BAMBAROO: A Moth Boat from the early 1930s

As a follow up to my last post, Clayton Fuller has sent me what is perhaps the only surviving photograph of his brother Charlie's first Moth, BAMBAROO.  For those who have not read the previous post, BAMBAROO had a light weight mast made from bamboo so that Charlie could easily drop the mast in order to clear the low draw bridges on the Miami River between their home and the Biscayne Bay which was the site for most of the local Moth Boat races in those days.

Charlie and Clayton Fuller sailing BAMBAROO in 1932.  As a reference point, the the very first Moth Boat, JUMPING JUNIPER was built in 1929 and the first organization to administer the class rules, The National Moth Boat Association, had just been formalized in the same year as this picture.  Indeed, Charlie's first Moth was a very early example.  The location depicted is along the Miami River near the south-west second-street bridge. No doubt if a photograph of this same area was taken today the real estate along the water would look quite different.  As a point of interest note that day light can be seen between the luff of the sail and the mast.  It appears that the leading edge of the sail is attached only at the head and the tack!  Perhaps Charlie used loose lacings along the luff of the sail which are not visible in this photo.  Having said that, the sail seems to have a reasonable shape, at least in the light breeze conditions seen on the day of this outing.