A Classic Moth Mistral Build in Russia

From a Russian forum thread on the Classic Moth (whew! Google does a horrific job of translating Russian to English) comes a photo of forms set up to do a Mistral build.

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Update - January 8, 2015

Sergei provides some background on this Classic Moth build.....

"The Moth is being built in Moscow region by Serg-IF(nickname on boat forum) according to your boat plans. It is planned that Moth will strike the water of Oka-river this spring. As for me I plan to build my Moth this spring. Hope that Ill have enough time for that. Also there is one more guy from Tsimlyansk (it is on Don river) who interested in your Mistral. It could be he will start building. He have a huge experience in boatbuilding and sailing.

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Boatbuilding More Progress by John Z on his Classic Moth

Hull panel offsets for the Mistral can be found here.

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In the ongoing coverage of John Zs Classic Moth build, last week I stopped over at his shop to gauge his progress and have a beer. The Classic Moth modified Mistral design is now upside down awaiting gunwhales and a layer of 4 oz. glass over the bottom.

This photo, though perhaps a tad distorted, shows how deeply Veed the Mistral design sections are around the midships.

Transom view with a pretty swirly pattern from the okoume plywood.

John, with the about-to-be-opened bottle of stout peeking up above the keel-line of his Moth.

A man and his workbench. John graciously took down a Marblehead RC sailboat he built many years ago so I could take a closer look.

A man and his workbench - take 2.

From the previous photo, you can see that John has some interesting stuff hanging from his walls. This is the box containing his F1 rubber-band indoor airplanes. These are extremely finicky to make, with a minimum weight of one gram. John has all the various tools to test balsa density and strength; tools to strip balsa into extremely narrow widths; tools to check rubber band elasticity; molds to make the tricky propellers, and the various techniques to apply the ultra-thin microfilm covering.  To make a F1 takes a methodical, painstaking craftsman.

John also has two half models of the Americas Cup, IACC keelboats, the class that precedes the current foiling catamarans. Surprisingly, it was through his wifes connections and not his Naval Architect circle of friends that these two half-models now grace his shop.

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Wing Flapping on a Magnum Narrow Skiff Moth

I have owned several Classic Moths, a scow Moth, and yes, even a narrow skiff Moth. The narrow skiff Moth was a Magnum 2 built by John Claridge and originally sailed at the 1976 Moth Worlds by the builder. The Worlds were held at Ware River, Virginia and John sold the Magnum to one of the local Moth sailors after the regatta. I rescued the Magnum from the Old Dominion University boat house in Norfolk sometime in the mid 80s and getting it back on the water became a joint project with Bill Beaver. By the time we finally got sailing, it became obvious the very lightweight hull of  the Magnum 2 was creaky and leaky. I never did fully trust hiking off the wings. I think we eventually gave the Moth away. Bill Beaver went on to build two more narrow beam Moths to his own design and then did his own foiler project. I, on the other hand, migrated to the more sedate side of  Mothing with a scow and then eventually the Classic versions.

The original wooden Claridge Magnum II on top of Bill Beavers Volvo 122 at West River S.C. As always, Tweezerman (back when he still had some hair) in his natty sailing gear.

Launching at West River with a offshore breeze. Im desperately attempting to get the rudder in while the Moth is sailing; a dumb idea and usually worth a capsize or two. (We never did get a lifting rudder fitted.)

The original Claridge ad featuring the builder sailing his Magnum 2 that ended up in our hands.

Image from Madmothist blog

I wrote this short piece, about my first sailing experience in the Magnum 2, for an Australian Moth newsletter. It still cracks me up whenever I read it.

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November 1987 - SSA Closing Day

Last fall (November 1987) I threw my Magnum 2 together for the first time in order to make the end-of-year handicap race at Severn Sailing Association. I was tying the last pieces on at the last minute (those who know me can picture the rigging job!) and I just barely made it to the start but to no avail. There was no wind and, at the end of the day, I felt like I had tried riding an unicycle.

