New Year, Two New Moth Boat blogspots to follow

The black lines on the white paper are the stock Mistral II half sections.  The lines in red on the Mylar overlay are the deviations for the modified design.

Hot on the heels of Martin Scott and John Z., Jamey Rabbitt, this past year's CMBA National Champion, has started building his new Moth.  Jamey's boat uses the Mistral plans as inspiration but isn't completely bound by them.  Will his derivation be faster than the stock boat?  Stay tuned.  His Blackberry Boatworks blogspot can be found here.

Station molds for Bill's hot rod Euro.

And of course, since it's winter, Bill Boyle can't resist building yet another new boat.  This time Bill will be constructing a Classic Moth using the Europe dinghy as his starting point.  He hopes to capture the classic Alois Roland hull shape in a strip plank version that is closer to the CMBA minimum hull weight of 75 lbs than the Europe Dinghy Union's 99 lb minimum.  So far Bill has a new jig built and has cut out the required station molds for the hull.  You can follow his progress here.

Athens 2004

Leeward Boat!  My glass Europe during an exciting moment in her previous life.  I still have the sail which Meg G. used during those games.

Spirou Sailing

Normally, Tweezerman is the blogosphere harbinger of obscure dinghy classes but the Spirou is one that I think even he hasn't heard of.  The Spirou was designed by Charles Bertels as a smaller entry level version of the Europe Dinghy suitable for junior sailors.  Bertels, the founder of the Belgian sailing magazine Yachting Sud, was also involved in the early popularization of the Europe Dinghy.  The boats are still sailed primarily in Belgium but perhaps with a little publicity this little boat might replace the dominant Optimist dinghy in at least a few clubs, much like the Bic Class dinghy is currently doing.  Anyway, the boats appeal to this Europe/Classic Moth sailor and the kids sailing in the videos look like they're enjoying the little boats.

The second video shows a Spirou Class start ("depart" if I heard the RC correctly).   More info about this class can be obtained here: <spirouclass@gmail.com>  Unfortunately the class website <www.spirouclass.be> appears not to function but I'll post the URL in the hopes that whoever is the class website guru will eventually fix it.

Mark's redecked Europe

Mark Saunders took an old Europe dinghy hull, gutted it and attempted to rebuild the boat so that she would weigh in at the CMBA minimum weight limit of 75 lb as opposed to the International Europe Dinghy Union's minimum hull weight of 99 lb. After racing a Mistral for several years,  Mark appreciated that a stock Europe is a better behaved boat compared to the Mistral design and in some conditions a Europe can give the faster Mistral pilots a spot of bother.  He reasoned a reduced weight Europe, equipped with spars and blades lighter than the stock items, would be even more troubling to the Mistral skippers.  Mark just barely completed the boat in time for this year's Classic Moth Mid-Winter Regatta and the boat had a few teething problems.  Even so, Mark finished 3rd overall.  The official weigh in for this boat will happen at the Nationals in September, but Mark thinks he managed to remove about 15 of the offending 24 lb from the hull.  With the lighter equipment he no doubt significantly reduced the overall weight of the boat in all up race ready state.  It will be interesting to see how this boat goes as he develops her during this year's racing season.  The photos that follow are a combination of mine and Lennie Parker's, taken at last weekend's regatta.

Mark in the process of rigging the boat for the first time.  He removed the fiberglass  decks, side tanks and most of the daggerboard trunk during the reconstruction of this boat.  The cockpit layout, in general, follows the design of Joe Bousquet first seen on Joe's Mistral Try-Umph.

The roll tanks for the side decks, made of 3 mm marine ply, are reinforced with a layer of carbon fiber cloth on the under side of the panel to provide adequate stiffness to take the pounding of the skipper's weight.  The fore and aft decks are not carbon clad in order to save weight.

Mark does lovely work.  The cockpit sole also received a layer of carbon cloth to provide stiffness in the stomping area of the cockpit.  The carbon fiber cloth is lighter than the original structure and prevents the hull from "oil canning".  The well deck and bulkhead also introduce a bit of stiffness and minimize the amount of open cockpit space if water comes over the bow.  Mark decided on an aft bridle traveler system so that he could minimize the  weight of the carbon fiber boom he plans to use in the future.  The aft bridle also saves weight compared with the teak center traveler horse and hardware it replaces.

