IMCA UK November 2001

Hi gang, I'm Doug, the new Moth UK President. As Nige didn't manage to sort out the hydrofoil reply he promised, please find a summary of our discussion below, as well as the summary of our year you requested from Simon. As described below, things are looking up for us in the UK, with the class surviving the onslaught of newer classes which have appeared over the last few years. The class is enjoying a resurgence of interest as people realise that none of these new designs can compete with the moth for sheer balls out adrenaline rushes and satisfaction.....when you get it right that is!

Sorry that none of us made it over for the Worlds. I'd probably have been there if i'd bought Nige's 'hungry tiger' a bit sooner.

cheers,

Doug
GBR404
dougpie@yahoo.com

UK Moth Association on Hydrofoils

The UK Class association formally considered the use of hydro-foils at its AGM on 30th August 2001. It was agreed that the following position would be communicated in writing to the IMCA.

The UK class AGM voted unanimously to reject the use of hydro-foils in International Moth races. The mainreasons for this are:

1. We believe hydro-foils would have a detrimental effect on class numbers in the UK.
2. The additional cost and complexity are undesirable.
3. The essential character of the class as a mono-hull dinghy will be lost.
4. Development of hull and rig continues to be possible within the 'conventional' mono-hull format.
5. There would be no logic in permitting complex and expensive hydro-foils while disallowing cheaper and simpler windsurfer configurations.
6. None of the current UK fleet is interested in adopting them.

As a result we wish to propose:

That clarification is sought about the legality of foils within the existing rules. If the result is ambiguous or foils are found to be legal under the existing rules, we wish a rule to be incorporated specifically banning them.

UK International Moth Class Review 2001

The class has had a successful season in the UK with steady numbers and strong interest from prospective new members and the media. The association has about 50 members and 7 new boats were registered.

UK Nationals

The nationals were held over four days in Portland Harbour, Weymouth on the south coast (shared with International Canoes). 20 boats entered, all but one of which were narrow skiffs. The generally light wind event was won by Ian Forsdike sailing his Axeman 6 with 'bolt rope' sail. Nigel Oswald was second in his Hungry Tiger with sleave luff rig. The rest of the fleet comprised another Hungry tiger, Skippy 1 and 2s, Axeman 6 and 7s and magnum 9.9s. The most innovative boat was a Skippy 2 built to support an unstayed sleave luff rig. This was fast in bursts. The light winds helped the less experienced and the fleet was closely spaced with tactical racing all the way to the back. A number of regulars were absent but 5 first timers more than made up for them.

Open Meetings

Four open meetings were held in the run up to the Nationals. Support was patchy with a core of about 10 sailors making the effort to travel. Active consideration has been given to making the opens more attractive in 2002.

Promotion and New Recruits

Interest in the class has been strong this year. We have perhaps got a little better at converting this into new sailors. One success was 'a have ago' day where sailors from other classes were given trial sails on modern Moths. This resulted directly in two people buying boats and joining the class.

The IMCA UK has a new website which is updated pretty regularly. This has highlighted one of our key problems narrow second hand boats are in short supply and sell on the site in days.

We are covered regularly in Yachts and Yachting and on sailing web sites, and are getting better organised at sending in articles and event reports.