After starting with the Snipes, Daysailors and Lasers, I moved forward in the Moth to reduce wetted surface and this set up a chain reaction not unlike the swinging pendulum of a clock, though with a much faster period of movement. First the leeward wing dipped into the water as a small ripple of a wave sent the Moth lurching. To counteract, I moved my torso slowly to weather, cognizant that this was a tender craft - little did I know how tender! Immediately the Moth lurched the other way , dipping the weather wing in the water. I reacted by adjusting my weight with even more care but the Moth seemed to consider that, even this deliberate movement, was much-too-much and flopped back, dipping the leeward wing in the water. This was repeated several times and, with all this awkward flapping of wings, my amused fellow competitors thought that this aquatic Moth was attempting to take flight. In desperation I moved to the stern where there was more boat and things settled out.

Phew! Now I had time to look around and it wasnt pretty. Ultralight dinghies possess no momentum and, in a glassy calm and, with every passing motor boat wake, the Moth would slowly be pushed backward. What looked to be my competitors amazing speed away from me was, instead, my amazing speed backwards.

To compound this comedy my cockpit had filled with water (remember this is a twelve-year old Magnum 2 and at the time it did not have a full double bottom - it does now!) The episode of wing flapping had alternatively scooped water on the wing covers that then ran down to the deck of the Moth and filled the center cockpit well.

I hadnt realized that there were two small drain holes from the center well to the forward double bottom; hence there were no plugs in them and I was SINKING! Not to worry. I had made, at the most, 100 yards from the clubhouse docks, of which 50 had been lost in a magnificent display of wing -flapping and reverse sailing. The remaining 50 yards to safety was made by sculling and hand paddling.

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Header Photo Curvaceous French Classic Moth

Mariposa Moth Classique, Plans de Moth Classique

Mark Morell Photo

The previous header photo featured a French Classic Moth Mariposa (Spanish for butterfly) sailing in tandem with a Nantais Vintage Moth (blue sail) at the French annual Classic Moth rally and regatta which was held yearly during the early 2000s. The strong sheer gives Mariposa a traditional look which suggests a traditional round bottom shape.

Nope. The header photo above is an optical illusion as other photos reveal that Mariposa is actually a multi-chine plywood shape (a three-planker) with the bow sections developed and pulled up.

Mariposa has a flat rocker panel that starts just in front of the daggerboard case and a topside chine that curves up to meet the gunwhale about 600mm from the bow. The developed bow suggests this Moth was built using the stitch and glue method.

The French Classic Mothists weigh their Moths like the Americans - on a bathroom scale. The scratched up bottom shows that Mariposa is not a coddled racing dinghy - and gets plenty of use.

An in-the-water shot of Mariposa shows the topside chine clearly disappearing into the gunwhale.
This Moth design is visually appealing - Mariposa may not be much of a racer but thats OK.

The designer is the tall gentleman on the left. I have no idea who he is. Maybe some reader could help out on identification?

Update, August 14: Dominique Banse to the rescue with the designer indentification. Thanks Dominique!

"There is an article about this Moth in the French magazine “Chasse-Marée” number 147 from November 2001. The owner builder’s name is Bertrand Warion. The boat is built with 5mm plywood and weights 76 kg."

Update September 29, 2015: Designer Bertrand Warion adds a comment to this post updating us on the latest with Mariposa.

"Hello ,I am Bertrand Warion who designed Mariposa and usual reader of your blog.

The boat is still in good condition with great modifications, large cuts to flatten the bottom rocker and new cockpit plan, more "modern" but quite unconfortable for me. [I am] thinking to ameliorate that point.

I did not sail Mariposa [for] 5 years (leaving job, town) and [now] mainly designing and building others boats but i will recondition the boat soon.

Here are some new Mariposa pics.

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There are a few enterprising readers of this post who could put together their own version of Mariposa, at least in model form. Earwigoagin is always open to publicizing such design experimentation.

Through the early 2000s the French Classic Mothists held an annual get together. I think it was originally held at one of the clubs on the Seine but then moved over to a small lake about 100 km. south of Paris, sponsored by Cercle de la Voile du Centre, Etang du Puits, (Google translation - the pond of the well), just off the Route dArgent. Though well attended, in a mystery still not explained, the annual French Classic Moth gathering and regatta just stopped. [Mystery somewhat explained - see below] .

