Greg:

Moths were invited, due to the largess of Union Lake Sailing Club member Doug Wheaton, to take part in this year’s ULSC MAYRA (Mid Atlantic Yacht Racing Association) regatta. This is a two-day event with Optimist prams, GP-14s, Club 420s and (this year Moths) racing on Saturday and Lasers and Sunfish sailing the second half of the weekend on Sunday. We had 9 boats and 10 skippers race at this year’s event. It was interesting for me to recall, as I looked through the 1942 edition of the Moth Class Handbook, that Union Lake was one of a handful of original clubs that hosted Moth Boats in the early days of the class. It has been at least 25 years since Moths last raced here.

Union Lake, which once supplied power for a local nail foundry, forms the head of the Maurice River in Millville, NJ and at one time was the largest man made lake in the country, courtesy of a large concrete dam and spillway a short distance from the club.

Race day started off grey and threatening, but the expected rain never materialized. Thankfully, the wind did pick up from a near flat calm to a spanking good breeze as the skies cleared and the sun straggled out with a big yawn about lunchtime.

After a half-hour postponement, the wind finally filled in enough to set a course and I finally got the opportunity to race my newly built Mistral to mixed results in the first three races. After lunch I loaned the boat to Dan Farmer, a ULSC club member who had expressed an interest in giving Moth Boating a whirl. And whirl he did! But I digress.

The first two races were held in light air which I found very challenging as a neophyte Mistral pilot: the deep-veed hull kept falling to weather each time I pinched up too much, a characteristic which I found to be a bit of a distraction. As a result I was slower than I would have been in a Shelley. The first race I managed to claw my way up to 4th until the final beat to the finish when both my son Erik, in SAY WHEN, and Bill Boyle in MEMORY LANE passed me at the line as I fumbled around in the Mistral! The second race was another light air disaster. Going down wind with Bill Boyle and Doug Wheaton close astern, the boat decided to go into pendulum mode from which I barely escaped “death rolling”. Doug Wheaton studied this from the safety of the Shelley he was borrowing from Bob Patterson and asked me if he could see that maneuver again! Recalling the old adage that “what doesn’t kill you, strengthens you”, I grimly realized that this unforgiving boat will force me to be a better sailor if I can just manage to live long enough! Irritatingly, Bob Patterson, also new to the Mistral design, settled into Joe Bousquet’s Mistral, TRYUMPH, like a duck to water! The third race mercifully had a bit of breeze and I managed to somehow or other beat Erik and thus salvage a small part of my pride! After that, we broke for lunch and talked with several Opti parents, whom after a bit of prodding, admitted to being Mothists during the ‘60s and ‘70s. One was Debbie Taylor (can't remember her married name). She indicated that she still has her MacCausland-Cates, (Nr 2131 I think) tucked away in the family garage in Wildwood. She just laughed when I suggested that she should “un-tuck” and come race with us. I’ll have to work on her.

After lunch I loaned the yet to be named Mistral (I’m leaning toward “D**MED BEAST”) to Dan Farmer, a ULSC club member and one of Bill Duffield's neighbors. The wind had picked up nicely and I sort of regretted not being out on the course, but I wanted Dan to have a go so that hopefully the Moth Boat bug will bite him. Dan managed to stay sunny side up during race number 4 but returned the boat midway through the last race when the breeze encouraged all but the top 3 boats to retire. I sort of got the impression that Dan was relieved to hand her back to me! Well, there IS a bit of a learning curve with these Mistrals, isn’t there?! Doug Wheaton provided a final bit of drama as he abruptly retired mid way through the final race with the head stay on the McCutcheon-Shelley breaking a couple of wire strands (ping, ping). Doug skillfully relieved pressure from the breaking head stay and reached back to the beach without losing the rig. When the race committee came ashore and did their sums, Joe Bousquet was 1st, sailing AFTERMATH. Bob Patterson was 2nd in TRYUMPH and Rod Mincher was a close 3rd in ENERGIZER. All in all, a great day out!