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Why or Why not]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/31/141.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/31/141.page GMT
I'd love to hear from anyone with any experience of either boat, and problems you've had, things to look out for. Anything you think could be useful to a noob!

I'm trying out the x8 this weekend, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Fintan]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/30/137.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/30/137.page GMT My son is currently interested in getting a international moth if he can get to uni.But i want to make sure that it is right for him.
Is there any chance that anyone knows of a willing person to allow him to have a go.
We live in the Banbury Area

Many Thanks
Dave Harris]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/29/135.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/29/135.page GMT
I was in Belmont for the worlds as a spectator and would like to know how the international racers got your boats to Australia.

As extra baggage or did you ship them?

I was planning on a European holiday for 6 weeks and noticed the European championships and Italian nationals are on the dates I was planning on being in Europe.

So I am deciding on entering the regatta's or is it to much trouble travelling around with a BIG BOX?

Anyone from OZ heading over?

Anyone going from Germany to Italy with room?

All the best

G]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/28/130.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/28/130.page GMT
I am in South Africa and we do not have supplier or any moths to my knowledge, so if I would like to sail a moth, I ether need to import (to expensive) or build. Been doing some reseach on moth builds and see that one can build the hull and foils but have not seen any info on mast and wand.

Will one be able to build the mast as well and can one construct the wand and accompanying hardware too? Where can I find info on this?
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Phil Stephenson kindly reported the state of play after the AGM in his opinion. Until the minutes are published or others add to this then it is the best summery we have of the meeting:

[quote]
No decision was made at the AGM but a heated discussion took place with strong polarized views about evenly mixed. Most anti wing sentiment came from part of the majority AUS attendees. An informal vote was taken of the country reps present and again the vote was balanced evenly. AUS and GBR voted against I think.

There is strong sentiment about cost, durability and convenience of storage and transport. But there is also strong sentiment about the moths being an open development class and this is why they have become so great in 2011.

If wings are to be accepted though, a significant number were against the two or three element design as being outside the one sail rule and tradition.

Mark announced that Adam May has formed a committee of measurers and techno nuts who will be drafting rule proposals for members to vote on two issues. What the committee are considering doing is offer two proposals for voting.

One will be to revise the existing rules and measurement procedures so that all rigs, including boltrope, pocket luff, wing/sail combos, and full wings can be measured equitably. This most likely will mean that the some definitions will change, eg the luff length rule will also cover leading edge length of wing masts and wings. We will need to address how we treat the bits between the wing section and the deck, or any other spars which do not work as sail area. it has to be spelt out. The ISAF Sail Area Measurement Manual (SAMM) is the best starting point but we need to add things about what gets measured and how big it is allowed to be. This is needed not to allow wings to be measured but also to allow a lot of other rigs to be measured equitably with what we know as standard rigs now. Revisions like this have happened every couple of years and Adam initiated discussion on this subject in the middle of 2010. It was however put asside to allow the wing issue to be handled by the limited resources and time available.

The second proposal will be to decide if the class wishes to ban wing rigs, even if they can be measured under proposal 1. This has been necessary because of the strong fore and against sentiments expressed by members since late 2010.

The class has always been an open development class which allows everything which is not specifically banned. The Dec 2010 ISAF ruling on Bora's wings was that it was not banned but that the class measurement rules and restrictions did not allow it to be measured. The first proposal will address this and other long standing issues. ISAF specified that Bora's wings be measured by the ISAF SAMM and re adoption of the manual which was deleted from our rules in 2005 for various reasons unrelated to today's issues, looks like the best option.

The second proposal will give the members the opportunity to ban something specific which will be added to the very short banned list todate comprising Trapezes, sliding seats, multihulls and stand up/hand held (sailboard type) rigs.

