So you wanna go Moth foiling?

I don't know anything about this boat other than what the seller discloses in the ad; that and the notion of hydrofoiling involves way too much exercise for your inherently lazy old diarist, but YOU, friend, can check it out here: 

http://annapolis.craigslist.org/boa/4399843465.html 

With a price of only $3K this must be the cheapest intro to hydrofoil sailing on the planet.  Sounds like somebody got tired of their beach toy...

2014 Gulfport Collage

The last weekend in February, ten Classic Moths turned out for this year's edition of the CMBA Mid-Winter Regatta.  Once again we were hosted by the always friendly and efficient members of the Gulfport YC.  Photo credits:  Diaristwoman and Lennie Parker.  Although this was a two day regatta I have only pix from Sunday's action as Diraristwoman and Amy Parker stayed ashore doing girly stuff (aka: shopping) leaving IoW Len as the lone ranger on the mark boat.

Once off I-95 and trailering down Route 301, one always gets a friendly reminder that you're in central Florida.

Sunday started off foggy with almost no wind.  This was a duplicate of Saturday's conditions.

Mark Saunders' Mistral Spyder along side of Frickie Martschink, sailing Lewis Hays' Skol, Mean Tangerine during one of the early races of the day.

Can't see the shore.  Walt Collins along side of Rutledge Young, both in Europes.  We were instructed to abandon a race in progress if we lost sight of the next mark of the course.  The Race Committee was very concerned with several operators of high speed power boats who seemed oblivious to the conditions.  Fortunately no Moth Boats were harmed in the running of this regatta.

John Siegling making his way to the starting line in his Savannah Wedge design Moth.

Mark in Spyder up wind of Walt in YourUp.  Walt's rudder is still up due to shallow water near the launch area.

A close look at Greg's loose footed sail with full battens.  So far, Greg is the only one to explore a loose footed sail after the rule change.

Mean Tangerine.

Lewis Hay sailed his Europe.

The day gradually brightened as the fog burned off.

Your diarist borrowed a sail for this regatta (Nr 115).

Mark well in front at the weather mark in this very light air race.

The breeze did fill in but never with much authority.

Looks glassy.

John Z. trying to stay awake.

Your old diarist.

A stern view of the Skol design.  The Skol's transom is slightly narrower than the Mistral.  Additionally, the Skol lacks the Mistral's flat stern quarter sections and is thus slightly more treacherous than the Mistral.  Frickie had good boat speed and won one of the races.

The fleet sails back to GYC's beach at the conclusion of racing.  Our weekend of Florida warmth was over all to soon--sigh. 

The Copenhagen Wheel--something for my cycling readers to love/hate.

I'm just a messenger but this sounds like a great idea if you cycle in areas with a lot of hills.  The wheel captures energy normally lost on the down hill part of a ride as electricity and then kicks in if you want a boost up that next steep section that normally stings the legs.  Check it out:

http://senseable.mit.edu/copenhagenwheel/

What a difference a year makes.

Dear constant reader,

You may recall when I posted about last year's Mid-Winter Classic Moth Boat Regatta down in Gulfport, FL that I included a couple of pix of a very forlorn looking Mistral Moth.  The more sensitive viewers may wonder what came of the poor old dear.

The ex-Scott Sandell Mistral Holland Tunnel  Nr 77.

Looking very down at the heel.  Was she cannibalized for parts and then quietly cut up and thrown in the tip?

Well, I can report that the old girl has found a new owner (Joe, sorry didn't get the last name) and a new vision as a potential entrant for the 2015 edition of the Everglades Challenge Race. 

Moth sailor Jeff Linton has entered this year's 300 mile event with a much modified Flying Scot (aka: FrankenScot).  His adventure beings off Fort De Soto Park this Saturday (1st of March).  You can read about his race here.  The boats will carry GPS trackers.  For those wishing to follow Jeff's progress, FrankenScot is a Class 4 boat and Jeff's Water Tribe name is Captain TwoBeers. 

Meanwhile, get a load of the new Holland Tunnel.

She's now a trimaran.

Note the bowsprit and asymmetric chute.

Very pretty from this angle with just 5 knots of breeze.

Port side view.  The amas provide stability for the tippy Mistral hull.

A bit of splash from the leeward ama in this photo.

Along side of Walt Collins' Europe.  Some of the CMBA members would love to have that fat head mainsail.

Nice looking conversion.

With the chute furled the skipper can keep the amas out of the water.

Love the red sails.

Holland Tunnel's new owner indicated that old HT is the test bed for his planned 2015 Challenge entry. He entered a 100 mile race up in Jacksonville.  That race was cancelled but he sailed the hundred miles away to see how she handled.  He'll continue to sail her as a trial horse to see what breaks and what needs modification over the course of this year.  His entry for next year's Challenge Race will have a fiberglass hull, also based on the Mistral Moth design.