The sail shape controls are led to the aft edge of the foredeck rather than below decks as is the typical Europe dinghy practice.  The recessed area in the center of the main bulkhead is the compass binnacle.

The inhaul is a simple 2:1 system led to a clam cleat on the boom.  Mark used a boom made out of Dwyer DM-1 section for this regatta as his lighter carbon boom wasn't finished in time.  DM-1 weighs about a half pound per foot.  The eventual carbon fiber replacement will weigh half of that.  Mark's mast was supplied by Ted Van Dusen and is much lighter than my IEDU legal carbon mast.

The mast tube follows the oval arrangement recently seen on other Classic Moths.  Note the clever carbon tab which provides a place to locate the line for the vang attachment.  Carbon tubes do not like having holes drilled in them for fasteners.  Such holes are often the origin of dramatic failures of carbon fiber structures.

Here we see a small section of the yet to be used carbon boom.  The added tab, also fashioned from carbon cloth provides multiple attachment points for the vang.  The tube itself started life as the top section of a windsurfer mast.

This detail shot shows the tab which Mark fabricated and bonded to the leading face of the mast as an attachment point for the spectra bow stay.  This again avoids  drilling holes to attach the typical hounds fitting.  Although the mast is designed to be free standing, like the stock Europe mast, the bow stay, which runs to a simple block and tackle system on the foredeck, provides "on the fly" mast rake adjustability, in concert with the oval mast tube.   My stock Europe dinghy's mast rake can also be adjusted out on the water, but to do so requires the boat to be hove to into the wind and the skipper to reach though an inspection port, inside the bow compartment to turn a screw.  This can be done in between races, but is something that can't be accomplished while actually sailing.

Mark also made the cheeks for the rudder stock as light as possible.  The rudder blade is currently a stock laser item which will no doubt soon be replaced by a lighter blade with a more efficient shape.  Not seen in any of these photos is the gybing daggerboard which Mark used during the regatta.  As mentioned in the previously post, Mark slaved away on that item at the yacht club in order to get it to fit the trunk!  Hopefully I'll be able to document that blade at a future regatta.

How they do it in Sag Harbor.

The guys and gals who comprise the Sag Harbor Europe dinghy fleet pretty much sail year round as long as the bay doesn't freeze solid.  Now Sag Harbor, New York is way out on the eastern tip of Long Island and is a hard day's drive north from diarist HQ.  Your diarist normally doesn't sail after about mid-November unless we're talking Florida.  I once asked one of the main proponents of the fleet what they did to stay warm.  Was it dry suits, wet suits, Armani suits?  Perhaps all three at the same time?  Nope.  Turns out the answer is revealed in the photo below.

Pine Barrens single malt whisky  is their secret for insuring a good fleet turn out.  Now at $45.00 for a 375 ml bottle this little mid-winter warmer is a bit too spendy for your thrifty old diarist but it works for them.  My other observation is that the name "Pine Barrens" seems out of place for Long Island.  I think there may be a couple pine trees on display in a Museum of Natural History somewhere up there, but really folks, the name "Pine Barrens" should have been reserved as a southern New Jersey appellation!  Bottoms up!  Photo credit: Nick Gazzolo.

Missing identity

Readers of this blog spot no doubt appreciate my addiction to all things Moth Boat and Europe Dinghy related.  One little mystery that I've failed to work out is the identity of the builder of my all wood Europe dinghy, GYPSY.  A previous owner thought that she was built in Italy but offered no proof to back up that assumption.  I'm fairly confident that my boat is NOT a Roland or a Christalli (the excellent craftsman who took over Roland's shop in Belgium) for reasons which I will advance in the following photos of both GYPSY and a genuine Roland-built boat.

First, let us exam a boat known to be a Roland

Note the athwart-ship frames running across the cockpit sole of this boat.  The aft one serves as an attachment point for the hiking straps.

Here we have GYPSY prior to her restoration.  Note the absence of those athwart-ship frame elements.  Instead GYPSY sports a pair of  fore and aft stringers on either side of the timber keel which the Roland-built boat does not have.  Another distinctive feature between this boat and the Roland is the shape of the hatch cut out in the main bulkhead: triangular on GYPSY and rectangular/oval on the Roland. Finally, although not visible in this photo, GYPSY's toe straps terminate at a clam cleat on the keel just ahead of the transom. Thanks in advance for any help identifying the builder of this boat!

