20th Annual Brigantine Yacht Club Classic Moth Boat Regatta

Saturday, the 18th of June marked the twentieth time Elisabeth and I have organized the Annual BYC Moth Boat Regatta.  We started in 1991 with a handful of boats participating.  Where the hell did twenty years go?  I was hoping we'd have 20 boats racing for the 20th edition of the regatta but in the end we had fourteen boats which is still a goodly number.  The day started off with light, unsettled wind out of the west.  The race committee postponed for an hour in the hope that the wind would make the predicted shift to the southwest and start to fill in.  By 11 o'clock the wind indeed started to shift and boats were launched.  The first race took place in light, shifty conditions but by the start of the second race the southwest wind had established itself and began to quickly build to the mid-teens.  At the end of the event, John Zseleczky had prevailed over Joe Bousquet by a razor thin single point with Mike Parsons taking 3rd in the Generation II division.  All three sailed Mistral design Moths.  In Generation I, Walt Collins achieved his goal of getting his name on yet another perpetual trophy.  Your diarist achieved his goal of beating Walt at least once and that's all I did--I got him in the second race but followed him home the other four races that day.  Rod Mincher took the third spot on the the Gen I podium.  There were a few gear failures, the most notable was the break up of the mast extension which Greg Duncan had added to the heel of his mast in order to gain a little more room under the boom of his Europe design.  No doubt Greg will solve that little problem in time for the next regatta but it was regrettable that he drove over 16 hours up and back from North Carolina for roughly 10 minutes of racing.  He and I always have a good battle out on the race course but we were denied that pleasure this time.  C'est la vie.  We shall both sharpen our claws in anticipation of the next meeting!  Photo credits: sailing pix, Ingrid Albaugh; trophy presentation pix, Bob Patterson.

The wind was still light and the water "glassy" when the RC finally decided to get going.  Here Barb Wescoat (orange t-shirt) helps stabilize OOH LA LA as your diarist clambers aboard.

Heading out to the starting area.  Harrah's Casino (building with the swoopy blue decor) can be seen in the background, just barely on the Atlantic City side of Absecon Inlet.  Casinos are permitted only within the AC city limits, which is more than close enough in my book!

Susan Bousquet is obviously delighted to have her modified Shelley Moth back.  Husband Joe has been using her boat while he had the decks off of his Mistral Try_Umph.

Joe Bousquet barely got the decks back on Try_Umph in time for the race.  In true Moth Boating tradition, the varnish dried on the way to the regatta.  No doubt Joe will have the hull repainted by the next time we see her.

Milling around, waiting for the start sequence.  Sail Nr 115 is 84 year old Merv Wescoat in his home-built Shelley Moth LOOKOUT.  I hope I'm still racing at 84.

At the gybe mark during the second race.

A nice shot of the down wind leg.  Sail Nr 124 (with the double chevrons) is an experimental sail being permitted on a trial basis.

Towards the end of the day we had planing conditions.  John Z. is shown below zooming past a marsh island in his Mistral Y2K BUG, originally built and raced by Walt Collins.

After five races we came in, hauled out the boats and had sandwiches and the awards presentation.  The large wooden perpetual trophies were made by Merv Wescoat.  The Gen II trophy is the South Jersey Championship Trophy.  The one used for the Gen I division is the Les Kammerman Memorial Trophy.  Les Kammerman was one of the founding members of the Moth Class.  The small lighthouse trays seen are the "keeper" awards.  Just the right size for apres-regatta cocktails!