Curses, Foiled Again! Part III 2012 CMBA Nationals.

Hydrofoiling Moths are the state of the developmental art for the International Moth Class and some of the top skippers within the Classic Moth fleet have built boats and compete at IMCA events.  Joe Bousquet and John Zseleczky have completed foiler Moths of the "Hungry Beaver", designed by Naval Architect Bill Beaver.  Fellow Classic Moth sailor Mike Parsons is not far behind in finishing the build of his foiler.  The hulls of hydrofoiling Moths are capable of rising free of the water and then skimming across the water supported solely upon small T-foils attached to the bottoms of the dagger board and rudder blade.  The enormous reduction of wetted surface once foil borne leads to speeds not seen in boats of this size.  In order to sail one of these craft it pays to be young, strong, lightweight, rich, smart and agile.  Your old diarist is none of those things! Photos courtesy of  Amy Smith Linton.

At the conclusion of Classic racing, Walt Collins (wearing shirt with the circle-M insignia) rolls up his Classic sail while while Joe Bousquet rigs his foiler's sail.

Modern Moths have extremely narrow hulls as seen here on Joe's boat Try-foil.  The righting moment necessary to sail the boat is provided by the hiking wings which extend out from the sheer line of the hull.  These wings allow the skipper to move his weight out from the center line of the hull.  Did mention you need to be strong and agile (among other things) to sail one of these?

Joe B. in "low rider" mode.

Joe B. up on foils.  Yep, that's daylight between the bottom of the hull and the surface of the water.

A series of photos showing John Z. transitioning from low riding to hydrofoiling.

The IMCA uses the "Squashed Bug" insignia rather than the Circle-M which the Classic and Vintage Moths use.  The IMCA boats also use a higher aspect sail plan compared to the Classic boats.

The better foiling Mothists can tack and gybe without coming down off the foils during the maneuver.

Jeff Linton swam out to give it a go.  With the boat resting on her side one can see the port side halves of the two T-foils.

Jeff rights the boat,

and gets under way.  I'd be back in the water with the boat flopped on her side again by this point.

Up, Up, Up!

These guys make it look easy--it's NOT!  After a brief demo it was time for fried chicken.  I'll conclude with a few pix from Sunday's action in the next post.  Stay tuned.