Vintage Moth Boat racing in south Florida

Louis Pillon is heavily involved with Classic Moth sailing in France and the other day he emailed me a copy of an old photograph he bought from an American vendor on "flea-bay".  A close examination reveals a number of interesting points.

Although text on the back of this photo mentions Tampa Bay and the Moth Boat Nationals I doubt if this scene is from that regatta.  For one thing, although the Nationals were hosted by the Miami Yacht Club in 1949, this particular regatta was never held on Tampa Bay in the 1940s. Also, the Nationals were never part of a multi-class regatta as seen in this photo.  Finally, the National Regatta attracted a much, much larger fleet of Moths than the five boats seen here. Having said all that, this photograph, probably taken on the east coast of Florida, offers an interesting tableau. The two closest Moths are WAHOO, Nr 215 and Nr 414.  These Moths are typical examples of pre-war scow designs. Sadly, I can find nothing in the old Moth Class records about Nr 215.  However Nr 414  appears in the records registered as BO BO in 1949 to Chuck Hasker who sailed out of the Coconut Grove Sail Club.  Besides the five Moths one can see a Snipe class dinghy (sail Nr 1508) and a couple of Cricket class dinghies (the boat with the wishbone boom, sail Nr 121, is a Cricket; BO BO is obscuring a second Cricket but one can just make out the forward end of the wishbone and also the sharp stem of the hull).   The Cricket class was a popular dinghy class on both coasts of south Florida prior to the second world war but by the time of this photo that class was dying out as  sailors abandoned it for newer designs.  The Snipe was one of those designs that thrived at the Cricket's expense.  The Snipe class continues to be actively raced to this day.

"Camping" aboard Fend la bise

Louis Pillon, the mainstay of the French Association des Moth Classiques : http://louis.pillon.pagesperso-orange.fr/moth/  has sent me some very interesting photos of a “camping” Moth Boat which he has recently acquired.  Those of us who were racing here in the states back in the 1960s had heard rumors of the French Camping Moth but had never seen one.  In those times the French Mothists were quite innovative and many designs like the Duflos are still boats to beat in current Classic Moth racing.  It turns out that a very few, probably no more than ten, of the Camping Moths were made and, of that number, the one which Louis owns is perhaps the only survivor.  Designed and built by Parra, the Camping Moth weighs in at a hefty 120kg (~264 lb in old money)—which for a Moth Boat is substantial!   By comparison, the minimum hull weight for a CMBA approved racer is 75 lb.  Ah, but the Camping Moth more than makes up in civility what it lacks in speed.  No doubt in the “grand salon” there’s room for a bar and perhaps a small piano for aperitifs and après race relaxation.  No one beats the French in terms of refinement!

Louis:  Merci for sharing!  Photo credits: Pascale Guittonneau; the small advertisement is from the January 1961 issue of the French boating magazine” Bateaux”. 

The original ad for Moth Bearnais De Camping. This is from the culture which gave us fine wine, Brigitte Bardot and pain au chocolat.  Ad source:  Bateaux, Janvier 1961.

Fend la bise can be translated to "cleave the wind". In France, la bise is a strong wind from the north.

A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and Fend la bise! Look at that bow wave!

I love the wooden spars but wonder why, given the French love of free standing masts, that this boat sports a stayed rig?  Perhaps Louis will explain it to me some day.  Louis promises to send some photos of the interior so we can view the accommodations.  Sleeping on either side of the centerboard trunk in this Camping Moth no doubt assumes very trim and sleek crew members!