Raimo Ahti's Raleigh Team Replica

My two similar Europe design Moth Boats.  One is a beautiful woodie the other is the boat Meg Gaillard
used in the 2004 Olympic Games at Athens.  Which one will I take to Gulfport?  Decisions, decisions...

Your diarist has been distracted with preparations for the up-coming Classic Moth Boat Mid-Winter Regatta, to be held down in Gulfport, Florida the last weekend of Feb.  I'm still trying to decide between two boats.  But more about that in a future post.

Currently Bowie, Maryland is enjoying a rare couple of days of 70 degree weather in the middle of what is generally the coldest month of the year.  I don't plan on launching into a discussion about global warming or whether or not human activity is contributing to that other than to say as long as I don't have to shovel anything I'm not going to complain.  The warm temps have gotten me thinking about my bicycles resting in the garage since last November (yes, I'll admit it: I'm a cold wimp).

While I'm rummaging around in the garage looking for boat parts I may as well introduce you to one of my bikes: A Raleigh Team Pro Replica from the early 1980s.  I picked this little bike up after seeing her malinger through several bid cycles on a certain popular on-line auction site without attracting a single bid.  The seller relisted the bike for one final time stating that if nobody bid this time he'd break her for parts. The bike although missing her head badge was unmistakably a Raleigh Team Professional Replica, i.e. built to the design of Gerald O'Donovan but constructed at Raleigh's main Worksop factory rather than the SBDU or Special Bicycle Development Unit in Derbyshire.  I also have a pukka SBDU Team Pro frame but I'll talk about that one in a later post.

The bike in question retained a mish-mash of  period correct Campagnolo Nuovo Record components, but mostly with Campag patent dates which were slightly out of sync with the age of the frame. However, the most curious aspect of this machine was that the frame had been repainted an attractive but admittedly unauthentic shade of blue and sported an unusual name painted on both sides of the down tube:"Raimo Ahti".  I think the combination of odd component dates, and that paint job contributed to the reason why this particular bike failed to attract the lust and bidding frenzy from the usual bike snob crowd that lurks in the dark corners of "Flea-bay".I placed the minimum opening bid and waited to be snipped at the last second.  Much to my amazement that didn't happen and I won the auction.

Raimo Ahti's Raleigh Team Pro Rep

After receiving the bike I did a little web search to see if I could discover anything about this mysterious Raimo Ahti.  Obviously the name was Finnish.  What I discovered is that my bike was the one time property of a 70+ year old stone mason who lived in Lunenberg, Massachusetts.  It turned out that Raimo's first love is cross-country ski racing and he used to run in the summer months to keep fit.  As he aged he switched from running to bike racing because cycling left him fresher. In a quote from the Worcester, Mass Telegram and Gazette (http://www.ltolman.org/93arch/60996.htm) Raimo said of his training rides "You can go three to five hours, and when you come back you can wash the floors and cut the grass. If you run three hours, you can't go dancing afterward. My wife and I love to dance."  (Ah, the allure of Nordic dancing--diarist-woman also loves it but your diarist is clumsy and can't get the steps down to all those dances...).  In his mid-60s Raimo was still winning citizen races in his age group. 

 Raimo, now in his 70s, still skis.  I was able to track him down via contact with a Finnish-American cultural society up in Massachusetts and we exchanged some enjoyable letters.  Someday I  hope to get up to his neck of the woods and shake his hand in person.  It's not every day you meet a multi-discipline champion via flea-bay!  This man very definitely has "sisu".   As for the mish-mash of component dates on the bike it boils down to this: Raimo was a racer, stuff broke during events and he replaced them with whatever a local bike shop had on hand without worrying about what a bunch of collectors might think years later.  To me those mismatched patent dates are a silent testament to the bike's racing history and make her all the more special. I also like the Finnish blue paint  job and will always keep Raimo's name on the down tube.  I told him that I do plan to change one little thing:  I'm going to paint the lug cut-outs on the frame bright yellow since my bride is a Svenska fickor!

Heart shaped lug cut outs will soon be Swedish yellow.