No one sailed at Edenton. Just as well since it was a sweltering drifter -- air temp of 100 degrees with a heat index of 115 with no wind! I did sail on Sunday the following day with a nice breeze of 5-12 knots. It was the maiden voyage of my lastest moth -- Phoenix -- a Laser conversion with an unstayed mast. She wouldn't be raced until the following weekend at Willoughby.
The Broad Bay regatta at Willoughby saw five mothists in attendance: Joe Bousquet. Mark Saunders, Al Whitener, Randy Stark, and newbie Brian Moum sailing "Eyesore" an old sprite he got via George Albaugh with a tall rig he got from Scott Sandell. The interesting thing about this regatta was the presence of as much of a one-design hull shape that the moth class has seen in a while. Joe, Mark, Al and Randy all were sailing "Masers." There are hull differences (Al and Randy kept the Laser bow and cut 2'11" off the stern while Joe and Mark reconfigured the Laser bow to a vertical stem) and rig differences (primarily Joe's unstayed Escape mast as compared to the other three's stayed Dwyer sections) but all the boats were the flat-bottomed soft-chined Laser cross section. The conditions ranged from very light (one race was shortened) to planing conditions (14 knots between races). Courses sailied were windward-leewards which provided a great chance to compare the performance of the unstayed rig against the standard rig. Mark sail well and was first to the windward mark in every race. Joe's ability to eased the boom to 90 degrees on the run (no shrouds!) and cant the rig 20 degrees forward seemed significantly faster downwind. Final results: Joe, Mark, Al & Brian tied, then Randy.
My maser Phoenix is still a work in progress. The Europe sail was too large at Willoughby (the upper leech needed to be cut down to conform with the CMBA rules) and the concavity aft of the well is greater than 1" due to the Laser's molded flare. I plan on sailing her at Ware River where Mark and Craig will sail their mistrals. I have cut down the sail, so the rig is now legal. I'll glue foam pieces to the sides to reduce the concavity next week. I plan on having Walt bless the boat and rig sometime this summer. The short term plans for Phoenix is to have a local junior, Tony O'Laughlin, sail her at Norfolk Yacht and hopefully at the nationals. I think the Laser hull form is a great platform for juniors and we have potentially thousands of masers to be around the country. The hull for Phoenix was cast off as scrap by the Ware River Yacht Club junior program last summer. By sailing her at this year's summer regatta, I hope to initiate a building program: parents building moths from old Lasers for their kids to sail in the junior program. I'll keep you informed of the success of this attempt.
Joe