of boats north of the Mason-Dixon line. Travel to regattas is, as we know, difficult. With this in mind I would like to propose the North Americans be held in Sag Harbor over Columbus Day weekend. In order to do this we need confirmation from those of you who would attend. In October the water is still warm, the wind blows hard, and the tourists are mostly gone freeing up those $275 a night rooms at the American Hotel. Sounds like fun? Let me know what you think.
Lastly, you'll note our web site is down. Never have a fight with Time-Warner! The plug was pulled and our webmaster Greg Allen has yet to get us back on-line. Greg has skillfully managed the site on his own time and money, and we were lucky to be on the receiving end of the deal. With any luck we can list our events with the CMBA or convince Greg he should take a leave from his career to manage our class (financial contributions can be sent to Greg directly!).
See you at Brigantine!