Adam's group have not yet drafted or even discussed properly what will be in the proposals so what I have said here can be taken as only my opinion and what everyone will see in a couple of month might be vastly different.
[/quote]

Those of us who were not able to attend the Worlds have seen the wing from a far and got a slightly better understanding thanks to the US team. Bruce has a nice write up which gives some further insight here: http://www.teknologika.com/mothblog/welcome-to-wing-camp/

The rules committee will do their work and will not be able to share it here but I hope we can discuss the issues in an informative way to try and reduce the polarization and make a good informative views that will be represented at the AGM though the National Presidents. I for one am not sure of the best course of action on this and so I would like to discuss and think about it more before I decide.

All the best,

Doug



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If any of you don know of a few blogs showing the build, please let me know.

]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/25/109.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/25/109.page GMT
About 25 people have already filled in the on line entry forms and about half of these have paid their fees. We are planning on over 100 moths based on the enthusiasm of the world fleet for big regattas and Belmont in particular. Belmont is one of the great sailing venues in Australia, scene of many succesful WCs in other classes.

It will see the showdown between the wing rigs and the soft sails and who knows what else will appear to ruffle the feathers.

So who is coming? ]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/24/100.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/24/100.page GMT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxnp5Q3Nd4o

Doesn't seem to be twisting!!]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/23/88.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/23/88.page GMT
I also know that it is fast to twist a Moth soft sail down wind a bit. So twist is good and my rigurous sientific analysis (http://dougculnane.blogspot.com/2010/04/apparently-twisted.html) clearly demonstrates this, but how good? Steve Clark questions if it is that important for Moth sails. So how about this????

The front leating edge is a C section spar. C sections are terrible for torsional resistance due to the low enclosed area. So if the front section twisted due to its crap tortoinal resistance we do not need cams. However it would not be a very good structural mast if its is not stable, and you would have to twist more dowmwind under lower load than upwind so you need twist inducers/restructors. Anyway i am thinking that the thing will be alot cheaper, lighter and more reliable if the twist of the 1st leading edge was an inherant structural twist rather than a complex structural spar and control system. If the case for leading edge twist is questionalble then maybe we could think about dropping the cam plates and spar?

I have never even seen a wing in real life so please shot me down if I am missing something here but I think the benifits of making this easier are worth a discussion at least.

All the best,

Doug

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Care of a few hours of modelling, pics of bora's, adam's and the c-cat wings and some judiciously applied advice from wing god Steve Clark, we now have one!

[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/5095805943_f93ec19c39_b.jpg[/img]

Who wants in?
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Amac doesn't think wings are good for the class. His arguments are:
1. Wings would increase cost
2. They are more difficult to rescue
3. They are unlikely to increase the popularity of the class as hydrofoils did
4. They may push the class into obscurity a la C-class cats

I say we watch people build a few and see how they deal with reality before getting too excited. My reasoning is as follows:

1. The current cost of the boat is already high, and it doesn't seem to be inhibiting the growth of the class much. Anybody with $18k USD to spend on a new boat can certainly afford $25k, and the middle of the fleet are already getting blown away by the top guys by margins so huge that a wing won't change the interval significantly. Non-wing dudes will remain the majority and will continue to race.
2. The practical issues may go away as people figure out ways to rescue and disassemble wings
3. A wing may never prove conclusively superior to a soft sail
4. Even if wings prove faster, the only way to prove that is to let people build and compete with them. We can always ban them later if it proves too cumbersome/dangerous/expensive.
5. We could create a whole new cottage wingbuilding industry.

]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/20/70.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/20/70.page GMT info@zest-racing.com for more information]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/19/68.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/19/68.page GMT
Many Thanks For Your Advise
Mike]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/18/66.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/18/66.page GMT
What are the max speeds of Lowrider moths?
I come from windsurfing also have a good experience sailing older mini6.50 transat sailboat.
I weight 90kg, will it be fun to sail a moth just for fun,no regattas becouse of my weight.

Thanks

David]]> http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/17/64.page http://www.moth-sailing.org/imca/faces/posts/preList/17/64.page GMT