Foresight and hindsight

Most of the moth blogosphere seems a bit quiet so I thought this weekend I'd publish an entry (lest Doug starts to gain an advantage in the competition...)

I'm pretty much set to make the eight hour drive this coming Friday up to New York for the AYC HPDO regatta. My cunningham change seems effective and I'm glad I made it. I'm also feeling more comfortable sailing downwind on the deep angles. I managed a rough airborne jibe at Elizabeth City in about 12 knots of breeze and am at the stage where I need to practice, practice, practice (if I only had time available.) My last boat-to-boat comparison was at West River almost two months ago and I seemed at that point a little behind the pace that Bill set, but no so far out of reach that I was terminally discouraged. I am looking forward to some head-to-head competition with Gui (who claims that Bill is faster - I find that hard to believe), with Peter (who gave a very competent showing at Weymouth), and all of the other Bladeriders that will be there. If Bora makes the regatta we will have the best of the American mothies leading the pack and showing to all the other classes the capability of the moth. Here's hoping that the breeze is between 10 and 20 so I don't make a complete fool of myself!

So much for looking ahead. How about the past? Doug updated the world site with the combined history page that I put together with significant input from George Albaugh. George also contributed the winners of the moth world championships back to 1933 and that revised list appears on a new page that Doug ammended. The history of the moth, especially the contributions of the IMCA prior to 1972, is now available to the world, appropriate as we move to the '09 Gorge Worlds.

Also, Rod Mincher uploaded a neat video of Jeff sailing my boat a couple of weeks ago. I like the editing and the sound track. Thanks, Amy and Rod!



How about my history? I found a photo of me and my first boat, a Stockholm Sprite that I built in 1973, that was appropriately named "1st Try." The two pictures below show the boat at a Ware River regatta (with my little sister, Jennifer, now the mother of five) and with yours truly. Note the T-boom and the seemingly 1-1 vang. The vang actually went to a differential drum and gave about a 10-1 purchase. I still have a small part of that boat in the garage. So 35 years later I'm still knocking around in moths. Yee-ha!