How to sail a foiler Moth in 5 easy steps

Right.  After viewing Nate's videos I've drawn a couple conclusions.  First, rigging a foiler makes rigging my Europe dinghy (with all those pesky through-the-mast-bearing-ring internal control lines) seem like a walk in the park.  Second, even with stop action photography, getting going and then remaining foil-borne looks like the equivalent to mastering how to  ride a "penny-farthing" bicycle.  I suppose the crashes into (hopefully) warm water are, assuming you miss all the potentially hurtful goobers on the boat, more forgiving than crashing onto granite cobblestones while attempting to descend a steep hill on a high wheeler.  But don't take my word for it.  Judge for yourself.  I think I'll stick with something safe like mastering an Axel jump on figure skates.

More Deckage.

No sooner had I updated John Z's progress than I received some new photos from Martin Scott over in Cornwall.  I may need to start a pool to see which of these two Mistrals will be launched first...

Fore deck temporarily held in place during initial fitting with duct tape.

Looks good!  Note the neatness of both the boat and the work area.  Martin is building his boat in the utility room of his house, while John Z. builds in his downstairs rec room!  I don't know how they do it!

Martin's boat will have a center main traveler.  John is planning to stick with an aft bridle.

Martin is also designing his own sail.  He indicates that although he'll be measured under the IMCA's current rules, he will build a slightly less powerful sail than is permitted in the interests of controlling the boat in his local conditions.

John Z. Mistral update: The decks are on.

John's Mistral now has her decks.  All of the key seams have been glass taped (I learned that vacuum bagging flattens the selvaged edges of glass tape, so there are no little annoying ridges to sand down).

The decks have two coats of epoxy but have not yet been varnished.The diagonal lip at the aft edge of the side decks demarcates the seating areas where John used thicker plywood.

At this stage the hull weighs 57 pounds.  John has plenty of leeway for rub rails, hardware, hiking straps, varnish, etc. in order to get the boat up to the class minimum weight of 75 pounds.  He intends to make several test coupons to predict weight gain with different weights and types of glass cloth to help decide whether or not to sheath the exterior of the hull.

A look at the neatly done fore deck joint around the mast tube.  A nice dark mahogany streamlined boss surrounding the mast tube might look nice.

Plenty of access ports in the well deck and main bulkhead.  The cockpit sole has a 3mm ply doubler in the "stomping area".  John may add a layer of fiberglass to provide a non-skid texture to the sole.