Hi Greg,

We just got home tonight from Florida and “The Meet In St. Pete 1999”. We stayed for a NASA launch (STARDUST) which I have been involved with over the last three years. Beautiful launch!!!! So it was a great week. And thanks for the nice congrats.

Anyway, I've sailed competitively all my life jumping back and forth between dinghies and big boats. In the 70's I sailed a 505, moved into big boats in the 80's and then got a Thistle in 91. I now have the Thistle, 2 Lasers and a half built Moth!! I raced the Thistle very seriously until I moved from Annapolis to here in 96. Since then the Thistle has been occasional, but got into Lasers, particularly the Masters stuff. A real nice boat, but no match for a Moth!

The Moth story began last spring at the Portsmouth regatta where there were 8 or 9 Moths and just 2 Lasers. I met Joe Bousquet there and was intrigued by his boat "Triumph" #48 (Joe won the Nationals with her in 1998 and I sailed her in St. Pete 1999). I stayed in touch with him through the summer, started pumping Joe and George Albaugh for data, and then ran into everyone again at the Norfolk regatta. Through those contacts and a very generous Walt Collins, I got a chance to borrow Walt's “FEATHER” for the Nationals where I surprised everyone including myself. More importantly though, the sailing on the Friday before was quite breezy and Walt's boat was a joy. Literally jumped out of the water on a plane. I was hooked then!!

I spent the fall in touch with Walt on a number of technical details and then built two models - one of the Mistral and one of a modified Mistral designed by Walt. I tested the models against each other and found that the Mistral was faster in less-than-planing conditions and Walt's design faster when planing. Since the Chesapeake generally experiences light airs, I went with the Mistral. I was trying to get it done by St. Pete but didn't make it. I should be finished in a month or so.

I might add that there are more sailors in my family and my brother is also building a Mistral. He isn't quite as far along but he'll be out this coming summer as well. I really like the class and the people in it. The sailing is fun and everyone is willing to help each other out. It was also one of the things that I liked about the Thistle class. The Laser folks aren't quite as forth coming. Plus I like to tinker so I'm pretty hooked on Moths.

Thanks for doing such a great job on the Web page. Without it I likely wouldn't be so involved. I'm on it a lot!!!

Looking forward to seeing you this spring and summer!