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The mystery of the French Classic Moth get-together got somewhat clearer when reader Dominique Banse emailed an article from a 2001 issue of Chasse-Marée, the French classic/traditional boating magazine. It turns out that all these photos were taken at a Classic Moth design competition that was sponsored by Chasse-Marée and held at Suc dErdre, just north of Nantes (and not at Etang du Puits as I wrote initially). There was a turn out of 20 Moths Classique, both new designs and old, as well as several IMCA narrow skiffs. There is still no explanation why the Classic Moths in France could not keep the annual event going after 2001.

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 I recently rediscovered on the Web, photos from Marc Morell (who took all the photos used in this post) documenting the Suc dErdre. The diversity of French Classic Moths is just astounding! Ill feed more of these photos into later posts on Earwigoagin.

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Boatbuilding Update on the Nantais Classic Moth

Plans de Moth Classique

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David Simms of British Columbia, Canada, sends along an update on his build of the French Moth Classique Nantais design. My first post on Daves boatbuilding can be found here.

"Ive attached a couple of pictures of the Nantais, in its present state... All of the frames are made of laminated 1 cm x 1 cm, straight-grained Douglas Fir. Im amazed at how light, and STRONG, they are. Presently, the fairing has been nearly completed and the frames have been sealed with epoxy. There are fewer than a dozen screws in all of the deck framing. I have rough cut the plywood for the deck and Ive also sealed the inside face of the decking with epoxy. 

[Second picture] A bit of humour, here. Im struggling to move the boat into one of my sheds, for winter storage. This little struggle has convinced me that my original thoughts of building a boat that could be transported on top of a car were somewhat unrealistic. Given that Im not related to Charles Atlas, Ill soon be looking for a trailer."

Lines drawing of the Nantais Moth. Typical of Moth design for France and the U.S in the 1940s. (The Dorr-Willey, Ventnor, and the Abbots representing similar U.S. designs, Click here to view a post on the 1940 Moth designs.), the hull has a scow type stem married to deep V sections.

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Florida Cates Moth Offsets

George Albaugh, fellow blogger and Moth class keeper of plans, kindly lent me the Florida Cates Classic Moth plans to look over. Jeff Linton got his start in the Classic Moth class in a somewhat tired fiberglass Cates and just recently, Gary Gowans, shown in the photo below, won the Gen I division in the 2014 Classic Moth nationals with his home-built modified Cates.

George provided more details on the history of the Florida Cates Moth in the comments section, which I have dragged over to the main post:

"Warrens 1954 World Champ boat was Mach One, NOT Mach Two. After Harry Cates modified the design of Mach One to make the boat easier to build and less tippy, Warren ordered one from Harry and named that particular boat Mach Two. The modified boat is alternatively referred to as a "Cates" a "Florida" or a "Mach Two" design, depending on whom youre taking to and to an extent where you are geographically up and down the eastern seaboard.

"As a footnote, only a handful of Mach One type Moths were built. The Mach One has more keel rocker and a much deeper vee. This makes a Mach One type almost as evil to sail as a Mistral. This also means that the bow sections on the Mach One have to be pulled up pram style rather than planked as in the case of the Mach Two/Cates/Florida derivative. Warrens Mach One had a false nose, made of fiberglass, glued on the front of the hull to achieve the sharp stem seen in most surviving photos of the boat.

I scanned parts of the plans and was also able to convert the Florida Cates lines into an 8-station offset table incorporating Gary Gowans wider transom. Ive made up a small PDF file, which, while not the complete plans, gives you the flavor of how they built this 1950s design. If you were an experienced builder, you could probably make something out of this PDF. If not, contact George for the complete set of plans (see PDF).

To print or download this PDF, click on the right-facing arrow icon on the top right of the PDF window. This will open the PDF into another tab.

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Gouget Aluminum Moth Classique

About two years ago, I spotted an aluminum sailing dinghy being refurbished over at Bobby Mullers yard in Eastport. Though I vowed to return with a camera to take a photo, I never did. Sailing dinghies built out of aluminum are rare animals. There are plenty of aluminum Grumman canoes, aluminum small fishing outboard skiffs, and most of the motorized pontoon boats on American lakes have aluminum hulls, but very few small sailboats were ever built with aluminum hulls. This aluminum sailboat at Mullers boatyard remains a mystery - one of these days Ill return to make inquiries at the yard office.

An aluminum sailing dinghy I did unearth on the InterWebs was the French Gouget Moth design from the 1960s. Designed as a recreational dinghy and not a racer, the Gouget was competing against the newly introduced fiberglass dinghies - a battle for market share it obviously did not win.

Side view of the Gouget aluminum Moth. We can see it sports not a plumb bow, nor a scow bow, but a pretty raked one. Also we see an enormous bow cleat with chock. The sections seem to be a simple V.

It appears the wood decks were applied over an aluminum deck, but only in the bow and around the cockpit. Sitting on the aft deck in the summer sun must have been sizzly hot. Given the general nature purpose of this Moth, the aft tank sported an extremely large storage hatch.

This Moth also sported hinged plywood flaps on both sides of the cockpit. These appear to be flopped open to provide more hiking power and seated surface when sailing. When the Gouget was stored ashore, these flaps were flipped back to the center, as is seen here.

Ad for the Gouget aluminum Moth.

Click here to read George A.s post on the even more bizarre French camp/cruising Moth.

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Scows at the 2015 International Moth Worlds

Seven Australian scows, a mixture of old and new, are sailing in the 2015 International Moth Worlds hosted by the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club, Victoria, Australia. For news on the 2015 Moth Worlds, it is worth clicking over to the popular Sailing Anarchy blog for Mr. Clean has been omnipresent, recording races live, doing interviews and documenting the ups and downs, both on-shore and in-the-water, of the professional programs that dominate the hi-tech foiler crowd. The scows are definitely the amateur, old-fashioned, side-show in this regatta, but, to Sailing Anarchys credit, they have been devoting some of their coverage to the scow crowd.

Back in September, Aussie Mark Hughes, wrote me an email with some links to a flat-pack scow kit he had designed and, from which, one hull had been built over the 2014 Australian winter. It was a modified Ray Hilton Bunyip IX design (the plans which have been posted on this blog). It consists of pre-cut carbon/foam pieces which are assembled inside a snap-together jig, also supplied in the kit. Pretty nifty but there were some unanswered questions I had about the construction. (Such as how do you get the carbon/foam panels to bend into the jig?)

Mark has a blog on his M-Scow-03 design which offers up, for free, the plans for this scow Moth. There are 10 PDF plans as well as CAD cut files available for download.

Here is one of his PDF sheets. Very high quality CAD work here. Again to open this PDF in another tab, click on the pop-out icon (the box with the upward facing arrow, upper right corner).





Ah, it seems the blogmeister has lost his train of thought and digressed away from the scows in the 2015 Worlds...but, patience dear reader, there is a connection. It turns out the Brian Sherring, the owner and builder of the first M-Scow-03 is sailing at the Worlds and he was the subject of a Mr. Clean interview which can be seen over here on Facebook.

There are two other scow photos of interest from the 2015 Moth Worlds, both of them Im reposting from Sailing Anarchy (again a TOH to Sailing Anarchy for covering some of the scow stuff).

Father/son team, Ian (dad) and Andrew Sim (son) in front of their scows. Andrew is sailing a 1980s vintage Stunned Mullet design. The blond wood decks are lightweight hoop pine plywood, which was an Aussie-only product of the 1980s and no longer available. His dad, Ian, is sailing a more modern foam/glass scow design. (Photo from Sailing Anarchy)

Wednesdays racing for the Worlds was canceled when a vicious low decamped over Sorrento. One of the French father/son combo, either Jim or David, decided to take his scow out for a burn in the gale. (Photo from Sailing Anarchy)

Its also apropros to repost this YouTube on the Aussie Scow Moth (Ian Sim is the fellow who is last up in this video):

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